posted: 12/3/2009

← Back to Pressroom

Daily Pilot December 4, 2009

Small pieces of big art

By Brianna Bailey Updated: Friday, December 4, 2009 12:35 AM PST

Pieces of art hang in the Art Resource Group Gallery. Exhibit features artworks in squares 20 inches or smaller. Opening reception will take place Sunday. From a line drawing by Henri Matisse to a set of Marc Chagall lithographs, nothing is priced over $5,000 in a new art exhibition on display in Newport Beach. “Economy of Scale: Small Works from the 20th Century” features tiny pieces of art by big-name artists.

The show features works of art that are all 20-inches-by-20-inches or smaller. Exhibition organizers hope the show will offer the public an affordable way to own works of art by some of the most renowned artists of the past century. “I have been wanting to do an exhibit like this for a long time — they’re just all little jewels,” said Art Resource Group founder Miriam Smith.

The art dealer provides art appraisal and advisory services. The exhibition includes about 65 small pieces of art from a variety of schools that span a period of four or five decades. Smith’s favorites from the show include a painting of a red, yellow and blue Christmas Tree by Surrealist sculptor Alexander Calder. “It’s so lively and bubbly and it relates whether its during the holidays or not — it’s a very cheerful wonderful piece,” Smith said. She also particularly likes the small Matisse line drawing of lemons on a vine. “It’s a very nice line drawing, and he was able to communicate so much with such little line,” Smith said. Smith, who founded the Art Resource Group in 1987, owns many of the pieces in the show.

Other small works in the exhibition are on consignment at the Art Resource Group Gallery, 20351 Irvine Ave., Suite C-1. The exhibition is on display at the Art Resource Group Gallery, through January.

The gallery will host an opening reception with refreshments 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

“Economy of Scale: Small Works from the 20th Century”

Where: Art Resource Group Gallery, 20351 Irvine Ave., Suite C-1. When: Opening reception with refreshments 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday. The exhibition will be on display at the gallery through January.

The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment. Information: Call for an appointment the week of Christmas, (714) 371-0101.