Art Me Saturday

Carmel in October is always a beautiful sight. The air is clean and crisp, with the scent of the ocean lingering. As always the morning fog was lingering as we walked down Junipero to “Art in the Park”. The local Carmelites were milling around their favorite coffee spot, dog leashes in hand and mans best friend sniffing the ground for fresh markings. Just passed the cafe was the park surrounded by hedges with the opening framed by an old curvaceous tree branch. The grass clearing was filled with an assortment of glass sculptures, bronze outdoor pieces, paintings and jewelry booths.

After perusing the art vendors I stopped at a sculpture booth and spoke to Michael Ezzell about his work. Mounted on the walls of his set up were large fish made out of glass, bolts, gears, nuts and misc. metal parts. They were fascinating with their gaping mouths, large eyes, colorful glass scales and back-lit tails. He also had a grouping of charming ceramic rabbits, pumpkins, turtles and flower pot holders that look like they came straight out of the Briar Patch at Splash Mountain.

Michael Ezzell

After we left the art fair we walked to the local outdoor mall and I stumbled across this beauty. Richard MacDonald happens to me one of my favorite sculptors so I was delighted to see this whimsical public installation in front of Carmel Plaza.  I believe it is part of his Joie de Vivre series but I could not find a title to be exact, if you are ever in Carmel be sure to stop by this and his wonderful studio.

Next on our agenda was to start on the beautiful drive on Highway 1 to the Hawthorne Gallery party in Big Sur. The Hawthorne’s have been our clients for some time and have an annual party at their ocean side gallery that my family and I are more than happy to attend! The gallery its self is a piece of architectural art work. The surrounded grounds are dappled with outdoor bronez sculptures, fountains gardens and a fabulous view of the cliffs and ocean. Once you walk up through the gate you see the transparent walls of the gallery framed with a warm rustic wood. The building blends into it’s environment and compliments the color splashes of art you see inside, yet it still takes a modern stance in the atmosphere of laid back Big Sur. The inside of the gallery is filled with glass works by Greg Hawthorne Chris Hawthorne, and Shelby Hawthorne. Yes this is gallery has a large selection of paintings and sculptures by five of the Hawthorne family members. Don’t let this fool you, Greg has filled his gallery with multiple artists that are extremely talented and allows for a mixtures of tastes that guaranteed to satisfy any buyer.

Outside sign designed and created by Greg Hawthorne

Yours faithfully (with very wind blown hair) and my dad on the balcony at the gallery with the ocean behind us

View from the gallery balcony

 

New Work!!!

 

Dirty Hands

Every time I leave my studio I have oil paint stains on my hands, Prussian Blue is stubborn. In the early stages of the arts in Greece and Rome, painting and sculpting were considered low forms of art, manual labor. True it is that if one is an artist their hands will forever show the labor of their passion. I sometimes wonder if that is the precise reason some thing are considered “low” others “high” depending on how clean you keep yourself. Just imagine what they would have thought about body artists like Hannah Wilke who uses her whole body for art.

   The lovely blue tinge resulted from a large gob of Prussian Blue smeared across my hand from a palette knife. Apparently the handle took a swim in the dollop of paint I had on my palette. By the end of my session I was smudging around the paint with my fingers while changing the composition at the least minute. I suppose I’ll be getting some strange looks from my tax clients tomorrow…

The painting I was "smudging" Let's Get Lost c. 2011

 

Love, Art & Fate

Fate. Like big letters that scroll across your mind the word makes you stop and think… does everything really happen for a reason? Was that just a coincidence or will it lead to something, that will lead to something? I have a hard time with this concept because I feel like I should have control over my life by the choices I make. Recently I have had some contention with my disbelief leading me to think about this idea of fate. My problem is fate is inextricably tied in with love. It seems like every person you love, you LOVE, like “whoa.” How do measure it? It meaning either love or fate. How much does fate interfere with love or visa versa. I am having flash backs of “The Adjustment Bureau.”

Alfred Gockle

If only these things, these ideas were as static and tangible as art. You can see art, touch it (not recommended), smell it and feel it emotionally even if you cannot understand it. The inspiration for art can be the smallest, meaningless encounter. To say the same about love and fate…presently it is taboo. I suppose that the idea of fate and love inspiring one to write could be similar; however it is so often taken out of context, taken too seriously. When is it right for one to just contemplate these ideas like one would contemplate a piece of art; the emotions, vibrancy, rhythm and intensity.

The intricacies of art can at time be just as complicated as those of love.

Robert Indiana

Why must one love? What drives a person to love and feel loved? We seek it out like it is a lost treasure; yet when we find it we know not what to do with it. I find this similar practice with collecting art. A person will bid, bribe, cheat, fight and banter over a piece of coveted art. Once acquired the work vanishes into a dark closet or lonely warehouse never to be seen again. I find this an atrocious way of living. One must make the best of what they have, not squander it away. Who ever thought art and love would be such victims of similar acts. Is it Fate?

Selection of the 140 found in a Parisian bank vault that haven

 

Through Your Eyes I Can See the World

I could feel my body warming up as I biked up Townsend St. after getting off the 6am train to San Francisco. The city was just starting to wake up at 7:15 when I arrived, perfect time to avoid the onset of taxis that were sure to flood the streets at 7:30 for rush hour.  It was freezing cold that December morning, my drawing board slung over my back, breath fogging up my glasses as I raced up Van Ness to get to my intimidating drawing class.I started to loose my breath, sucking in the thick cold air was burning my chest as I pumped the pedals up the hill to the warehouse building. I ran into the building with three minutes to spare, always racing against the clock. Wiped off the sweat from my brow, unloaded my drawing board from the sling back bag and started preparing my charcoal.  I had been doing this for three long months; two hour commute each way to school, 12-14 hour days and homework for hours over the weekend and risking life and limb biking everywhere in San Francisco. I’d always be thinking about the challenging day ahead of me, whose work I’d be staring at in part envy part amazement. This morning was different. Read More…

Charcoal on Paper 18 x 24

 

 

Unexpected Artistry in SF

I was pleasantly surprised with the beautiful weather in San Francisco that breezy September afternoon as I quickly pedaled down Harrison St. It was shortly after 4:30pm when I had left the hustle and bustle of 3^rdand Howard St. where the SFMOMA resides; the traffic started to get congested on the small San Francisco streets. Although the Embarcadero is only a few blocks away, I was actively trying to avoid the hot-tempered taxi drivers by dodging and weaving through the small alleyways and side streets. The Ferry building lay in front of me, the sparkly bay and the looming bridge as its backdrop; a slow trickle of commuters and tourists flowed in and out of the old building. I hopped off my bike, locked it up, adjusted my wind-blown pixie hair cut and strolled into the market place. Read More…

Cupid’s Span

Bronze Sea Creatures

SF Skyline

Support Local Farmers’ Market Flyers

Farmer’s Market Flyers

Book Passage

Interior Hall of the SF Ferry Building

Mushroom Display

Kingdom of Herbs

 

Describe What You See

Boats, 2008 De Young Museum

The experience of an art installation as opposed to just a piece of art is nearly tangible. There are so many elements inclusive of the experience that the artist can use to invite the viewer in. The specific source of light, the exact blackness of the background, the smell of water and the magnitude of the art, creates an environment that is unlike any other. The De Young housed a Dale Chihuly installation in 2008 that I was lucky enough to witness. Although the image does not do the installation justice because of the lack of sensory experience, the photograph of the boats is a work of art in itself. See More…

 

Ai Weiwei: What’s Old is New (via Unframed The LACMA Blog)

I have been following this artist closely and I cannot wait to see this exhibition in LA. I will be posted an article about him shortly and his struggle as an artist in Beijing.

At the end of 2003, as Editor-in-Chief of Art AsiaPacific magazine, I wrote of our cover artist for Spring 2004, Ai Weiwei, “well known in Asia, better known in Europe, and barely seen in New York.” Times sure have changed. Today Ai is known the world over as an artist and cultural activist of the highest order. While that article helped serve as one of several to introduce the artist to new audiences, Ai, born in 1957, has been making art since … Read More

via Unframed The LACMA Blog

 

Has Caravaggio’s Influence Been Over Estimated??

View my research paper on this question. I wrote this paper at Cambridge University while attending their International Summer School. It was by far one of the most enlightening experiences of my life, not just academically. Click on Caravaggio’s “Supper at Emmaus” to read the response to the question.

"The Supper at Emmaus" Caravaggio c. 1601 Plate 3

 

Tomohiro Inaba’s Steel Sculptures

The modernist sculptor Tomohiro Inaba creates heavy substantial pieces of steel that look as if they could dissipate in a second, the steel just about to float away from us. The transience in which his skulls evoke is similar to the popular use of skulls in 17^th century still life painting. In the 1600’s artists use skulls as a ‘memento mori’ to warn the viewer of the painting that life is short and to not indulge in the material aspects of life; the notion is ironic considering a painting is in fact a luxurious material of life. Inaba’s skulls give the sense of fleeting life not because of their possible symbolism but because of the whimsical way in which the artist has cast the steel, to feel lighter than air as if it is going to drift away with the wind. It may be directional but the deer and legs that he has created look not as if they are about to float away but that they are being created in front of our eyes. The density of the steel from top to bottom is just so that it creates the look of movement downward and any second there will be a fully formed figure standing there.

Inaba is a Japanese artist with very little written about him. Articles have been tweeted and posted with just the pictures of his 2011 work but hardly any biographical information is available, even on his own website. Below I have provided the original link in which I found his work and his website. ENJOY!

http://ht.ly/66TfB – original link

http://www.tomohiro-inaba.com/