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Monday, October 29th
Hunting fantastic monsters in Oaxaca
 Although relatively new to the Oaxaca folk art scene, alebrijes, animals and figures carved from soft copal wood and painted with surrealistic designs in vivid colors, are already a hallmark of native craftsmanship, as distinctive to Oaxaca, say, as Haitian painting is to Haiti.
While alebrijes is a catchall term meaning monsters, clearly all such carvings are not. Many are graceful forms of religious figures, churches and cactus plants done in willowy, colorful, beautiful shapes. They´re also known as animalitos (little animals).
The principal villages where they are produced are San Antonio Arrazola, behind the Monte Albán archaeological site, San Martín Ticajete and La Unión Tejalapan, not far away. Three out of every four families are involved with woodcarving, carvers, painters or part-time entrepreneurs who work in the fields during the day and in makeshift studios at night.
Ron Butler on 10.29.07 @ 07:48 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, October 25th
Modern Dilema
 Over the last week I've had several suggestions for blogs. One is to speak more about the larger world of art and larger issues in contemporary art. The other was to talk about my own work. I think I tend to avoid the first issue because it can become so contentious. I've avoided the second most often because I don't want to make a habit of using this forum as advertisement for my own work. The more I think about these two ideas the more I realize that they maybe go together. So I'm going to try to discuss some of my painting ideas in connection with some larger contemporary issues.
Walter King on 10.25.07 @ 08:16 AM EST [more..]
Monday, October 22nd
Resale Royalties
Here in Australia an election has just been announced which will be held on the 24th of November to decide who will be the Prime Minister of Australia for the next term. The current prime minister, John Howard (Liberal Party), has been in power since 1996 and was subsequently re-elected at elections in 1998, 2001 and 2004 but this time round it looks as though John Howard will not be re-elected. What does this have to do with art? I hear you ask, well, if the leader of the opposition (Labour Party), Kevin Rudd, is elected as prime minister then resale royalties will be introduced in Australia as this is one of the Labour parties policies.
Nicholas Forrest on 10.22.07 @ 09:04 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, October 18th
Let's talk about Sex
 In viewing the range of subjects we can choose to inspire ourselves to produce art, human experience is the largest source from which we draw. Artists have commented on war, on racism, on human rights, and on love. In other cultures, such as those of India and ancient Greece, sex scenes are portrayed on works of art, but in our own culture, normal sex doesn’t seem to have a big place in the fine arts. Yet it occupies a very large space in our minds.
Perhaps it is scary, or perhaps it is taboo because its commercial value hasn’t been determined. Art merchants marketing sexually oriented work risk big on a label they will carry for the rest of their careers if they fail to sell, simply because of the powerful reactions from the public their actions will draw. If sex is so powerful a tool, you would think someone would have the courage to try to manage it. Someone did, and her name is Mary Boone.
Andrew Wielawski on 10.18.07 @ 08:26 AM EST [more..]
Monday, October 15th
CLEAN HOUSE
Have you ever watched that television show called, "Clean House"?
It cracks me up. Sassy host Niecy Nash and cohorts schmooze their way into
the homes of families where filth, clutter and confusion have everyone in a
choke hold. Each time I watch this program, usually the result of channel
surfing, I'm amazed.
"Now that's ridiculous! How can those people live like that?" I ask ...
sounding like chief justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Why is it so easy to look at other people's lives and be judgmental? What
do we get from that? I don't know ... but one thing I DO know is that here
I am ... looking at my own place and guess what? I need to clean house
myself.
Michael Corbin on 10.15.07 @ 09:48 AM EST [more..]
Monday, October 8th
Software, Hard Heads
Say you want to plunge (deeper) into digital. You might start by visiting digitalart.org to look at all the sci-fi, goth, fantasy and commercial stuff being done. No matter what your goals, it's inspiring to see what some of these "pixel pushers" can do.
If you register to put art on that site, there's a pull-down menu to indicate your software. It lists more than 135 programs! With names like Blender, Chaos Pro, Maya, Curvey 3D, Satori. I'm always amazed there are so many. Each has its own personality and bag of tricks. (I've played with only a fraction but I'll nominate ZBrush from Pixologic as the program that most gives you the sensation that you are dealing with genius.)
Bruce Price on 10.08.07 @ 06:49 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, October 4th
Night Fishing
 A week after I returned from Argentina my wife and I packed the truck for a week at her Aunt’s house in Northern Arkansas. We own property there. I should say her family still owns property in the Ozarks. It is a small acreage up in the hill near Bull Shoals Lake. Her parents used to own a small fishing resort with about 9 cabins on the lake. We spent what could be called our honeymoon painting the cabins back in 1975.
They also owned a general store up on the main road with about 45 acres surrounding the store and gas station. It was an old Sinclair station with the big green dinosaur logo above the pumps and yucca plants in the island garden in front by the mailbox.
Walter King on 10.04.07 @ 09:16 AM EST [more..]
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