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)

Barnyard Scene

Finished the above picture last week, hard for me to believe but my first painting featuring a pig. I like pigs and most farm animals in fact, but my experience with them has mainly been through the anthropomorphic creatures encountered in storybooks and TV shows, (Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web" and Arnold Ziffel of "Green Acres" being two favorites). The pig is a loaded symbol for sure, waste, greed, pity, humor can all be projected onto this animal. In the sketchbook mine started out as the typical "top hat with cigar" variety, I kept playing with this version until I got the idea to put a chicken on it's back. Now I had a slim narrative, no more hats, breakfast. The bacon strip was added last, tough decision. The kid's thought it was weird, but to me it added a bittersweet quality and stretched the narrative just a bit, so it stayed, plus I really wanted to paint some food. Whadaya think?
Above: Friends Contemplating The Future (that was the working title) 20x22 oil on panel 2010

For a brief moment, when I recently walked by this church sign in the neighborhood, I thought they were promoting a Bar B Que fundraiser or something, had pigs on my mind I guess.

Art=Value?

A recent article in the Wall St. Journal highlighted the winners and losers of the spring auction season, some artists trending up, some down. The soaring prices at auction are a fantasy to those of us out here in the suburbs of the art market, (a fantasy that is hard to shake). This Friday, collectors in Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, New Orleans... went to openings and purchased works of art. They won't express it openly but in the recesses of their mind there is the notion that what they bought will increase in value, maybe even spectacularly. Over the years dealers have mentioned to me the whispered complaints of their clients, "Why isn't my collection worth more?". A touchy subject indeed, so lets be honest, 99.90% of art produced and sold, in any market, will likely end up just being wonderful decor to be passed down to lucky family members, but don't let that thought stop you from buying. My advice to the "local-collector", avoid the trendy hybrid, educate your eye to spot an original and most importantly, buy from the heart, passion versus investment strategy. A work of art you love is life enriching, (believe me, that is valuable). Your tastes will change and so will the ever evolving art market, plus, you never know...

UGA Grad

This Saturday over 40,000 friends, relatives and proud parents crowded into Sanford Stadium to honor the 225th graduating class of the University Of Georgia, the first ever under the lights. A beautiful day, an entertaining commencement address by Alton Brown and a fireworks display to end the ceremony, our daughter, Bailey, had become an alumnus of UGA.

Top:The Processional

Above:3+ hours later, fireworks

The happy grad. A job?, that is a discussion for another day.

Baroque (adjective)

Emphasizing dramatic, often strained effect, bold curving forms, ornamentation and the overall balance of disparate parts.

I had this term in my head as I began this picture. The painting started off much lighter though. So, to the background I kept adding a mix of earth tone glazes ( black, raw sienna, burnt umber), with a brick red highlight thrown in for dramatic effect. I rarely employ glazes in my painting process but picked up a better understanding of their use while working on this one. That handy knowledge will benefit future pictures. The only problem, dust! the oily mixture attracts it like ants to a spilt co-cola.

Above: Tulip (Baroque) 28x25, oil-canvas, 2010

Festival Season

This time of year, across the South, you cannot drive 30 minutes without hitting some sort of street festival. Today, just around Atlanta, there are 7 events vying for your attention, you can head up to Marietta for the Sweet Ps Arts Festival or the Buzzard Blast in Louisville. Me, I will be biking over to my favorite, the Inman Park Festival.
These street fairs play an important role in the art market food chain. I know artists that got their start by selling their wares on the festival circuit and I wonder how many young collectors bought their first painting or sculpture from a booth at one of these events? I bet most. At the larger fairs, like the Inman, you can find work that would not look out of place hanging on the walls of most Atlanta galleries, (for a fraction of the price). So, don't turn up your nose you "art hipsters", grab a funnel cake or some Dippin' Dots and join the fun.


Top: Inman Park Festival 2010, an artist I admire, Mr Hooper, had a booth this year, check out his work here.