Archives: Artists

Martiros Manoukian was born on August 5, 1947, and began painting seriously at age 11. Even as a child, he showed tremendous enthusiasm for freedom, adventure and nature. Once, after skipping school to paint outdoors, he returned with a work that won first prize at his art school in the Soviet Union. His advanced ability allowed him to enter the Academy of Art in Yerevan in 1967 directly from high school. He also studied at the academies in Moscow and Leningrad before completing his education in Yerevan in 1972.

His first adult exhibit came in 1972 in Armenia at the Young Artists Exhibit sponsored by the Union of Soviet Artists, later shown in Moscow. At just 26, he became a member of the prestigious Union of Soviet Artists and participated in numerous exhibits from 1974 to 1986, receiving many honors and awards. Despite material success, his outspoken defiance of Communist dogma brought serious difficulties, and he expressed his love of freedom symbolically through his art.

In 1987, Manoukian emigrated to the United States, marking an artistic rebirth. His work combines mood and movement through bold colors and mixed media, celebrating life and freedom. Some pieces reflect the ancient icons of his homeland, while others express contemporary images. Manoukian is represented by Park West Gallery, and his work is collected worldwide.

Claude Cambour mastered the classic tradition of painting “en plein air,” a style of open-air painting established in 19th century France and made famous by the French Impressionists. This technique allowed him to capture the beauty of natural light, color, and shadow in their immediate environment. His vividly colored, tranquil French landscapes have drawn comparisons to such masters as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who inspired him greatly in his youth and continued to influence his work throughout his career.

Born in 1940 in Normandy, France, Cambour developed an interest in art at an early age. After completing his military service, he moved to Paris to develop his painting technique. He studied the work of the masters—Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and Sisley—and enrolled in painting courses at the Union des Arts Plastiques de la Ville de Saint-Denis, where the first public exhibitions of his work were held.

Cambour found his greatest inspiration in the lush landscapes of Giverny, the same village that Monet painted and called home. He settled in Giverny in 1985 and painted its forests, gardens, paths, and ponds in boldly colored, highly realistic detail. His works, represented by Park West Gallery, are collected and exhibited throughout France and around the world. Cambour passed away unexpectedly on January 25, 2012 in Giverny, leaving behind an incredible legacy of art.

Alexandra Nechita earned the nickname “Petite Picasso” as a child prodigy whose mastery of Cubist painting captivated critics and collectors alike. Born in Romania on August 27, 1985, she moved with her family to California at age two. She began working in pen and ink, progressed to watercolors by five, and was using oils and acrylics by seven. Her first solo exhibition at a Los Angeles area public library when she was just eight drew capacity crowds and led to a show at the prestigious Mary Paxon Gallery shortly after she turned nine.

By her tenth birthday, Nechita had already held eight solo exhibitions, launching an international career that continues to flourish today. She has created artwork for major events including the 1997 Grammy Awards and a series for the Special Olympics entitled “Winning Together.” In November 1999, the World Federation of the United Nations chose her to lead a Global Arts Initiative involving more than one hundred nations, and in 2005 she presented a United Nations Peace Monument for Asia in Singapore.

Nechita’s work appears in museum collections worldwide and has been acquired by notable collectors including Oprah Winfrey and Tony Blair, as well as the Walt Disney Company and former President Bill Clinton. Her lithographs are hand-pulled collaborative artworks created at Atelier Idem, formerly the Mourlot Press in Paris, France, where modern masters such as Picasso, Chagall, and Miró created their lithographs. She is represented by Park West Gallery.

Joan Miró stands as one of the most important artists of the 20th century and a precursor of modern art. Born in Barcelona in 1893 as the son of a goldsmith, he showed early talent, creating his first successful drawing at age eight. After studying at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts from age 14 and briefly working as an accountant, Miró suffered a nervous breakdown and returned to art, training at Francesc Galí’s Escola d’Art from 1912 to 1915.

His first solo exhibition in 1918 sold nothing, but after moving to Paris in 1920 and meeting Pablo Picasso, Miró gained critical success. By 1924, he had aligned with the Surrealist movement through Andre Breton, who later called him “the most surreal of us all.” Miró pioneered automatism, suppressing conscious control to let the subconscious guide his hand. His distinctive style featured organic forms, flattened planes, playful shapes, and bright colors that evoked childlike wonderment.

Throughout his career, Miró worked across painting, printmaking, sculpture, tapestry, and ceramics, creating 2,000 paintings, 500 sculptures, 400 ceramic objects, 5,000 drawings, and more than 1,000 lithographic editions. He became renowned for carborundum aquatint, using highly-textured color applications. Park West Gallery is proud to represent this groundbreaking artist. Miró died on December 25, 1983, in Palma, Spain.

Jean-Claude Picot drew deep inspiration from the Fauvist masters of the early 20th century, including Vlaminck, Derain, and Matisse. Their revolutionary use of color, texture, and abstract form shaped his artistic vision for decades. Picot developed a distinctive style that blended Post-Impressionist color application with expressive form and line, creating compositions filled with personal joy and vitality.

Born in 1933, Picot exhibited in more than fifty solo shows worldwide beginning in 1947, with exhibitions spanning the United States, Belgium, Norway, and Australia. He spent part of each year in the south of France, where the Cote d’Azur became a constant source of inspiration. His work captured the Mediterranean’s unique light through breathtaking panoramic views of beaches, harbors, and landscapes. Critics in Paris, Bordeaux, and Oslo noted the clear connections between his paintings and the traditions of Impressionism and Fauvism.

Throughout his career, Picot worked in diverse media including oil, acrylic, watercolor, etching, ceramic, serigraphy, and embellished serigraphy. His subjects ranged from landscapes and still lifes to cityscapes, markets, and festival scenes, all rendered with bright, cheerful character and instantly recognizable style. Picot continued painting until his passing in August 2020, and his work is represented by Park West Gallery and held in prestigious collections worldwide.

Igor Medvedev creates art characterized by masterful structure, deep colors, dramatic use of light and shadow, and a tranquil, peaceful mood. Working across multiple media including painting, printmaking, watercolor and sculpture, his work reflects a lifelong pursuit of architectural beauty that began during his tumultuous early years.

Born in Kharkov, Ukraine in 1931, Medvedev’s life was shaped by World War II. His family fled the German occupation in 1943, walking for a month through Poland and Austria before reaching Germany’s American-occupied zone. During these difficult times, he found solace sketching German towns and cityscapes, discovering what he called “the beginning of a feeling” for structural composition. His artistic talent helped secure the family’s immigration to America, earning him a scholarship to Dartmouth College in 1948. He later earned a Master’s degree from the University of Berkeley in 1953.

Medvedev’s career flourished with fifteen one-man exhibitions in Germany between 1954 and 1963, and numerous shows in the United States. During the 1990s through 2006, he created serigraphs at the Romi studio in Israel. Park West Gallery published a catalogue raisonée of his serigraphs in 2002, with an extended edition in 2007. In 2011, he created his first lithographs at Atelier Arts Litho in Paris. Medvedev is represented by Park West Gallery.

Married artists Wendy and Kevin Schaefer-Miles spend their lives together documenting America’s diverse landscapes, from the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest to the small cottage towns of Rhode Island. The couple met in Florida and married in 1987, beginning their collaborative painting journey just one year later. After Wendy’s father passed away, they moved to Wisconsin, settling north of Whitehall in the hills of Trempealeau County, where they established their dream studio in converted farmhouses. The solitude of this sparsely populated area provides them with the creative freedom they desire while raising their two daughters.

Their unique working relationship has attracted widespread attention through talk shows and print media. Wendy focuses on whimsy, color, and scenery, while Kevin uses his palette knife to add definition and clarity, building up areas between foreground and background. Their collaboration began naturally while painting a large mural together, and their radiant oil paintings have since captivated collectors worldwide. Besides creating oil paintings on canvas, they also produce original serigraphs that are lavishly embellished.

Faith and nature deeply influence their work, with light and warmth present in all their paintings. The path appearing in many of their landscapes serves as a metaphor for life’s journey. Represented by Park West Gallery, Wendy and Kevin treasure meeting their collectors and sharing the experiences that inspire their vivid, luminous artwork.

Alfred Alexander Gockel, known as Alex, was born in 1952 in a coal mining town near Münster, Germany. His first work was published when he was only 8 years old. At 16, Gockel began working 700 meters deep in the German coal mines, an experience that profoundly shapes his art today. He uses self-prepared tar in his acrylics as a direct connection to those formative years. After spending more than two years in the army, Gockel enrolled at the University of Applied Sciences Münster in 1973, where he studied art and design and learned lithography and silk-screening techniques. Following graduation, he taught graphic design and typography at the academy before deciding to focus on his art full-time in the early 1980s.

In 1983, Gockel and his wife Ingrid founded Avant Art, an art publishing company now ranked among the top in the abstract market with customers in more than 50 countries worldwide. He purchased a mill in 1988 to serve as a center for graphic printing, including serigraphy and etching. Distribution points and studios were established in London and Connecticut in 1990. Over the last decade, Gockel has produced sculptures in bronze, silver alloy, acrylic, aluminum, and steel, participating in exhibitions across New York, Boston, Dublin, Madrid, Cannes, and numerous European cities. Represented by Park West Gallery, Gockel continues creating vibrant works that touch viewers’ souls with rich primary colors and fluid strokes.

Alexander Grinshpun is an Israeli Postwar and Contemporary painter who has developed a distinctive expressionist-naive style inspired by the unique landscape and character of the Mediterranean region. Born on April 11, 1949 in Moldova, he graduated from a local art school in 1968 before pursuing advanced studies at The Institute of Arts Saint Petersburg from 1974 to 1978, where he majored in theatrical performance decorations and specialized in background scenery for theater and opera.

Between 1979 and 1982, Grinshpun worked as a theatrical artist in the city of Syktyvkar, where he held his first personal exhibition in 1980. From 1984 until his repatriation to Israel in 1991, he participated in numerous collective exhibitions and held separate showings in Kishinev, Odessa, Tiraspol and Bedery.

His largest and most significant personal exhibition took place in June 2003 at the Center of Arts in Rishon-Lezion, Israel, where approximately 80 paintings were displayed in two large wall-lighted halls. The success of this exhibition led to invitations to exhibit in galleries throughout the United States, Canada and Singapore. Today, Grinshpun’s work is represented by Park West Gallery, where collectors appreciate his unique artistic vision and Mediterranean-inspired compositions.

Yulia Langer was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1972. After studying art at Skovoroda, Kharkiv National University, she spent several years teaching fine arts before relocating to Israel in 2003. Settling near Tel Aviv, she turned her full attention to her true passion—painting.

Langer’s canvases blend story, form, and color in distinctive ways. Romance and intimacy appear throughout her work, while surrealist motifs and a certain musical quality emerge in the backgrounds. She’s known for her rich use of texture, incorporating collage, music scores, lace, crochet, relief work, metallic paints, and gold leaf alongside bold, uninhibited colors. These varied techniques combine to create her signature style.

Her paintings reflect the influence of Marc Chagall, one of the twentieth century’s great masters, as well as the late Theo Tobiasse. Today, Langer’s work is represented by Park West Gallery and can be found in top galleries and distinguished private collections throughout the world. Her unique approach to texture and her ability to weave narrative elements into vibrant compositions have made her paintings highly sought after by collectors who appreciate contemporary art with romantic and whimsical themes.