'Masquerade' an art heist featuring works from Iowa City artists
Joe Heath has been making plans. Not only is he trying to revive Nile Kinnick on film but, in the meantime, he's also hard at work on an art heist.
Viewers with an eye for Iowa City will likely also be able to spot a number of other familiar faces in the film's frames.
“This piece (Giacometti, 2007) is in the first kill of the movie — it’s brutal," said Heath, referring to a portrait created by Iowa City area artist Charlie Lasansky.
Iowa City - Press Citizen - December 11, 2019
Joe Heath has been making plans. Not only is he trying to revive Nile Kinnick on film but, in the meantime, he's also hard at work on an art heist.
“Shane (Taylor) and I just met last summer when we were raising money for the other film I’d been working on called 'Salvage,'" said Heath.
When that film was delayed, he had an appropriate solution for the resources "Salvage" had accrued: rolling it into another film called "Masquerade."
To read full article click here
Captivating Portraiture
Charlie Emmert’s intrinsic creativity and natural ability to link color with emotion perfectly complements her dexterity and enthusiasm for the paint and brush. The Iowa born artist has demonstrated, with the unveiling of her recent work, that she can fuse thought and feeling in the studio to produce paintings of stunning originality.
by Rory Lasansky
Charlie Emmert’s intrinsic creativity and natural ability to link color with emotion perfectly complements her dexterity and enthusiasm for the paint and brush. The Iowa born artist has demonstrated, with the unveiling of her recent work, that she can fuse thought and feeling in the studio to produce paintings of stunning originality.
“Albert Einstein Number 3,” is a captivating and somewhat abstract portrayal of the brilliant thinker. It is the most recent in a series of portraits aspiring to capture the essence of Einstein’s character, his unique appearance, and explosive intellect. The painting clearly communicates Emmert’s belief that all of her work should possess “content, meaning and expressive form.” She acknowledges Einstein’s scientific achievement with a solid red disk in the bottom left hand corner of the canvas. The disk represents a solar eclipse, the natural phenomenon that provided proof for Einstein’s groundbreaking theories. The orientation of the disk in the space separating the edge of the canvas and the cropped red bars addresses the subject’s exceptional ability to think outside the box.
Emmert’s skill as a colorist has always been the focal component of her expressionistic portraiture. “Color,” says Emmert, “corresponds to the complexity of life.” In “Einstein Number 3” we see the artist looking at earlier works in the series to choose a predominantly blue and white palette. The colors suggest guilt and remorse, feelings that plagued Einstein after working with the U. S. to fabricate the Atomic Bomb. With touches of somewhat arbitrary color to the face and hair, Emmert was able to create a balanced and aesthetically pleasing image, which commemorates the most brilliant icon of the 20th century.
Emmert’s enthralling portraiture, always appealing to the eye, is generally bold and colorful. They are visually attractive but also are compelling psychological portraits, intimating the inner life of the subject. The preliminary sketch on a fresh canvas, done entirely with the brush, lays the foundation for numerous layers of paint. The layered pigment, often applied with the palette knife, creates texture, contrast and depth. This can be seen in Emmert’s distinctive rendering of the artist Frida Kahlo. In this painting Emmert constructs a fictive space, which separates her subject from the aura-like background. “Frida’s image is carefully placed within the painted frame for intimate viewing,” points out art historian David Heffner, Ph.D. “Clearly there is an intimate connection between the artist and her subject.”
Charlie Emmert’s recent works showcase her ability to layer and manipulate paint. She communicates with vibrant color in place of words what she considers to be the true essence of her subject. Her innovative approach to portraiture publicizes her potential to be a significant artist in the future, and reveals her eagerness to be working in the studio.
Charlie has had numerous one-person shows and has participated in various group shows. Her work is in private and public collections. The Faust Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona carries her work, and the West Valley Art Museum will feature her work in a one-person show in March of 2007.
Charlie Emmert’s work is available through the Faust Gallery 7103 E. Main St. Scottsdale, AZ. Tel. (480) 946-6345
Creating Visual Paths to the Viewer’s Inner Perception
The paintings of Charlie Emmert challenge the viewer to look again and again. At first glance, you see the finished image. However, with continued viewings, the outer layer becomes transparent and allows you to see into the next layer. (Just as getting to know someone better reveals different aspects of their personality.)
By Oriana Parker
The paintings of Charlie Emmert challenge the viewer to look again and again. At first glance, you see the finished image. However, with continued viewings, the outer layer becomes transparent and allows you to see into the next layer. (Just as getting to know someone better reveals different aspects of their personality.)
Her technique of painting in layers allows Charlie to explore the essence of the person being captured on canvas. This “more than first meets the eye” quality is uniquely rewarding. You may be intrigued by how many resounding chords these painted images strike. Surprised by how many thoughts, even emotions they inspire.
People are amazed by the depth of the feelings and range of experiences awakened by these works of art. “I want the viewer to engage in their own intellectual and emotional ‘dialogue’ with my paintings. I do not want to tell them what to think, what to feel,” Charlie stresses. “Once I have finished with a piece, I no longer regard it as mine. The heart and soul of it really belong to the viewer,” she adds.
Some compare these works to those of Cezanne, Soutine, and Kokoscha as well as Rouault. Certainly Charlie’s dramatic use of color and bold execution are reminiscent of these masters. Yet her paintings are unique and totally distinctive.
Until recently, those living in the Midwest have somewhat monopolized firsthand viewing of Charlie’s works. Thanks to the Faust Gallery as well as the West Valley Art Museum (who will stage of solo exhibition of her paintings next spring), this situation has changed. Much to the delight of art lovers living in or visiting the Southwest.
Especially those individuals who enjoy paintings that inspire the exploration of inner perception.
Evocation of the Soul
Rarely have I seen an artist more drawn to portraiture than Charlie Emmert. Whether historical figures, family members or friends, her portraits are not renderings of a specific point in time. Her portraits are generalized and evolutionary, monumental and iconic. She evokes the essence of the sitter as she develops a deeper relationship or understanding of the person through her carefully meditative approach to creating and painting.
by David Heffner, Ph.D.
Rarely have I seen an artist more drawn to portraiture than Charlie Emmert. Whether historical figures, family members or friends, her portraits are not renderings of a specific point in time. Her portraits are generalized and evolutionary, monumental and iconic. She evokes the essence of the sitter as she develops a deeper relationship or understanding of the person through her carefully meditative approach to creating and painting.
Never satisfied with drawing as rendering, Charlie was naturally drawn to the freedom of painting. In her early paintings of the mid-1990s Charlie drew inspiration from the likes of Kokoschka, Modigliani, Roualt and Soutine. Her response to these artists makes sense; a painter in love with painterly paintings. Charlie's response to painting is synonymous with her life; in painting as in life she organizes and makes structure out of life’s uncertainties. Within this self-imposed structural framework, Charlie freely sketches with paint building up layer upon layer thickening and enriching the surface as she builds up emotional depth as well. You see this in Charlie's earlier work as well as her latest pieces; a strong sense of character and space matched with vibrant colors. Each painting is an evocation of the soul. She molds shapes in fictive space by pushing pigment around, thus her paintings are sculptural. The paintings are thick. They evolve in a slow but not necessarily methodical way.
In Charlie's latest pieces she does not rely upon past artists for inspiration; rather her paintings are self-referential and evoke internally. She lets the paintings happen. With maturity, Charlie seems at peace with composition. Her approach seamlessly matches her subject. You see this in her portrait of Edgar Allen Poe. His stories are bold, colorful, and eery. An avid reader of Poe, Charlie has captured these precise characteristics in her rendering of the famous author. Often full frontal and closely cropped, her paintings do not scream novelty but rather whisper subtlety. This subtlety is seen in the image of Frida Kahlo. Here we have a gentle, feminine and almost familial portrait of this well known artist. Clearly there is an intimate connection between Charlie and her sense of Frida. This is suggested in the careful rendering of the crimson frame that surrounds this delicate and beautiful figure. Frida's image is carefully placed within the painted frame for intimate viewing.
I see in Charlie's work the evolution of an artist and a person. Her paintings have changed yet intrinsically remain the same. They are warm, intimate, and life-affirming. Seeing her work develop over time, I can only look forward to seeing future paintings of Charlie Emmert.
Charlie Emmert has had numerous one person shows and has participated in various group shows. Her work is in private and public collections. The Faust Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona carries her work as does the Lasansky Gallery & Studio in Iowa City, Iowa. The West Valley Art Museum will feature her work in a one person show in March of 2007.
In Darkness, Truth
IOWA CITY - there is a certain darkness that runs through the artwork of portrait painter and print-maker Charlie Emmert Lasansky
Using a color palette that largely issues bright, cheery colors, the darkness isn't that a depression. Or fear. Instead, it is a darkness that seems to evoke depth.
The Hawkeye, Lifestyles - November 1, 2015
GALA featured artist says personality comes through in muted palette.
IOWA CITY - there is a certain darkness that runs through the artwork of portrait painter and print-maker Charlie Emmert Lasansky
Using a color palette that largely issues bright, cheery colors, the darkness isn't that a depression. Or fear. Instead, it is a darkness that seems to evoke depth.
Whether family or friends, her fellow artists or people she has never met, like Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein or Frida Kahlo, "I feel like I'm looking inside the person," Lasansky said of the people to pick them in her paintings and prints.
"I try to get to the truth of my work, whatever it is," said Lasansky, who will be the featured artist at Saturday's Burlington Fine Arts League 2015 gala fundraiser, which is set for 6 PM at Pzazz Event Center.
Though she has come to take on the mantle of expressionist, Lasansky discovered art when, at 16, she was inspired by the paintings of modernist masters Pablo Picasso and Mark Chagall, which were displayed by her art teacher at Grinnell High School.
To read full article, click here
Iowa City artist in Cedar Rapids exhibit
Paintings by Iowa City artist, Charlie Emmert will be featured in an exhibition opening July 12 at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.
Emmert paints portraits, using oil on paper. The technique gives her work rich texture and a different surface quality than oil on canvas. The combination of paint, personality and the artist’s perceptive eye produce evocative, often haunting essays in the portraiture.
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Paintings by Iowa City artist, Charlie Emmert will be featured in an exhibition opening July 12 at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.
Emmert paints portraits, using oil on paper. The technique gives her work rich texture and a different surface quality than oil on canvas. The combination of paint, personality and the artist’s perceptive eye produce evocative, often haunting essays in the portraiture.
The public is invited to a reception for the artist from 5 to 7 p.m. on July 17. Charlie Emmert: Recent Paintings will remain on view in the museum’s Iowa Gallery through Aug. 24.