Eve, 2005. Christopher Pugliese (b. 1968). Oil on linen. Collection of the Artist.
Christopher Pugliese (b. 1968) is the most recent artist featured in the NEW/NOW Gallery at the New Britain Museum of American Art. His style merges the classical with the contemporary, painting his figures with the grace and anatomical accuracy of the Old Masters while simultaneously creating an air of modern existentialism. His approach to art is partially due to early influences from artists Ted Jacobs (b. 1927), Tony Ryder (b. 1957), and Martha (b. 1937) and Walter Erlebacher (1933-1991). Ted Jacobs created a style known as “Restructured Realism,” described by Jacobs as “the study of perception, and the optimal suggestion paint allows, of what we see. It is a contemporary vision, or perhaps a future one, whose roots are from the past.”¹ Ryder utilizes this style as well and both artists stress the importance of drawing from life.
Pugliese met Jacobs and Ryder while studying at the New York Academy of Art and traveled with them to France, where Jacobs founded L’Ecole Albert Defois, a private art school, in 1987. (more…)
New Britain Museum of American Art 