gRAPHICaNATOMY

Only when the last tree has died
and the last river been poisoned
and the last fish been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money
~Cree Indian Proverb

[spelling as is from website.]
--Thomas Kinkade
http://www.fourmansgallery.com/products2.php3?gobtn=2&nameSeries=Life+Values
where you can buy his artwork... or rather a color copy of it starting at $230.00



Contrast that with the Thomas Kinkade ducking an employee lawsuit by declaring bankruptcy (so much for courage). The Kinkade that gets drunk and urinate on a statue of Whinnie the Pooh at Disneyland...... drunk and public pissing at Disneyland!!! There's some life values for you.
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/34908/thomas-kinkade-arrested-for-alleged-drunk-driving/

And now the poor man is being "tested" by God with new allegations of Drunk Driving.

I never liked his art because I never believed he was sincere. It seemed he had found a niche to market too. A demographic outside the traditional art world and was exploiting it fully; a fancy color reproduction starts at $230.00. $230.00 for a color copy? (NO. It is NOT a print!) But there was no way he could walk his talk. Who could? Being dishonest, exploitive and hypocritical garnered him a lot of criticism.
But if there is any gift from the Almighty, its karma.
The world has a way of giving us back what we send out in a way that is often so humbling.
Can't wait to see what happens next.

Went to see the Biennial at the Westmoreland Museum in Greensburg.
I did not enter this show for two reasons:
1. Entry fee was too high. I dislike entry fees at all. I have to weight the fee against how much I perceive the venue attempting to sell my work. Sure a museum show sounds good, but I have to draw the line somewhere.
2. The last show was horrible. Seriously, it ticked me off. The curator picked a bunch of "nice" & "pretty " work that was about as deep as a sheet of paper. There was no Juror's statement, so there was nothing to go by. As far as I can tell the juror/ curator picked stuff that matched their couch.
So i gave it a pass this time around.

Now I'm sort of sorry I did.
The current Biennial is great.

A great assortment of regional artists with people I've actually heard of.

Peter West has colorful piece that does not let us forget that we are standing on Indian territory.

Daniel Bolick is represented again with his portraits of wrongly convicted men. It has not lost any of its power the 2nd time around.

Adrienne Heinrich with her translucent work, that reveals and hides subconscious sentiment is great to meditate upon.

Gene Fenton showed his photography skills with a piece focusing on texture of rust.

Naturally, I'm drawn to the more colorful pieces like Jane Oregon, & Gabe Felice; but i also appreciate the starkness of Ron Nigro's mechanics and the undulating graph of Sylvester Damanios. Kyle Fischer & Randie Snow had a collaborative piece that was quite evocative.


Overall its a great show, and worth the drive out there. I like the variety of artists, it shows the different viewpoints and the rich assortment of talent we have in this area. And it gives me hope that the Westmoreland is somewhat serious about truly creating an exchange of ideas instead of just housing the "nice & pretty" stuff.

Check it out for yourself:
http://www.wmuseumaa.org/museum/getexhib.cfm?ID=52

Labels: art shows greensburg

the good, the bad and the utterly forgettable.

There was a great collection of PGH artists at Fast >>Fwd gallery. You should go see it. These guys know how to pick great art. Sadly, just picking it is not enough since the gallery is closing at the end of this show. Even though many open a gallery with the best of intentions, one must sell the work to keep the doors open. Selling seems to the missing ingredient. When was the last time you walked into a gallery and some tried to sell you the work?

The Steeltown show looked really good. My work was totally overshadowed by artists better than I. I tip my hat to them.

There was some really colorful stuff in the Irma Freeman Center, but I could not really appreciate it. As per usual the band plays way too loud & bad for that small space. Why? WHY??? Its not like the art patrons are going to form a mosh pit there.... are they?

Eric Luden has some wonderful new work at Zombo and its priced very reasonable, maybe too reasonable. But don't tell him he should raise his prices until AFTER I buy one.


J.R. Holtz had some awesome work at Most Wanted Fine Arts. He does his own thing and seems to enjoy doing it. Go check it out.

The most intriguing work was Beth & Charles Steidle at Modern Formations. Beth does some wonderful delicate line work of tragedy. and Brother Charles had some stunning CGI paintings of beautiful melancholy. It is a solid show that I recommend seeing. Beautifully framed and professionally presented. They even had TAGS!!!

You know what tags are right? I know they are as rare as PGHer's using turn signals, but they do exist. So many local artists do not use tags to their advantage.
I wish artists would learn to put their name next to their work. I HATE the number sticker system, because in a crowded opening I'm not going to wander around looking for answer sheet. It's hard enough to just look at the work. If your work is interesting enough for me stop and look then please let me know who you are, what it is and if its for sale right then and there.
If you are one of those artists who are expecting viewers to come up to you and ask you the title material and price; then you had better damn well make sure you are approachable and on hand at all times. Other wise you are missing out.

Labels: pgh art tags

Just a little something I created in seconds on P-shop. But i think it sums up my feelings accurately. I get frustrated by the greed and stupidity of others that causes so much hurt and damage. Making art is a good 1st step. It can sort feeling and focus energy and bring awareness to others. But only a 1st step of course. so much needs to be done to stop the gushing oil then to clean up the damage and finally to make sure it never happens again. that's going to take more than image making. But through all of that British Petroleum and the others involved, need to be held accountable and face consequences of their actions.

This is my latest work. I'm shipping it off to California today to The Amory center for the arts. I started with water soluble pencil and finished with a wash. I like the nice compact pose of quiet reflection. Those moments you have to just think.