The Detroit News: For Kids, Art’s From the Heart

Preschoolers paint mural bound for auction block

Jan. 21, 2012 — Painter Tim Yanke didn’t mind if his class of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds made a mess of the canvas stretched before them at the Oakland Livingston Human Services Agency.

In fact, he encouraged them.

The abstract artist smiled approvingly as he watched several dozen chattering, giggling children put their colorful marks on the swirling, paint-coated canvas with brushes, pencils and their own stubby fingers.

“We knock the creativity, the emotional drive out of children before they ever get to adulthood,” said Yanke. “These kids get it. Art is supposed to be emotional. Art isn’t something within boundaries or a border on a piece of paper. It’s something to be felt.”

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The activity, which eventually involved four groups of 17 children, was to express “winter,” Yanke said, but will eventually be broadened with other paints and colors to also reflect the seasons of spring, summer and fall on a 13-foot long piece of canvas.

When finished, the work will be auctioned off, likely at the Southfield-based Park West Gallery, which provided the art supplies, with all proceeds going to the human services agency…

Continue reading the full article [pdf]

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Fine art by Tim Yanke is available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea. Learn more at www.parkwestgallery-yanke.com.

For more information about the Park West Foundation and Park West Gallery’s other philanthropic programs, please visit www.parkwestgallery.com and click on Philanthropy.

Park West Gallery Sponsors Kids Art Project for OLHSA Fundraiser

Local artist Yanke works with Pontiac children on art project for fundraiser

Jan. 18, 2012 — In Pontiac, 68 kids between three and five years old were armed with paint brushes on Wednesday and given 50 feet by 10 feet of space to paint.

Birmingham resident Tim Yanke describes himself as an “abstract neo-southwest artist,” and four groups of 17 children each spent 30 minutes painting with him. Yanke sells his art at Park West Gallery, a Southfield art gallery with 1.2 million customers in 70 countries.

“They’re not staying within the boundaries. They’re going outside the lines. They’re having fun,” said Yanke about the kids at the event.

During the holiday season, Yanke had the idea for this large-scale art project to benefit those less fortunate.

“With mounting budget problems impacting school districts in Michigan and across the nation, cultural enrichment programs, such as art, are being eliminated to save precious limited resources. I think this is a grave injustice to the children who are being deprived of the joy that art can bring to their lives,” he said…

Continue reading the full article [pdf]

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Fine art by Tim Yanke is available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea. Learn more at www.parkwestgallery-yanke.com.

Vote for Park West Gallery in Hour Detroit’s Best of 2012 Contest

It’s time to vote! Park West Gallery is competing in HOUR Detroit’s “Best of 2012” contest! The annual poll celebrates metro Detroit’s finest restaurants, services, businesses and people.

HOW TO VOTE:

1) Visit www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/Best-of-Detroit-2012-Online-Ballot and complete the “Your Information” section.

2) Scroll halfway down the page to the “SHOPPING” section. Toward the bottom of that section is the category: “BEST PLACE TO BUY ORIGINAL ART (GALLERY).”

3) Type PARK WEST GALLERY in the blank space, then scroll to the end of the page and click SUBMIT! [Note: You do not have to complete the entire ballot. Only vote in the categories of your choosing.]

Polls close March 15, 2012.

Thank you for voting for Park West Gallery!

Chicago Art Magazine – Park West Gallery Visits Paris: A Lifetime of Lebadang

Chicago Art Magazine recently published a feature on the Park West Gallery contemporary artist, Lebadang. Following is an excerpt from “Park West Gallery Visits Paris: A Lifetime of Lebadang.”

On the eve of his ninetieth birthday, Vietnamese artist, Lebadang, is as creative as he was 50 years ago. Albert Scaglione of Park West Gallery journeys to Paris to visit the artist, discovering a treasure trove of his work across the decades.

MONTPARNASSE – Exactly fifty years ago, Vietnamese artist, Lebadang began painting in his studio in Montparnasse. An area in Paris with an artistic legacy that stretches back more than a century, it’s easy to imagine Cezanne or Picasso sipping coffee along the bustling Avenue du Maine. The streets are buzzing, alive with the sounds of the city, setting the stage for the world’s most creative minds.

Although he is approaching ninety years old, Lebadang (Lê Bá Đảng) is nothing but energy. His studio is filled with works of art and drawers with paintings that have not been seen since the seventies. Founder and CEO of Park West Gallery, Albert Scaglione, has known the artist for more than thirty years and begins sifting through the paintings, one by one – a treasure trove for him. “It’s very exciting to have this connection and bring it to our clients,” says Mr. Scaglione. Even at his age, Lebadang knows he cannot stop creating. His wife, Myshu, tells Mr. Scaglione, “Life is a sinking ship and work is a lifeboat.” This fits her husband perfectly…

Read the full article/view art slideshow @ Chicago Art Magazine →

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PARK WEST GALLERY EXCLUSIVE!
In the following clip, Park West Gallery CEO Albert Scaglione visits with Lebadang at his studio in Paris. Watch:

Fine art by Lebadang is available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea. Learn more at www.parkwestgallery.com

A Departing Moment with Csaba Markus

Park West Gallery presents our new exclusive video series: “A Departing Moment.” Spend an intimate moment with eight prominent Park West Gallery artists. In this first episode, you’ll hear from Hungarian contemporary artist Csaba Markus.

And don’t miss upcoming episodes, including artists like Lebadang, Robert Kipniss, Anatole Krasnyansky and more! Subscribe to Park West Gallery’s YouTube Channel

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Fine artwork by Csaba Markus is available for purchase through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea. For more information, please visit www.parkwest-markus.com.

Largest Ever Tim Yanke Painting Installed at The Henry, Dearborn

Photo credit: The Henry

In June 2011, Park West Gallery contemporary artist Tim Yanke completed his largest work of art to date. The painting now hangs behind the front desk in the lobby of The Henry, an upscale boutique hotel located in Dearborn, Michigan.

In the following Park West Gallery exclusive, Yanke talks about his inspiration for the large-scale painting, providing fascinating insight into his artistic process:

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Fine artwork by Tim Yanke is available for purchase through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea. For more information, please visit www.parkwestgallery-yanke.com.

Japanese Woodcut Print Collection at Park West Gallery

Park West Gallery is excited to offer for sale an impressive collection of 19th Century Japanese Woodcut prints created by more than 25 different talented woodblock artists. Following, we present a few collection highlights along with a bit of art history behind the prints. 

The majority of prints in the Park West Gallery Japanese Woodcut Collection were created during Edo period Japan (1615-1868). Known familiarly as ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world,” these images traditionally portray “worldly pleasures and earthly delights,” a type of escape that dealt with the frustrating ancient divisions of class between Japanese nobles and warriors.

Historically, many in the warrior class had been able to accumulate vast sums of money, often much more than many of the nobles. But due to strict class definitions, this didn’t matter and they were seen as second tier. Thus, ukiyo-e, the “floating world,” was born as a place controlled by and patron to the warrior class (and those interested), an area where they could revel in their “earthly delights.” Common forms of entertainment were elaborate tea houses, the company of courtesans and geishas, and Kabuki Theater.

While many ukiyo-e show everything from geisha and landscapes to tea houses, the most famous prints depict scenes from the Kabuki Theater. The theater acted out stories deeply engrained in Japanese history, tales that were fantastic and supernatural, mythological or the aggrandized lives of historical figures. Each story was easily recognized by their audience and the Kabuki actors went to extreme lengths to convey the most dramatic, exaggerated expressions and poses that they could.

At the height of this drama, the actor would freeze, holding this powerful facade. Each actor had his own signature trait, such as how long he would hold his pose, the comedic way his hair was worn, his family crest or the colors in his costume. Woodblock prints of this period usually depicted specific actors, recognizable by these features.

Likewise, in Kabuki prints, not only were the actors easily recognized, but so too were stories they acted out. Artists would take the most dramatic pose from an actor’s repertoire and freeze it on a woodblock forever, making sure to include telling marks of who the character was. Having the character hold something symbolic or depicting them in the midst of their most notorious moment were common ways in which the artist clued the audience in to what was happening.

Finally, when Japan opened up their trade routes to Europe in 1868, renowned artists like Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Whistler, and Van Gogh became known collectors of these prints, often bringing aspects of the woodblock style into their own artwork. From the use of sharp perspective, line and color, to the study of the middle class’s entertainment, without ukiyo-e, Impressionist art would have become something else entirely.
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To learn more and inquire about the Japanese Woodcut Collection offered by Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea, please visit http://sales.parkwestgallery.com.

Park West Gallery on CBS ‘Michigan Matters’ Holiday Show

On a holiday edition of CBS Detroit’s Michigan Matters, host Carol Cain sat down with Saba Gebrai, Program Director of the Park West Foundation, and Tim Yanke, an artist with Park West Gallery.

The panel discussed how Park West Gallery is helping young people in Michigan, especially those in the foster care system. Watch:

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Fine artwork by Tim Yanke is available for purchase through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea. For more information, please visit www.parkwestgallery-yanke.com.

For more information about the Park West Foundation and Park West Gallery’s other philanthropic programs, please visit www.parkwestgallery.com and click on Philanthropy.