Archives: Artists

Lucelle Raad was born and educated in Great Britain. In her early twenties, she moved to South Africa, where she studied painting under commercial artist Dorothy Shaw. After marrying and starting a family, she relocated to the United States, settling first on Long Island and later in Sarasota, Florida.

Raad’s work focuses on her family and their experiences, drawing viewers to appreciate the beauty in small details of daily life. Her primary subjects are children, especially how they play and communicate with each other. Her imagery offers a glimpse into the lives of children at their most subtle and enriching moments—in a constant state of discovery, finding excitement at the beach, the park, and the baseball field. They play with dogs and seagulls, celebrating pensive moments of wonderment and joy. She particularly enjoys painting children because their gestures are more innocently expressed, open and honest.

She utilizes a highly developed sense of composition, often incorporating unusual shapes, formats, and sizes in her work. Her colors are vibrant, harmonious, and atmospheric with an impressionistic character. Represented by Park West Gallery, Raad has discovered the medium of serigraphy, publishing a large series of limited-edition prints. She has won prizes throughout the United States for her work and is now exhibited regularly in Europe as well.

Alicia Quaini was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where her talent as a painter was recognized at an early age. She studied with masters Amicarelli and Carpanelli and attended the Mutualidad de Egresados de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. In Mexico, she studied with Melquiedades Ejido, a prominent Mexican muralist. Beyond painting, Quaini is a professional musician who studied at the Conservatorio Provincial Julian Aguirre de Moron in Buenos Aires and the Conservatorio Manuel de Falla. She also contributed to the study of modern dance at Patricia Stokoe Institute of Buenos Aires and the Escuela de Arte Dramatico of Bogota, Colombia, and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Education and Master’s Degree in Music.

Quaini equates her life and art with drama. Her paintings feature provocative bold shapes and fruits laden with symbolic meaning, incorporating an originality that sets them outside the ordinary. She paints with varying depths of light and sensual colors coupled with remarkable textural contrasts. Since 1977, she has had more than 40 solo exhibitions and 100 group exhibitions, with collections in Argentina, USA, Mexico, Canada, Peru, Colombia, Japan, France, Russia, China, South Korea, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Germany, Guatemala, Venezuela, Chile, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and others.

Now living and working in Miami, Quaini is represented by Park West Gallery and serves as a World Wide Special Representative for Friends of the United Nations.

Raymond Peynet was a world-famous French artist born in Paris in 1908. At 15, he was admitted to the Ecole des Arts Appliqués, conveniently located across the street from his parents’ bistro. His career began at the advertising agency Tolmer, where he started by sweeping floors and creating labels for perfume bottles before eventually designing advertisements himself. In 1930, he married Denise Damour and began publishing his illustrations throughout the Parisian press, including Le Rire, Rire à deux, Paris Magazine, and The Boulevardier.

Peynet’s romantic and humorous artwork depicting love between men and women earned him worldwide acclaim as “the Painter of Love.” In 1980, the Museum Peynet opened in Tokyo, Japan. The following year, he was commissioned to create a mural for the city of Carros, France, measuring 120 feet long and 24 feet high. From 1982 to 1990, his work was exhibited in galleries throughout Europe and Japan. In 1985, the French government honored him by issuing a Peynet stamp.

Peynet is represented by Park West Gallery, where collectors can discover his charming celebrations of romance and human connection.

Raymond Poulet was born in Paris in 1934 and trained at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris from 1952 to 1954. Throughout his career, he has exhibited in some of the city’s most prestigious salons, including the Salon des Independants, the Salon d’Automne, and the Salon des Artistes Francois, of which he became a member.

During his early period, Poulet’s paintings were non-figurative in conception. While extremely well constructed, they were created with an essential sensitivity that became his hallmark. Light and color, indispensable to the equilibrium of painting, became the constants in his work.

Since the 1950s, Poulet has never stopped painting, designing, and creating, always in search of external renewal. His travels to the United States, Mexico, and Asia have provided rich inspiration for his evolving artistic vision. He has participated in numerous prestigious and celebrated exhibitions, both solo and with groups, on four continents. Raymond Poulet is represented by Park West Gallery, where collectors can discover his distinctive approach to light, color, and composition.

Charles Penny was born in 1952 in Germany and discovered his artistic calling early in life. After studying in London at Kingston Polytechnic and the St. Martins School of Art, he spent many years working as a freelance illustrator before shifting his focus to fine art printmaking about twenty-five years ago.

Penny’s etchings and limited edition serigraphic screen-prints were first printed and published in 1984. Since then, he has achieved remarkable international success and built a devoted following of collectors drawn to his distinctive Mediterranean-themed works. His exceptional ability to paint light and shade while conveying the heat and atmosphere of a setting has earned him recognition as one of the most accomplished watercolorists working today and secured his place in the annals of original printmaking from the latter half of the twentieth century.

The artist has been featured in numerous one-person exhibitions, including shows at London’s AM Chadwick Gallery, Amalgam Gallery, and Harrods, as well as many exhibitions in Japan. Today, Charles Penny is represented by Park West Gallery, where collectors continue to appreciate his masterful technique and evocative Mediterranean scenes.

Nelson de la Nuez creates works of art that entertain and delight people throughout the world. From a young age, he has been fascinated by colors and their emotional effects on viewers. He works in acrylics, watercolors, oils, and mixed media, but found his true passion in collage, where he loves juxtaposing images that wouldn’t normally occupy the same space.

De la Nuez studied art history at Boston University, and in 1982 became captivated by French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods, particularly Édouard Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the Grass). Through collage, he began exploring the use of people and objects out of place with each other and their surroundings, incorporating works by masters such as van Gogh and Picasso while paying tribute to them through humor. The L.A. Times called him “the comedic da Vinci of our times.”

De la Nuez is an innovative artist represented by Park West Gallery who captivates audiences with his outlandish, hilariously juxtaposed art. His work is published worldwide and available in formats ranging from small matted prints to large limited editions, which are hand-signed and numbered. He aims to create a new generation of art lovers by drawing upon icons and art history to spark interest across generations, believing he succeeds if his art inspires people to think beyond the norm or laugh on a difficult day.

Arkady Ostritsky was born in 1948 in Kishinev, Moldova, where his exceptional talent for drawing and painting was recognized at an early age. By age 20, he earned acceptance into Moldova’s most prestigious institution, the Rapin Art Academy. He graduated with distinction and received many awards, establishing himself as one of his country’s most important painters. During this period, he was chosen to paint numerous monumental works in public institutions and created many large frescos. He also became a distinguished art teacher, mentoring many young artists.

When the USSR opened its gates, Ostritsky traveled extensively throughout Europe, developing a deep appreciation for the buildings and architecture, particularly those in France. This passion has continued even after his immigration to Israel. His subjects include the streets, buildings, and shops of France, Italy, England, Greece, and Spain, creating poignant vignettes that establish a unique relationship between the artist and these magical places.

Like many Israeli landscape painters, Ostritsky uses Mediterranean light as a powerful unifying force in his work. He has had numerous one-person and group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout Europe, in addition to several exhibitions in the U.S. and most recently in Japan. Ostritsky is represented by Park West Gallery.

Jean Claude Novaro was born in Antibes, France in 1943 and has become a world-renowned glassblower whose works now grace galleries, museums, and private collections throughout the world. What began as small glass animals sold to tourists has evolved into internationally celebrated fine art, and he is represented by Park West Gallery.

At just 14 years old, Novaro apprenticed with a glassblower in France, training until he was 20. He then spent the next decade managing production and his own apprentices at a glass factory. In 1973, he struck out on his own, inspired by innovative glassblowing developments happening in the United States. This marked the beginning of his journey to explore the creative potential of glass in entirely new ways.

Throughout the 1980s, Novaro achieved tremendous success creating lamps and sculptures. He earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest hand-blown work ever created. Known for pioneering techniques like hand-painting between layers of blown glass, he works without an assistant, maintaining complete artistic control over each piece.

Today, Jean Claude continues to create in his studio on the Cote d’Azur of southern France, where he works alongside his wife and children, surrounded by their farm’s menagerie of animals.

Alphonse Mucha was born in 1860 in Ivancice, Moravia, in present-day Czech Republic, and became a defining figure of the French Art Nouveau movement at the turn of the century. He began his career at nineteen, painting theatrical scenery in Vienna while taking evening art courses. After a fire closed the theatre district in 1881, he returned to Moravia, where Count Karl Khuen-Belasi hired him to paint castle murals and was so impressed that he sponsored Mucha’s formal education at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts.

Mucha moved to Paris in 1887 to study at Academie Julian and Academie Colarossi, supporting himself through magazine and advertisement design. His breakthrough came when he created a poster for the play “Gismonda” featuring actress Sarah Bernhardt. The poster proved so popular that collectors stole them at night, leading Bernhardt to sign a six-year contract with Mucha for posters, theatre sets, and costumes.

His success expanded beyond theatre posters to decorative panels like his famous “The Seasons” series, as well as jewelry design for Georges Fouquet at the 1900 Paris Exhibition. A passionate advocate for Slav culture, Mucha created the monumental “Slav Epic” and designed stamps and currency for newly established Czechoslovakia. When Germany invaded in 1939, he was questioned by the Gestapo for his nationalistic ties. Though released, he fell ill and passed away, leaving a legacy still celebrated today. Mucha is represented by Park West Gallery.