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Arts & Entertainment

Evan Goldman Paints Bethesda

Evan Goldman's "Impressions of Bethesda," a compilation of the Bethesda-based artist's paintings, will be available for sale at this year's Artist Market.

Local and regional artists are already well into preparing for this year's Bethesda Artist Market, coming up in June and July.  Exhibiting artists, including painters, jewelers, photographers, wood workers, potters, and glass and fiber artists, will display their work at the outdoor festival, on a stretch of Norfolk Avenue between Fairmont and St. Elmo Avenues. 

Bethesda native Evan Goldman is a realist painter whose works will be featured at the Market. His local roots have helped shape his career as an artist of both regional and international reach.

Goldman grew up in Bethesda, Maryland and attended Pyle Middle School and Walt Whitman High School, where he studied under Walt Bartman, an accomplished painter and owner of theYellow Barn Studio and Gallery in Glen Echo, Maryland and the recently opened Gallery 322 in Frederick, Maryland.

Throughout his early teenage years and while in high school Goldman took classes at the Yellow Barn, which he says proved an invaluable resource for his intellectual development as a painter. To this day, the Yellow Barn continues to serve all artists in the region through classes and exhibits, while also providing opportunities for professional artists in the area to develop their teaching careers and show their work.

From roots established early-on in Glen Echo and later at Walt Whitman High School under Bartman's diligent inspired encouragement and professional support, Goldman evolved into a multivalent artist with a distinct, bold and expressive style and masterful technique.

After receiving a Presidential Scholar in the Arts national award in high school, he attended MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) on a scholarship and graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting. In 2006, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from The New York Academy of Art, which he also attended on a scholarship. Following graduate school, he completed an extended apprenticeship with Norwegian figurative painter Odd Nerdrum in Stavern, Norway. He continues to further his education and expose himself to the work of other artists at the Art League School at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia, where he studies with internationally renowned neo-Classical painter Robert Liberace.

Despite his ventures away from home, Goldman returned to Bethesda and decided to embark on an extensive and nuanced documentation of the place where he grew up as an artist. An offer for a solo show at The Orchard Gallery -- which has become somewhat of an institution for emerging artists looking for that first solo exhibit in Bethesda -- gave him the impetus to produce an entirely new body of work. Having focused on mastery of the human figure for much of his career, Goldman delved into landscape, choosing Bethesda as his subject.

"I see my series as a portrait of Bethesda," he said in an interview.

Nine months of painting yielded 23 new paintings for his solo show. He painted still lives, landscapes and portraits; but his focus remained cityscapes.

"I was literally painting full time outdoors and from my home studio in Bethesda," said Goldman, who set out on his exploration of downtown Bethesda and its surroundings in the summer of 2009 to prepare for a spring 2010 show at Orchard Gallery.

One of his favorite places to in the area to paint is the overlook at Great Falls.

"The visitors to Great Falls are always in a good mood. I especially enjoy painting there, because they point me out to their kids as a local attraction--'There's an artist!' "

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Goldman has completed two paintings at Great Falls -- one in the summer and one in the fall.

While preparing for his Orchard Gallery show, the artist accumulated so much new, thematically-tied work he decided to publish it all in a book, Impressions of Bethesda. The book and his recent work will be on view and for sale at the Bethesda Artist Market in this summer. The book is also available for purchase on the artist's website, or directly through Blurb.com.

Evan Goldman has participated in the annual Market in previous years.

"The Bethesda Artist Market is a great opportunity to sell your work, meet other artists and meet people in general. It provides the experience of promoting one's work in a public setting and allows artists to reach an audience that might not see the work in a gallery setting. A gallery signifies a more targeted location. A lot of people just wander by the Artist Market."

Goldman's book was born as an idea before his show at Orchard Gallery. Including 34 pieces total (all to be featured in the show), it also contains landscapes he painted from trips to Norway, Italy and Canada.  In addition there are also two cityscapes from New York City and Baltimore, where Goldman spent a considerable amount of time developing his artistic career. Although most of the work in the book dates from the past two years, he has also included 2004 aerial perspective of Bethesda.

"When I was getting ready for the show at the Orchard Gallery, I was also preparing to enter a competition for the Portrait Society of America, so I painted two portraits, which are also in the book. I also threw in a self-portrait because I had not done a self-portrait in a while," he said.

For Goldman, portraits are a barometer of self-evolution.

"When I was a teenager I painted self-portraits because they provided a readily- available subject," he said, grinning. "They are also interesting to me because they allow me to reinterpret and reinvent my own image. I can see myself at different times in life, and they tell the story of my artistic life as well."

Goldman's recent work represents an unexpected turn for the artist, who throughout his career has painted the human figure almost religiously. Impressions of Bethesda collects and embodies what might be a fresh bout of inspiration for Goldman.

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The artist provided insight into the transition into landscape and his technique:

"When I am painting figures, I think more about volume; whereas when painting landscapes, I think about atmosphere. I use more direct lighting for my figures, while landscapes present the unique challenge of fleeting natural light. While figure painting is about working from sketches and looking at the work of other artists for inspiration, in the city, I have to find a place where I can stand without getting in anyone's way!"

"For my Bethesda series, I thought about places I would habitually visit there, and restaurants I might frequent. The buildings in my series are not part of an anonymous cityscape, but are very specific and hold very specific memories and events from my life, " he continued.

The postcard of Evan Goldman's Orchard Gallery show features a painting of the local Barnes and Noble bookstore. This iconic Bethesda image is also the cover of his book.

His work "Taste of Bethesda," which portrays the eponymous annual event presented a unique challenge, as he had to capture a crowd in constant movement.

Goldman looks to his teachers, the old masters and various contemporary artists for fresh inspiration. Odd Nerdrum has been an influence since he was a teenager.

"Walt Bartman was almost like a football coach, if I had played football. (Artist) Robert Liberace was perhaps more like a mentor, and Odd was more mystical - like a sensei," he smiled.

Lucian Freud, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt, as well as William-Adolphe Bougureau, Jeremy Lipking, John Asaro and Jacob Collins are all artists he looks to for technique.

"I am drawn to dramatic paintings," said Goldman, who's in the process of conjuring up some new local landscape works, which he plans to unveil at the Bethesda Artist Market.

Past shows include group exhibits in New York, Miami, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, Orlando, Tampa, as well as four shows at local Yellow Barn Gallery. Evan's art will also be featured in upcoming shows in Montreal and Berlin.

Goldman accepts requests for commissioned portraits, including pet portraits. Notable past commissions include a portrait for Larry Page, co-founder of Google.

This year's Bethesda Artist Market will take place June 11, 2011 and July 9, 2011, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on both days.

For more information about Evan Goldman, click here.

To preview or purchase "Impressions of Bethesda," click here.

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