Nancy Calef Gallery


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	Born in Bronx, New York, I completed Bronx High School of Science at age 15 and attended the College of New Rochelle on a scholarship to study painting and sculpture. I continue to make new work and regularly exhibit in solo and group shows. For many years I’ve been creating “Peoplescapes,” oil, sculptured characters and applied objects on canvas, addressing cultural, political and spiritual issues facing society. By juxtaposing people in recognizable places and situations, each painting weaves together a story about contemporary life, filled with layers of detail, symbolism and humor.	Artist's Statement I have also lived in Europe and Thailand, traveled throughout the U.S., Mexico, Central America, Southeast Asia, India and Nepal, painting in plein air, which has served to develop my painting style and sharpen my understanding of the cultural and spiritual diversity of the world landscape. I have come to realize that art is truly a universal language.	"Plane slashing” is the latest progression of my 3D technique building up the canvas; lately I’m tearing, cutting and manipulating the plane of an existing painting, while integrating it with one or more finished canvases attached. Painting into the deconstructed imagery as a whole, leaving various portions of the underlying picture(s) in tact, results in a cohesively transformed multi-dimensional piece. As this work evolves, the experience is liberating, moving from chaos to destruction and on to an intuitive composition somewhere between abstraction and surrealism. Everyday, I take the brush to canvas and, although I am confronted with fear and insecurity, I also tap into a limitless source of imagery. In those moments, time falls away and it seems that the work creates itself.
	Nancy Calef, Jack Levine, Lawrence Ferlinghetti photo credit: Christine Torrington		PHOTO GALLERY
	"When I first saw Nancy Calef's paintings I thought, 'Now here's an original idea.' As a traditional, old workhorse, I don't have much use for and don't believe in classifying contemporary art. I do think a picture should say something and Nancy's subject matter and palette express a view of the world beyond her years." Jack Levine -- former President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York Calef's satiric eye views the planet from a unique perspective. The journey that began in the Bronx, was nurtured in the Far East and flourishes in North Beach, has influenced her style, exposing society's foibles with humor - a thread of tolerance in this complicated world." George Krevsky -- Owner, George Krevsky Gallery “Her Peoplescapes are a must-see!" Nicole Meoli -- Where Magazine “This is art with an attitude!” Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco, “Brueghel meets the underground stylings of artists like Spain and S. Clay Wilson in the oil and mixed-media paintings of Nancy Calef, whose "peoplescapes" are on display at a cutting-edge North Beach gallery.” San Francisco Chronicle	Music has become essential to my creative process. Using my piano and vocals, I'm working to capture and perform what I hear in my head. View video excerpt from Fanny Renoir's All Stars Produced and Directed by Fanny Renoir Filmed by Judy On Photographs by Jimmy Leong copyright 2009	Beatitute 41 1/2 Produced by Fanny Renoir A Magpie Literary Magazine Production AVAILABLE AT CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE, 361 Columbus @ Broadway, San Francisco
		KALX RADIO 90.7 fm INTERVIEW of Nancy Calef Part 1\| Part 2 "Women in the Arts"
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