8
Jun
2011
0

Art for wine’s sake

I’ve always loved the look and feel of Toast Wine Bar & Cafe, a perfect fit for Minneapolis’ Warehouse District with its urban fixtures and soft lighting.

The space became even cooler recently when the proprietors hung several of Angela Kallsen’s striking paintings on the wall. Depicting old vines amidst vividly colored backdrops that sometimes appear almost neon without being remotely garish, these works are simply gorgeous.

They seem a bit abstract to me, but my art knowledge is about as deep as the neighborhood creek in August. At her website, Angela describes one of her grapevine series as having “influences ranging from modern abstract painting to Eastern Asian Taoist philosophy” and her work as depicting “the visual juxtaposition of rigid structures against organic flow.” I get, and agree with, all that.

Now I might be a bit biased here, because Angela is a friend and also the person who created the masthead you see above, a mashup of two photographs taken in Burgundy. But hey, anyone who can make yours truly look that appealing has got some serious talent.

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