Jim Scoppettone and Family

Exhibited from December 19 2009 – March 14 2010

Contribution and Inspiration

James Scoppettone’s contribution to contemporary American Impressionism has been recognized by collectors and curators throughout the world. Prestigious public and private art collections including American Pharmaceuticals, Nissin Foods of Japan, Pepsi Cola, the collections of numerous entertainers and CEOs, and the St Louis Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota, feature Scoppettone’s unique interpretations of traditional themes and subject matter.

Inspired by the work and writings of nineteenth-century French and American painters, Scoppettone has devoted his career to expanding the artistic exploration of light. Scoppettone combines concepts developed by the impressionist masters with his own talents and vision to create paintings that are distinguished by brilliant color and vibrant brushwork. Capturing the poetry of sunlight’s subtle nuances, Scoppettone’s work radiates with the energy and joy of light.

Approach to his Work

For centuries artists have explored the likeness between flesh and flower petal, invoking the translucence and texture of one in contrast and coincidence with the other.

When James Scoppettone composes a nature mort of flowers in a vase he confronts the subject directly, straight on and in strong light. For both Lara and James, the handling of a portrait subject is not unlike the nature mort, which furthermore provokes similar methods of rendering skin or stem, and posture of the subject. The differences come to light in the case of comparing each artists’ chosen styles, particularly in the way each one works the paint. Although Lara has explored the Impressionist and Expressionist styles for which her father is known, she in fact paints with a distinct edge of realism that is one part Fantin Latour, the artists hero, and two parts Dutch masters, who were ultimately, and ironically, early surrealists. Technically trained by modern masters such as David Lefelle, Richard Whitney, and John Howard Sanden. Scoppettone the younger uses a finer gauge of brush when applying paint to the canvas then does Scoppettone the elder who has as much paint flying off of his brushes as what lands on the canvas.