Printed Reviews – some of the press and reviews follow – –
watch this space page is continuous updated
Cassone 2014, 2013, 2012 reviews of Menthe Wells work. Cassone follows Menthe Wells Art internationally on European and Asian Tours and in the United States.
KSBR Pubic Radio in Southern California interviewed Menthe Wells as during the week 2014 rolled in relative to her Art Exhibitions, International and national museum and gallery exhibitions and the future 2014 San Luis Obispo Museum of Art Exhibition May 16th to June 29, 2014. The interviewer “Little Lizzie” (public radio’s Elizabeth Ortiz) who previously featured Menthe Wells in the dedication of a Jazz segment in 2013 additionally devoted an entire interview hour to Menthe Wells work, exhibits and achievements in the field of Art. Menthe Wells is featured by this radio station which has followed her work for a period of years since her exhibitions in Laguna California.
Jazz Segment dedication to Menthe Wells April 15th 2013 Radio Station 88.5 FM KSBR
Interviewed by Elizabeth at the Menthe Wells exhibition in Laguna, CA at the Hugo Rivera Gallery
On Monday April 15th, 2013 the radio station 88.5 FM which is KSBR is dedicating a Jazz segment to Menthe Wells as a visual artist sometime in the morning period from 8-12 AM. Now this is a delightful first. What a delightful person Elizabeth is – she is known as the station’s “Little Lizzie.” Comment from Menthe Wells, “I had the marvelous professional opportunity to be interviewed by Elizabeth recently.”
Review Commentary on the Menthe Wells Solo Exhibition at LA Artcore, The Brewery in Los Angeles. The Brewery is the largest art center in the United States
Menthe Wells Exhibition January 2013 by Jeanine Swartz
I was particularly drawn to your steel sculptures, which were to me both bold and graceful, much in the manner of an Asian hand fan. I appreciated the sense of nature whispered, sung, and spoken to me through your use of color in your paintings.
The Hartford Courant
Reviews in newspapers included: full page colorspread in The Hartford Courant, featured in Life/Style Life/Style as an Artist; The Farmington Valley Herald; Featured Artist, Around The Art World; Manchester Herald; The Hartford Courant Weekend, Art Museums Exhibits; Valley Press; Bristol Press from above reviews:
The Hartford Courant
“one might guess that … Menthe has had a tremendous opportunity to ‘discover herself’ through creative endeavors. As a commercial artist, she worked on the Apollo space project. As an actress, dancer… she appeared off Broadway and in films. From 1969 to 1976, she was a member of the teaching staff at the Wadsworth Atheneum”
From full page spread Life Style Weekend Edition The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant Weekend – it’s happening!
The Hartford Courant Weekend – it’s happening!
The FarmingtonValley Herald
re: Animated Sculpture, “Soft Sculpturist Extraordinaire”
The Farmington Valley Herald,
The art critic wrote of Menthe’s paintings and animated sculpture “The same vivacity and enthusiasm for life characterizes them” and “The total commitment she has to discovering the outer limits of her talent ”
The Valley Press Bristol Press
GENE FEIST FOUNDING DIRECTOR ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY publisher
Communication from message sent by Gene Feist in December 2012 relative to the January 2013 Los Angeles Exhibition in LA Artcore Gallery at the Brewery Art Center (largest art center in the US):
To Menthe Wells Congratulations! You deserve all the credit that is out there for true artists.
GENE FEIST FOUNDING DIRECTOR ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY publisher
GENE FEIST FOUNDING DIRECTOR ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY publisher & editor; distinguished collector with collections including Warhol and Menthe Wells; Historically CEO and owner Director of Roundabout Gallery – prominent in New York City.
GENE FEIST FOUNDING DIRECTOR ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY publisher
CHELSEA ARTS newsletter
Review by Gene Feist
MENTHE WELLS: A RETROSPECTIVE
This review explores the multifaceted works of Menthe Wells – as a painter in traditional media of watercolor, oil, acrylic and her innovations: the painting of enameled metal encompassing a broad range of fine arts. Her work encompasses sculpture, the installation – her marble and granite pieces, and a new mixed media print including Giclee, which she has incorporated into monoprint multimedia forms.
During a recent studio visit, I viewed scintillating works in large format, and enameled metal paintings in a format of multiple flat sections creating an assemblage that spoke of a keen eye for form, color, and unexpected emotional content. These pieces are kiln fired, and reflect the traditional qualities of enameled art providing luminescence in abstract subjects reflecting exotic flora, seascapes, landscapes, and discernible human forms.
These impressive works reflect international themes ranging from Menthe Wells travels throughout Asia and Europe. The artist maintains several studios each dedicated to the art forms that she works on simultaneously. In a large storage area, I noted tons of granite and marble being readied for installation in a garden studio. These granite and marble pieces serve to illustrate innovative forms of sculpture that clearly demonstrate Menthe Wells’ roots in abstract expressionism.
Menthe Wells has accepted the challenges of the 21st century and is at the forefront of the new American artists who are pioneering the furthering of art in this country.
351 West 24 St. 17F New YorkNY 10011-1516 Tel 212-645-1155 FAX 212-727-1222 E-mail feistygene@yahoo.com. Web- www,genefeist.com
Menthe Wells abstracted from article Menthe Wells Pamela Sezgin, Art Critic, Museum Director, and Curator
New York born Artist Menthe Wells resides on the West Coast and creates in her U.S studio and internationally. She is exhibited in collections, and museums in multifaceted media. Recently, I observed an emergence into marble and granite installations. Her work which is reflective of international themes in Asia and Europe is distinctly influenced by the portions of each year she spends in other countries. Her work included Animated Sculpture in a one woman Art Event at the Roundabout Theatre Stage II in New York City. Gene Feist, Founding Director of Roundabout Theatre Company has particularly valued her work, throughout the years, and in 2002 recognized her work as a “Retrospective” in the Chelsea Arts in which he wrote, “the artist maintains several studios each dedicated to the art forms that she works on simultaneously. In a large storage area, I noted tons of granite and marble being readied for installation in a garden studio.” Feist further traced the roots, “These granite and marble pieces serve to illustrate innovative forms of sculpture that clearly demonstrate Menthe Wells roots in abstract expressionism”.
Menthe Wells, a painter, whose work was acquired for the permanent collection of the ZimmerliArt Museum, also had many pieces of animated sculpture exhibited in a one woman show at the Lutz Museum. Her paintings: oils, acrylics, watercolors, painted enamels, and collages were exhibited in Faculty Shows in the Wadsworth Atheneum Art Museum. This Museum is where I was introduced to the uniqueness of her multifaceted work. My Atheneum visits, many years ago, were in the days when I was a developing Curator. I saw animated sculpture inspired by Museum Director, Roger Selby’s interest in Menthe Wells’ conceptual art (Selby, Museum Director at the Winnipeg Gallery (Museum), Canada and The Boca Raton Museum of Art). He first featured her Animated Sculpture on television shows in New England representing the Atheneum. In this period, her work grew from his nurturing influence in Museum Events to directions of Sight Sound Intermedia, photography and visual art, featured in Arts in Society. Since then her work has become part of various gallery exhibits and collections in the United States and Abroad.
Feist observed in the 2002 retrospective analysis of her work, “Menthe Wells has accepted the challenges of the 21st century and is at the forefront of the new American Artists who are pioneering the further of art in this country.” Menthe Wells comment on Feist’s analysis, for this review is quietly reflective of his praise. She remembers Feist as a collector of Warhol, in the inner circle at the time, with Warhol making observable inroads into exceeding all existing parameters in the field of art. She reflectively values Feist’s observation of her new work in which he says, “I viewed scintillating works in large format, and enameled painting in a format of multiple flat sections creating an assemblage that spoke of a keen eye for form, color and unexpected emotional content.”
As a Director of several Museums in the United States, and over many years as an exhibit Curator, I have observed this Artist, Menthe Wells, as a woman with a powerful direction and a quiet step, who is leaning on the parameters of art and pushing into new directions. I fully concur with Gene Feist’s observations. I perceive, and recognize, the new directions of expression into which Menthe Wells’Art is heading. The full force of unfolding energy is expression in untraversed, innovative media approaches entering a new century.
Reference is to Chelsea Arts Published by Gene Feist 2002.