John Mansueto

"I... like to explore and create new kinds of paintings using the often over-looked and unseen details that surround our lives, to exploit these areas in full grandeur using light, shadow, form, and composition."

- John Mansueto

A graduate of Parson's School of Design and native of Long Island, John Mansueto started his career as an illustrator for children's books working for Evelyne Johnson Associates in NYC. After several years John joined the company JMR Graphics, working as a designer and screen printer for fleet marketing. Despite his degree in design, John was always drawn towards landscape art as he was continually inspired by the landscape around him. It was this interest and his own independent practice, which got Mansueto a job as the staff artist at the Fire Island Tide Newspaper - a position he held from 1990 to 2003.

"Harbour View" 16x20

John's work is inspired as much by the works of landscape artists past as it is by his own insatiable exploratory nature. Regularly traveling the length of Long Island, exploring the islands, cave systems, forests, and waterways, taking inspiration from their impressive natural beauty and untouched seclusion. John's works are intimately tied to place - his love for the landscape is evident in everything he does. The precise brush of sunlight atop the blades of grass in a meadow for instance or the realness and complexity given to the watercraft he paints makes his work nearly surreal in its grasp of reality.

"Working The Oars" 9.5x15.5

The clarity of form and horizon comes partially from John's choice of medium. He works in acrylic paints which are a fast-drying form of paint that offers exceptional luminosity and malleability when mixed with acrylic-specific mediums which thin, thicken, or change the finish of the paint. It is due, in part, to the quick-drying nature of the medium that John is able to capture the detail he can.

"Cordwood Autumn" 11x14

Thanks to his background in children's book illustration, John's works always have a subtle hint of narrative, they pose questions and ask us to reevaluate how we percieve and appreciate the everyday. It is exactly this detailed and inquisitive view of landscape which endears John's work to collectors and art foundations across the country. His work has been awarded at the Mystic Outdoor Arts Festival on multiple occasions and he has been a mainstay stand-out at the many exhibitions, shows, and auctions hosted by New York's Salmagundi Club (of which he is also a member).

Today Mansueto lives and works out of historic Islip New York where he is endlessly inspired by the dramatic and beautiful scenery of Long Island's South Shore.

Mario Jung

Born in Seoul South Korea in 1949, Mario Jung's path to his career as an artist has been circuitous and fraught with setbacks. Despite this, or perhaps even because of it, his works radiate a sense of positivity and joy. The world of his imagination is a world at peace with itself - where trees bloom year-round and the lushness of the landscape is a symbol of endless renewal. Due to his unique approach to painting and the depth of texture he creates on the canvas surface, his landscapes seem more like doors than paintings - open windows onto a world so real it can be touched and felt and walked around. His approach blends sculpture and the two dimensional into a style that owes as much to Van Gogh as it does to the whimsy of Dr. Seuss and the ordered delicacy of traditional Korean art.

"Changing Courses" 40x60

Mario graduated from the Seoul Industrial Junior College in 1971, even then dreaming of a career as a professional artist. This creative drive lead him to submit work to the Exhibition of Fine Art of the Seoul Artists Association in 1986, a fortunate leap of faith as his work was awarded the Grand Prize of Western Style Painting and his career immediately took off.

A terrible accident soon after threatened to end it all. Mario was left blinded, deafened and paralyzed after a fall from a third-story balcony. Recovery was painful and after many weeks Mario was ready to give up completely until a spiritual dream restored his will to live. Doctors called his recovery miraculous, soon he was back on his feet and ready to take up the brush again.

"Day By The Lake" 60x48

The history of the oil painting technique in Asia is a fraught one. Virtually unknown, oil painting held very little interest for Asian artists until the mid 19th and early 20th centuries when artists began to take trips to Europe to study or work at one of the major Western art schools of the time. At the same time, artists from the west brought their technique and art with them to Asia - setting in motion what has been described as an "art-theory-exchange program" with the great artists of both cultures coming together to share ideas and techniques. Oil painting is a relatively new technique in Asia (at least when compared to the long and winding history of calligraphy or ink painting) and this newness allows for artists to experiment freely without the boundaries of too much focus on tradition.

"Love and Compassion" 40x30 "Finding Hope" 48x36

Mario works in a style of oil painting called "impasto" a technique used in history by Van Gogh and even earlier, though with less gusto, by the likes of Rembrandt and Titian. Impasto works require the layering of thick strokes of paint to create shadow and light where the paint sticks out from the canvas. Mario takes this technique a step further and uses such tools as cake-decorating nozzles and kitchen utensils to create the extremely three dimensional surface of his pieces. Depending on the size of the canvas Mario can use up to 18 tubes of paint on a single image.

Now living in California, Mario continues to be inspired by the beauty of the world around him.

Far and Away - The Colorful Work of Jeanette Vertentes

"I feel there's enough negativity in the world, you don't need to have it in your home" - Jeanette Vertentes

"To and Fro" 24x30

Known for her bright colors and the depth of emotion in her brushwork, Jeanette's work is a decorator's dream. Traditional subjects from still lifes, to landscapes, to animal portraiture come to vibrant, dancing life beneath Jeanette's brush. She works in layers, each revealing, and by the same turn masking the layer beneath. These layers build upon each other to create a riot of color, as contemporary and abstracted as it is referential to the impressionists of old.

"Salt Pond Find" (30x40)

Jeanette has always maintained the importance of imagination in art - believing from a young age that if you could imagine it you can bring it to life. This philosophy is clear not only through her art but through the trajectory of her life. As a child, she trained under the artist John Lutes, a Rhode Island painter known for his landscape and maritime scenes. This experience inspired her to pursue a BFA in painting and color-theory from Rhode Island College. Upon completion of her degree, Jeanette, true to the spirit of inventiveness and the power of dreams, opened her own interior design and custom furniture company. She ran the company to great success for fifteen years before selling the business off in order to concentrate on painting full time.

"Floral Diptych (I and II)" (40x60)

Jeanette lives and works in North Stonington CT where, surrounded by her gardens and with a view of the sea, she can find endless inspiration in the natural world around her. During the summer she travels extensively to art shows around the country exhibiting her work and in the winter she can be found spreading the joy of art-making to her students. Her art is adored by collectors across the country and when she isn't painting for herself or teaching others, she is occupied with creating commissions for her many admirers.

"Through The Glass" (30x40)