Peoplescapes and Travelscapes: Paintings of People, Places, and Politics
by: Tikkun Intern -- Mia Sullivan on February 18th, 2011 | 12 Comments »
Nancy Calef produces rich, detailed paintings of people and places — illustrations she refers to as “narratives containing many threads of humanity.” Whether she’s portraying casino culture, Wall Street, or the mainstream media’s misplaced priorities, Calef says she tries “to capture the common denominator and the unique quality in all of us.”
“Peoplescape” is the term Calef has coined for her people-focused visual narratives, in part to emphasize their coherence with her early work – mostly plein air landscapes. “I used to paint these beautiful landscapes, and it became too sugary for me because I realized the world isn’t only beautiful landscapes,” says Calef, who spent her twenties traveling and painting. Although Calef continues to create “travelscapes,” she has shifted her focus to depicting people.
I'm Just Saying
To see more of Nancy Calef’s work, visit the Tikkun Daily Art Gallery and the artist’s website.
Each peoplescape is essentially a snapshot of an event or activity as common as a day at the circus or as metaphorical as “running toward infinity on a pavement of options.” Calef says she approaches her peoplescapes and landscapes similarly, aiming to capture the commensurate richness, color, and feel of each disparate moment. But unlike her landscapes, many of Calef’s peoplescapes double as political commentaries.
Calef’s political peoplescapes run the gamut of issues from American complacence regarding the wars in the Middle East to the bureaucracy of immigration policy. The characters in her scenes – from the shape of their eyes to the width of their mouths to the curve of their shoulders – illustrate the ambivalence, smugness, condescension, self-absorption, and ignorance humans often exhibit.
No Free Lunch
No Free Lunch, for example, depicts a universal experience: an airplane ride, which Calef considers emblematic of societal stinginess. A self-described “Jew with an acerbic sense of humor,” Calef believes that “when you bring a little humor, people can better handle considering challenging issues.” Thus, Calef portrays a stewardess selling oxygen, gas masks, water, and toilet paper to emphasize nothing is free anymore and people are more concerned with receiving than giving of themselves.
Good Life, which recently appeared in “Elephant in the Room” (Calef’s most recent exhibition), highlights what Calef perceives as widespread indifference regarding our environmental crisis. She depicts a group of martini-drinking vacationers lounging on a yacht who either do not notice or do not care that an oil tanker is lurking through their paradise.
“That’s the elephant in the room,” Calef explains. The fact that “our waters are now being polluted, everything’s about money, [and] we’ve lost our connection to . . . nature and preserving our planet and having peace.”
Good Life
From the scanty cut of a vacationer’s polka-dotted bikini bottom to the texture of Jack Hirschman’s mustache, Calef affords each character considerable detail. “I am interested in the characterization of people – what makes people look or act the way they do,” she says. “Bill Clinton has that bulbous nose and reddish face. And what makes Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton? Those cheeks.”
Calef focuses on distinguishing characters in her peoplescapes, but she also aims to demonstrate human unity. “I use crowds of people to exaggerate the ultimate connectedness of us all,” Calef says.
And although her paintings tend to magnify human inadequacies, Calef says she is hopeful. “I do think there is awesome beauty in people and there is magic, but there are also evil forces that fight against it. And that’s what I see, and that’s what I depict.”
Women of Hoi An
While Calef “explores the darkness” of humans in her peoplescapes, painting landscapes gives her the “opportunity to sit with beauty . . . and be absorbed into nature.” And unlike her peoplescapes, which take weeks to months to complete, Calef can finish a plein air painting in about six hours.
Drawn in by dramatic landscapes and communal cultures, Calef has spent a considerable amount of time painting in Southeast Asia, India, Greece, and Central America, exploring the “radiance of the universe and the mystery of it all.”
Calef’s exhibition – “Elephant in the Room” – recently appeared at Focus Gallery in San Francisco. Visit Nancy Calef’s website for information on upcoming exhibitions, and if you’re interested in purchasing a painting, please contact Nancy at nancy@nancycalefgallery.com or by phone at 201-572-9663.
Visit the Tikkun Daily Art Gallery and visit the artist’s website to see more of Nancy Calef’s work.
Wonderful Blog. The paintings look great. I have been a fan of Nancy’s paintings for a quite a few years. She continues to amaze me with her ability to articulate a political narrative with a visual language. Her paintings contain people from the famous to the anonymous and somehow I feel like I know them all. It is great to see her work getting this attention. and I encourage everyone to look at the details. Click on those images!!
I’ve seen Calef’s work in several venues in San Francisco and New York. She is an extremely talented artist and social commentator who captures the essence of people. When one sees Calef’s “Peoplescapes” in person, the 3D images really jump off the canvas. Her unique method involves sculpting faces from clay and incorporating found objects such as watches, eyeglasses and playing cards. I’m looking forward to Calef’s next solo show in San Francisco! Well done blog post!
How fantastic to see Nancy’s paintings here on Tikkun, and well written blog too. I feel very fortunate to live with a couple of Calef’s in my home – they are constant reminders of the other side of life, and I love them. They pull you right into the scene, and it is real stuff, even the landscapes are much much more than “pretty.” Very good work, Tikkun and Nancy Calef.
Discerning collectors will enjoy Calef’s large-format 2D and 3D canvases for their deep beauty and thematic import.
Her latest works include multiple completed oils which have been cut and re-configured into a collage-like piece. Her color palette and compositions are visually enticing and everyone who sees our piece comments on the irony and playful ideas they see.
Truly awesome and magical, this work make you ask questions. I have had the pleasure of working with Nancy, her exhibitions have always brought Collectors, admiration and notice.
She is masterful in her painting techniques, her depth of character and her 3 D molding.
Her works are perfection, once you see them you will never forget them. It is wonderful that the world can experience and read about her, she is magical too.
I have the pleasure to know Nancy personally and as an Artist. Her painting motives are inquisitive and bring a view of the United States and the World’s social history and politics into account. Her 3D technics are very special. They go over the traditional depth of showing images of people and landscapes to a 3D world that represent the realities of society. In my opinion it is great artwork that you must see in person to fully appreciate. Thanks Nancy for giving us your view and smart critique of the World that many of us are subjected to live in.
I like the blending of art and politics in this work. It strikes me as bold, sometimes humorous, sometimes revealing, sometimes upsetting. Reading what the artist has to say about her approach is inspirational to me: such an artist can serve as a role model to me and others to find creative uniquely personal ways to express ourselves, to walk our talk, to connect to the rest of the world in a meaningful way through our work. I like how these images have so much to say. The artist is able to put the equivalent of a whole novel or a film on one canvas. Wow! I would like to see an exhibition of a lot of these works together in a very public place, such as an airport.
If Nancy hadn’t chosen to paint, she could have, alternatively, been an interesting filmmaker. The unique ability to capture the minute details of the most mundane situation and turn them into a thoughtful statement on human behavior makes for riveting and timeless art; be it on canvas or on screen. Ultimately, Nancy’s art is fundamentally good storytelling.
What can I say? She’s a friggin’ genius, artistically and otherwise, the David E. Kelley of visual art.
I own 8 of her paintings, albeit landscapes, but her peoplescapes are simultaneously subtle and right on!
Not to mention ballsy and though-provoking. Keep going, Nancy! I’m your number one fan.
duh, i meant thought-provoking
Nancy is obviously the next Picasso. Her poignant depictions of the absurdities of life capture the truth about our political and social dilemmas. One can gaze at her peoplescapes for days and still find new gems of satire hidden in her paintings.
A true artist for our times.
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