- April 19, 2024
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The five men sharing the latest exhibition at the Art League of Daytona Beach approach their work from different perspectives.
What they have in common is their subject matter. The show, “Men Painting Women,” draws together five award-winning artists who focus on the female form.
“We’re five males painting with different sensibilities. It makes it interesting,” said Palm Coast artist Weldon Ryan.
Ormond Beach artist Robert Shirk gathered the artists together for the original show in the summer of 2020 at the Orlando Public Library. This is the second version of the show.
The artists, in addition to Ryan and Shirk, are Leonardo Montoya Perez from Fort Lauderdale and Wilson Romero and Herbie Martin, both from Orlando.
“I came across Weldon Ryan’s works at the Flagler County Art League,” Shirk said. “I thought, this guy’s awesome. I met him, we hit it off. And as I’m meeting other artists, I saw that some are really good, and like me, paint mostly women. I thought it would be great to have our own show.”
The exhibit runs through Sept. 4 and includes 25 diverse paintings of women. An artists’ reception is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 20 from 4 to 7 p.m.
“We come to the subject matter from totally different angles,” Shirk said. “We all do it differently.”
“As I’m meeting other artists, I saw that some are really good, and like me, paint mostly women. I thought it would be great to have our own show. We come to the subject matter from totally different angles. We all do it differently.”
— ROBERT SHIRK
Martin, for example, is a professional photographer who literally paints women. He body paints his models, photographs them, photoshops the prints on canvas and paints on the canvas to create a final piece. The artist's reception will include a body-painted model.
“In my world, every piece I do is poetry,” Martin states on Shirk’s website promoting the exhibit. “That's how I see women, and that's why I create pieces about women.”
Montoya’s Diva Collection features actresses and artists from Yalitza Aparicio and Lupita Amondi Nyong’o to Frida Kahlo, Twiggy and Audrey Hepburn.
Wilson Romero's art is reminiscent of 19th-century Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, but he says his biggest influence was his mother.
“Wilson Romero is just an incredible artist,” Shirk said. “When I was looking around to get my feet wet in the art scene (in Central Florida), he was one of first artists to knock my socks off. Wilson’s work is very detailed, very romantic, very stylized in its own way.”
Shirk is a neo-pointellist painter who creates his pieces on multiple sheets of layered plexiglass.
“The effect creates a three-dimensional kinetic painting that moves and changes as the viewer’s perspective changes,” he said. “If you look at my paintings close up, one layer might be reds, the layer beneath it might be blues. It gives the painting a lot more complexity.”
“Leonardo and myself both paint in oil, we’re both realists and we’re both colorists.His themes are really exciting. Mine are based on the Caribbean diaspora, the costumes, the lifestyles, the excitement participating in Carnival. I like to paint women in their most joyous state.”
— WELDON RYAN
Ryan was a detective and a forensic artist in the New York City Police Department until his retirement in 2004. He was born in Trinidad, which may explain his attraction to Caribbean Carnival.
“I’ve been to every Carnival in Florida — Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa,” he said.
He photographs women at the festivals and creates his paintings from the photos. Ryan's wife, Richlin Burnett-Ryan, is also an artist. Women are the caretakers of the art world right now, he said.
“Women are at the forefront today. They're aggressively saying, ‘We're here,’” Ryan said.
His painting “Ammo Galore” depicts a woman in costume wearing bullet bandoliers around her shoulders and head. “She depicts power and strength,” he says.
Ryan said his art and Montoya's have the most similarities among the five artists.
“Leonardo and myself both paint in oil, we’re both realists and we’re both colorists,” he said. “His themes are really exciting. Mine are based on the Caribbean diaspora, the costumes, the lifestyles, the excitement participating in Carnival. I like to paint women in their most joyous state.”
