Father's Day

Above: That's me in front with the big watermelon head, brother Jimmy standing and Dad, chillin' in the backyard, Asheville, N.C. July 1957.

The Wall

Leaving the studio Thursday night I glanced back at the wall where new paintings go and with a reassuring nod thought to myself, "not bad". I have been working toward a fall show and that night I felt the first indications of an emerging theme. "What is that theme?" you ask, well....um...I'm not sure, could be the color palette or the imagery (which has a late 1800's flavor with a surreal twist). At this stage I have no desire to "lock-down" an artist statement, ugh.. those things are the worst, intuition drives the train and the paintings are beginning to feed off themselves, that's what you want.

A few posts back I brought up the subject of, value and art, that week over at "artnet.com" Matthew Bown published a fascinating article on the same topic. It's a long read but if you are into this kind of discussion be sure and check it out.

Top: the wall
Below: Morning Developer, 32x23 oil canvas 2010

SPILL

To put it mildly, this oil spill (gusher) in the Gulf is a hot mess."Save the Planet;" that slogan has always puzzled me, the Earth takes care of itself, and nature shows us who the real boss is time and time again. It is humans that are in trouble, because what is the environment but a reflection of the state of Man? From the looks of it we're not doing too good people. We treat our natural resources as if they were a cross between a "big box chain store" and a toilet, The Gulf of Mexico?, a giant dipstick. No one is sure what the future impact this spill will have, at the moment I'm not very optimistic.


Street artists have been quick to express their views, above is Agent Provocateur's "Slick Dude" stencil.
Speaking of street art, and to lighten things up a bit, go see Banksy's film, "Exit Through The Gift Shop" before it leaves the theaters. Documentary or hoax?, who cares, it's great fun. Watch the extended trailer here (the cool song that opens the video is by Richard Hawley, nice).

Top: Man With A Fish, oil on wood, 2005 (private collection)