Joanna Newsom Portrait enters permenant collection

The Portrait of Joanna Newsom was publicly displayed at the Gage Academy in Seattle for Vierling's 2014 Decennary Retrospective exhibition, and again through the 2015 New Year at Kitkitdizzi in Nevada City, before it's inclusion in the permanent collection of Andy Samberg and Joanna Newsom.

The painting was used to adorn the cover of Joanna Newsom's critically acclaimed studio album, Ys, released by Drag City in 2006. In recent years, the album has been featured on several music publications' lists of the greatest albums of the 2000s (decade) as well as all-time.

The portrait was composed directly from life, and required a year of studio labor to bring to completion. Incorporating symbols and allegories relevant to the lyrical content of the album, the painting presents a uniquely contemporary subject in a timelessly mythical context. Newsom is depicted as she actually appeared in Vierling's atelier, the inclusion of various props and enchanted objects being the result of an inspired collaboration between the artist and the model.

Rendered in egg tempera and oil pigments on panel, the work was created through use of technique dating back to the early renaissance, in which meticulously applied glazes are applied to a monochrome tempera underpainting, a method used by Hans Holbein, Albrecht Dürer, and Leonardo da Vinci. Many of the paints were mixed by hand using only the highest quality materials, which begins with a single egg.

The portrait has been hailed as a masterwork of contemporary painting, and has been featured in Marie Claire Magazine, Arthur Magazine, The New Yorker, and several printed publication, including Contemporary Album Design, and Beyond & Before: Progressive Rock since the 1960s. The painting will also feature in an academic work about Moths, to be published later this year by Chicago University Press.

Author Erik Davis, journalist and author of 'Techgnosis' said about the painting in his Arthur Magazine article "A great Album requires a great cover, and Benjamin Vierling’s painting—which looks like a Dürer by way of Millais, but more pop-surrealist—is pretty great. Luminescent, esoteric, and vividly detailed, it mirrors Newsom’s moodier new material Like the music on Ys. …..  Vierling’s rendering brings together an expressive, spiritual exuberance with an almost clinical execution of detail and technique."

Woman with Beast featured on Tyr Journal

Image appears on the cover of the current Tyr Journal, a cultural periodical which previously featured artwork by the legendary painter, Odd Nerdrum.  Design layout by the renown artist Stephen O'Malley.

The journal also includes a brief article about Benjamin A. Vierling by author Joshua Buckley. 

Woman with Beast
Egg tempera & oil on panel
18 x 24 inches

Of Beauties & Beasts International group show.

Two original Vierling works on display in the 'Of Beauties & Beasts' international group show, at the Clement Art Gallery in Troy, New York.

Included in the exhibit is The Valkyrie, an egg tempera & oil painting on panel, measuring 24 x 34 inches. The work was originally displayed in the 2011 Vierling, 'Mythos' exhibit at the Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle, Washington. The painting extols the timeless legend of the fearless warrior maidens who guide the fallen on the long journey from the battlefield to Valhöll.

Also included in the show is a unique portrait drawing of Gymnogyps californianus, the California Condor. The drawing is executed in pen, ink & gouache on paper.  The framed piece measures 16.5 x 21 inches. The endangered Condor is here exalted through the aesthetic of arcane portraiture,  to be remembered, honored, & protected.

Both works are offered for sale. 

On July 25, 2014 The Clement Art Gallery will open a group exhibition of thirteen national and international artists entitled: “of Beauties and Beasts". An opening reception will take place on Friday July 25 from 6-9pm. The exhibition will run through September 20. A small exhibition catalogue will be produced and available at the end of August.

The show comprises approximately 30 paintings and sculptures from a contingent of representational artists whose subjects tend toward the uncanny and fantastic. In "of Beauties and Beasts," the human form -- idealized and bestial -- appears alongside myriad fellows of the animal kingdom in scenes bizarre and whimsical. 

Exhibiting Artists Include: Claus Brusen, Jon Christopher Gernon, Russell Gordon, Igor Grechanyk, Caitlin Hackett, Spring Hofeldt, Steven Kenny, Richard A. Kirk, Jennifer Knaus, Scherer & Ouporov, Benjamin Vierling, Jeff Wigman, Rodney Wood. 

For additional information, please visit the online presentation and the Clement Art Gallery.

Notable Press on the exhibit:
Fine Art Connoisseur
Wall Street International