Denis Gaston Art

David Hockney At The Royal Academy

2012-01-24T21:31:00.000-05:00

Rules Are More Than Lines On Paper

2012-01-06T20:54:00.000-05:00

The Fountain, Marcel Duchamp

Mat Gleason, art critic at Coagula Art Journal, recently wrote an excellent essay titled, “12 Art World Habits to Ditch in 2012.” It is great reading with liberal sprinkles of humorous wisdom. My art boy hackles were raised by two of his habits and I felt compelled to respond.

Mr. Gleason writes:

Rules. There are too many of them. You do whatever you want. You can even be so great that you actually achieve a complete and total failure. Then you can make art. But you never have to follow any of the rules and anyone who says you do... well he or she just hasn't failed enough to realize this.

Experts. Art is subjective. There inherently cannot be experts.

Marcel Duchamp, hero of many post-modernists, and famous for the statement, “Art is whatever the artist says is art, not what critics say art is.” It was, in Duchamp’s case, a true statement, since no one denied he was already a bona-fide artist.

His words have since been turned upside down and taken by would-be artists to mean, “If I say it is art, then I am an artist.” There is a huge difference in the two statements, which is the years and years of labor it takes until one has the training and confidence to call themselves an artist.

People today seek to and are even encouraged to bypass education and experience as unnecessary. Just jump right in and express yourself. Your art is just as valid as any other artist’s work. This is magical thinking of the naïve and also a disturbing trend of those who deride art as being intellectual elitism. As Mr. Gleason correctly points out, art is sensual and visual, not intellectual.

This is where experts and rules come together. From the viewpoint of the artist, creative rules are like riding a bicycle. You ride that bike and then crash. You ride and crash again. Pretty soon, one learns what to do and what not to do and masters riding a bicycle. After that, bike riders internalize the rules and can ‘forget’ them and enjoy the ride.

Making art is the same thing. You go to school or learn on your own. You try something and inevitably make mistakes. Along the way, after much trial and error, you realize there are rules. There are rules of color, line, composition, and technique. The art student internalizes those rules until they too can ‘forget’. The challenge then becomes how to break the rules and stay true to one’s vision.

Considering artists, learning art is first an objective experience. Making art, however, is subjective. If artists stick to it and are lucky, they will become experts of their own personal vision.

When looking at art, viewers tend to fall back on their own personal likes and dislikes. They may not be aware of technique or artistic intention, but if they look long enough, they become experts of their own feelings.

People who spend their lives around art may become expert at art’s objective nature. They recognize color, composition, technique and know if it works or not. When viewing content and speaking of an artist’s intention, their expertise is almost always colored by subjective preference.

It could be said that the artist, the viewer and the art critic are all, in their own way, experts. As it is in life, trouble comes when any one of them try to impose their rules and expertise on the others.

Two Of My Favorite Artists At MoMA

2011-12-17T15:47:00.002-05:00

Artists Can Get Their Art On T-Shirts At ooshirts.com

2011-12-09T14:21:00.001-05:00

I recently discovered a different kind of t-shirt company that prints fast and affordable t-shirts from artists' designs. The company, ooshirts, is a quality custom printer with principles that I can respect.

They take deadlines seriously, pay attention to details, provide quotes and reviews before printing and, if needed, conversations with live customer service folks. I especially liked that the design and ordering process was so simple. I was able to design and order my shirts in 5 minutes. You can't beat that.

Consider ooshirts for a high-quality and affordable way to advertise your art.

My Summer Book

2011-12-08T22:40:00.000-05:00

For many moons I have wanted to combine my two creative joys, writing and image making, into book form. My ignorance of complex design software and the cost of printing hundreds of copies always stood in the way of my book goal.

The internet and digital revolutions have given rise to various print-on-demand companies (POD), which are able to economically print one book or hundreds of them. The clincher for me happened when these companies began offering software so simple even a tech troll like myself could use it.

Even so, my summer project of producing a first book has only now gone to press. Titled Fear of Flying, the small book is a compilation of line drawings illustrated with short prose. When I allow myself to think about it, I realize that life is strange and even absurdly funny. The book is a result of giving in to the joy of odd.

How I Fed The Fridge

2011-11-29T19:11:00.000-05:00

Writing inspiration comes from many places and can happen at the most unusual of times. Ideas pop into my head while taking a leisurely walk, while driving in rush hour traffic, or in the case of my latest story, while listening to the refrigerator.

The ideal sound of a fridge should be no sound at all and, barring that, an unobtrusive ambient hum is acceptable. My last-year's-model ice-box has gone one step further. At certain times of the day, it breaks the semi-silence with odd mechanical groans that seem almost human. I imagine at those times that the poor thing is not feeling well or is hungry.

The latest outburst came several weeks ago while I enjoyed my version of Thai coconut soup. The fridge's groans came in short staccato exclamations. It seemed to be saying, "Feed me! Feed me!"

My first thought was the carniverous plant in the classic film "Little Shop of Horrors." I decided, however, to write a more humorous children's version featuring a hungry refrigerator.

The resulting story, Feed The Fridge, has been chosen to compete with others for publication by meegenius.com. Winners will be chosen by readers' votes and anyone reading this story may vote for Feed The Fridge by clicking on this link. Thank you in advance.

Are There Any Questions?

2011-11-23T12:23:00.004-05:00

Standing before a blank canvas is a lot like watching a Woody Allen movie, but without the humor. Poised there with paint brush in hand, the artist gets a dreaded sense of the daunting task ahead. As with Allen’s movies, there is always the big question, the existential huh – “What does it all mean?” quickly followed by “What can I say that hasn’t already been said?" Rendered immobile by unanswerable questions, artists are often stopped cold before they even begin.

I have read that throughout his career, Allen has been able to disregard his outer and inner critics and rely on his own instincts. The results have been a collection of truly marvelous films and a few that were just average. He made mistakes along the way but was able to put them behind him and move on to the next project.

The biggest challenges for any artist seem to be the courage to begin and the courage to begin again.

John Whipple At Antieau Gallery

2011-11-19T17:09:00.003-05:00

I probably became aware of John Whipple’s art at one of the Gasparilla Art Festivals in Tampa years ago. I say probably because Whipple images have been stuck in my brain box so long, I forget when they first imprinted there.

I was also a sidewalk artist and used early Sunday mornings to see the shows for myself. With only so much time and 300 artists to check out, it became necessary to filter out all decorative, derivative, functional and cute art.

Really important art like John’s doesn’t just call to you; it whacks you in the back of the head. At some point, I had a hot prickly sensation that someone was staring at me. Turning, I saw a booth full of medium-size dark portraits. Moving closer, I realized it was they who had been staring. I could not walk away, but was drawn into their private world and John Whipple’s.

“Merde, but this guy can paint!” I said to no one. But more than technical bravura, John’s art snags us first with humor and familiarity and only then do we get a glimpse of the edginess. It’s like a black comedy when a guffaw suddenly sticks in the throat.

Of course, the mastery is that we recognize something human in those odd characters - our own foibles and shortcomings. We identify with them and we laugh.

John’s art is now in exhibition at Antieau Gallery in New Orleans. Titled Misfits, the show opens Saturday evening, November 19, tonight.

Clifford Still Museum To Open In Denver

2011-11-16T22:26:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, You've Been Selected To Pay Us A Large Amount Of Money

2011-10-12T12:12:00.000-04:00

The e-mail subject line first got my attention – “New York Gallery Representation.” I scanned the letter with rising expectations, past the parts about ‘your wonderful art,’ ‘fantastic opportunity to exhibit in New York,’ and ‘chance for a solo exhibition,’ to the sender’s identity, a well known pay-to-play Midtown gallery.

Knowing well that traditional galleries don’t use such teaser tactics, I was still a bit disappointed. I clicked on the gallery link anyway to learn the details of their ‘offer.’ Full gallery representation with group shows, post cards, magazine ads, museum introductions, would cost $3450.00 a year. In addition, the gallery would collect a 30% commission on sales. If I qualified for a solo exhibition, the costs would be higher. Inquire with the sales manager for rates.

I could not find a section that listed exhibiting artists. Perhaps that list would go on for pages. Looking at past exhibitions confirmed my suspicion that the gallery believed cash to be more important than quality. The art proved to be not terrible but certainly uninspired.

For years, the art community has looked down its nose at vanity galleries. Deemed money grubbing and gauche, their tiny ads were stuck in the back of art magazines. Galleries soon learned there could be big bucks in offering representation to artists willing and able to pay hefty fees. Judging from the numbers of them and their splashy presence in the media, vanity galleries now have a certain amount of creditability.

Two questions popped into my head as I hit the ‘delete’ key. If I pay up, will the gallery guarantee at least one sale? When my gallery run comes to an end, would I list the gallery on my resume? No and no.

Luddites Unite

2011-10-04T10:25:00.001-04:00

Excellent animated video by Gerald Scarfe for Pink Floyd's World Tour 1977. I love grainy old style drawn animation, which has now been surplanted by slick pixilated versions.

SOFB

2011-09-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

It was just one of those simple Facebook tasks, something I had done hundreds of times before. But this time, when adding my comment to a lengthy and serious discussion about who died first, Richard Nixon or his dog Checkers,* this time, as I typed in the friend's name, a drop-down box opened and Facebook tried to enter another slightly different name. Each time I deleted that name, Facebook would re-enter it.

The site seemed to be attempting to anticipate the friend's name before I typed it. Oh my God, Facebook was trying to read my mind! Finally, exponentially, those billions and billions of Facebook algorhythms had achieved the ultimate state of consciousness- human sentience.

My mind quickly flashed on the film, 2001, A Space Odyssey. Hal the devious FB computer has just taken over the space ship. "Now Denis, you don't really want to type Donna Rensfield, do you. You really want to type Donald Rumsfeld, don't you."

In this version of the film, I am Commander David Bowman trying desperately to shut down Facebook Hal before it eats my lunch and empties my bank account. Over and over I keep mumbling, "Sing "Daisy, Daisy," dammit!"

* Richard Nixon passed away April 22, 1994. His beloved Cocker Spaniel Checkers preceded him in death by 30 years.

The Whole World Is Watching

2011-08-10T12:25:00.001-04:00

We here at Denis Gaston Art have reason to celebrate. Recently, in the last day or two, someone, somewhere out there, has become the twelve-thousandth person to visit this blog. That's twelve-thousand visits from 120 different countries. Oops, make that 121 countries.

Compared to mrwinkle.com, that may not seem like many visits, but we think it shows a respectable world-wide interest for our contemporary art related content.

We tip our berets to all those world-wide viewers and look forward to the next twelve-thousand visits. And thanks to our twelve-thousand and fifty-seventh visitor from the Republic of Seychelles.

Moving In And Drawing Out

2011-08-08T22:25:00.000-04:00

In this the hottest day of the hottest month, workers have decided to show up to continue some much delayed home renovation. This Old House this is not and the sound of hammers and saws is often followed by long stretches of silence. Peeking out the window, I discover they've left without a word. Will they be back today, tomorrow?

This sort of home invasion has continued for over a week and my only sanctuary has become the drawing room. In a distant corner from the clang and bang, I start by letting my pen do some walking around on the paper. Later, as a rudimentary image begins to appear, I take over and guide the drawing to completion. This peculiar drawing method has produced a bestiary of critters, two of which appear above.

Craft Is Art

2011-08-03T12:18:00.000-04:00

"Persian Jar," wheel thrown. altered Raku fired vessel, Michael Simon

Craft art has always seemed like a second sister in the contemporary art world. It never strove for the cool or cerebral status of Pop or Post-Modern Art, the two movements that, after the excesses of Abstract Expressionism, came to dominate the mainstream art scene. And, horrors, craft art delighted in showing the hand marks of its makers, a technique strictly avoided in the slick and calculated popular art styles. This alone was enough to land the tradition in the category of amusing artifacts.

But the tradition of fine craft thrives in diverse settings all across the country. This astonishing creative diversity bursts forth in Craft In America, a six part PBS series. In gritty industrial inner cities, in off-the-track Appalachian enclaves, in North West Coast communities and the arid South West, artists are carrying on handed-down traditions, and most refreshingly, many are bringing their craft into the modern art world.

Using technologies unavailable to their ancestors, these craft visionaries are expanding the boundaries of the hand-made traditions and in the process enriching the lives of those willing to take the time to appreciate it.

10 Most Famous Unfinished Art Works

2011-08-01T10:54:00.000-04:00

Some artists are so gifted that even their unfinished works are considered strokes of genius. As with any project that requires intense focus and a large sacrifice of time, achieving art perfection can become an arduous task, making it seemingly impossible to follow through on an ambitious plan. The following pieces are more remembered for their beauty and meaning than their unfinished states — the artists who created them are hardly considered slackers, as each poured their hearts and souls into all of their works. Read story here.

Art For Our Sake

2011-07-28T15:58:00.001-04:00

c. Jonathan Hillyer Photography Inc.
courtesy High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Deep into the dog days of Florida's summer, afternoon finds me momentarily at odds with my calling. I should be painting but the drip-dry heat chases me from the studio. My inner editor advises catching up on art books but workers arrive to install a back door. My last refuge for today becomes the computer screen.

One of the first things to jump out at me is how call to artist sites have changed. Scanning an updated list of shows on the Cafe site gave me a chalk art show in El Paso, an exhibition celebrating Edgar Allan Poe in Boston, a photography show about the Flint Hills in Kansas, a ceramic cup competition in Kansas City, an energy conservation art exhibition in Seattle and a competition celebrating Latino, African and Asian heritage.

In my quick glimpse, only one show made a call to contemporary painters - the Portland 2012 Contemporary Biennial. Unfortunately, the exhibition is limited to Oregon artists.

Even at the local level, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of thematic and multi-media exhibitions. Some of the themes have included dogs, tea cups, tiny art, and psychological states. And it is no longer de riguer to attend just art exhibitions. There must also be something interesting going on - a poetry slam, a charity auction, wine tastings, music concerts.

Pity the poor person who stumbles into a gallery of beautiful and challenging paintings and has nothing but the silence of her thoughts to fall back on.

Whose Art Is It?

2011-07-22T09:50:00.001-04:00

"untitled", George Sugarman, 1992

Hard times and economic woes continue to decimate art funding at national as well as local levels. The Pinellas County Arts Council, oldest in the state (1976), officially ceased to function this year.

Scratching for ways to make further cuts, some county governments have decided to suspend requirements that new government buildings spend 1% on public art. Hillsborough County has ended this program and Broward County is considering similar cuts.

As sad as this turn of events seems, there is a segment of the population who will applaud these decisions. For this small but vocal group, the spending of tax dollars on what they deem frivolous and even vulgar public art is a travesty and waste of money. Art funding agencies have sometimes capitulated to the demands of a few self-appointed art critics.

Of course, art is where you find it, and it would be most difficult to reach consensus on the merits of a work of art. The Eiffel Tower in Paris was derided by citizens as a piece of junk when first erected. It is now the unofficial trademark of the City of Lights. Picasso's iconic woman sculpture in Chicago faced mountains of scorn, but has since become a photo op for tourists and locals alike.

What changed in these two instances? First, city governments refused to cave in to nattering nay-sayers. They firmly believed that public art belongs to everyone, even art that some believe is provacative. Secondly, with time and open minds, more and more citizens came to, if not love, at least tolerate these public works of art.

Public art has a future in our visual landscapes, but only if it is allowed to be what it is - creative, visionary and thought provoking. Much of what I see passing as public art is actually landscape and building decoration. The public deserves to experience the full range of artistic expression of which artists are capable.

Planet Art In Gainesville

2011-07-21T17:07:00.003-04:00

Gainesville Solar Walk,

Elizabeth Indianos, 2002

Last Monday I made a zippy trip up to Gainesville with my road buddy Casandra. One hundred and forty-four miles fell away in a blur as Casi juiced her Mazda to the limit.

Arriving in town with time to spare, we went all Jamaican, man, and dined at the Reggae Shack Cafe on West University Avenue. Best curried tempeh I ever ate.

On the way back to her mom's house, we took a small detour and discovered the planets. This collection is a 4 billion to 1 exact scale public art project by Tarpon Springs artist Elizabeth Indianos.

Stretching nearly a mile along NW 8th Avenue, the Gainesville Solar Walk includes the Sun and all the planets in the solar system. At the very end, all by himself, stands Pluto. Downgraded to a planetoid a while back, he seemed at odds in this miniature tableau.

Next time I will begin my solar walk from NW 22nd Street. From that direction, Pluto will become the numero uno planet or planetoid in the solar system.

ART-O-RAMA

2011-07-14T19:28:00.001-04:00

A ONE ACT

PLAY

Scene One

(Inside the Bungalow home of Todd and Cindi Bowers in an old retro-chic neighborhood.)

Todd: "I’m going to Bartlett & Adams for potting soil and picking up Jason at Quidditch. Have you seen the Prius keys?"

Cindi: "They’re by the zither where you left them. Oh, can you stop by that new Indonesian market and get fresh cilantro. Melissa and Eric are coming for dinner tomorrow and I want to surprise them with Pod Scum Dass."

Todd (irritated) "I am so over those two. Ever since Melissa got implants, she’s been acting holier than thou. And all Eric does is drone on about his latest iphone app. (over his shoulder as he exits right) Ok, see you in a couple."

Cindi (goes to the door and calls loudly) "Todd, wait! We’re out of art! Can you stop by Art-O-Rama and get a couple of new pieces. You know how much Melissa loves art."

Scene Two

(Todd and Jason enter sprawling Art-O-Rama store.)

Todd: "We can’t stay long. Mom wants us home for dinner. (looks down aisle of framed paintings) That’s odd. Action paintings used to be here. Ask that stocker where they moved them."

Jason (to stock boy) "Excuse me, where are the action paintings?"

Stock boy (without looking up) "Aisle 15. Next to analytical cubism."

(in aisle 15 Todd quickly selects two paintings. He and Jason hurry through the express lane and just make it home in time for dinner)

Scene Three

(dinner over, Cindi goes to the multi-media room to hang the new art work)

Cindi (agitated voice) "Honey, they’ve shrunk the art! Come look! (Todd joins Cindi) See what I mean…these action paintings are a full two inches shorter than the last one we got."

Todd: "And look! There’s even less paint on them and only six colors. I paid $6,000.00 for these. What a rip-off!"

Cindi (looking worried) "We have to do something. Melissa will see it right away. You know how discerning she is. She’s been to MoMA."

Todd (scratching head) "Maybe we can hang the impressionist landscape that’s in the laundry room."

Cindi: "No, it won’t do. Artists who paint nature as they see it are living a lie."

Todd: "How about the Chardin still-life in the garage?"

Cindi (irate) "No, no, you idiot! French genre art is so passé. It has to be ‘50’s action painting, New York School, painted by someone who drank at the Cedar Bar. Now take these back and exchange them!"

Scene Four

(later that evening Todd returns from Art-O-Rama with one huge painting. Straining under the weight, he drags the piece into the multi-media room)

Todd (leans the massive painting against the wall and smiles broadly) "We’re in luck. The Art-O-Rama manager himself waited on me. (points at the signature) Look! Mikhail Gorky! Arshile’s brother. He once got into a fist fight with Willem de Kooning. Cedar Bar. 1952. Lots of action. And it only cost $15,000.00!"

Cindi (hugs Todd excitedly) "Mikhail Gorky! Oh Todd, I’m so excited! Just wait ‘til Melissa sees this. She will have a kitten!"

How Cool Is This

2011-07-14T15:58:00.003-04:00

In a previous post, I wrote of the art mecca that St. Petersburg has become. Along with the Dali Museum, the Chihuly Collection & Morean Art Center, and the Museum of Fine Art, add numerous galleries and art studios. The Downtown 'Burg is a one-stop shop for viewing and purchasing art in all media.

This weekend add one more stop on your cultural itinerary - The Cool Art Show. Now in its 23rd year, the, dare I say, venerable show will again spotlight some of the most creative art in the state. It's free, it's indoors in the remarkable Coliseum and it's COOL.

Artist Finder

2011-07-13T22:16:00.000-04:00

A new web site has been launched that promotes Florida artists and their studios. It is called Artist Finder and will use a combination of web site, YouTube and Facebook to promote artists and their work.

One of the most important aspects of the site is to encourage studio visits and purchases from patrons. As outdoor shows have proven, patrons love to talk directly to artists and gain first hand knowledge of how and why artists create. The added feature of studio visits allows patrons an opportunity to enter the artist's world and view the totality of their work.

Jerry Uelsmann At Harn Museum of Art

2011-07-12T12:39:00.002-04:00

Jerry Uelsmann (born 1934) Untitled , 2003
Gelatin silver print
19 3/8 x 15 in (49.1 x 38 cm)
Collection of the artist
© Jerry Uelsmann

In 1965 I arrived at the University of Florida ready to shock and awe the masses with my art making ability.
It did not take long, roughly one semester, to realize I had seriously overestimated my talents. Mostly, it was a couple of hippie graduate students who quickly showed they could paint circles around everyone.

The other person who brought me back to earth was Jerry Uelsmann. It was me in awe from the first I saw his rich darkroom creations. How did he get those elegant images? How could I achieve such feathery chiaroscuro? It was then I discovered that photography could also be art.

What I learned most from Jerry was how to really see the world around me - not just cursory glances, but focused observation. I learned to use my eyes first as a viewfinder and only then look through the camera. A personal design sense would come later, gradually. It helped tremendously that I was able to observe first hand the photographs of a master.

Now through September 11, The Mind's Eye, 50 Years of Photography by Jerry Uelsmann at Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville.

Hidden Lake By Marjorie Greene

2011-07-11T17:26:00.001-04:00

Here is an excellent example of the printmaking technique of artist Marjorie Greene. Marjorie is also a gifted painter and teaches at St. Petersburg College Clearwater campus. These prints, titled Hidden Lake, are reduction wood block prints, which means that after each color is printed, that part of the wood block is cut away. At the end, very little of the block is left. Thereafter, no additional prints may be pulled.

The editions are small with only six prints of each image. The size is 24" x 41" for the outside two and 18" x 41" for the center panel. The prints will be on view at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art on the St. Petersburg College Tarpon Springs campus in August and September.

Re-Birthing By The Bay

2011-07-07T16:33:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday, in one fell swoop, a friend and I completed the trifecta of downtown St. Petersburg art museums. First we viewed the shimmering glass creations of The Chihuly Collection, took a gelato break and later joined tourist throngs at the new house of Surrealism, the Dali Museum.

Those ultra-chic edifices have joined with the Palladian style Museum of Fine Art to make St. Pete a first class art mecca. Every year the city ranks as one of the primo art destinations for mid-sized metro areas. Not bad for a place formerly known for its shuffleboard courts and early bird specials.

Walking along Beach Drive it was easy to see the positive changes that have transformed the downtown bayfront. Sidewalk cafes vied for space with new art galleries and trendy clothing shops. Muscle boys, fresh from a run in Straub Park with their dogs, nursed Perriers while sneaking looks at passing glam girls. If not for the absence of Deco hotels, this had all the feel of a mini-South Beach look at me parade.

If you want to investigate the reasons for such visionary changes in this city, look no further than art. The Chihuly Collection would not be here if not for the encouragement and hard work of the Morean Art Center and its patrons. The Morean Art Center exists because of early and constant efforts of a group of area artists. Artists were and are the catalysts for creating cultural capital.

I go out of my way to tell people that sunny beaches didn’t do it. Condo mania didn’t do it. And baseball certainly didn’t do it. It was art folks.

Thoughts On Arriving

2011-07-06T20:29:00.000-04:00

Waiting for the paint to dry.

Waiting for the light. Waiting for excuses.

Waiting for insight. Waiting for a sale.

Waiting for nothing else to do.

Waiting.

Cy Twombly At The Tate Modern, 2008

2011-07-06T11:32:00.000-04:00

Australian Alien Art?

2011-07-02T21:12:00.000-04:00

Artist Profile: Denis Gaston - Pinellas County Cultural Affairs Interview

2011-06-28T15:15:00.001-04:00

Here is a studio interview from a few years ago. I just now learned how to convert it to YouTube.

Is Art Art?

2011-06-27T09:47:00.008-04:00

The question of what is art and what is not art remains a hot button issue and has resulted in much debate and even name calling in internet chat sites. Volumes could be written about the differences, but the single most important factor in determining art has always been the maker's intent. In the three examples above, only one was intended to be an art work when it was created. Over time, all three have become regarded as works of art. That raises the question, "What is the value in calling something a work of art?"

Florida Artist Group Exhibition

2011-06-25T16:24:00.005-04:00

City Soaring by Patton Hunter

Last evening I attended an invigorating exhibition reception of the Florida Artist Group. Held at the Beach Art Center on Indian Rocks Beach, the show highlights the diverse work of Area 4 FLAG members. FLAG is a statewide organization and the oldest artist run group in Florida.

Cheryl Anne Day-Swallow
Area 4 President
talks with visitors

These are not simply Sunday painters but bona fide professionals who create art Monday through Saturday, and yes, even Sunday. The level of vision and competence is extraordinary and I'm proud to be a member.

(photo courtesy of Jim Swallow)

Art And Change

2011-06-23T20:35:00.017-04:00

In late summer 2007 Jenny Carey of Flair Magazine interviewed me for the Magazine's October issue. She and staff photographer Will Staples spent nearly two hours at my Dunedin studio talking about and taking photos of many different art pieces.

The pictured works were two new pieces that made the final cut for publication.Two months later they were all gone when a horrific fire swept through mine and other artist's studios.

Looking back now, it seems a perfect example of how life can change quicker than a brush stroke.

(top: Clouds of Vincent, mixed-media/burlap, 2007. bottom: Falling Man, mixed-media/wood, 2007)

Jean Dubuffet's Cow

2011-06-21T22:12:00.000-04:00

En Plein Aire as Anywhere

2011-06-20T09:37:00.006-04:00

First of all, let us phase out another tired cliche, "local artist." The term, when used in the media, has come to infer that the artist is not quite ready for full artist status.

In that way of thinking, artists live in cities like New York, Paris or London, while local artists toil away in Podunkville longing for the big leagues.

Even cities that promote themselves as art meccas still freely use the pejorative moniker local artist. Most art museums would never consider mounting an exhibition of a local artist.

In the all inclusive sense of the word, we are global artists. When we stand at the easel, artists tap into a creative spirit that cannot be limited by other imposed boundries We derive our inspiration from world events as well as the back yard.

"Local" comes from the Latin word locus which means "place" and for artists, our place is the world.

Le Palais Ideal Du Facteur Cheval

2011-06-19T21:55:00.001-04:00

Drawing Without Borders

2011-06-14T21:34:00.000-04:00

In 1964, as it became apparent American kids would be going to Viet Nam, I made the easy decision to go to college instead. In the following weeks I slogged through mind numbing courses on logic, calculus, and earth science, more than once wondering if I had made the right decision.

My first art class, Basics of Drawing, promised to be a piece of cake by comparison. After all, I had been drawing since first grade, so how hard could a beginning course be. There were seven of us in the class, all veterans of excellent high school art programs.

Our smugness that first day lay thick like gesso. Our air of superiority lasted all trimester. Exercises on contour drawing, gesture drawing, value drawing, and shapes were no match for the Magnificent Seven.

By trimesters end, all of us felt certain we had aced Basics of Drawing. But, instead of accolades came the unwelcome news that there would be a final exam. After much rolling of eyes and grumbling, some decided it might be smart to hit the books the night before. Book knowledge, it turned out, would not prepare this group of over-achievers.

Next day, Mrs. Bedeau, a no-nonsense and usually punctual woman, strode into class ten minutes late. And as if to heighten the growing suspense, she said nothing, but looked at each of us in turn. A faint smile crossed her face.

“Your final exam today will be a drawing assignment.”

Turning away from us, Mrs. Bedeau placed something carefully on the drawing stand. Then standing aside, she pointed down at the small object.

“I want you to spend the entire two hours drawing this.”

Before anyone could respond, she was out the door and gone.

All of us moved in to get a better look at that mysterious object. We gazed in astonishment at that which would determine our final grade in Basics of Drawing. It was an egg.

Mrs. Bedeau, in her wisdom, had picked the perfect object with which to deflate a group of art prima donnas. Designed by nature to make life easy on the hen, the egg is neither a circle nor an ellipse, but a combination of the two- a spheroid.

I took one look at that little ovo and knew I was screwed. None of the failsafe methods we fell back on would suffice this time. Outlines would not work for there were no lines. Texture was nowhere to be found and contrast existed only as a subtle difference between egg-shell white and the off white drawing stand. I could not detect a single light source since the room was bathed in an irritating ambient glow.

Nothing would do but to start all over, first by simply looking at the object, in this case an egg, in a new way. After a while, I began to notice minute tonal shifts on the egg’s surface. I found what I thought were the points where the circle and ellipse joined, the lightest area. And that is where I began drawing.

Two hours later, my finished drawing looked stiff, awkward, and altogether un-egg like, but that was the exact moment when I began learning how to draw.

Letters From Home

2011-06-13T11:46:00.006-04:00

Silent Sentinels, enamel on wood panel, 1969, Kandauer

My father, Richard Gaston, a cartographer and publisher by trade, took up painting in the late 1940's. He especially loved the German abstract painters and invented his nom d'artist Kandauer, combining the names of German painters Wassily Kandinsky and Joseph Bauer.

After I moved away from home to make my own mark in the art world, Dad gave me one of his favorite pieces called Silent Sentinels. The work seems to say a lot about the artist - a person with deep and complex roots, but silent and closed off to the world. At least that is the feeling I had of him, perhaps reflecting some of my own cloistered insecurities.

Silent Sentinels has been a companion ever since, moving with me many times and becoming a featured piece in my growing art collection. Recently, some old letters from my father resurfaced and forced me to reconsider my ideas about him. Written in masterful cursive, the letters reveal the hopes, dreams and doubts of a man and an artist as he confronted himself and an often indifferent world.

The letters covered a brief time frame when I struggled with acceptance and my own sense of identity. Rereading them after forty years gave me a shiver and brought me closer than ever to a man I wished I had known better.

Artist Lynn Whipple on Creativity

2011-06-12T18:24:00.009-04:00

Artists talking about the creative process often try to impress us with high-faluting art speak. Others babble on too long about how great their art is. Here at last is an instructive and funny look at art making and getting unstuck.

Waiting For The Paint To Dry

2011-06-11T13:35:00.002-04:00

GlobeStalker, oil on canvas, Denis Gaston

"Waiting for the paint to dry" could be a metaphor for the many times I am not painting, whether seeking out inspiration, thinking about what to paint or simply cleaning out the studio. These are all important and necessary precursors to the desired goal of putting paint on canvas.

They may also exist as thorny obstacles to that becoming thing - the lonely challenge of creating something from nothing. Today and yesterdays seem as if the paint will never dry.

Seen And Not Seen

2011-06-02T14:45:00.003-04:00

"Winter Storm Approaching"
oil on panel, 2011, Denis Gaston

Looking at art is different from seeing art. Looking at art can be a casual glance as when one scans the environment while walking, taking in the barking dog, the mailman and passing traffic.

When a person enters an art gallery, they quickly look all around until a certain piece catches their eye. Standing before the work, the process of seeing can begin. The painting’s content, color and composition actively engage the senses. Questions may arise and some kind of appreciation begins forming at a subliminal level.

If a certain art work affects us in a profound way, there can even be a physical response.

Jackson Pollock’s paintings take our breath away. Renoir’s color drenched pieces convey joy and contentment. Seeing art in this sense, is analogous to understanding it, not in some bookish intellectual way, but as a more personal and satisfying experience.

Curly Lights

2011-03-26T21:29:00.000-04:00

In April I'm having a large one person exhibition in a hair salon. But not just any hair salon. Main Street Hair Salon and Dunedin Fine Art Center have for some years been showcasing area artists. The retro funky space is right downtown on Main Street next to the Pinellas Trail.

The show opens on Second Friday, April 8, 5:30-8:30 and businesses, restaurants and galleries will be open late. This will be a great venue for me to exhibit some new girlie paintings. Above is an oil on canvas titled Curly Lights.

Heavenly Shades of Night

2011-03-20T21:07:00.003-04:00

"Water Lily Pond"
Claude Monet

The past few evenings I’ve had reason to be thankful for the nation’s official time keepers giving back the hour they yanked from us last fall. The extra minutes at day’s end give such a blessed opportunity to be still and wrap myself in twilight, becoming more the observer than observed.

Watching the long slow fade outside makes me wonder about the reality of perception. What looked at first like oak trees and oleander bushes against a cloudless sky gradually became shifting patterns of greens, grays and blues.

I am fascinated trying to pinpoint the exact moment the oleander leaves turn from olive green to forest green to gray black to lamp black. Did I miss it?

It was these fleeting color shapes in which the Impressionists immersed themselves and in so doing changed the course of modern art. Art critics scoffed at them for sacrificing the true nature of things for a chaos of color blobs. After twilights like today, I am certain that Monet and his friends were opening wide the doors of perception.

Dear Artist,We Like You But Your Art Stinks

2011-02-07T13:52:00.004-05:00

People who choose to be artists and stick with it long enough come up against a seeming contradiction – on the one hand, the need for an unshakable belief in the importance of one’s art and on the other hand, the ability to disengage from the work long enough to see it in the context of a vast and passive world community.

This play of opposites often becomes a precarious balancing act. Just when the artist becomes certain of the rightness and power of his art, the world out there serves him up a slice of humble pie. Most of us have at one time submitted for review our most profound new work, only to later receive the dreaded “Dear artist, We’re sorry to inform you…..” letter.

Somewhere between our self-assured feeling as we click ‘send’ on the application and our getting back a rejection letter, there ought to be a time-out of our ego; a time of hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst. It helps to realize that one rejection of one piece of art is not a guilty verdict of us as artists. And perhaps there is no real contradiction between feeling strongly about our art and, secure in that feeling, being able to accept rejection of it.

Temple Beth-El Art Festival

2011-01-22T10:34:00.001-05:00

I began exhibiting at Art Festival Beth-El in the early 1990's and the Festival has always been one of my favorites. At no other show have I seen a more enthusiastic community effort at showcasing and selling exciting contemporary art.

This year's show marks the 38th Annual Festival put on by Temple Beth-El in St. Petersburg. The Festival runs January 29, 30, 31 and features over 150 national and international artists.

Pictured above is a new oil on canvas piece titled Game Changer. It is one of twelve pieces I will be exhibiting this year. Click here for more information on the Art Festival.

Dali Hatching Surrealism

2011-01-17T11:42:00.000-05:00

Round Up The Usual Suspects

2010-12-29T19:04:00.005-05:00

At first glance, he looked rather like a pineapple, a bit prickly faced, but with an air of vulnerability, as if sensing what lie ahead at the luau.

Rare James Michaels Drawing Resurfaces

2010-12-28T13:47:00.003-05:00

The day after Christmas, Florida art collector Wayne Notsag decided to clean out several years’ worth of accumulated receipts and old papers. Little did he realize that the unwelcome chore would turn up a long lost treasure.

“I had just thrown a bunch of cancelled lottery tickets into the dumpster,” said Notsag. “Then I saw Mickey’s fat little face smiling up at me. It took some doing, but I was able to save the drawing.”

The art work turned out to be a rare James Michaels drawing of Mickey Mouse from Michaels’ late “Rotund Period.” The piece, titled BMI Mickey, had gone missing months earlier, and Notsag feared it had been stolen by international hooligans.

“James has a wonderful habit of handing out on-the-spot drawings to children at art shows,” said Notsag. “A little boy dropped this drawing and I somehow forgot to give it back to him.” When pressed for details, Notsag confided, “Well, it is an original James Michaels.”

Art experts have agreed it may be difficult to place a price on BMI Mickey since it is a unique drawing and Michaels is reported to still be alive. Notsag was recently asked his own estimate of the drawing’s market value, should he choose to sell it.

“Let’s just say I could buy a whole lot of lottery tickets.”

"On Going Back To The Street After Viewing An Art Show," poem by Charles Bukowski

2010-12-22T21:45:00.004-05:00

they talk down through

the centuries to us,

and this we need more and more,

the statues and paintings

in midnight age

as we go along

holding dead hands.

and we would say

rather than delude the knowing:

a damn good show,

but hardly enough for a horse to eat,

and out on the sunshine street where

eyes are dabbled in metazoan faces

i decide again

that in theses centuries

they have done very well

considering the nature of their brothers:

it's more than good

that some of them,

(closer really to the field-mouse than falcon)

have been bold enough to try.

Art Basil Miami Beach

2010-12-07T18:48:00.004-05:00

The Brain Trap, Robert Williams, courtesy Tony Shafrazi Gallery

In case you missed Art Basel Miami Beach last week, here is an overview of the Festival.

You're A Big Fake

2010-12-01T19:23:00.003-05:00

Quick, which of the three above art works is a fake? Hint - all of them! 11 Most Famous Fakes in Art History, an enlightened essay by Kate Willson, aptly demonstrates that even experts can be fooled, over and over. (essay and photos courtesy college crunch.com)

Elizabeth Murray, Painting From The Body

2010-11-03T20:40:00.000-04:00

Here is a short video of Elizabeth Murray, one of my favorite artists. A hugely talented painter and woman of no conceits, Murray sadly passed away in 2007 at the age of 66.

Whose Public Art Is It?

2010-09-27T17:42:00.017-04:00

Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor

The placing of works of art in public settings has long been a popular way to introduce people to a variety of artistic techniques and visions. Art that might have been seen only in museums could now be enjoyed in parks and plazas and public buildings.

The city of Chicago has long had an excellent public art program, with examples ranging from Picasso’s fifty- foot sculpture at the Civic Center to the more recent minimal masterpiece, Cloud Gate, by Anish Kapoor.

Public art as a form of government subsidy has become so successful that there are now over 350 public art programs around the country.

However, the open and progressive nature of the movement has created a backlash in many communities. Under the banner of diversity, budget constraints, local history or political correctness, local art boards are placing such prerequisites on artists that their unique visions become compromised.

Chicago Picasso by Pablo Picasso
photo: SOM/Ezra Stoller

Having, at some point, offended a few vocal citizens, public art programs have chosen or been ordered to play it safe. Thus, in an effort to appeal to the most people, they often select safe, conservative and family-friendly art. Sadly, the unwritten message received by visionary artists becomes “do not apply!”

The answer to this problem should be that there is enough public art to please everyone, but that is being unrealistic. I’m sure there are still people in Chicago who absolutely hate Picasso’s monumental cubist sculpture.

A better solution might be to cultivate as many visionary citizens as there are visionary artists.

The Art of Martin Puryear

2010-09-22T13:31:00.012-04:00

Over the course of a long career, artist Martin Puryear’s work has consistently been the product of much thought, assembled in a minimalist, simple design. He is clearly a modern sculptor, but uses primitive techniques to create his final works.

Puryear uses common materials such as wood, tar, wire and various metals to create forms that reference traditional crafts and building methods and, at the same time, formalist sculpture. Puryear’s work is often associated with Minimalism, although the artist himself rejects the minimalist ideal of complete objectivity and non-referentiality. Of minimalism he once said, “I looked at it, I tasted it, and I spat it out.”

His works are held in the collections of the Guggenheim, Museum of Modern Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The National Gallery of Art, Walker Art Center, Art Institute of Chicago and Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presented a 30-year survey of Puryear's work in 2008-09.

Art With A Capital "A"

2010-09-20T15:01:00.002-04:00

The Art world appears to be wedged between two opposite ideas. One side, believing that “Art is in the eye of the beholder," pushes against the other side, expressed by artist Marcel Duchamp’s dictum that “Art is whatever I say it is.”

Both schools of thought have validity – people bring their own ideas and experiences when viewing art and praise or reject it based on those preconditions. On the other hand, for artists like Duchamp, with their entire lives immersed in art, even a bicycle wheel on a stool can be art.

The problem seems to hinge on semantics. Art may or may not be in the eye of the beholder but appreciation of art can only be in the eye of the beholder. When a person looks at a painting, they respond to what they see - color, line, composition, and subject matter. If the technique and content are to their liking, they pronounce it art. If the painting is not pleasing to them, they may reject it as art.

There are also certain assumptions we make concerning art. A framed abstract painting hanging in an art gallery automatically becomes a work of art. If the same unframed canvas were lying in a garbage heap, we may think otherwise.

Context then plays a part in our perception of art. Duchamp was keenly aware of this when he made his famous statement and exhibited that bicycle wheel in a museum.

Duchamp’s ready-made works were deemed art based on his fame and experience as an avant-garde artist; here the context became one of notoriety. “Art is whatever I say it is because I am Marcel Duchamp.”

However, absent these qualifications, there must be agreed-upon guidelines when determining if a work is good art or bad art. Does the piece accomplish what it sets out to accomplish? Do color, line, composition, and content create harmony or dissonance? In short, does it work as a piece of art?

Years ago, I was asked to be on a panel of jurors for a group art exhibition. For the better part of an hour, we wandered the gallery, checking out two and three-dimensional art pieces. Near the end of the process, the curator pulled several of us aside to say that we had failed to even consider one entry. She then drew our attention to a sculpture lying at the back of the gallery.

I had seen the piece on my first walk through and thought it to be left over wood pieces from some gallery remodeling project. I did not consider it art. Later, I had the opportunity to meet the artist and visit his studio. He explained how he worked and the artistic lineage from which he drew inspiration. I suddenly had the sensation that I was in the presence of something wonderful and unique.

That studio visit became a re-defining moment for me and overhauled my notions of what exactly constitutes art. Art is in the eye of the beholder and through experience we are able to determine if it is good or bad.

Jun Kaneko, Master Sculptor

2010-09-16T14:17:00.009-04:00

Jun Kaneko is a prolific artist who learns by process and through the dialog between maker and object, a distance he is constantly challenging, achieving an intimacy with his medium where his bold hand can seem invisible. Mainly identified as a sculptor, Jun Kaneko also works on equally technical and innovative levels in glass, textiles, bronze, paper and canvas.

Kaneko came to prominence during the contemporary ceramics movement of the 1960s and 1970s along with colleagues and teachers Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner, and Jerry Rothman. He has taught at some of the nation's leading art schools including Cranbrook Academy of Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Scripps College.

His work is included in more than 40 museum collections including Cranbrook Academy, Detroit Institute of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery.

Kaneko's work was featured in an extensive exhibition at Morean Art Center, St. Petersburg, in March, 2008.

Second Saturday Gallery Walk

2010-09-14T12:12:00.005-04:00

It was a dark and sticky night in St. Petersburg. Rain rolled off windows like sweat on a bottle of Jagermeister. Fortified souls braved the sauna of Central Avenue to take in Saturday Night’s Gallery Walk.

Over at the Morean Arts Center, art lovers gathered to see new works by Denis Gaston. While goth girls slouched by outside on their way to the State Theatre, the intimate Gallery setting provided solace to another group seeking culture and Chianti.

Late reports indicate a good time was had by all.

Tar Baby at Morean Arts Center

2010-09-06T16:02:00.001-04:00

The sad disaster of BP’s Gulf Oil Spew affected me so much that I created a piece of statement art – a not so gentle reminder of the seemingly endless ability of humans to delude ourselves.

In the painting’s initial stages, I thought of one of art’s most powerful statement pieces – Guernica, Picasso’s masterful reaction to the Nazi bombing of the Spanish city in 1937.

As the oil catastrophe played out in the media, viewers were confronted daily with a stream of disturbing photographs. One image that kept popping into my mind was that of tar balls. The thought of hundreds of these black blobs washing up on beaches became a compelling picture that ultimately led to the central theme I sought – The Tar Baby.

The story of the Tar Baby is well known in American literature through the writing of author Joel Chandler Harris. In his popular Uncle Remus series, Harris drew on old African-American songs and folklore to write about the foibles of human nature.

In Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby, the trickster Br’er Fox takes a lump of tar and puts clothes on it. He intends to fool Br’er Rabbit but ends up getting tricked himself.

There is a lesson in the Tar Baby that still rings true today. In our stubborn will to continue an increasingly unsustainable lifestyle, we end up fooling ourselves.

The Tar Baby and nineteen other new works will be on exhibition at Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg.

Click this link to view more about the show: Denis Gaston: Morean Arts Center Featured Artist

Drive-By Drawings

2010-08-25T13:09:00.005-04:00

Perhaps now is the time to re-examine the doodle as an art form, right up on the easel next to oil paintings. If all art is the result of outward experience enriched by the artist's inner creativity, then surely doodles qualify.

A case could be made that doodles are among the purest of art forms, since they are the result of our practical mind distracted from the creative process. They spring forth before we have a chance to anguish over color, line or composition.

Considered useless by most people, doodles have long been employed by artists as preliminary sketches for larger paintings. I am often more attracted to these uncensored drawings for their rawness and energy, qualities often missing in the finished paintings.

In my own case, there has always been an endless loop of images running through my head. When I slow down, turn my gaze inward and get out of the way, some amazing drawings emerge.

Let's just call it doodle art.

Escape Into Life Interview

2010-08-24T00:47:00.013-04:00

In July I had the opportunity of a conversation about art with St. Petersburg based artist Mark Kerstetter. Mark is also an accomplished writer and contributor to the online arts journal Escape Into Life. That discussion led to a recent interview that appears in the journal’s latest edition.

The author and teacher Joseph Campbell once said that as he went through life he could never tell if he had made the right decisions. He simply could not see beyond his present circumstances. But as he neared the end of life and looked back, it was as if he were standing on a mountain top. Gazing down, he saw his whole life neatly laid out before him. From that vantage point, everything fit together perfectly; the stops and starts of all his life journeys became a clear pattern, ultimately leading to the present.

Although not as far along as was Campbell, I am still able to look back and see connections in the past that had a bearing on my life. It is also human nature to wonder if we had made other choices and gone down different roads, would we be any better off. That way of thinking sidesteps reality and ends up a waste of time. Like Campbell, I realize I am who I’m supposed to be and where I’m supposed to be.

Regardless of various roads not travelled, being able to create art throughout life remains a blessing.

Neverne Covington at Morean Arts Center

2010-08-17T14:40:00.015-04:00

Neverne Covington, long one of the area's most respected artists, is featured this month in an exhibition at Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg.

I have always appreciated Neverne's deft drawing style, an ability she has now expanded to print making. Below is an excerpt from the exhibition web site.

"Neverne Covington's drawings, prints, paintings and sculptures explore childhood, language, landscape, memory, and the Gothic south. Her work has been exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Art, the Brevard Museum of Art, the State Capital and various venues throughout Florida and at the Museum of the South in Alabama.

She recently completed a twenty-foot mural commissioned for the new All Children's Hopital in St. Peteresburg, FL. She is the recipient of three artist enhancement grants from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and an artist resource grant from the Pineiias County Arts Council."

(photos courtesy of Neverne Covington and Morean Arts Center)

The Business of Art

2010-08-17T14:16:00.002-04:00

In this video clip from his documentary, The Mona Lisa Curse, acclaimed critic Robert Hughes skewers that group of art collectors who have much more money than good taste. At the same time, he exposes artists willing to provide them with banal and superficial works of "art."

Carolina Cleere at Dunedin Fine Art Center

2010-08-11T12:53:00.009-04:00

Carolina Cleere’s lush, powerful body of work, Icons of Innocence will be on view during the pre & post parties for Wearable Art 6 at the Dunedin Fine Art Ce nter this Saturday, August 14th. Cleere references her experiences as a photojournalist as a primary source for the concepts and imagery in this series of large scale mixed media montages. In her artist’s statement, she writes:

“Children are like a blank canvas. Over time our collection of memories are the color which create our identities. I use plants, animals, objects and color as visual symbols to carefully relay the context of a piece. This symbolism gives psychological meaning to an imaginary world where a mind can find comfort from the suffering of reality. Faces are purposely created to appear introspective so the viewer can bring their own experiences to the surface. My hope is to lure viewers into a narrative world full of allusions, leaving the mind room to explore its own meanings.

I consider a piece successful if it meets my vision for a topic while simultaneously celebrating its intrinsic beauty. My goal is to achieve a balance of personal expression while conveying a universal message about the resilience of the human spirit.”

Come to DFAC this Saturday to catch Tampa Bay’s hottest fashion event = Wearable Art 6 (tickets available online @ www.dfac.org or 727.298.DFAC) and for the final view of Carolina Cleere’s Icons of Innocence exhibition.

Catherine Bergmann

Curator

Dunedin Fine Art Center

(pictured above, The Muse and right, Fish Out of Water,

both by Carolina Cleere.)

Artists Market at Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art

2010-08-03T22:42:00.011-04:00

The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art in Tarpon Springs will host a two-day, indoor, Artists Market in the cool surroundings of LRMA’s award-winning building designed by area architect Ed Hoffman, Jr.

The Artists Market will be held on August 14th from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and August 15th from 1-5 p.m. Admission is free to the Museum and the Market. Refreshments will be available for purchase and the Museum's Education Department will host a children’s art activity area.

Over twenty local artists will display and sell their artwork in support of the Museum and Isabelle’s Museum Store. Selected artists are:

Cindy Arriola – Fiber Art / Accessories. Angela Dickerson – Fine Art Jewelry. Boo! Ehrsam – Mixed Media. Denis Gaston – Mixed Media Painting. Tatyana Igumnova Hankinson – Painting. Lynn Hardesty – Cloisonne Jewelry. Lawrence Hasiak – Turned Wood. Melissa Lee – Ceramics. Cecilia Lueza – Painting / Sculpture. Melissa Menzer – Assemblages. Melissa Miller Nece – Colored Pencil. Gus Ocamposilva – Sculpture. Stacy Perry – Sterling Silver & Copper Wire Jewelry. Alicia Saenz – Oil Painting. Frank Saso – Realistic Painting. Bettina Schott – Photography. Carole Shelton – Stone Jewelry. Curtis Sneary – Oil Painting. Roxie Spell – Ceramics. Joseph Spencer – Sculpture / Jewelry. Cheryl Anne Day-Swallow – Gourds. Jim Swallow – Photography. Mark and Karen Tuttle – Fine Jewelry. Judy Vienneau – Wire Sculpture. Jack Viskil – Painting / Printing. Joseph Weinzettle – Drawing / Painting.

pictured: Ashurbanipal, mixed-media on panel, 2010, Denis Gaston.

Fresh Off The Drawing Board

2010-07-15T10:39:00.017-04:00

The 22nd Cool Art Show is this weekend and just in time I've completed a new series of mixed-media drawings on heavy paper. They measure 19" x 24" and are done variously in ink, graphite, pastel and oil pastel. To see the complete series click here, and then please drop by the show at the wonderful Coliseum.

Come out of the heat into the COOL.

Who Needs The Arts Council?

2010-07-09T14:44:00.004-04:00

Pinellas County was a changed place in 1984 when I moved back after fifteen years in Atlanta. Soon after arriving, I cranked up the old VW again for a homecoming tour of the county.

In St. Petersburg I marveled at the Dali Museum, USF’s Bayboro Campus, and the odd inverted pyramid of the Pier. I looked forward to attending productions at American Stage Theatre and made a mental note to visit Florida Craftsmen Gallery.

Heading back to Clearwater, I drove up Beach Boulevard, happy to see that at least the Gulf Beaches were much the same as remembered. Crossing Memorial Causeway from Clearwater Beach, I noticed an expanded Coachman Park, where Clearwater Jazz Holiday was already making a name for itself. Turning right on the mainland, I followed Pierce St. up the bluff, past an old white mansion overlooking the Harbor. A sign on the front proclaimed Pinellas County Arts Council. Had the county grown enough in sophistication to warrant its own arts council?

My reluctant return to Florida would soon provide opportunities for my own changes. Out of work and running out of money, I longed for a different creative direction, one where I had only to please myself and not others. After too many dead-end ideas and the approach of insolvency, an image of the mansion on the bluff popped into my head. I decided to visit the Arts Council.

Thus began my long association and appreciation of the Pinellas County Arts Council. Over the years, I’ve come to realize the value of an organization that works closely with governmental entities, artists, and the public to support and advance the arts. Through its various programs, the Arts Council provides funding, education, business seminars, arts advocacy and public art programs. Pinellas County is a richer more vibrant cultural destination because of it.

I can say without exaggeration that my own career as an artist has benefitted from Arts Council opportunities. On my first visit in 1984 I received much needed encouragement to stop punching time clocks and let the artist out. Twenty-six years later, the Arts Council continues to offer encouragement to myself and the arts community. Who needs the Arts Council? We all do.

There Be Dragons Here

2010-06-29T18:30:00.017-04:00

I recently watched an old Star Trek episode on my computer, a marvelous thing in itself. In this story, the crew of Enterprise battled a race of nasty reptilian creatures bent on destroying Earth.

From a mythological and psychological point of view, the alien reptiles confronting Commander Archer represented his own primitive nature. Deep in the brain's cerebrum lies an area known as the limbic region, an early part of our evolving brains. Also called the reptilian brain, this area is thought to control our baser instincts - eating, procreating, desires, and fear.

In Western myth, the dragon has come to represent those unconscious parts of us ruled by ego, fear and desire. When we finally slay our interior dragons, we are able to embrace a whole Earth view, free from narrow self interests.

While artists cannot solve the world's problems, we can certainly change how we live in it, and that is an important and courageous first step.

I stand before my easel staring for a long time at a work in progress. Then slowly, by fits and starts, something important begins to emerge from the mass of line and color. At those rare moments, while in the midst of creating works of art, I completely ignore society's demands. All petty desires vanish and I fear nothing. At those times, I feel like I have eaten the dragon.

The Magnificence of the World Amazes

2010-06-24T13:41:00.006-04:00

The remarkable Philippine Eagle has a seven-foot wingspan, yet can maneuver through thick jungles in search of its main prey - monkeys. One can only stand in awe of such a fiercely beautiful raptor. No art work could possibly improve on this natural creature, but I am willing to try.

Do You Know Art When You See It?

2010-06-04T22:23:00.002-04:00

Sunset and a Blank Canvas

2010-05-01T23:28:00.005-04:00

How should artists respond to events in the world around them? Do they have a responsibility to use their art to promote a better society? And, if so, don't they run the risk of creating grand politicized artifacts?

Pablo Picasso was not an artist who painted causes, yet, arguably his greatest work, Guernica, came about as a reaction to the 1937 Nazi bombing of the Basque city. Guernica is an awe inspiring painting, but it did little to halt Spain from becoming a fascist state from 1939 until the mid-1970's.

Picasso had an immediate and profound reaction to the bombing. It could be said that all artists create in reaction to something. They cannot help but experience the world and those internalized experiences are later expressed in works of art.

Great art is even created in reaction to other art. The advance of Pop Art in the 1960's came about in opposition to Abstract Expressionism, the art movement that proceeded it. Pop artists immersed themselves in the popular culture around them and disdained what they saw as out-of-touch and overly emotional action paintings.

Right now, events around me swirl out of control. How shall I respond? In the Gulf of Mexico, a huge natural disaster is taking place. Last week an oil rig leased to British Petroleum exploded, burned and sank. Most workers were saved, but, sadly, eleven others were lost and feared dead.

Crews have been unable to shut off the oil flow and 5,000 barrels a day continue to gush into the water. A massive oil slick formed and is coming ashore in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

This environmental destroyer is heading for the beautiful beaches and estuaries of my state of Florida.

In South Florida, three hours away, lies the vast and mysterious River of Grass, the Everglades. Since the 1920's, opposing forces have been battling over the fate of this unique wetland. Developers, on one side, look at the area and see dollar signs. They have drained thousands of acres for homes, businesses, and agricultural tracts. It is not enough and they are seeking more land.

On the other side are those who want to keep and protect this natural wonder and the plants and animals that live there. Caught in the middle of this tug-of-war is the Florida state animal, the panther. A cousin of the mountain lion, this shy elusive creature has suffered greatly from habitat loss and contact with humans. As a result, there are estimated to be only 100 wild panthers left. In my lifetime, there may be no more panthers in the Everglades.

My response to these disasters has been a creative drought. Yesterday, I could only retreat under a favorite tree and try to wait it out. The shifting sea breeze brought an oily kerosene smell from the Gulf - the sharp smell of doom. Returning to the studio, I tried again to paint, but it was no use. Inspiration had been pushed aside by despair.

Today, surrounded by blank canvasses, I can only wait as the sad calamity comes this way.

YaySayerNaySayer

2010-04-17T22:55:00.001-04:00

YaySayerNaySayer, mixed-media on masonite, 9" x 9", 2010

Faces At An Exhibition

2010-04-16T22:11:00.022-04:00

Here is a group portrait of a just finished project that has taken a big chunk of the last six months. Most of these mixed-media works were painted with a palette knife on 9" by 9" prepared masonite.

Working quickly in a small format challenged me to concentrate on the essential gestures. Several 4' by 5' blank canvasses now lean against my studio wall waiting for the next challenge.

The Great White Hunter

2010-04-11T17:55:00.004-04:00

Today I finished the last painting of a portrait series I’ve been working on for six months. The nine mostly mixed-media pieces on masonite comprise a group of iconic figures that sprang from the imagination.

With no apparent antecedents in the world out here, they function more like emotional signposts – states of mind with which to become acquainted.

Working in a rapid wet on wet method with a palette knife gave me the opportunity to quickly capture fleeting images. I’ve just now reached the point of feeling comfortable with this gestural painting style – comfortable as I can be in a nine by nine inch format. Four by six foot canvasses lean against my studio wall, an all too obvious next challenge.

Perfectly Imperfect

2010-03-31T14:17:00.013-04:00

Living life is often a scary proposition and the artist's job is not to turn away from the unpleasant stuff we come up against. Grab hold of the fear and loathing and force them into one's visual vocabulary. Lately, the results for me have been a kind of Fu-Lion art.

Many Chinese temples are guarded by two fearsome Fu-Lion statues. Their purpose is to keep out demons, the bad guys who continually try to force us off the path. Fu-Lions also give people the opportunity to call up and examine their own fear and anger.

Pictured above is a new work titled Red Tara, a Fu-Lion figure of protection. It is a mixed-media piece on masonite and will be included in an upcoming exhibition.

The exhibition, called Perfectly Imperfect, will he held at The Painted Fish Gallery in Dunedin. I am pleased to be showing with master potter Yasuko Nakamura, whose beautiful ceramic vessel Love Like Wind is pictured at left.

The opening reception will be Friday, April 9, 6-9pm. 727 734-5060. More information.

Stealers Choice

2010-03-27T19:52:00.010-04:00

Authorities recently recovered a painting by Swiss artist Paul Klee, stolen in 1989 from New York’s Marlborough Gallery. After so many years, a Florida art dealer attempted to sell the painting, Portrait in the Garden, to a Montreal gallery.

High profile art thefts are almost always done for the money and almost always fail. It becomes nearly impossible to move big ticket art works, as the above story illustrates, even after 20 years. They are too much in the public’s consciousness.

But what of lesser known artists? Are their works often stolen and for what reasons? I suspect less well known works of art get pinched for those typical human conditions – jealousy, revenge, greed, and even love.

Stealing art because one loves it turns out to be the most interesting situation. It’s been said that imitating art is the sincerest form of flattery. Perhaps that aphorism can be carried further and restated – “Stealing art is the sincerest form of flattery.”

This type of art thief must love the work very much to go to the extreme of stealing it. They would be taking a huge chance of getting caught with the unpleasant prospect of landing in jail. Minus the stealing part, these are just the kind of people artists dream about.

In the mid 1970’s, I participated in the first Piedmont Park Art Show in Atlanta. My booth consisted of one odd little piece titled Electric Lick, an animated sculpture featuring a rubber tongue. Returning from an afternoon food run, I was surprised to discover an empty pedestal. The sculpture was gone. Who rips off art I complained to show organizers. They both agreed it must have been someone who really loved the piece.

After I cooled down and had time to ruminate on it, I realized the Piedmont ladies were right. That reassuring thought was some consolation to a lost weekend of browsers and no sales.

A couple of weeks after the show, I returned home to find my apartment had been broken into. The back window was forced open and muddy footprints covered the floor. Searching everywhere and double checking hidden valuables, I realized not one thing was missing. Someone had broken into my wonderful apartment filled with fabulous art and found nothing worth stealing.

How dare them! It could only have been some low-life punk completely devoid of good taste. Sitting on my Day-Glo yellow designer bean bag, I stared at the still empty pedestal and remembered the Piedmont Park art thief. “Why couldn’t it have been him! He at least knew great art!”

A Question Of Perception

2010-03-19T21:36:00.004-04:00

Man walks up says, Saw you in the newspaper again, you're big-deal famous now, must be makin’ a ton of money too huh?

"No, not really."

Yeah, probably way outa my league. I could maybe afford the frame. Say, what kinda art you do anyway? You a painter? My wife's cousins a painter, yeah, damn good one too, she sold one of those, whaddia call em, still lifes, yeah, sold it to the mayor's wife up in Toledo. So, you paint still lifes?

"No, I'm a drawer."

Drawer! Whazzat? Like what my kid Joey does, with crayons 'n stuff? Hey, you shoulda seen the picture Joey did the other night, picture a Sylvester Stallone. Looked just like him too. Wife put it on the fridge, says he's gonna be another Michaelangelo. . . . . or maybe famous like you. Hey look, do me a favor will ya? Draw me a quick picture, nothin’ fancy, jus' somethin’ I can give Joey, a picture from a famous artist. Boy will he be surprised. Here's a pen and paper, come on, whaddia say?

"Sorry, I don't do that kind of drawing."

Say listen, I’m an art collector too. Yeah, I got fancy dinner plates with pictures of the presidents painted on ‘em. So life like they are! When the mother-in-law visits, I always give her the George W. Bush plate. Say, what’d you say your name was?

Art To Brighten Your House

2010-03-07T22:31:00.003-05:00

Bright House Networks, Tampa Bay's dominant cable provider, has a spiffy somewhat new regional headquarters building in St. Petersburg. They have also decided to brighten up the building's interior by placing contemporary art on several floors.

For the next six months I will be showing twelve mixed-media paintings in this extensive exhibition space. Six of the pieces are new oil and pastel paintings on masonite, such as the above work titled Little Boxes. All works are for sale.

Bright House is located in the Carillon office park at Roosevelt Boulevard and 28th Street near Feather Sound.

A Jewel By The River

2010-02-27T13:52:00.006-05:00

Compared to other more venerable cultural institutions, the Tampa Museum of Art is an art pup. The oldest U.S. art museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT, opened in 1844. Closer to home, the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota debuted in the late 1920s. But with the recent opening of its gem of a new building, the 30 year old TMA could itself be considered a major art destination.

I had not been impressed with architect’s renderings or virtual tours of the proposed structure. The boxy building looked cramped, squeezed in between the Hillsborough River and the new Glazer Children’s Museum. Then there was the problem of the Poe Parking Garage. The monolithic slab looked within spitting distance of the Museum’s north face.

A visit to the Museum Thursday evening completely changed my mind. Perched on a rise and cantilevered above the ground floor, the Museum dominates its space like a hovering modernist temple. Architect Stanley Saitowitz has designed a small masterwork. The soaring first floor lobby area directs one’s gaze up to multiple skylights and second floor galleries. It is fitting that we must then ascend heavenward to view the artistic treasures.

Saitowitz’s intent is that the structure does not compete with but complements art works. He accomplishes this by the judicious use of materials and smaller galleries. At no time did I feel overwhelmed by the building and was able to thoroughly enjoy the exhibitions.

On the way out, I stopped on the Museum’s verandah and took in the panoramic view of downtown Tampa - from the University of Tampa’s minarets and the Hillsborough River to a redesigned Curtis Hixon Park and high rise condos on Ashley Street. Nothing dominated and all flowed together like a twinkling patchwork quilt. Turning for a last look at the Museum’s facade and computer generated light show, I could not help but think – “This time they got it right!”

"Tampa Museum of Art" video by Matt Larson, c. 2010

My First 5th On The 14th

2010-02-15T12:49:00.019-05:00

“Come, get out of the house awhile,” my friend said.

“Too busy. Too cold,” came my wimpy reply.

Unmoved, she continued on, “I’ve got tickets to the Florida Orchestra at Ruth Eckerd Hall.”

I protested, “But I’ll have to dress up. And my van has no heat.”

“They’re performing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. I’ll pick you up at 7,” she said and sealed the deal.

I am thankful for my friend’s persistence. Sitting in the back row of the renovated Hall, I was blown away by the 5th’s four famous opening notes. Even at that distance, I could hear every string pluck, see every inspired movement. I came away from the performance a renewed fan of the wonderful Florida Orchestra and Ruth Eckerd Hall.

From opening day in 1983, Ruth Eckerd Hall has been a jewel in Tampa Bay’s cultural tiara. This new renovation provides the luster propelling the Hall to the next lofty level. Recently, Ruth Eckerd Hall has been recognized as the most successful small concert venue in the world!

The Hall does not allow cameras or recorders, but nothing is said about sketch books. Not ones to miss an opportunity, my friend and I carried our Strathmore pads proudly. As the music rose to its resounding climax, I loosened my stiff fingers and made a few gestural entries.

The first step in any event is the hardest and this Valentine’s Day concert was no different. Once drawn from the warm and cozy confines of the familiar, I remembered what richness lies waiting.

“Come, get out of the house awhile.”

Sometimes I Feel Like Howdy Doody Caught Between Two Hippos

2010-01-31T22:21:00.003-05:00

Opening Doors For Outdoor Artists

2009-12-30T17:29:00.006-05:00

One venue that artists have traditionally used to sell their work is the outdoor show. No other showcase offers the number of art viewers who are able to buy directly from the artist. A prolific hard working artist could conceivably do a dozen shows a year and earn a decent living.

Over the years, show organizers, realizing they had somewhat of a captive audience, began offering more – food, alcohol, music, raffles, children’s activities, and art demonstrations. Many shows became expanded festivals and some took on the look of county fairs. Mom, dad and the kids could be entertained by art while chomping chili dogs and kettle korn.

Because of this, sidewalk shows are often criticized for having a “something for everyone” mentality. Art museums and galleries especially take a dim view of art fairs. Artists who list outdoor shows on their resumes run the risk of being considered not museum worthy.

There is, however, an exhibition at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art that signals a change in attitude. Rocky and Friends is a tribute to the 35th anniversary of the Palm Harbor Fine Arts and Crafts Festival and some of the artists who have shown their work there. This excellent show was organized by the Museum and artist Rocky Bridges, a long time exhibitor and favorite son, born and raised in Tarpon Springs.

Yesterday a friend and I took a walkthrough which slowed to a crawl as we took in a gallery full of magnificent and mysterious awe inspiring art. Afterward, we concluded that every piece of art hanging there was museum worthy.

Outdoor art shows offer the best of two worlds – entertainment and fine art – and the hope is that exhibitions like this will help people distinguish between the two.

Rocky and Friends runs through January 10 at Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, 600 Klosterman Road, Tarpon Springs. (Photograph: Tribute, assemblage, 2009, Rocky Bridges, courtesy of Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art)

Are You Tired of Sappy Schmaltzy Sentimental Saccharin Animated Holiday Films?

2009-12-26T19:20:00.011-05:00

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Lesley Dill Exhibition at Hunter Museum of American Art

2009-12-22T16:18:00.005-05:00

Searching For Art

2009-12-16T22:11:00.004-05:00

A recent St. Petersburg Times story, “Seeking but never finding,” caught my attention. According to behavioral scientists, there is a biological explanation why we’ve become addicted to Google searches.

It appears this activity stimulates a region of the brain called the lateral hypothalamus, or “seeking center.” The constant arousal of this region is what compels people to sit for hours at a computer googling. Some psychologists believe that doing this over time renders us unable to perform concentrated thinking or extensive reading.

I can now disclose that I have first hand experience of this new phenomenon. Last month, after moving my art studio back home, it became necessary to rearrange my workspace. The living room has again become the matting and framing area. The dining room table now doubles as a wet- media work station.

Taking advantage of the only available north light, I placed my drawing board by the bedroom window – directly across from the computer. Bad move!

Creating for me requires an empty mind, so before beginning each day, I must first sweep out the place. Every distracting thought skulking in the corner is pushed out the door, every yapping desire temporarily chained outside. Only then in the emptiness of the present moment does inspiration show itself.

This process is difficult in the best of times. Throw in the instant gratification of one Google fix and another and another and making art gets down right impossible.

I wonder who the world’s tallest man is.
Google: “Sultan Kosen, a Kurdish shepherd living in Turkey is 8’1.5” tall.”
Kurds? Aren’t they the largest ethnic group without a country?
Google: ‘There are about 35 million Kurds today living as minority populations in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.”
What is the capital of Syria?

Hours later I look up and wonder where the time went. A blank canvas remains on the easel. Clean brushes are lined up waiting to be pressed into service. The Google home page glows from my monitor.

I wonder who the world’s shortest man is.

Inside The Fantasy Factory

2009-12-06T22:34:00.022-05:00

The bane of us former commercial artists is for our fine art to slip back into mere illustration. The drawings could then be easily incorporated into magazine ads for time-share resorts or packaging for hot dogs.

This problem is especially tricky since my art tends to be figurative with some sort of narrative element - both ideal for advertising purposes.

Through trial and error I've learned to block all preconceived ideas from entering my mind. The Buddhists do this to achieve clarity of being. I do it to banish the commercial artist.

Today I kept them out of the studio long enough to make two drawings.

Joel Kessler, Naples Art Assoc. Dir. Interview

2009-12-02T12:29:00.004-05:00

From The Archives: The Tar Paper Project

2009-11-29T14:21:00.018-05:00

I learned early on that it's not wise to pass up anything that presents a surface on which to make a mark. Thus, any flat surface became fair game for wildly experimental work and over the years I've painted on screen doors, dinner plates, plywood, car hoods, tennis shoes, and tar paper.

Like many unusual surfaces, the tar paper came to me by accident, leftover from a next door roofing job. A roll of the thick black paper lay abandoned in the weeds and after a month I grabbed it. With no clue for its use, the roll stood in my studio corner for another month.

One uninspired day, irritated because images would not come out of hiding, I cut off a piece of tar paper, took some pastels and began to draw. My first stiff-armed attempts ended up in the trash can, but, as I got used to the paper's odd spongy nature, some decent gestural images began to appear.

I stayed with tar paper long enough to complete a series of birds. Above are two that survived.

Visages d'Art

2009-11-13T21:44:00.001-05:00

Dunedin Art Harvest

2009-10-30T19:47:00.005-04:00

The challenge and ultimate satisfaction of an artist is the willingness to simply let things happen. Give up control for awhile. Let go of preconceived ideas. Get out of the way and just paint.

For the upcoming Art Harvest show, I allowed myself to paint on black masonite squares. I dared myself to use water based oil paint, and wondered what would happen if the surface was sprayed with glue.

The wonderful Japanese sculptor, Jun Kaneko, said his art comes from intuitive ideas based on a lifetime of experiences. Perhaps the experience provides a comfort zone that prevents us from falling off the edge into chaos. Within that shelter the artist is free to try something new, to be bold.

Fu Lions And 15 Minute Art

2009-10-24T12:58:00.014-04:00

Over the years, I’ve collected snippets of conversation overheard at outdoor art shows. The open nature and family entertainment atmosphere of this type of show encourage sidewalk critics emboldened by cups of brew and funnel cake.

A book I’ve always wanted to write would be full of these funny and sarcastic comments that have little to do with art appreciation. Several remarks were repeated enough to make me wonder why I work a certain way. In this respect, even cynical asides can be of some use.

1. How long did it take you to paint this, 15 minutes?
To most people, something is worthy of value only if it took a long time to create. There is no room in this way of thinking for gesture and spontaneity born from a lifetime of experience. Neither do people think much about process. They only see that an artwork had a beginning and after a lot of work was finished. They fail to appreciate the many stops and starts, self doubts and anxieties along the way until an artist felt sufficient confidence to exhibit a 15 minute piece of art.

2. My grand-daughter can paint better than this.
I have seen children’s art that is quite remarkable, fun pieces full of color, energy, and joy. But when asked to repeat their effort, the children often struggle, becoming restless and distracted. They are eager to move on to the next thing that catches their eye. An experienced artist arrives at a mature style after many years work. Such an artist intends to repeat their efforts. They eagerly make one painting and another and another because they must. They cannot not do it. No six year old grand-daughter would put up with that.

3. Why don’t you paint pretty pictures?
The easy answer would be that I can not improve on the beauty of Nature. Nature is perfect just as it is and my art is not. That does not, however, stop artists from trying over and over to transcend Nature’s beauty. For my own art, I am often reminded of the fierceness of Fu Lions. Great snarling stone sculptures were often placed in front of Indian and Chinese temples for protection. A cute bunny or beautiful maiden would be of no use when faced with evil spirits intent on mischief. No one messes with an ugly guardian creature that can bite your face off. Lately, I’ve come to the conclusion I don’t paint pretty pictures because they don’t give me enough protection.

Pay Per View Art

2009-10-04T12:41:00.008-04:00

The humidity just dropped ten percentage points in Central Florida, which means Fall must be on its way. It is still 90 degrees outside but people are reappearing on the streets, eager to shake off four months of air conditioned hibernation. Businesses here in Tampa Bay hold "come on in" sales and art galleries advertise their roster of fall exhibitions.

I recognize some of the well known artists but notice a number of newcomers to the local art scene, all eager to make a name for themselves and perhaps a few sales. If they stick around long enought, it is possible they might make a name and even sell some art. Making a living from their art will prove much more difficult.

Artist's expenses continue to rise and the cost for a substantial one person show can run to thousands of dollars. In spite of a slew of advance publicity, great galleries, and exciting art, the promise of art sales might never materialize. Most call-for-entry art exhibitions now charge a hefty entry fee, which is non-refundable. For those accepted, up front expenses must then be regained before any profit can be earned. People wonder why artists look so glum at outdoor shows. An artist can not survive for long when the trickle-down of cash flow never reaches them.

Part of the answer could be pay per view art. Art galleries and outdoor art shows would charge an entry fee to view the art. This is not a new idea. Most museums already charge entry fees as do some high-end galleries and cash-strapped outdoor shows. It could be pay at the door or in a contribution box, but the main difference would be that the artist has a share in the proceeds.

This kind of arrangement would guarantee better quality art works and more visitors willing to spend a few dollars to see great art. Art galleries have become expensive consignment shops and outdoor shows promise all kinds of entertainment for the family. None of that is promising for the artist. Pay per view art could make a difference.

Amedeo Modigliani

2009-09-18T15:10:00.002-04:00

I knew nothing of the personal life of Amedeo Modigliani when first introduced to his art in college. Only later, after reading his biography, did I learn about the man and a life of sickness, poverty, and addiction. Dead of tuberculosis before the age of thirty-six, Modigliani had only one solo exhibition in his lifetime, and gave away many of his paintings for food.

No introduction to his art was needed. The pain, sorrow and dark beauty of his life were present full force in his paintings, making an immediate and profound impression. Yet there is another element of Modigliani's work that I find particularly appealing. I cannot look at his sublime portraits of women without also feeling a sense of allure, a hint of danger, and, above all, mystery. And isn't that, after all, what we look for in women.

The Watery Heart of Florida

2009-09-14T13:42:00.013-04:00

My friend and I made another and this time slower trip down to West Palm Beach. I'm happy to say that the Atlantic Ocean continues to surge ashore in Palm Beach County. The Gulf of Mexico still flows under the magnificent Sunshine Skyway bridge into Tampa Bay.

Lake Okeechobee I'm not so sure about. In two trips, we have yet to glimpse the full expanse of the 730 square mile lake. Surrounded by a 30 foot dike after a devastating 1928 hurricane, the Lake lies hidden from view for most of its circumference.

We stopped at the Clewiston boat launch and climbed to the levee's top, expecting to see miles and miles of big water. No luck, the view was blocked by huge grassy islands dredged up by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Driving home Sunday, we passed through the town of Okeechobee on the Lake's north shore. Friends said the Lake's vastness could be enjoyed from the town fishing pier. Lake Okeechobee is a natural wonder of Florida and headwaters for the mysterious River of Grass, the Everglades. The only mystery we found was a total lack of directions or advertisements for the Lake.

After driving up and down country roads, we gave up and continued west into the flat belly of Florida. Once home, Google Maps informed me that we were only two turns away from the road to the Lake. The big watery heart of the state lies contained, waiting for our return or perhaps a Catagory 5 visitor.

Take Me To The Water

2009-09-04T19:15:00.014-04:00

The idea sounded simple enough and fun - deliver a bunch of artwork to the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach and return in time to watch the sun set while crossing the Sunshine Skyway. My friend Melissa and I had hopes of success, but rain, photo opps, and detours in Belle Glade conspired against us.

Landscapes along the way more than made up for the missed sunset. Seeing the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Okeechobee, and the Atlantic Ocean in one day became the icing on my journey. In between, massive thunderstorms rolled over endless fields of sugar cane. And the stark contrasts of Palm Beach County - rows of migrant worker shacks in sugar cane towns and thirty minutes further on, the million dollar mansions of Palm Beach.

As a lifelong Cracker Boy, I thought I had seen most of this fascinating state, but drive away from the crowded coasts and bits of Audubon's Florida still exist. The Fakahatchee Strand lies in wait.

Object Lesson

2009-08-30T17:51:00.008-04:00

In 2004 the Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg held a major exhibition of renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. In what would become a prelude to a permanent Chihuly presence in St. Petersburg, the Museum filled its first floor galleries with the maestro’s art.

My friend Rima persuaded me to go, with the promise of lunch and a quick ride in her sleek BMW. I was not disappointed - by lunch, Bavarian cars, or Chihuly. At the Museum we wandered from gallery to gallery, astonished by the sheer exuberance and versatility of Chihuly and company. His swirling sculptural creations have become for many the epitome of the beautiful object.

On the way out, we passed through a room with a small collection of Pre-Columbian Art. My senses had been primed by Chihuly’s flashy glass, but they were pounded by the sight of Meso-American pottery pieces – clay statues of gods and goddesses, warriors, priests, and effigy animals. These works, from before the time of Christ to the 15th Century and all artisan made, radiated primal energy, earthiness, and mystery.

Their self-assured presence reminded me of Archaic Greek statuary, but with more power and scariness. I was so transfixed, my friend had to pull me away from the glass cases. I saw my own art in there, or what I wanted my art to be.

Two exhibitions – one of beautiful objects and the other of mysterious objects. Both are legitimate modes of expression and both have their respective advocate groups. Which am I?

Several years later, Chihuly made a personal appearance at the Arts Center in St. Petersburg. Rima surprised me with the gift of his splashy coffee-table book and we stood in line for an hour to get his signature in it. The book now sits on my shelf, lost among others of African, Mexican, Indian and Oceanic art.

brainiac

2009-08-24T17:16:00.005-04:00

everything that is possible to be remembered will one day work its way up from the cranial folds and synapses and present itself whole and you wonder where in the world did that come from having for these many years completely forgotten for instance who was in the cast of tv’s Our Miss Brooks or what pt in pt boat stands for or how did the word sidekick come about but there they are tumbling about in your conscious until it suddenly hits like a remote against the wall Google Did It and of course now it makes perfect sense because the searching engine that can has turned into our super duper uber brain and the more answers it serves up only opens our temporal floodgates more and everything that was once forgotten surges out into the realm of possibility

Action Jackson

2009-08-23T14:36:00.005-04:00

I first learned about Jackson Pollock in Art History 101, courtesy of H. W. Janson's textbook classic, History of Art. Still in the thrall of van Gogh and Matisse, I paid scant attention to the small color reproduction of Pollock's One, Number 31. It was small and messy looking, much like the accidental spin-art pieces I had seen at the Florida State Fair. Even seeing his work projected large in lecture class did little to convince me of greatness.

Several years after graduation, I made my requisite pilgrimage to New York and The Museum of Modern Art. Wandering from gallery to gallery, I recognized, with increasing awe, masterpieces I had first studied in college. Finally, rounding a corner, I found myself confronted by all 9' x 18' of One, Number 31. The effect was immediate and mesmerizing. Stunned by the painting's immensity and power, I could only stand and stare.

And as I stood there taking it all in, something strange happened. The painting began to vibrate. Juxtaposed layers of colors began a dance of kinetic opposition - blobs of blue receded in deference to stringy runs of red, white comets streaked overhead and anchoring everything, webs of glossy black. The vision of that humming mass passed through my eyes and seemed to resonate inside.

I won't soon forget the experience and came away convinced of the error of my former judgement. Jackson Pollock is one of the greatest of 20th Century painters.

A Wild Beast In Tampa

2009-08-20T14:01:00.006-04:00

The Tampa Museum of Art's classy new home is not even complete, yet has already landed a big one - the original Fauve himself, Henri Matisse. A Celebration of Henri Matisse will be the inagural exhibition of the Museum's instant landmark building on the Hillsborough River.

The exhibition will feature an extensive collection of Matisse's prints, paintings and sculptures and will be the first comprehensive showing of his work in the Tampa Bay area.

Parisian art critics first called Matisse a "Wild Beast" for his bold expressive colors and non-Academic style. He eventually won them over to become arguably the greatest artist of the 20th Century.

Read St. Petersburg Times Art Critic Lennie Bennett's story.

Under The Bed

2009-08-17T16:27:00.008-04:00

Later this month I will shut down yet another temporary studio and move into brand new digs, the Stirling Hall Studios in downtown Dunedin.

The grunt work of packing now begins and I am rediscovering art pieces squirreled away nine months ago. It is good to see old friends emerge from closets and crannies, dusty, but no worse for the wear.

This pastel painting titled Ol' King Cole was pulled from beneath the bed, and may explain some of the regal dreams I have lately experienced. The piece also makes me wonder if an art work can truly be called finished if no one ever sees it.

Henri Matisse

2009-08-14T15:55:00.011-04:00

One of my college art classes was a studio course called Methods and Materials of the Artist. After an introduction to the various media, we were given the assignment of reproducing a work by a 20th Century master. The catch was that we must stick to a 9" x 12" format and use a medium other than the one used by the artist.

I chose to reproduce in gouache one of the many still-lives of Henri Matisse. After laboring for a long and frustrating week, I finished the piece just before the deadline. Not much more is known, except that I somehow passed the course. The still-life ended up in my portfolio and after graduation became a gift to my parents.

Placed in an antique frame, the piece held a place of honor in their home for years. One day, a visitor to my mother's antique shop stopped to admire her painting collection. Standing in front of my class project, she leaned in close to read the signature and her mouth fell open.

She slowly turned to my mother and with mounting excitement said, "I'm not positive, but I think you might have an Henri Matisse painting."

In that moment, my mom made the decision to have some fun and play along with her visitor. "Oh goodness, do you really think so?"

The lady did think so and nothing would do except for her to take the piece to a friend for authentication. Her friend turned out to be one of the curators at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota.

My mischevious mom resisted the urge to halt the ruse and handed over the still-life. Weeks passed until one day the visitor called with promising news. The Ringling curator had thoroughly examined the piece and agreed it might indeed be a Matisse.

"The only way to know for sure," he said, "is to show it to Matisse's son Pierre in New York."

At that point, my mother thought it best to end the charade. She had the art returned and continued to enjoy her 'masterpiece' for many more years.

Art For Artist's Sake

2009-08-09T18:10:00.007-04:00

There is a belief held by many people, including artists, that art museums are about artists.
And by extension, local art museums are or should be about local artists- their art, their concerns and their careers.

A recent article in the St. Petersburg Times brought this belief into sharp focus. Museum Innovators Stay True To The Mission is an interview by Times art critic Lennie Bennett with six Tampa Bay museum directors. In an extensive double-spread story, the directors discuss their missions, creativity, and working through tough economic times.

After reading the interviews, it occurred to me to reread the story and with a yellow marker underline the word “artist” each time it appeared. I was surprised to find “artist” mentioned only one time in the entire story. Three internationally known painters were discussed, but only in the context of upcoming exhibitions. In closing, one of the directors stated that the key ingredients for a successful museum are exhibitions, collectors, critical writers and patrons. None of the six directors said part of their mission is to exhibit, promote, or support local artists.

However, all of the area museum directors I’ve known do support the local art scene. At various times there have been outstanding exhibitions of local artists as well as student and very special arts exhibitions. Museums have also, in the past, helped sponsor art related events. Sadly, these kinds of shows have succumbed to economic demands.

The Times article brought home one crucial factor in understanding how art museums function. Museums are in the business of art and consequently greatly concerned with
meeting payroll, insurance, taxes, building maintenance and myriad other problems that arise. These all take money of course, and I’ve come to believe that the main job of museum directors is fundraising.

Suffice to say, every museum exhibition must be considered in terms of how much buzz will be created and how many paying customers will come in the door. In that formula, exhibitions of local artists are not a high priority.