Category Archives: art issues

Beautiful Night

Posted on August 26, 2010 | 2 comments

With a big, beautiful moon.

I am listening to crickets and katydids, working on several new paintings and looking forward to seeing my son’s performance in Reefer Madness, which opens this Friday at The Bug Theater. Rumor has it that local dispensaries are buying blocks of tickets, so they are going fast…

Merge at the CVA, into which I was fortunate enough to have a painting accepted, closes this Sunday. There is audio of the CVA director Jennifer Garner being interviewed on The Untitled Art Show  here.

Metropolitan State College of Denver’s  Center for Visual Arts is a well designed, exciting addition to the Santa Fe Arts District. I can’t wait to see the shows they bring us in the coming months and years.

2 Comments

Posted in art, art issues, contemporary art, Denver, fine art, painting

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Driving the Bears to Drink

Posted on July 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Ken Smith brought this Flaubert quote to my attention (Thanks, Ken!):

“Language is a drum on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when all the while we wish to move the stars to pity.”

I feel this way about paint, lately. Sometimes I am happy enough to beat out that tune for bears to dance to-

and sometimes I fear that I’m beating out thin dirges that would drive the bears back into the woods.

It is very hot and there are bugs everywhere. But- the crickets have started singing already in the evenings. A pleasant noise.

Physical exhaustion for no reason. Seven months without a cigarette.

The world has lost Chris Al-Aswad, who I knew only from his vivid presence on the internet, much too soon.

Escape into Life, the arts site he created, is truly wonderful.

Leave a comment

Posted in art, art issues, Inspiration, questions

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Face Blindness

Posted on July 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

I never would have guessed that artist Chuck Close, known for his enormous portraits of friends, suffers from prosopagnosia- “face blindness.”

Audio of fascinating conversation available here.

Leave a comment

Posted in art, art issues, contemporary art, fine art, questions

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Mercy

Posted on June 24, 2010 | 1 comment

It is too hot to think clearly.

My Iweb, website designing software for the know-nothing, has stopped working completely. Everything, apparently, is corrupted and I don’t know how to fix it. I know only that I know nothing.

I am also experimenting with Lumina air dry clay and enjoying the hell out of this show when I can catch it online in this cable-free house.

The premise of “Work of Art” (that there are clear winners and losers in this life of art-making) is frustrating and I roll my eyes and talk back at the screen a lot but, still… artists- people making completely impractical things- on a mainstream reality tv show that is gaining in popularity!

I don’t know why that makes me feel better, but it does. The show is interesting and brings me back to the days of classroom critiques.

Jerry Saltz writes thoughtful recaps of the episodes, which are almost better than the shows themselves.

1 Comment

Posted in art, art issues, contemporary art, fine art, questions

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Swim

Posted on April 8, 2010 | 2 comments

I think this should be my courage song: Swim Until You Can’t See Land

by Frightened Rabbit.

Really, could it get any more perfect?

I am a frightened rabbit as a matter of course.

I have made tremendous progress on what will probably be the largest painting in the show at a modest 40″ x 40″.

(How I envy those painters who routinely create 6′ x 6′ paintings or larger; I don’t know that my circumstances will ever allow for that.)

This is the red bull painting. The cabatisto, the Mexican wrestler.

With a little luck, I’ll have something worthy of a postcard by next week.

Deliriously happy that I’ve made it this far and still breathe.

2 Comments

Posted in art, art issues, contemporary art, Denver, fine art, new art, painting

Tagged , , ,

I am a coward

Posted on March 28, 2010 | 2 comments

I still don’t have a finished painting that is good enough to put on a postcard.

I need to finish the larger canvases.

The few that seem close to being “done” seem equally deserving of being set into a roaring fire.

I need boldness, big brushes and brash strokes.

What I have is timidity, the tiny brush and the endless noodling.

Psychological paralysis and incessant worry.

If something doesn’t change soon, I don’t know what will happen with my May show.

If I set tiny paintings ten feet apart and say, “I meant to do that,” do you think anyone will believe me?

2 Comments

Posted in art, art issues, contemporary art, fine art, Inspiration, painting, Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Fall in love and fall apart

Posted on February 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

Dana Cain is curating her first show for CORE New Art Space. For “The Love Show,” she has conceived a full-blown metaphor of a love affair to give the exhibit a life of its own. Each weekend has special events that echo the stages of love- the joys and the pains.
Opening reception this Friday, Feb. 12 from 6 to 10 PM includes valentines signed by the artists for the first 100 attendees, a PDA photo booth and the arrival of Dream Date Phil Bender and his lucky contest winner/date at 8:30 PM.

Ain’t love grand?

Please ignore the annoying all-caps.

I know neither why it happened, nor how to change it.

Leave a comment

Posted in art issues, collage, DIY, fine art, games, painting

Tagged , , , , ,

Happy New Year! (Maggot Brain)

Posted on January 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

One of my guilty pleasures (and since giving up cigarette smoking for the zillionth time twelve days ago, I cling fiercely to those pleasures I have left) is watching the TV show “House.”

I almost jumped for joy tonight when I recognized Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” playing in the background of the final big dramatic resolution scene.

This is not only a great song to paint to, I use it as a sort of timer on my Itunes to help me through studio tasks I don’t enjoy.

The song is just about ten minutes long, and though I figure I can put up with anything for ten minutes, I don’t have a stopwatch or a kitchen timer.

Maggot Brain to the rescue.

Leave a comment

Posted in art, art issues, DIY, Inspiration

Tagged , , , , , , ,

It is Steal Something Day

Posted on November 27, 2009 | Leave a comment

and I am cranky.

I get as annoyed as anyone else with the wads of ads in the Thanksgiving Day newspaper urging me to buy crap I don’t need.

But Adbusters’ “Buy Nothing Day” alternative has always rubbed me the wrong way, seemed a little sanctimonious.

It’s like that couple with the second home who wear new clothing and drive (new! expensive!) hybrid vehicles telling you all about their non-materialistic lifestyle while they sip their micro-brews.

Yeah.

So for others who don’t want to feel guilty about buying a loaf of bread today- if they can afford to buy a loaf of bread today- there is Steal Something Day, a snarky concept with a large grain of truth conceived by a group of anarchists in Montreal.

You could make a grand gesture today and pull a Jean Valjean.

CORE New Art Space is open tonight and I will be working there. Anyone who would like to celebrate Black Friday by buying art is more than welcome.

This economy has been particularly hard on visual artists.

Non-buying lookers are welcome, too. But please don’t steal anything:)

I’m not really that cranky. I hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving had a lovely Thanksgiving. Happy Black Friday.

Leave a comment

Posted in art, art issues, Inspiration, questions

Tagged , ,

My show “Cellardoor” opens tonight.

Posted on September 11, 2009 | 2 comments

I’m nervous, as always. I have a couple of paintings in there that I haven’t even had a chance to photograph yet.

If you’re in Denver, please come by and take a look. It will be happening here.

One of my former professors, Craig Marshall Smith, had an essay published in the Denver Post recently titled “Doomed to Be an Artist.” It’s a good read. You can find it here.

His expression, “hearts on the walls” makes me reflect on why I always feel so vulnerable at my own openings.

My show will close on Sunday September 27th at 5 PM.

Cheers.

2 Comments

Posted in art, art issues, contemporary art, Denver, fine art, painting