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Monday, October 31st
Cargo: The Middle Passage
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to see an exhibit of paintings by artist Tom Feelings at The King Arts Complex, which I found extremely moving. The paintings were in a series depicting the “Middle Passage”. Each piece, painted in black and white gouache, took on a dreamlike ghostly appearance.
Humans were chained and packed like sardines in a wooden hull. These ships were living tombs for some of the Africans enslaved. In my mind I wondered how any human could be so blinded by hate and greed that they lost their compassion.
Ron Anderson on 10.31.05 @ 07:37 AM EST [more..]
Friday, October 28th
Dwell In Fall Spell
It's something you don't often hear people say until it hits.
"Fall is my favorite season!"
Somehow, it always seems to take us by surprise. It creeps up on us as we
continue to wear shorts and sandals on deceptively warm days that struggle
in vain to outlive summer's end. Although I was aware that it was
mid-October, the pleasant arrival of autumn didn't really awaken me until I
drove into work one day recently. Venturing down a narrow stretch of road
framed by oak trees, weeping willows and other towering monuments of nature,
I saw the colors. There are many great artists out there, but Mother Nature
tops them all! She slowly and delicately strokes the leaves in yellow,
orange, red and brown. A rhapsody of color clearly designed to make us
stop, or at least slow down and admire.
Michael Corbin on 10.28.05 @ 09:17 AM EST [more..]
Wednesday, October 26th
Why is the artist subjected to a capricious game of chance?
"Many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air. " Thomas Gray 1716-1771
Why is the artist subjected to a capricious game of chance ? Why is the artist given the title " unknown artist " until the whimsical hand of God , namely the art dealer / the gallerist, the omnipotent one, plucks them from so called obscurity and deems them to be an " established, collectable artist " ?
This baptism of celebrity bestowed on whoever the lucky artist might be, is based on pure commercialism , " the rich becoming richer ". The creative process, the quality, where the artist came from, where the artist is going, the evolution of the work, the struggle, the influences, the materials, etc, ... none of these are measured, none of these are important. It is materialism at its finest. The pricing, sorry let me qualify that, the unreal pricing of art work is never controlled by the artist, it is decreed by the hand of God , the art dealer / the gallerist, because money begets money.
John Nolan on 10.26.05 @ 09:15 AM EST [more..]
Monday, October 24th
A whole playground of playhouses...
 Last time I wrote to you it was about a playhouse inspired by Gaudi.
I asked why not build a Picasso playhouse?
A Miro playhouse?
A Matisse playhouse?
Do you know the Austrian painter Hunderdwasser?
A Hundredwasser playhouse would be great fun.
And a Salvador Dali playhouse?
Ed Baron from Baron Conservancy in Wonder Valley near desert oasis city of Twenty Nine Palms, a few miles east of Los Angeles wrote:
"Can't you just see a whole playground of Playhouses? What a wonderful art project. It would certainly tie in with our purpose of preserving Art and Human Nature. Perhaps volunteers will agree to come erect them at the Baron Conservancy?"
First I asked Ed Baron if he was serious?
He answered: OF COURSE I AM SERIOUS.
In order to describe this project to sponsors I have designed a number of new playhouses inspired by the great masters.
Asbjorn Lonvig on 10.24.05 @ 03:59 AM EST [more..]
Friday, October 21st
An Artistic Journey and Art Critics
Artists have a wanderlust.
Ever feel like a book is closing on a journey?
The ache in our hearts for more space that grew in the middle of the big city of Manhattan urged us on a trip we describe as the 'ride of a lifetime' in the three published novels of our Art Mystery Series.
The books, chronicle events and individuals that are 99% true, but reality is superseded by fantasy and artistic license as we encounter characters and solve mysteries and murders using a palette given me by my mentor Marcel Duchamp. Talk about imagination.
In each book location I am inspired to create a new series of paintings based on a color that dominates the scene: Burnt Sienna in Scottsdale, Lavender in Laguna, Hooker's Green in New York. Excerpts can be read on Amazon.com.
Hyacinthe Baron on 10.21.05 @ 09:24 AM EST [more..]
Wednesday, October 19th
Win $1000 and an Art Trip...
So long as you act like some network of self-effacing losers, I’m reluctant to reveal much, for fear you might actually visit the places and/or friends I cite. Enjoy my photos… it doesn’t much matter where they’re from… And since everything I mention is already famous, labels seem redundant. If you fancy the following tidbits, click on websites for details. Whoever can identify the location of all of these images wins $1000 plus an art trip with me! Too bad I didn’t run this contest last month… you would have enjoyed my New England driving tour! Three answers are out-and-out freebies.
Sue Spaid on 10.19.05 @ 09:16 AM EST [more..]
Monday, October 17th
Jekyll and Hyde and…
 There’s a song by the British rock band Coldplay I sometimes catch my daughters humming on the way to school and I always feel compelled to sing along with them. The opening bit goes ‘when you try your best but you don’t succeed / when you get what you want but not what you need / when you feel so tired but you can’t sleep / stuck in reverse…’ I’m particularly drawn to that second verse. It’s a great song, in uplifting crescendo, contrary to what the opening might suggest. [note: if you’re one of those who tends to read the first paragraph of a blog and proceeds to punish the blogger for his mediocrity and defeatist stance spare yourself the effort, this is not about defeat, this is just an intro.]
Jose Freitas Cruz on 10.17.05 @ 08:01 AM EST [more..]
Friday, October 14th
Posterity or Prosperity — Can Artists Have It Both Ways?
“I'd asked around 10 or 15 people for suggestions. Finally one lady friend asked the right question, 'Well, what do you love most?' That's how I started painting money.” – Andy Warhol
A question that particularly vexes visual artists, especially those who work in prints, is should they create for commercial success or attempt to create a museum bound legacy. If I try to make my art so people will buy it, am I selling out? If I try to make my art for the ages, can I live off it now?
Compared to other arts, visual artists have the ability to wrest more control of their careers than actors, writers and musicians, especially those in the print market. How so? An artist with the drive and wherewithal can choose to self-publish their work and effectively and independently guide his or her career in the process. The other arts are far more reliant on a host of agents, managers and decision makers who exercise enormous control over the fate of their careers. The opportunity to exercise more control is a unique benefit for visual artists.
Barney Davey on 10.14.05 @ 09:23 AM EST [more..]
Wednesday, October 12th
Under 30
Is it me, or is the art-media almost obsessed with artists who are 30 and
under?
Every few months, the magazines will have headlines that say, "The Hottest
Artists Under 30," or
"30 New Discoveries Under 30."
Does something happen to artists when they hit, God forbid, 31? Do they
lose all muscle mass and are no longer able to hold a paintbrush? You would
certainly think so. I know that when you're in your twenties, you're new
and fresh and highly marketable. The typical artist in this age range isn't
as established and therefore not as expensive as more seasoned
professionals.
Michael Corbin on 10.12.05 @ 09:53 AM EST [more..]
Monday, October 10th
Jenga
 I’m not sure the life of an artist ever achieves what most people call normal. Although that is the best way to describe my life at this moment. For me normal means I’m back home and overwhelmed by all the things that need doing that I neglected while on my sabbatical and other travels during the last year. I’m always deferring maintenance, stealing time from things I should do so I can have time to paint or prep a show or attend some conference or exhibition. Being an artist is a balancing act whether full-time or part-time. In 2005 I’ve really only slept in my own bed about 75 nights out of a possible 255 at this writing. When I left for NYC in January my studio was a chaotic mess of neglect both upstairs and down. I paint upstairs and keep a woodshop/workshop downstairs where I build frames, prepare board and canvases and do a lot of the maintenance on my house and car. Between my son who also uses my studio and myself nearly 8 years of putting off the big spring cleaning had piled up tools and bits and pieces of project leftovers and potential projects that never went anywhere and spilled over onto every flat surface available.
Walter King on 10.10.05 @ 12:09 PM EST [more..]
Friday, October 7th
Festa!!!
 When you put a plan into action, some things might not go the way you wanted them to. I never do things the way I thought I’d do them, and I’m not sure if this is a problem or not. Certainly, in the events I’ve organized, I’ve always become a spectator as things unfold, often with my hands off the wheel, and me somewhere other than the driver’s seat. So here’s what I planned, and a bit further on I’ll tell you what actually happened.
My house, a small stone cottage in the hills of Tuscany, with a large lawn space, no neighbors, and ample parking, became the setting for an artistic ‘event’. It started when one of the local studios run by a German closed because he ran out of money and left town. The sculptors there had no place to put their work, and two asked me to store a few pieces on a lot adjacent to my house. I thought, why not set them up and make a kind of sculpture garden? We did.
Andrew Wielawski on 10.07.05 @ 10:19 AM EST [more..]
Wednesday, October 5th
ART and NATURE Book and Artists as Authors
It is a revelation how many artists write so well about the world as they perceive it and of their artistic experiences. Yet a controversy has come to light about how many visual artists are reticent to write their thoughts and prefer to express only through imagery instead of written language as well. Artists are often self-limited to the use of drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, even digital arts, to express an inner life and to make art tangible. If we were cultural anthropologists, such as Margaret Mead, we could say we have discovered that visual artists are often verbose but "afraid" to express through words. While this is often a cultural matter, it is inhibition enforced by an inner critic that actually prevents individuals from giving succinct descriptions of their feelings in words. This inner critic is a compost of cultural, familial, and peer impositions. Is this why the artist is often the radical figure, the romantic oner willing to risk all and endure dire circumstances if need be to create?
Hyacinthe Baron on 10.05.05 @ 09:32 AM EST [more..]
Monday, October 3rd
Rethinking Strategy
 A quick word before the actual blog. What struck me and interested me most about artists before I decided to become one was not that they ran the risk of becoming famous but their stance in life - the way they LIVED, the things they thought, how they said them in public and how they managed to condense all this in their work. I owe more than I can say in the short space of a blog to the mentors I have met so far and who revealed bits of the mystery to me and always hit me on the head whenever the ego got carried away. My thanks to Ed Nowak, Lima de Freitas, Nuno Siqueira and Jorge Marcel – for most of you they will be nobodies, for me they became extremely VISIBLE. They affected my perception, they taught me what being an artist was about - whether they were right or wrong is irrelevant, what really matters is that they’ve lent me the tools to stay afloat.
Jose Freitas Cruz on 10.03.05 @ 08:36 AM EST [more..]
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