Archives for posts with tag: international artist

Day Sixty-Two/Image Sixty-Two

“Afloat” Image. Ceres Gallery. New York. Solo Show.

About a year ago, the son of a good friend of mine suggested I do a blog as part of my new website. I was fascinated at the time. I needed a new website and I consulted with him because I knew this guy is in the business of working with computers. ( Who isn’t? But this guy really is.)

It was a Thanksgiving chat and all was mellow. I didn’t give the blog much thought, except for the “live” aspect of it. What had been a static website before, showing my artworks in a gallery row, updating it from time to time, I was thrilled at the prospect of a blog. He said “People will come to your shows! You can post your work in progress!”

Now, eight months later, after hanging in with this blog, bumbling along and spending many obsessive/compulsive hours, its worth is sweet! It is like a still pool, where the depth is indeterminable. I have met many people this way. I don’t know them, but we tell each other stuff that makes my life richer. I learn about things I never would have cared to access. But I find these things more than interesting.

At any rate: Thanks, Sam Cook, for your suggestion!

Day Sixty-One/Image Sixty-One

“Afloat” Image. Ceres Gallery. New York. Solo Show.

In a few days, it will be Halloween. I believe in working with nature, when decorating my yard. I’ll put up some Indian corn on the door, a pumpkin on the step, things like that. After dark, on Halloween night, my husband sets up a haunted house. It disappears mysteriously the next day.

But as other yards whiz by while I am running around in my car, I am forced to look at these huge, very huge inflatable Halloween pirate ships and ghosts, made of plastic and bright colors. Yesterday I saw an inflatable black cat the size of the bungalow in which is has to be stored off-season. Not only defying nature, but overcoming it. A Macy’s Day Parade balloon right there in broad daylight.

I prefer to keep my oversized creatures in my collages, not on my front lawn.

Day Twelve/Image Twelve

“Afloat.” Ceres Gallery. New York. Solo Show.

Frito wrappers cut out. Floating across a background of Aspen trees. Some of these pieces have been sold (a lot actually), but this one was purchased by some very dear friends of mine. It will soon hang in their home in Los Angeles.

Now is a good time to bring up subject matter vs overall aesthetics.

These pieces, one by one, were completed with the main concern being, how the composition, color and design hold the piece together. How each collage “flows” within the square format. I do love the themes of natural disasters, bizarre juxtapositions, and pop imagery. But the main concern always is how each element in the piece “works” to contribute to the total image.

In this blog, I am commenting “after-the-fact” as a viewer. I am looking at these collages anew, long after I have completed them, so my take on them, (assigning meaning to them, etc.) is from a detached take, not from me, the artist.

Day Nine/Image Nine

“Afloat” Image. Ceres Gallery. New York Solo Show.

This one is shown in its exhibition frame. I am back in town and have access to all my photos. This was intentionally done as a “Close-Encounters” thing. The traveling lights in the distance. About to land.

These collages evolved from the whimsical idea of cutting up magazines and seeing what I could do with no paint involved, as I was accustomed to using. I did one, then two. I had so much fun just “playing” (always hating that expression when it comes to artwork, because art is hard WORK.)

My solo show loomed ahead and subject matter was undecided.

I had been working on a video. I worried about focusing only on the video for the show. Working under pressure is never good. And doing animation is meticulous. Being meticulous and being nervous don’t go together.

I decided to continue with these collages, thinking “Oh, I am having so much FUN, it will be easy to RELAX and do them….100 of them….for the solo show.”

I should not admit this, but looking back, I really don’t think making them was FUN. All principles of doing art were involved. And certainly, when I hit 26, after slaving away, the rest seemed to be a torturous number. Looming in the distance.

Much like these space crafts about to land.

Day Five/Image Five

“Afloat.” Solo show. Ceres Gallery, New York. This one was one of my first collages In the series. I used the wrappers from cotton balls to make some of the bubbles. I think this one works well inside the square in a circular way. Your eye goes around and returns to the laughing baby. Compositionally, probably my best.

Day Four/Image Four

“Afloat” image. Solo show. Installation at Ceres Gallery, New York. This image is “taking place” in the air. Buildings in the sky floating upward, surrounded by birds.

Day Three/ Image Three

“Afloat” image. Ceres Gallery, New York. My solo show. I am building a new studio and have been dealing with sub-contractors now for two months. While this is going on, I see the new blank walls and I feel the need to reflect on work completed.

An artist’s show unearths the artist’s psyche. Changes the person. Especially a solo show as massive as my show, “Afloat.”

This piece includes a tornado. Striking an innocent village in the snow. Blue sky. Another one of my collages cut from magazines. (“Afloat” used no computer imagery or manipulation.) Perhaps I choose to talk about change and beginning anew because of this image. And, of course, what is going on in my life.