Warhol: The Last Decade

I was reluctant to attend this show.

I have viewed SO much Warhol over the years that I felt this show might just seal the coffin on my appreciation for him. Instead, this show raised the bar on my Warhol knowledge and took me further into his world. This exhibition was an opportune moment to reconnect with this artist. The show at MAM focused on the work Warhol generated during the last decade of his life. It features his final series of self portraits, his return to painting and his perspective on Christianity.

The self portraits range from confrontational death masks to colorful repetitive tiles containing comic relief. Warhol's artist persona is iconic, which is the ideal achievement within this pop culture theme. A floating head of wacky white hair = Andy Warhol.

Warhol's later work finally departed from screen printing. Which I greatly admire, because screen printing is his signature method of producing artwork. For him to acknowledge that this process had become a predictable cliché is a true sign of the artist's evolution. He had returned to the timeless medium of painting. Quite the juxtaposition for a pop artist who owned The Factory.

The Christianity remix pieces intrigue me the most. Warhol stays true to the original content within The Last Supper. But he brakes away by adding a bright yellow field of color behind the classic imagery and presents this piece as an oversized dyptic. I combed the piece for other discrepancies as I'm sure he predicted a viewer would and I found none.

107 black & yellow Jesus portraits tiling along the back wall of the gallery is the largest piece in the show and the one with the most visual impact. I'm sure the museum hung this piece as the grand finale for this reason. So many deities together, representing the many facets of Christianity. Some tiles are clean representations falling within the intended stencil lines and others are sloppy and off register.

Powerful symbolism.

Ale Asylum Holiday Bazaar

Date: Saturday, December 12, 2009
Time: 11:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Ale Asylum, 3698 Kinsman Blvd, Madison WI 53704
Website: http://www.aleasylum.com

Craftacular

I will be selling 33 new pieces at the Craftacular show tomorrow.

Date: Saturday, November 28, 2009
Time: 10am - 5pm
Location: Madison Masonic Center, 301 Wisconsin Ave., Madison, WI 53703

Gold Leaf Flourishes while in London

Today, was a study of contemporary work.

After an amazing vegan lunch at Saf, we toured several galleries including Saatchi & Stolen Space.

Sylvia Ji is a painter from San Francisco. I have followed her work and have collected limited edition prints of hers for a few years now. But my timing is always off, because I have never had the opportunity to view a hanging show.

A couple of years ago, while we were in San Francisco, we went to White Walls only to arrive to a gallery in complete transition. A new group show was just being uncrated and nothing was hanging. The owner, Justin, was very hospitable and said we could mill through the new arrivals if we wanted to.

Ji's show had just ended and I couldn't find any of her paintings. I was disappointed that we had missed the remnants of her show and that her work had been removed. As I sifted through the new arrivals, I spied a loose painting sitting next to a column facing inward. I picked it up and in my hands was an original Sylvia Ji - I gasped! It had already been sold and was waiting for it's new owner to retrieve it. But for the next 5 minutes, I closely looked at Till Death in full detail, I was in bliss! Layers of translucent glazes and gold leaf detailings in the roses & the bees were revealed. Gustav Klimt would be proud.



Back to present day.

I knew that Stolen Space was hosting Sylvia Ji's first London solo show. The opening wasn't until the following week, but I was hoping that maybe we could get a glimpse of the new work. I mentioned to the gallery attendant working that afternoon that we had come from afar. If Sylvia's work had already arrived, I would be forever grateful if there was a possibility to view it.

To my surprise, we were lead to the back room for a private viewing of the Sylvia Ji's that had just been unpacked! All of them were lovely and incredible. Hemlock is my favorite from this show.

Bursting with gold!

Basking in 15th Century Paintings

While in London, we opted out on returning to the Tate Modern and instead spent a good part of one day at The National Gallery. It was well worth it, the collection at The NG is breathtaking and classic.

As I continue my study of unique color pallets, I spent most of my attention on 15th century masterpieces. Such as Jan van Eyck's painting The Arnolfini Portrait (1434).

He knew how to create an illusion with pigment by developing a stable varnish that would dry at a consistent rate. He created this by mixing linseed and nut oils with resins. The result is a beautiful translucent image. The intensity of the color pigment also traps light that translates into brilliance. An incredible development in oil painting. Standing before this painting was intense, I've known of it since I was quite young.

There is a huge portion of the NG dedicated to the Italian Renaissance. Gallery after gallery full of Botticelli, Bellini & Crivelli amongst others. I was drawn to Carlo Crivelli's work the most. It was almost impossible not to, a huge gallery was dedicated to his work. A great technical talent, his work was visually intense and the gold leaf accents he used really brought out a 3-D element. The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius (1486) is now a favorite of mine. It really speaks to me on many levels.

After leaving the NG for the day, I was on a natural high. I viewed hundreds if not a couple thousand masterpieces and was visually ignited from this experience.

Sneak Preview

NEW: Checkbook Covers - Wallets - Passport Covers
Just a candid shot, to show you the products that will be at this weekend's show.

Getting ready for this show...

I have been busily working on new products for this upcoming show.
If you have time to stop in at Cha Cha over the weekend, please do. It would be great to see you.
http://www.chachahair.com

Twin Cities

I just returned from the Twin Cites. While I was there, I went to a few galleries and took in my first visit to The Minneapolis Institute of Art. Although I love visiting The Walker Art Center, in recent weeks, my visual interests have returned to classical work.

I love the modern voice in today's paintings, but I often find a stronger visual lesson in work that is well over one hundred years old. Especially when it comes to the use of color. The palettes painters used before paint was drawn from tubes was far more custom and intriguing.

Before this Tuesday, I only had the opportunity to view this painting in print. To see the original in person is breathtaking.


The Carpet Merchant
Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1887

Duct Tape

I’ve been working with this material for quite some time now. When I was living in San Francisco with a bunch of roommates, I didn’t have any space for painting & drawing. So I became very compact with my studio space and tried to be as low cost as possible.

These wallets below are from my personal collection. The images on them are from: Magazines, vintage children’s books, stamps, labels off canned goods, wrapping paper, comic books, etc.

These days my work is more colorful, since there are many different colors of duct tape, but black is still my favorite color to work with.

Frank

I purchased this tiny mask yesterday. It's heavy-ish for it's size, & made of cast aluminum. I found a great place for it on the magnetic wall.

In the Sun

My cat Ava Adore