Creating the beast's mask for Disney's Beauty & the Beast |
here's the progression of mold-building: Sculpt the positive - here, oil-based modelling clay on a plaster cast face. |
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I coated it at this stage, in order to assist releasing it from the mold, but it's not necessary. |
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Not shown here, the positive is coated with a thin but thorough film of petroleum jelly (this coating is necessary! Be thorough!) Select a box or tub slightly larger than the positive. In this, As the plaster/water mixture begin to set, place the positive "face down" into the thickening mixture, careful not to touch bottom. Allow to cure. This example was 40 mins or so. |
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Allow to dry in a well-ventilated room - usually overnight. |
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The latex "tusks" on the mandible were replaced with painted polystyrene.
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| Here is the almost-finished, unpainted piece with styrene horns & wig at a fitting w/ Rob Estes. (The nose & "shading" are very rough. I think i used eyeliner!:-D) |
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Happy to help if you have questions! |
SYLVIA PLATH
(From our People search)
Sylvia Plath published her first poem at the age of eight, in the Boston Sunday Herald, the same year her father died. Born in 1932, Sylvia Plath’s short life ended in 1963 as a result of suicide. From her first collection of poems, The Colossus (1960), through the collections published after her death, Plath is considered one of America’s most immediate and personal poets.
Plath attended Smith College, where she won a fiction contest that provided a guest editorship at Mademoiselle magazine in New York. She used her college and working experiences to inform her semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, which was originally published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. A Fulbright grant won her acceptance to Cambridge University, where she met, and then married in 1956, the English poet Ted Hughes. Plath was separated from Hughes for her most prolific period of writing from 1961 to 1963, when she was living in a small London flat with her two children.
In addition to the poetry, Plath’s radio play, Three Women: A Monologue for Three Voices, was presented on the BBC in 1962. Plath had tried to commit suicide before, as a young woman and as an adult. In 1963, she gassed herself in the London flat’s kitchen. After her death, Ariel (1965), Crossing the Water (1971), Winter Trees (1972), Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams (1979, short fiction) solidified her reputation. In 1981, Ted Hughes edited The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath, which won a Pulitzer Prize.
Ovation TV film (description and schedule -no video):
Sylvia
Google's list of Books by Sylvia Plath
Quote:
Reality is relative, depending on what lens you look through.
Excerpt:
From the Bell Jar (my personal favorite):
The silence depressed me. It wasn't the silence of silence. It was my own silence. I knew perfectly well the cars were making a noise, and the people in them and behind the lit windows of the buildings were making a noise, and the river was making a noise, but I couldn't hear a thing. The city hung in my window, flat as a poster, glittering and blinking, but it might just as well not have been there at all, for the good it did me.
Downtown LA’s Day of the Dead: “Top of the Dome V”
By Aeppel; LVR
The Crewest gallery prides itself in their “street sensibility with an urban perspective.” They take chunks right out of the Los Angeles Downtown, the skaters, graffiti artists, tattoo artists, fine urban artists, and even some of those who wander the streets, and showcase their pieces in a fine-art arena which is highly inclusive and amenable. This month is their fifth annual Day of the Dead show, “Top of the Dome V,” which displays ceramic skulls by the sculptor and watercolorist Gregg Stone (“Sacred Cholo”), customized by over 100 artists who painted, cracked, built, and sculpted with this unifying medium; and unifying indeed, since the art piece cannot remain outside of our own skulls, with a sticky-note that tells us “Remember, you will die” (“Note to Self” by Scott Power).
Note to Self by Scott Power
Sacred Cholo by Gregg Stone
The place was packed with people of all sorts and styles, meshing and flowing like little schools of fish from skull to skull. “Top of the Dome V” unifies an ancient ritual with new and modern outlooks on life, death, among other themes like the war and pop culture. Colorful skulls are lined up in racks, each one expressing a different background and story from the next, so that each little skull becomes a new experience and a changing voyage into someone’s mind and perspective. Some skulls are painted with the traditional and symbolic day of the dead themes and colors (“Sacred Plant Visions” by Midori Takata, “Infinite Wisdom” by Butterfly), while others are reflections of pop surrealism (“It’s all Fun and Games” by Macsorro) and popular graffiti art. I could have sworn that I recognized the very walls of LA painted in these skulls. Cache’s graffiti chickens and Roa’s roaches are icons from the streets, familiar faces that are suddenly transported into the gallery setting, taking graffiti from the street lights to the new light of a gallery.
Sacred Plant Visions by Midori Takata
Each skull told a story, as was the case with Marty Katon’s skull, “They Teach Us Art,” which opened to us with a cracked cranium into a parallel universe painted within and without the skull, in gratitude of the artists of old which laid the foundation for our own expression. Marty Katon confessed that the skull was cracked open accidentally in an angry rage when he kicked a misplaced hair brush that bounced right from the floor into the skull. After a brief moment of shock which Kafon calls “the minute of desperation before art,” he picked up the pieces and built this beautiful tribute to all artists who have passed away. 
They Teach Us Art by Marty Katon
I listen intently to the stories that the pieces were trying to teach us through this urban style which is also a vehicle for social criticism. I ventured into Edgar Hoill’s traditional Day of the Dead altar, which commemorates the lives of all of those who died trying to cross the border into the US. About 152 have lost their lives this year due to several factors including exposure to the elements, drowning, and border patrol violence. His symbolic altar rises in three steps towards a photograph of the border’s dusty desert through barbed wire. I peered in and got the enclosing sensation that many may feel when they stare into that sharp barrier between dreams. Sitting beneath the photograph are items that are normally carried by immigrants, like a bottle of water, some dusty clothing, tennis shoes. Photographs of candles were lit for the lives of adults that were lost, little candles lit for the lives of children. I couldn’t help but light a candle in my mind as well for the unfortunate travelers who fall on the ground between progress and disparity. It is effective and informative, reflective and sensitive.
A variety of skulls were also part of elaborate sculptures, like Steven Sattler’s “Hypnoticus Gaga Fowl,” which features a hilarious prototype of a towering half-dead, half-alive chicken monument; or Treiops Treyald’s “Archeological Exhibit” of a skull and a remote control on display as if they were hanging in a natural history museum, the only remains of today’s western civilization. I thought about where I would be found if disaster struck. Would I really be surrounded by the excess of my generation’s technological novelties…with some luck, I would rather be buried under my stack of books and poetry! Messenger’s “Satan is Dead,” is a darker representation of a sculpted demonic skull atop a whimsical column, which brings edge to the show, along with a little bit of “Dia de los Muertos” fright. 
The beautiful thing about the show is that it is truly open to all of those who have talent and an idea. Curator, Man One, encourages artists of all types of backgrounds to show them their art in order to participate in future festivals. His scouting has reached from the very streets of LA to interesting stranger’s Myspaces. Good art cannot hide! This growing art show has become an art-tradition in Los Angeles that is not only fun, but affordable. By the end of the night, I was aching to have one of my very own skulls. Unfortunately, little red “sold” dots are quickly spreading through the pieces! Each skull is priced modestly so that anyone can own a beautiful piece of artwork by emerging or established artists, be it your first art piece or something new to grace your collection; something to remind us to reflect on those who have passed, in order fix our focus on the living solutions. 
Battle Skull by Chad Stone
Nov 8 - Nov 30
Crewest Gallery
110 Winston St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013
The exhibit will also be part of the Downtown Art Walk on Thursday November 13th from 12 p.m. to 9:30 p.m
For submissions to their future shows, contact manone@manone.com and show them your work!
DAY OF THE DEAD ORIGINS
The Day of the Dead celebration originated in Janitzio, Mexico. It began among the Aztecs as a day of remembrance of their deceased loved ones and a day of offerings to the goddess of the underworld, Mictecacihuatl. Even then, skulls were artistically decorated and crafted out of varying materials, including wood and sugar, which was eaten afterwards as a memorial to those who passed (Carlos Miller, “Indigenous People Won’t Let Day of the Dead Die”). Unlike many western cultures, death was not seen as a frightening end to our lives, but a continuation and a rite of passage into the afterlife. Today, the Day of the Dead is not only celebrated in Mexico, but in the United States, as it becomes a fresh new part of U.S. culture, decorated in golden marigolds (cempasuchitl), the traditional flower of this day. 
Tijuana by Karoline Drachenberg
Infinite Wisdom by Butterfly
Links:
Man One - curator’s website
Gregg Stone’s portfolio – maker of the skulls
ALL photographs taken by Jay Huffschmitt and pulled from flickr.com. See the full gallery.
Aeppel; LVR is an emerging writer and poet from Santa Monica, CA. She is an editor for the growing Ministry of Obscure Knowledge website and a self-published spoken word poet. Her "words (are) marked by a youthful spirituality of sci-fi antiquity."
Cindy Sherman
The self-portrait has been a crucial expressive tool throughout artistic history. In our day, possibly no other artist has quite mastered this device as thoroughly as Cindy Sherman. Born in 1954 in New Jersey, Sherman's formal exploration of the arts began when she arrived at the State University College at Buffalo to study painting. There, she quickly became frustrated with what she perceived as the limitations of painting, and turned to photography instead. Together with Robert Longo and other fellow artists, she founded Hallwalls in 1974 as an exhibition space that would be welcoming to their explorations. Moving to New York City in 1976, Cindy Sherman began to take pictures of herself in settings inspired by the archetypical roles of B-movie stars. All of these images are named "Untitled." She studiously avoids any hint that could link them to her own personality. Subsequent self-portraits have used other conceptual settings as backdrop. From 1985 to 1989, Sherman chose settings with lurid colors, frequently littered with disgusting objects in a series known as "Disasters and Fairy Tales." From 1988 to 1990, she sets herself within cliches derived from famous paintings from the history of art. A more recent series from 2003 places her in the roles of multiple clowns. She has also used dolls and prosthetic body parts as stand-ins for herself, most famously in the graphically explicit series known as "Sex Pictures". In addition to her photographic work, Cindy Sherman has ventured into cinematography, directing the movie Office Killer, and playing herself in John Waters' photography story, Pecker.
OVTV Program info and video:
Cindy Sherman: Nobody's Here But Me
Related Links:
Official Cindy Sherman Website
Books by Cindy Sherman - Google List
TATE magazine interview (with photos in her studio)
Quote:
The still must tease with the promise of a story the viewer of it itches to be told.
Eric Klemm •
Darren Robertson, Choctaw, 2006
White Wolf, Cherokee, 2006
Sonny Ledford, Cherokee, 2006
Jose Moya, Aztek, 2006
Guadelupe, Apache, 2006
Dog Soldier, Cherokee, 2006
Passing Rain, Zuini / Tewa, 2006
Micki Free, Comanche, 2006
Wolf Men, Apache, 2006
Abeyta, Tewa / St. Juan, 2006
Eric Klemm
www.ericklemm.com
My submission for Photolucida Critical Mass is a small series of performers and dancers from an ongoing project to photograph 500 Indians in the USA and Canada.
I am picking up the thread where Edward Curtis ended, but now, nearly one hundred years later there are no more “Great Warriors”, their place taken by ordinary people who refused to give up. Because of the scale of devastation to the North American Indian people and their culture, the mere act of surviving, no matter how desperate the personal and communal conditions, was transformed into a heroic one. Just not dying meant the chance to repopulate and give birth to a future. These are my subjects. My project is to photograph about 500 portraits of men, woman and children of over 200 different Tribes, Bands and Nations in a style that is contemporary, straight forward, and vital over a period of 3-4 years. My work is divided in 2 sections; portraits, and dancers and performers. Wherever I meet them, passing on the street, at a supermarket or at a dancing event at the reserve, I am photographing them immediately - to capture that moment just after the eyes meet, that moment of truth while the recognition and acknowledgment of a shared humanity is still in our eyes before the guardedness of difference darkens it. Through the face of the North American Indian I am looking for a reflection of the entire human condition. It is my intention to create awareness for this great people and his struggle to keep his great spirit and wonderful culture alive. I am trying to bring the issue of the Indians to greater attention by publishing books and organizing exhibitions in museums and public galleries worldwide.
Eric Klemm, December 2006.
In the high-octane 1960s Pop Art scene, Ray Johnson cast a small shadow amongst colleagues such as Andy Warhol. However, his collage work (which he dubbed "moticos"), and the way he decided to distribute it (through the postal service) influenced the future of mixed media art, as well as the mail art movement. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Johnson attended the experimental Black Mountain College with the likes of Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly. After leaving BMC in 1948, he spent some time creating abstract art, and then took on the influence of Dada with his collages incorporating comic strips, advertisements and celebrity figures. Johnson often refused to participate in gallery shows and started mailing his art to a network of correspondents, telling them to add to his creations and then return them. This method of disseminating art became known as the New York Correspondence School, and expanded to include impromptu events and dinners. When Johnson did show his artwork, he was represented by the dealer Richard Feigen, with whom he battled over the nature of the art market. Johnson eventually withdrew from New York to a small town on Long Island, where he continued to produce mail art. In 1995 Ray Johnson’s body was found floating in a cove in Sag Harbor, N.Y. The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear, although some speculate that this final act was also his final performance.
Ray Johnson on Ovation TV - How To Draw A Bunny
I love her paintings!
Pintos by Beverly Doolittle
Signed Limited Edition Lithograph, Framed
Image Size: 21 x 21
Edition Size: 1000
"In "Pintos" the magic began to happen. Suddenly my mind was
crowded with experiments I wanted to make, patterns I wanted to play
with, stories I wanted to tell."--Bev Doolittle
Sold Out Image, Only One Available
Call 1-800-927-7335 for Framing details and a Shipping quote
"What Would Joker Wear?"
Perhaps the creepiest sort of
apparel, designed for our safety, but in actual truth making perfectly
normal human beings look like totalitarian monsters from "Another Brick
in the Wall" nightmare - gas masks are going to be around as long as WMD exist, and beyond.
I
have a sneaking suspicion that some third-world dictator is hatching
plans to dress his whole subordinate populace in gas masks - in the
name of some mad civil defense, of course. No wonder Stalin instituted
gas mask training for everybody in Russia (drills performed almost
every day) in the 30s.
The recent "Joker" character took
another approach to masks ("Why so serious?"), but in my humble
opinion, gas-masked children are creepier than anything Joker can come
up with.
(image credit: kansashumanities)
(image credit: Thomas Scott)
On this page we continue to collect the weirdest shots of human beings (and a few animals) in gas masks. Also read Part 1 and Part 2.
(image credit: gasmasks.net)
Some of the strangest gas mask variations appeared on posters in recent history:
Check out the women's expressions on the left: they range from disgust, disbelief, to some kind of a strained smile:
(image credit: gasmasks.net)
Industrial applications of gas masks are only appropriate, so their "freak factor" is significantly reduced:
(image credit: gasmasks.net)
Family-friendly?
...or maybe a way to freak out your dog, when he sees the whole household going out on a walk in this way -
(image credit: modernmechanix and Garcia Lovrine)
Even
little babies had the privilege of extra-protection back then. A
Special Device for toddlers (which during peace time you could use as
sound insulation against baby cries... just joking, of course) -
(image credit: modernmechanix)
No Fear.... Only Loathing.
The other way of dealing with the unthinkable - is to disappear, or to totally blend with the surroundings. Desiree Palman offers just such solutions. Click on the image to see the full gallery:
(image credit: Desiree Palman)
However,
if you really need protection against gases and such - then you have to
ask, could they not make the masks less ugly, and even cute in some way?
Of course, they can! Witness a A Mickey Mouse Gas Mask designed for children of all ages (more info). Conceived in 1944, it was a way to cope with constant fear of attack on US from enemy submarines.
(image credit: gasmasklexikon)
Knitted gas masks are infinitely more friendly-looking, aren't they? Creation of Teryakimoto. Cuddle up to them and die, for they don't provide any protection, of course.
This
is also pretty weird. I'd say these are monkey gas masks hanging from
his suit... walk into a bank in one of these, and dare the consequences:
Gas-Masked Art is Hugely Popular
It's
only appropriate that gas masks appear as accessories in various modern
art installations. The best of the bunch, probably, is the
spectacularly designed Canadian site UberBrain by Francis Koch:
(image credit: UberBrain)
Steampunk workshop writes about a leather mask by bob_busset:
(image credit: bob_basset)
Some
other steampunk masks on his sites are even more mind-boggling and
onerous to wear. Can you imagine the thrill of meeting such a thing in
the dusk of an abandoned factory?... -
(image credit: bob_basset)
All these, and more, are for sale from the artist... Meet your personal Apocalypse in style.
Samuel Stimpert is another artist who takes gas mask fashion to extreme.
Some kind of love story, or remains of it (and a very dubious "zen" on the right) -
(image credit: Samuel Stimpert)
Check out his site for more.
And of course, a more classic art approach, which makes the whole miserable affair even more surreal and psychotic.
"Lady in Gas Mask" by Banksy:
Victorian dresses with gas masks and Kalashnikovs (dynamite-rigged rats would be nice too, but it's been done already) - how's that for the next Batman /Joker confrontation?
Futurism As Defined by ArtMovement.co.uk
KEY DATES:1909-1944
An Italian avant-garde art movement that took speed, technology and modernity as its inspiration, Futurism portrayed the dynamic character of 20th century life, glorified war and the machine age, and favoured the growth of Fascism.
The movement was at its strongest from 1909, when Filippo Marinetti's first manifesto of Futurism appeared, until the end of World War One. Futurism was unique in that it was a self-invented art movement.
The idea of Futurism came first, followed by a fanfare of publicity; it was only afterwards that artists could find a means to express it. Marinetti's manifesto, printed on the front page of Le Figaro, was bombastic and inflammatory in tone - "set fire to the library shelves... flood the museums" - suggesting that he was more interested in shocking the public than exploring Futurism's themes.
Painters in the movement did have a serious intent beyond Marinetti's bombast, however. Their aim was to portray sensations as a "synthesis of what one remembers and of what one sees", and to capture what they called the 'force lines' of objects.
The futurists' representation of forms in motion influenced many painters, including Marcel Duchamp and Robert Delaunay, and such movements as Cubism and Russian Constructivism.
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Check out the ArtMovement.co.uk site for a alphabetical and chronological listing of art movements and even submit your own! There is a bank of images searchable by style and medium as well as a place to upload your portfolio. We're not sure how heavily visited the site is or how well they guard your images but its really a great resource.
Furisme by Carlos Carrà Funérailles de lanarchiste Galli
Courtesy of Wikipedia
If you know of other resources, let us know.
CROCODILE HEAD |
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looks like it might be a good mold for a dragon too. Before the next step, which is to cover with papiér maché, a helpful in-between step is to cover the styro® sculpture with diluted white glue and then a layer or two of cheese cloth. When dry, this surface can be painted or primed, and made easier to release from the papiér maché shell. The cheesecloth-and-glue technique, which I call Amish fiberglass, I learned from my set designer friends Peter Hardie and Nik Adams |
Now cover with your favorite papiér maché mixture and strips of paper. Do a few layers, and use some more cheese cloth on a couple of alternating layers so it's BULLET-PROOF. |
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Pop the dried shell off- |
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and for a little more character, I bulged up the eyeballs on the superscilliary and the nose a bit. |
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Sturdy cotton squares were glued on the back of the jaw for hinges. |
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| With some vinyl "skin", it looks really reptilian up close, but will probably get a fair amount of painted highlights and shading for stage. You can't really tell, but that's a busted up CD for iridescent eyes.
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Some of the teeth are going to be oversized for character and visibility. (Looks kinda viper-like, huh?)
Next the body is formed. I used a bedspread/comforter...
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Then the "structure" is covered with the croc-o-vinyl.
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The costume is worn like a backpack with "sissy-bar" frame extensions (shown here with gray dots). |
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Here's with a torso mannequin. |
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A canvas belly is stitched on, providing a place for "leg holes". |
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Highlights get painted and an underbelly zipper is added... |
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Fine black mesh is used inside the mouth to allow visibility, but hides the actor's face. |
Flying piece of art causes museum chaos in Switzerlan - Yahoo News
Read more about the artist Paul McCarthy
Check out his installation at the Whitney Museum
Jean-Michel Basquiat (Bio from Wikipedia)
"Believe it or not, I can actually draw."
Born December 22, 1960, Basquiat was an American artist. He gained popularity, first as a graffiti artist in New York City, and then as a successful 1980s-era Neo-expressionist artist.
Basquiat's mother was Puerto Rican and his father was of Haitian origin and a former Haitian Minister of the Interior. Because of his parents' nationalities, Basquiat was fluent in French, Spanish, and English and often read Symbolist poetry, mythology, history and medical texts, particularly Gray's Anatomy in those languages. At an early age, Basquiat displayed an aptitude for art and was encouraged by his mother to draw, paint, and to participate in other art-related activities. In 1977, when he was 17, Basquiat and his friend Al Diaz started spray-painting graffiti art on slum buildings in lower Manhattan, adding the infamous signature of "SAMO" or "SAMO shit" (i.e., "same ol' shit"). The graphics were pithy messages such as "Plush safe he think; SAMO" and "SAMO is an escape clause". In December 1978, the Village Voice published an article about the writings. The SAMO project ended with the epitaph SAMO IS DEAD written on the walls of SoHo buildings.
In 1978, Basquiat dropped out of high school and left home, a year before graduating. He moved into the city and lived with friends, surviving by selling T-shirts and postcards on the street, and working in the Unique Clothing Warehouse on Broadway. By 1979, however, Basquiat gained a certain celebrity status amidst the thriving art scene of Manhattan's East Village, for his regular appearances on Glenn O'Brien's live public-access cable show, TV Party . In the late 1970s, Basquiat formed a band called Gray, with the then-unknown musician and actor Vincent Gallo. Gray played at clubs such as Max's Kansas City, CBGB, Hurrahs, and the Mudd Club. Basquiat worked with Gallo again in a film Downtown 81 (a.k.a New York Beat Movie) which featured some of Gray's rare recordings on its soundtrack. He also appeared in Blondie's video "Rapture" as a replacement for DJ Grandmaster Flash when he was a no-show.
Basquiat first started to gain recognition as an artist in June 1980, when he participated in The Times Square Show, a multi-artist exhibition, sponsored by Collaborative Projects Incorporated (Colab). In 1981, poet, art critic and cultural provocateur Rene Ricard published "The Radiant Child" in Artforum magazine, helping to launch Basquiat's career to an international stage. During the next few years, he continued exhibiting his works around New York alongside artists such as Keith Haring, Barbara Kruger, as well as internationally, promoted by such gallery owners and patrons.
By 1982, Basquiat was showing regularly alongside Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi, thus becoming part of a loose-knit group that art-writers, curators, and collectors would soon be calling the Neo-expressionist movement. He started dating an aspiring and then-unknown performer named Madonna in the fall of 1982. In 1982, Basquiat met Andy Warhol, with whom he collaborated extensively, eventually forging a close, if strained, friendship. He was also briefly involved with artist David Bowes.
By 1984, many of Basquiat's friends were concerned about his excessive drug use and increasingly erratic behavior, including signs of paranoia. Basquiat had developed a frequent heroin habit by this point, starting from his early years living among the junkies and street artists in New York's underground. On February 10, 1985, Basquiat appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a feature entitled "New Art, New Money: The Marketing of an American Artist". As Basquiat's international success heightened, his works were shown in solo exhibitions across major European capitals.
Basquiat died of mixed-drug toxicity (he had been combining cocaine and heroin, known as "speedballing") in his Great Jones Street loft/studio in 1988 several days before what would have been Basquiat's second trip to the Côte d'Ivoire. After his death, a film biography entitled Basquiat was made, directed by Julian Schnabel, with actor Jeffrey Wright playing Basquiat.
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Certainly an argument against drugs, its always a shame to see young talent die. Some say he was a casualty of the predominately white art world, but so many famous artists have struggled and become addicted to drugs that the statement seems to only scratch the surface. With all the fame and positive attention he encountered during his career, there must have been something else nagging away at him driving him to such self-destruction. Perhaps it was the fame itself, the outside push to create repeatedly no matter his personal or artistic motivation.
"They set it up for me so I'd have to make eight paintings in a week for the show next week....I made them in this big warehouse there....It was like a factory, a sick factory....I hated it." *
Related Links:
*Taken taken from Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of American Culture by Frances Negron-Muntaner
More on the film, Basquiat showing on Ovation TV
I’m really excited to have been accepted into a show at the World of Wonder Gallery in Hollywood, CA honoring my diva-of-choice, the fabulous Ms. Dolly Parton! The WOW Gallery specializes in fun, campy pop culture themed exhibits, most recently getting a lot of press for their show “Just Britney” which offered a multitude of artistic takes on Britney Spears. For me, Dolly’s a much more inspiring muse, and I’m busy crafting a painting that is based on the scene from "The Wizard of Oz" when Dorothy meets Glinda--only in my creation, it's a young boy (wearing an oversized pair of red stiletto's, of course) who is watching Dolly descend in a pink bubble. My working title for the piece is "The Dollypop Guild." Thanks to the incredible generosity of my friends, I’m going to be joining my painting in Hollywood at the World of Wonder Gallery for the Dollypop opening on September 12! I wasn't going to go, but my friends Maria and Jone had other plans. They organized a fundraising party and raised enough money to buy my airfare for the trip (thank you, ladies!!!), so look out LA. Here I come! Here's a sneak peek of the sketch: I also just finished a new painting for the "2nd Annual Circus Show & Other Atrocities" held at A Bitchin' Space Gallery in Sacramento, CA this September. The exhibit juxtaposes the dark, painful lives of performing animals with the fun, amusing atmosphere of the carnival. In doing research for my contribution, I found some incredibly disturbing video footage of elephants being stabbed with hooks by their trainers, and read about a multitude of other ways in which performing animals are mistreated. I had to approach the piece from an angle that I could relate to, so in addition to an elephant, circus tents, whips, and other more literal references, my tortured animal’s pain is masked by a vibrant splash of drag-queen make-up mimicking that of the ominous clownish, drag queen/ringmaster face (a.k.a my friend Mary on one of our infamous nights of "glamour" shots) looming in the background. See more of my work at: http://www.paulrichmondstudio.com
I recently had two Cheesecake Boy paintings licensed by 10Percent Productions for a naughty little Christmas card series that's available for pre-order now through their website. Click HERE to check out the "Holiday Surprises" set and HERE for "Brightest of the Holidays."
Note to the discerning viewer: Since my highly dignified better half refused to pose for reference shots, I was reduced to using the self-timer option and snapping compromising self-portraits to paint these cards from. While you will never see those photos and I attempted to change the facial features beyond recognition, every one of my friends has seen the resemblance and teased me mercilessly for painting myself as such a trashy glad-tidings bearer.
Visit my website for more: www.paulrichmondstudio.com
The Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas just released their plans for expansion as designed by Italian architect, Renzo Piano.
Renzo Piano is very well known for his museum work namely the Pompidou in Paris, France and more as outlined in this article from Dallas News.com:
Mr. Piano, designer of Dallas' 5-year-old Nasher Sculpture Center, has become one of the world's prime go-to architects for museums. His Italian firm, Renzo Piano Design Workshop, also was responsible for the Menil Collection and Cy Twombly Museum in Houston and expansions of the Morgan Library in New York City and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. A new Piano-designed modern wing for the Art Institute of Chicago is to open in May.
Ovation TV is airing a special biopic including interviews with the famous architect in the program Renzo Piano: Piece by Piece (click for schedule).
by Jennifer Colley
Ovation TV Online Staff
Monday May 12th 2008
Hello Artist Friends & Art Lovers
Happy Belated Mother's Day! to all you creative types and works of art.
Let's give a shout out to all the new and newer members. Welcome to the New Ovation TV Community! We are very happy to have you with us.
We are excited and look forward to having great fun! Personally, I am very proud to be working with this team of talented individuals. Thank you for giving us a chance we hope you will stick around. Thank you Megan for all your hard work and care. Thank you Aaron and Ovation TV for making all this possible.
Many of you are getting in on the start something very very cool! Not only the very beginning of this social network but you are part of the future as well. Ovation TV will be showcasing artists from this community... It's your chance, your very own, built in, cable television channel devoted to art. We cover art from the past millennia up to the emerging artists of today and tomorrow. It is very exciting, I still pinch myself. This is an independent cable network dedicated to people who make life creative. Imagine that! I think we have a good thing going on here.
Megan, myself and my pal Lea, attended I should say, our first Art Walk, on behalf of Ovation TV. I know it wont be our last. This is awesome! They have over 30 galleries, buildings full of artists lofts, studios, nightspots and... you know. SO on the second Thursday of every month you will find this place buzzing. People were hanging out the windows, music was playing, I saw a huge projection of nifty digital art right on the facade of a tall building! ummm.... can we move the office over there? he he
Wow! We could only get to a small portion of the exhibits because there are so many and well I got stuck in traffic and...so...I recommend getting there early...but parking is cheap after 5:PM it's only 6 bucks at the Pershing Square parking garage.
Anyway, we saw plenty.
Megan had already scoped out some choice exhibits near to 5th and Main so we decided to check them out and stick together.
First to the LAMP Community Art Project . Wild! It took me awhile to look up from a floor covered by wall to wall T&A? I hope that's not offensive but they do have art on the walls too... and coloring books for children. I'm confused about that part tho. In this installation by Frank Rozasy , tons of images of, dare I say, trashy pinup photos, sketches, paintings and drawings covered the floor.
You did not have much choice but to walk in and tramp on them. A very interesting thing was happening to me. I noted my emotional reaction to the idea of stepping on the cheesecake pinup photos. You gotta laugh, I felt guilty but the irony is that when walking down the street, I question how many people would think twice about stepping on that trashy print underfoot? Probably not many. So it is odd now that I think about it. Once you put them in a gallery they take on a more complicated identity than if it was just some random piece of porn on the street. No mater how common or uncommon my reaction was I'm sure the images may resonate differently with other individuals. What do you think?
Check out the project on Homeless Awareness, "Save Rent Control!" Arrrrrgh...
Next door is the Regent, an old theatre that's become a multi-use space, gallery/ auditorium. I think it was called the Possum that night? Well, once in side there were Raccoons, Zombie Kupkakes, Screen Printing, bicycles and not to mention 5 bands! We didn't stay for that. Sorry. Whoa! We also got invited to an after party but not on a week night you shmoozers!
Zombie Kupkakes
Next was a strange little gallery with a small intimate space in the the front. Mr. Emmric James Konrad was right up close and in your face with his whimsical fantasy nightmare paintings.
Saturn Eating His Young by Emmric James Konrad
Step past the initial gallery and it opens up to a studio with a tattoo parlor open for business. "Check out the bathroom!" he says. umm OK and what to my eyes should appear but.... a twist of fate and a big green head hiding in the bathroom To check out more images by Emmric go to the Los Angeles Group .
Megan then led us back out and around to Crewest Gallery
where Italian Graffiti artists were painting on canvases out in the street. Very cool art in action. Don't miss the next group of Graffiti artists coming from Australia.
Oscar the Grouch has a great exhibit of Urban photography, portraits and visual poetry.
Portrait by Oscar the Grouch
The Continental Gallery, if I got the name right, is a larger space with work by Adam Bota . These are some large paintings. All the more impressive because they are hanging, suspended in the air, while people can be seen walking about them and behind in the distance. This made them look even bigger. The work on this one is interesting to me because it gives me the feeling I'm looking through glass. What a beautiful expression.
Portrait by Adam Bota
And now for something different, paintings by Miguel Osuna . I'm saying that they are different because they remind me of Photography but they are paintings (now that's not that unusual). What is different is the movement that he has captured. Like the bluring of a still Photograph taken of something whizzing past you only more intense. I found these lines, perspective and notions of speed, very different and refreshing. This canvas #9 continues as a pice of steel. It's pure contemporary elegance, nice detail. If only traffic moved that fast. Sigh.
#9 by Miguel Osuna
One of my favorite artists so far this year, Ed Martin, was our final stop before Rocket Pizza . Yummie! Incredible! His work, Ed Martin not the Rocket Pizza, is at the Yarger-Strauss Contemporary . These prints were made WITHOUT a camera! So apart from the initial shock of that fact I was blown away by the compositions and extreme HD quality. His work is so impressive, magical and profound. I found myself in awe of what must be a cabbage but had become more human and disturbing than any vegetable I have ever seen in my life! And that was just one of the prints. You will need to see these in person to do them justice. They must be seen with the human eye to grasp the shear scale and depth produced in this work. Amazing!
Herme Downs by Ed Martin
To see more images from this show go to our Los Angeles Group . I just wanted to say that if you are one of the galleries or artists featured in this post please feel free to let us know if you would like us to add or change the descriptive information. We do our best to help ensure that your information is correct.
Stay tuned for more Art Walks go to www.downtownartwalk.com
Coming up UNLEASHED, Animal Paintings by MAX NEUTRA
Opening Reception Thursday June 12th 6:00PM to 10:00PM
At the Bailey Gallery
564 South Main St. Los Angeles CA 90013
10% of the proceeds will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund
www.maxneutra.com
www.pussyandpooch.com
Live Bird in Scarf by Max Neutra
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 Crocodile costume fitting |
 Crocodile costume fitting |
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 Beauty & the Beast mask |
 Abe Lincoln makeup for a TV spot |
Click
this for an MPEG of the finished Abe Lincoln TV spot. |
LINCOLN CENTER OUT OF DOORS 2008 OPENS AUGUST 7
38th Season of FREE Performances of Music, Dance, Family Events and More Through August 24!
OPENING NIGHT FEATURES SOLEDAD BARRIO AND NOCHE FLAMENCA;
CLOSING WEEKEND’S 25TH ANNUAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL
HIGHLIGHTED BY SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY IRMA THOMAS AND PATTI SMITH
Other Featured Artists and Events
Wordless Music / East Village Opera Company / 93rd Birthday Tribute to Graciela
Doug Elkins & Friends / Armitage Gone! Dance with Burkina Electric (U.S. premiere)
Hal Willner and Adam Dorn’s Homage to Joel Dorn with Dr. John, Robert Flack, others
Regina Carter / Still Black, Still Proud: An African Tribute to James Brown with Vieux Farka Touré,
Cheikh Lô, others ; / Legendary Ethiopian musicians Mahmoud Ahmed, Alèmayèhu Eshèté, and Gétatchèw Mèkurya, in his New York debut
From August 7-August 24, Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park and South Plaza will be filled with three weeks of performances by exciting international, U.S. and local artists for Lincoln Center Out of Doors 2008. This 38th annual edition of the summer festival that has become a summer institution presents a schedule of varied musical events, World and U.S. premieres, special Lincoln Center commissioned works, and several artists making their New York debuts.
Opening this season’s Out of Doors are performances by the incomparable Soledad Barrio with the noted Spanish flamenco company Noche Flamenca and French “gypsy jam” guitarist Stephane Wrembel on August 7. And closing Out of Doors on August 23 and 24 is the 25th Annual Roots of American Music Festival, which includes a Battle of the Brass Bands, Music Maker Blues Revue, from New Orleans, performances by Irma Thomas, “Soul Queen of New Orleans,” the debut of bassist Charlie Haden’s new all-star traditional country project the Haden Family Singers, and Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer Patti Smith.
This summer’s Out of Doors slate is the first under the leadership of Bill Bragin, who joined Lincoln Center in January as the Director of Public Programming, a newly created position which includes curating both Out of Doors and Midsummer Night Swing. Prior to joining Lincoln Center, Bragin served as Director of Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, where he presented more than 3,000 concerts, introduced the “Joe’s Pub in the Park” concert series at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, and developed ongoing contemporary dance and family programming.
