A Fresh Perspective For Discovering Art On EBTH

This January we are excited to introduce our first series of featured artists under the banner, EXHIBIT. Each new EXHIBIT will unveil, discover or illuminate talented artists, a range of mediums or a unique collection of works. Add works from original talent to your home or collection with pieces featured in EBTH EXHIBIT.

We are excited to introduce the first in the series featuring talented individuals spanning countries, decades and mediums.

Eduardo Oliva (b. 1952)

Spanish Cubist and Surrealist

Eduardo Oliva is a contemporary Spanish artist, whose work ranges in a variety of sizes, from small-scale illustrations, to easel paintings, monumental mixed media canvases and even murals. Exhibiting very graphic and humorous themes, many of his compositions often feature abstracted figures, animals, and interior scenes executed with Cubist and Surrealist elements. When viewing Oliva’s work, some may recall the Cubist compositions of Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger, and Jean Metzinger, evident in his use of angular and biomorphic shapes, vibrant colors, and stark delineations.

Among Oliva’s first major art projects was a series of murals that he painted for the African Sahara. Since then, he has continued to gain success throughout his career, exhibiting at a number of galleries, such as the Galeria Matisse (Barcelona); the Palacio de Cristal (Madrid); the Taller de Picasso (Barcelona); and the Galeria Elektica (Miami).

This collection represents the diverse range in the artists’ oeuvre, with highlights including illustrations for covers of Vogue magazine, biomorphic creatures oddly set in the foreground of a palace interior, and toy harlequin figures executed in a monumental scale.

View The Complete Gallery of Eduardo Oliva

George Platt Lynes (April 15, 1907 – December 6, 1955)

Photography

Lynes was a celebrated fashion photographer and is best known for his portraits of celebrities, artists, and male nudes many of which feature surrealist props, dramatic lighting, and suggestive content. After preliminary school, Lynes traveled to Paris and socialized with Man Ray, Gertrude Stein, and Julien Levy, among others. It was not until the late 1920s, after a short year at Yale University, that Lynes became interested in photography and began shooting photos of his friends. Thanks to his friendship with Levy, his work was exhibited and sold as fine art. Lynes went on to serve as the head of the Los Angeles studio for Vogue and photographed many celebrities such as Orson Welles, Katharine Hepburn, and others. When he returned to New York City, he established his studio and focused on male nudes and chronicling the newly established American Ballet Company, now the New York City Ballet. In the 1940s, he shot many photos of gay artists and writers, which caught the attention of Dr. Alfred Kinsey who was researching homosexuality in the United States at the time. As a result, many of Lynes’ homoerotic photos and archives were acquired by the Kinsey Institute after his death in 1955, however many of these works remained unknown until they were published later. Today, Lynes’ photographs are highly collected and exhibited internationally. His experimentation with homoerotic imagery influenced several renowned artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Herb Ritts. Some institutions that have exhibited and collected Lynes’ work include the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others.

Sheila Bonser (contemporary)

Mixed Media

Sheila Bonser is an Ohio-based artist who specializes in mixed media compositions and watercolors. This collection features mixed media collages of various sizes and a series of plein air watercolors that capture the changing seasons.She received a double Bachelor’s of Fine Art in Painting and Printmaking from Wright State University, and throughout her career has been featured in numerous exhibitions. Some of the many institutions that have collected and exhibited her work include the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Wooster Art Museum, the Dayton Art Institute, and Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center, among others.