an artist's conversations

2008-06-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

exhibitions update:

the impressionists: master paintings from the art institute of chicago
kimbell art museum fort worth, texas
june 29 through november 2

rembrandt's etchings: the embrace of darkness and light
chrysler museum of art norfolk, virginia
now through august 17

el greco to velazquez: art during the reign of philip III
museum of fine arts, boston boston, massachusetts
now through july 27

2008-06-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

it seems artist are being “ripped off” by art scam emails. any artist new to the internet approach to selling their pieces is a highly likely target. i, myself, just learned about this through artnewsblog.com. the following list of scammers (arranged alphabetically by their first name) was posted by the art news blog and they ask that you please send the name & email of any other art scam emails you might receive, to be posted on their blog . . .

claire - clairepinkii@jojomail.com
claire pink - clairepink@fastmail.co.uk
crewford - shiper@myway.com
dave frank - free4allwe@yahoo.com
garritt miller - m_garritt01@yahoo.com
george craige - gcraige108@yahoo.com
janet rumsey - janet_rumsey75@yahoo.com
jessica - kelvinjessica777@yahoo.com
johnson mark - johnson_mark_arts01@yahoo.com
lisa benson - lisaben100@googlemail.com, lisa_benson10@yahoo.com and lisaben100@yahoo.com
nicole roane - nic_ane01@yahoo.com
precious - precious_llyod@jojomail.com
raymond hyslop - anitagatlin1010@Yahoo.com and remystore333@yahoo.com
robert cole - robert.cole81@yahoo.com
sandra haddock -
sandra williams - sandrawills_sandrawills@yahoo.com
susan cutter -
swane mackerel - swanemackerel@gmail.com
tina brown - tina_brown100@yahoo.co.uk

2008-05-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

current exhibitions around the states

rhythms of modern life: british prints 1914-1939
museum of fine arts, boston
through june 1, 2008

great expectations: aristocratic children in european portraiture
columbus museum of art, columbus ohio
through june 8, 2008

quilts in a material world: selections from the winterthur collection
saint louis art museum, st. louis missouri
through may 26, 2008

impressionist giverny: american painters in france, 1885-1915 selections from the terra foundation for american art
florence griswold museum, old lyme connecticut
through july 27, 2008

vantagepoint VII - jiha moon: turbulent utopia
the mint museum of art, charlotte north carolina
through july 6, 2008

2008-05-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

"artist today think of everything they do as a work of art. it is important to forget about what you are doing . . . then a work of art may happen." andrew wyeth

2008-05-11T08:32:00.001-07:00

happy mother's day!

2008-05-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

"blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing" camille pissarro

2008-04-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

current exhibitions:

wifredo lam in north america
miami art museum, miami florida
through may 18, 2008

great masters of cuban art: 1800-1958
museum of arts and sciences, daytona beach florida
through september 1, 2008

color as field: american painting, 1950-1975
smithsonian american art museum, washington d.c.
through may 26, 2008

jasper johns: gray
the metropolitan museum of art, new york new york
through may 4, 2008

roman art from the louvre
seattle art museum, seattle washington
through may 11, 2008

rhythms of india: the art of nandalal bose (1882-1966)
san diego museum of art, san diego california
through may 18, 2008

from winslow homer to edward hopper: american watercolor masterpieces from the brooklyn museum
taft museum of art, cincinnati ohio
through may 11, 2008

2008-04-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

british artist, david hockney, has gifted the tate museum with his largest painting to date . . . “bigger trees near warter”. the painting is around 40 feet by 15 feet consisting of 50 panels depicting an actual setting called “warter”, not a misspelling of the word “water”.

“i thought if i’m going to give something to the tate i want to give them something really good. it’s going to be here for a while. i don’t want to give things i’m not proud of.” hockney also said “i feel loyal to the tate. more artists should donate. they should think about it. you can’t quite trust collectors who say they’ll give to the tate and often don’t.”

2008-04-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

"when i have a terrible need of - shall i say the word - religion. then i go out and paint the stars."
vincent van gogh

2008-04-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

i recently became part of an incredibly kind, generous, & creative family . . . artbreak

artbreak.com is a website for artists & art lovers to share with each other and sell their work. i have never been one to be part of a social group, nor have i ever felt a place in the art world, but zack (the founder) has given something very special in his gesture. words can not express how i have been touched, but one thing does pop to mind . . . inspiration.

2008-03-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

"to be an artist you have to give up everything, including the desire to be a good artist."

jasper johns

2008-03-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

amsterdam’s rijksmuseum, the museum housing the artwork of vermeer, rembrandt, van gogh, and other dutch masters, is closed until at least 2012. the museum was originally scheduled to reopen this year, after being closed several years ago for renovations, but cost conflicts with the contractor have caused major delays. there are, however, a limited number of pieces available for viewing in one of its wings.

2008-03-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

one of cuba’s supreme exemplar of naïf painting (a naive, simplistic, childlike style), ruperto jay matamoros, passed away in havana just one month before his 96^th birthday. the national plastic arts laurate and national visual arts prize winner in 2000 was buried in his home town of san luis, in eastern santiago de cuba.

matamoros started creating on canvas at an early age with expressions of what he saw in the local landscape, the flora and fauna, and the people that lived in the countryside. however, it wasn’t until later in life when he finished his duties as a driver, plumber, gardener, messenger, and interior decorator, did his artistic talent truly blossom.

among the shows that propelled him to fame were the exhibition of watercolors and sculptures shown at the ministry of justice and the prize he achieved at the national museum of fine arts in 1964, the personal exhibition of his works at the havana gallery in 1965, and the successful emergence of his paintings at the 2nd triennial of naif art in bratislava and the grenoble biennial (france) in 1969.

2008-02-29T11:35:00.000-08:00

according to the newly released annual list of the most popular museums in the world, art newspaper registers the first place to the louvre in paris. the most popular exhibition was at the tokyo national museum in japan. drawing the most attention at the exhibition was leonardo da vinci’s painting “annunciation”, which was on loan from the uffizi gallery in florence.

the top 20 most popular art museums in the world as compiled by art newspaper are:

louvre, paris
centre pompidou, paris
tate modern, london
british museum, london
metropolitan museum of art, new york
national gallery of art, washington
vatican museums, vatican city
national gallery, london
musee d’orsay, paris
museo nacional del prado, madrid
national palace museum, taipei
victoria and albert museum, london
state hermitage museum, st petersburg
kelvingrove art gallery and museum, glasgow
museum of modern art, new york
field museum, chicago
tokyo national museum, tokyo
caxiaforum barcelona, barcelona
moscow kremlin museums, moscow
museum of fine arts, houston

2008-02-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

to africa with love

the world of contemporary art showed its heart with a special valentine’s day auction which raised more than $40 million to help fight aids in africa. the red auction, organized by bono, damien hirst, sotheby’s, and gagosian gallery, brought together leading contemporary artists from around the world, each donating major works to auction for the cause.

the auction was set in motion with an “a capella” version of “all you need is love” sung by bono of u2. renowned english artist, damien hirst, can add the title of “philanthropist” to his credits . . . he gave seven works which garnered almost $20 million, as well as being influential in gathering so many other notable artists to contribute their artwork.

the experience touched each artist in ways never imagined. as for hirst, “it’s an amazing result, it’s not sunk in yet but it just shows you what you can do if you put your mind to it. i’m never going to be cynical ever again for a while. a big thank you and a million out of ten for all the artists who gave something. we've helped to change the world a little bit.”

2008-02-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

composer inspired by artist’s letters

composer michael gordon was so moved emotionally by vincent van gogh’s letters to his brother, theo, that he wrote a suite of music. van gogh communicates the artist’s confession of “emotions and encounters that I wouldn’t want to admit to myself”, in six tracks corresponding to individual periods in van gogh’s life. “hague 2” developed from letters about his struggle to persevere in the face of criticism . . . the energetic “aries” was created out of his life in france when the artist was painting as many as three canvases a day . . . the final track “st. remy”, is named for the asylum to which vincent, with theo’s support, admitted himself in 1889. “instead of chaos of the asylum, i sense a certain peace” in these letters, says gordon. “he knows he’s become a painter, even if that’s not recognized by anyone else.”

2008-02-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

early 1930's havana's malecon

the montreal museum of fine arts is hosting an exhibition entitled “cuba: art and history from 1868 to today”. this is the first time the north has received so many works that tell the visual arts history of such an amazing country like cuba. more than a 100 paintings and posters, 200 photographs and documents, sculptures, mechanisms, videos, film excerpts, and music embrace the exhibition with works loaned by havana’s museum of fine arts, the cuban photographic library, and other cultural institutions on the island, as well as the new york museum of modern art.

2008-01-31T10:19:00.000-08:00

a hummingbird who beeps with his feathers

a hummingbird, so small, such a tiny anatomy, how could it send out anything but a soft & quiet sound . . . the exception, the male anna's hummingbird, which researchers have just determined produces a loud chirp with its unusually shaped tail feathers. the sound fills the western american skies during the mating season, as they dive from heights of 100 feet or more spreading their tapered, narrow-tipped outer tail feathers at the swoop's depth. in that moment, the feathers act like a clarinet reed, with the wind singing the single note. the frequency of the sound is nearly four octaves above middle c, the highest key on the piano, and has been expressed by observers to the flight like a beep, chirp, or whistle.

2008-01-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

"it is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block."
paul gauguin

2008-01-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

the wooden zoo of cuba

the author, roberto fabret, seems to have an artistic talent as well. he has been altering fallen trees of oak and honduran mahogany, which are both destroying the sidewalk pavement and precariously leaning over apartment buildings in the eastern city of bayamo, into sculpted wooden animals. while living in the sierra maestra mountain range, he dexterously began his carving of animals with small pieces of wood. to create his zoo, he has been using a chisel and hammer. an amusement park built in the surroundings of the jesus manandez district of bayamo, cuba attracts locals bringing their children to be in awe of this original wooden zoo.

2008-01-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

"i dream a lot. i do more painting when i'm not painting. it's in the subconscious." andrew wyeth

2008-01-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

blog of the day
http://www.ekin-art.blogspot.com

i met elizabeth when i worked at the art supply house in colorado . . . actually, we got acquainted as i was bringing paintings in to the store to be framed. not only is she an exceptional spirit inside, her paintings express that same beauty outwardly. liz and her boyfriend sam (an accomplished photographer turned painter) just spent time abroad being inspired by the countrysides of italy and france. hopefully, we will start seeing some of what they experienced on canvas.

2008-01-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

a group consisting of six czech artists called ztohoven, face possible prison time after being accused of scare mongering and propagating false information. in june of 2007, the group hacked into a czech republic television tower and replaced images of a live weather broadcast with a nuclear explosion going off in the czech countryside.

The ztohoven group released a statement on their myspace page . . . “we are neither a terrorist organization nor a political group, our aim is not to intimidate the society or manipulate it, which is something we witness on daily basis both in the real world and in the world created by the media…we hope our action will become an appeal for the future and remind the media of their duty to bring out the truth.”

2008-01-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

"a well-spent day brings happy sleep"
leonardo da vinci

2007-12-29T11:06:00.001-08:00

have a glorious new year and all the days thereafter!