Friday, January 28, 2011

"EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP"


OMG!!! I watched "Exit Through the Gift Shop" yesterday and found it quite amusing! I have to say for all my artist friends this you will find interesting.

Its a TRUE documentary about this man who was from France and ran a vintage clothing store in Los Angeles. He started filming everything out of an obsession. He had tons of tapes and never did anything with them...but then he started filming Street Artists doing their thing at night in hiding. I was intrigued by the devotion of these Street Artists and how talented and famous some of them were. And I can summize that some had very comfortable means. Anyway he's filming =the street artists and befriends the famous BANKSY and Thierry (later known as Mr. Brainwash) tells them he's going to do a documentary on them, which he never did.

So when one of the Street Artists found out all the footage he did of them was just sitting around he told Mr. Brainwash to start doing Street Art and do a show. He had no idea.

Mr. Brainwash was NOT an artist of paint..and yet he produced (like Andy Wharhol) type art, put on a BIG show and became FAMOUS overnight. He sold MILLIONS of dollars ; in my opinion NON ART.

I think the things here to discuss is this. He was either stupid or brilliant enough to attempt it and limitations NEVER got in his way. What is ART???? Are most of these famous people only famous because of the media hype that has been given to them. In other words were they,are we all brainwashed into thinking they were all that?

I have been to a LOT of galleries as the rest of you and I'm sure you've said the same thing to yourself....hugh???? Why??? Am I missing something here? Some works are fabulous and you know there is skill or a very brilliant thought involved...and some you just think....???????

I have always believed that there are a lot of people who are like ants...just going along with the flow of other ants. Never really thinking for themselves. I am horrified at the thought of being an art, and yet I guess I am to some extent. I think the ant mentality runs through politics, religion, and most aspects of life. If someone tells us something is great....it's easier to believe them to really THINK and question it for ourselves.

Which leads me to this. A lot of people think it's bad to have an opinion...because we've been taught not to question. Well, I LIKE people who can think for themselves and have an opinion. In fact I like people who have different opinions than myself, because then I can talk to them and maybe learn something from a different perspective than I would have otherwise...and visa versa.

Mr. Brainwash...picked out his name correctly... check out the movie! It's TRUE!
picture from Rotten Tomotoes by Flixster

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Up-Date on The bicycle Painting

I'm still working on it. Added the sign...but had no real sign to look at so I am having a hard time getting this thing to look like a real sign...need to research some photo's and see if I can see a sign and get ideas....
Looks a little different from the bright colors I started out with doesn't it? I want you to have a feeling of HOT pavement....it's summer in the Keys....and it's hot....but I also wanted the cool to meet the hot...I like a little friction...

Claude Monet


I am relating to this quote right now:

"Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."

Why am I relating to this quote right now? Because I am an artist but mostly because I just repainted my dining room. It only took 5 gallons of wasted paint and then I got smart and started ordering the small trial cans...I just had to match the silk curtains that shimmer only aqua, blue violet, red orange and cranberry red. You only see those colors when it shimmers...I was insane to get into this project!! The walls looked like a coat of many colors. I didn't give up...and after a month found a color I could live with that was pretty good. Color is SCARY!! It changes all the time with light and it changes when it get's close to another color. I have always had a great respect for color.

On the photo I'm showing you there are 5 colors!!
Yes, Monet....I understand the Joy and TORMENT!

At least the guys at Sherwin Williams know I'm their best customer.





Back to Life Drawing

Back in the saddle again as they say....yes, last week I finally made it back to Life Drawing at the Art Barn. It felt good...I felt a little rusty.

Tonight was Life Drawing but our model came down with the flu...but that gives me the time to blog...work on my painting of the bike which I'll post soon....

My Crazy Red Head as I mentioned earlier will be hanging at Studio 659 in Whiting for the month of February.




Tuesday, January 11, 2011

New Years Resolutions




A new year...new hopes. I once again make the same resolutions as I usually do....paint more and get things done. I'll try not to let life get in the way.

I bought the Artists Way on cultivating your creative being which now lays next to my bedside and it seems I can only get 3 pages read at a time because my eyes feel so heavy every time I read.

I started working on things that bothered me about my house. Much needed up-dating and re-doing. I am a creative being and it doesn't stop with just paint. My house, my life is a canvas and I work on every aspect of my creative life. However I struggle with those as I do with my paintings. Just yesterday I found a color I LOVED and started painting in my dining room to discover it cheapened the room and just wasn't right. Color is a very complicated thing. Some days I feel like I just can't do anything right. That's why I ride high when things are flowing! We all have to take advantage of the good energy flow because they don't last forever!!!

I worked more on my fish...never feeling satisfied with it....got to the point I said "screw it" and just started mindlessly painting. It's now laying on the floor in the studio to be reckoned with another time. I'll post a picture of my mindless ramblings on it. That fish has NEVER been right. This picture just feels wrong. See I post my failures too...I'm not proud...

I also started a painting of a bike I saw in Key West. Trying to keep with my feeling of a warm hot day I decided to keep it warm and tropical looking...so this is my new project. I have no idea how it will end up. I always say I'm not going to get into detail and I always wind up getting head long deep into it. I must succumb to the fact that it's my nature. We are always wanting to be something we are not I guess.

Studio 659 in Whiting was looking for Mardi- Gras material for their recent show and was interested in "Crazy Red Head", so that will be hanging there for I assume the month of February. I take that over January 27th. I have never seen this gallery before so it'll be a new adventure.

Next week I plan to drive to Fort Wayne to see "Jazz Lady" hanging at the FWMoa (Fort Wayne Museum of Art) as the show comes down in February and I haven't seen it hung yet! Bad me.

Went to the Brauer Museum of Art in Valparaiso at the University. There hung a collection of Robert Lovings pieces which I very much enjoyed. Do check out his recent works! Loved, loved his work. I'll try and post some of his images if I can.

The image with the birds nest is a painting titled "In a Budding Grove, 2008" oil on canvas, collection of the Artist (Richard Loving) which is hanging at the Brauer Museum of Art.