Installation – Station Gallery Whitby, ON.

My first exhibition is a small impactful installation of my book sculptures in a front entrance window space in the Station Gallery in Whitby, ON.

The window is 3′ x 4′ x 3′ and all black. It was an ideal spot to showcase a number of the small book sculptures, which have not been properly shown since I began working on them about 18 months ago. But the objects have evolved in the past year. I began building  pedestals from architectural objects made of wood. The decision to work in wood was my response to keeping the work harmonious and organic because the book works are made of paper. I designed templates after examining various baluster and architectural details from tropical houses and wood staircases. The templates are inspired by nature, flowers, seeds, pods and the human figure. Then painted a matte black and the book is encased in glass. Thus making the book sculpture an object of art and something of reverence.

When I was younger I had such reverence for books the very thought of taking them apart and writing in them or marking them or cutting or destroying a book was unimaginable. When I was asked to take a book and think of it in a new way, I had such difficulty with this concept I just began to obliterate the words within by painting the pages white. It was such a fun, painstaking process and the result was experimental. Since my first book I have had great fun exploring the idea of altered books. I have visited other artist’s works regarding the altered book and found the detailed and exceptional explorations of Brian Dettmer, Susan Blackwood, ect.

The idea of the obsolete book form has become poignant in this digital age with the invention of the book reader. A hand held device on which you may download a book and flip the virtual pages with a flick of a finger. I get that this invention is good for the environment, where trees will be saved and less unsold books will end up in an industrial shredder, but I guess I am old-school and appreciate the value of a good book.

I also appreciate the value of a classic. Some of which I have not altered, yet!

But I have altered Reader’s Digest Condensed books and a number of other books as well.

The exhibit is on till April 10,2010. I appreciate the opportunity to show my work in a public space, where people will have a chance to experience them as well. I would like to thank Todd and Olex for making this possible for me as well.

 

 

 

Visual Artists- Died 2010

So it is February…it’s that blah month, in these snow covered areas of the world it is full of the blues. Just when we need more sun, and happy thoughts and positive moments, I have been thinking about those wonderful visual artists who brought beauty and life into our world and who have passed away leaving their legacy behind.

I have also included in this list a patron of the arts as well

Jan. 14- P. K. Page a.k.a P.K. Irwin- Died age 93 in Victoria, BC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page was a well known Canadian poet and secondary to her art career, which she signed as P.K. Irwin. She used various media to achieve the results of creating organic natural forms in an expressionistic manner.

May 29- Dennis Hopper- Died age 74- Prostate Cancer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopper experimented with pop themes in a dark and film-like manner. He was after all an actor and understood the medium of film. He later worked more in photography and capturing his subject in quiet, reverent stills.

May 29- Louise Bourgeois – Died age 98- Heart attack- New York, New York

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend James and I were lucky enough to catch Louise Bourgeois’ exhibit Maman at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa a few years ago. (that is James under Maman photographing her distended belly). It was a wonderful sculpture to interact with and be able to touch without the usual hands-off one gets in galleries.

Aug. 10- Shirley Thomson- Died age 80- In her sleep

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomson was director of the National Gallery of Canada and Director of the Canada Council of the Arts.  She was instrumental in the purchase of Voice of Fire, which was a controversial move because of the cost of the painting and its seeming simplicity.

This is an homage to Art and artists. May we never forget!!!!!!!!

 

William Collieson – Bermuda National Gallery

William Collieson- A Retrospective –Bermuda National gallery

City Hall and Arts center

Ste 191 Par-la-Ville Rd. Hamilton Bermuda

Free Admission

About William Collieson: Was born in England, was schooled in London and worked in departments stores as a window dresser. This auspicious beginning was the foundation of his working method up till present. His presentations were filled with found objects as the catalogue from the gallery states,

“windows with Rosenthal china balanced precariously on top of bags of concrete and goats fabricated from flotsam and jetsam, draped with priceless jewels.”

I am reminded of works from Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson and Joseph Conrad, when viewing some of Collieson’s work. For example, a group of works on one wall were very similar to Johns’ Flag Above with White Collage 1955. The artist used found wood, typeset blocks, paint and distressed them to appear ragged and antique. They contained a good deal of texture.

Other works, such as Home for Heroes 2, Night Shift, and Portable Memorial were reminiscent of Louise Nevelson’s assemblages, using found objects in a cohesive and harmonious manner to build form within a form. The messages in some of Collieson’s work is of World War I and II. He uses toy soldiers, flags, typeset, poppies, flag graphics to convey his message, whether it is one of sympathy or apathy.

This working in a contained methodology one can clearly see was influenced by the artist’s younger days in design and craft. I feel an affinity towards him and was very excited about seeing his work when I heard of the exhibit while I was on vacation in Bermuda. And I am very glad I did.

Collieson is a leading contemporary artist and this retrospective is a fine display of his contribution to the Bermudian/International art scene.

Exhibit runs from January 28- August 23 2011.

Robert Henri The Art Spirit

The Art Spirit by Robert Henri

First icon Published 1984

Harper & Row 10 East 53^rd St., NY, NY 10022

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Toronto

 

This book is not a biography or an autobiography, but it does tell you a great deal about Robert Henri, an American artist and teacher. May you find inspiration and encouragement from this fellow compatriot. Born on 25 June 1865 – Died on 12 July 1929. Below are some quotes from the book, which have helped me find my way a little bit better.

 

“Some one has defined a work of art as a ‘thing beautifully done’. I like it better if we cut away the adverb and preserve the word ‘done,” and let it stand alone in its fullest meaning. Things are not done beautifully. The beauty is an integral part of their being done.”

I find this quote inspiring because I am an artist who makes things. I am not a painter or drawer or sculptor, but I make pictures and three-dimensional objects, which I consider something “beautifully done”.

Rejections:

“Don’t worry about the rejections. Everybody that’s good has gone through it. Don’t let it matter if your works are not ‘accepted’ at once.”

This is very encouraging because rejection can be difficult to handle emotionally. Especially since one is attached to what they make. You want others to enjoy it and like it as much as you do, but you cannot “make” anyone do anything. One day you may be able to persuade them, but it is not essential to the creative process.

 

“The man who has honesty, integrity, the love of inquiry, the desire to see beyond, is ready to appreciate good art. He needs no one to give him an art education; he is already qualified. He needs but to see pictures with an active mind, look into them for things that belong to him, and he will find soon enough in himself an art connoisseur and an art lover of the first order.”

 

“Don’t take me as an authority. I am simply expressing a viewpoint. Nothing final about it. You have to settle all these matters yourself.”

Your art is your art. It is done your way, hopefully. The two quotes above fit nicely together because it is about owning up to yourself in how you work and your ability to see it for what it is.

 

“Throughout the whole history of art, committees and juries, whoever composed them, have failed to pick winners. Oh Yes, there are a few instances, but they are so few that they only serve as exceptions to prove the rule.”

 

“Practically every artist who today stands a glory to French art was rejected and repudiated by committees and juries.”

Rejection is a matter of personal taste. Juries have their agenda. You cannot take it personally if you have been rejected. And the nice letters they send you after the selection, you may keep them if there is something constructive in them. If not burn them, film it, and call it art.

Uk Art Funding

OK, so here is something to fight about. But artist’s tend to be creative about it.

The government would like to cut funding to the arts in the UK by 25%. And over 100 artists have joined the argument against the cuts.

I have just viewed Dave Shirgley’s video on Youtube here:

He gives some info about how important the arts really are and the impact it has on our lives. And if you are feeling sympathetic to the cause you can sign the petition here:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-the-arts.html

Artists rely on second incomes in order to pursue their passion because there is not enough financial support for us. I know first hand because I have 2 jobs to help support my habit, my life’s work, my art. Some are lucky enough to teach. Whatever we do there are very few who can make a living from their art.That is something worth aspiring to, but cutting funding would mean the art conversation would be stilted.

I have admired and been inspired by many artists in/from the UK such as Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, Ron Mueck, Tony Cragg, Anish Kapoor and I would hate to lose their voice and an opportunity to see them make work because the government is not willing to help, especially since I reside in another country.

 

Salvador Dali Big Words

“I consider myself a very mediocre painter. I have always affirmed that I’m a very mediocre painter. I simply beleive That I’m a better painter than my contemporaries.”  Salvador Dali

A very loaded comment said in earnest by the painter in his conversations with Alain Bosquet.  Recently I have finished reading Conversations with Dail with Alian Bosquet translated from French by Joachim Neugroschel Dutton Press 1969. Dali gives his honest, forthright, opinions on art and science in this short but captivating book. There are insights into the polarities of his personality, his belief system and how he formed it from the erotic to religion and his respectfulness of it. There are plenty of quotes that are fascinating, confusing and full of made up, big words.

He is full of criticisms about Paul Cezanne and many of his contemporaries. 

On Vemeer, he states, ” Vemeer’s technique was to superimpose successive and very fine layers of paint to create an illusion of atmospheric space…Structures almost invisible to the naked eye produced spatial images.”

Dali has an opinion on the enterprenueral spirit of other artists. Joan Miro, Picasso began designing upolstery patterns, tableclothes, theatre costumes, plates, ect.  That others who, had critized him for selling out, were simply jealous because “they had not recieved the offers.” Artists selling out is not a new thing. It’s where the monies are coming from and the term “starving artist” is dying out.

A good portion of the book talks in depth about Dali’s relationship with science and his funding of theories and plans to implement prolonging his life. When I was reading this part I began t o think about the movie “Open your eyes”. I think Dali would have enjoyed the premise of such a film.

This book is filled with humourous sayings I’m sure he meant them to be taken seriously. ” For the Divine Dali, (a name he calls himself) if one drop of jism leaves him, he immediately needs a huge check to compensate for the expenditure. But since this happens very rarely, everything is transformed into art and spiritual functions.”

The conversation runs the gamut from politics to socialism, religion to art to science, Love and eroticism. The last chapter is an essay called “the Conquest of the Irrational” by Slavador Dali, with an opening quote by Andre Breton.

A short writing with many big words and foodisms used throughout as metaphorical allegories of society and reality. He also has a lot of run on sentences. For example, one paragraph consists of 26 lines without a single period. Isn’t that called stream of consciousness writing? He probably didn’t edit his work because he was “perfect” and everything he did was “Divine”, which implies perfection.

Of his critics, “How can anyone expect them to understand when I myself, the “maker ” don’t understand my paintings either. The fact that I myself, at the moment of painting, do not comprehend their meaning doesn’t imply that these paitings are meaningless:..”

One particularly interesting question raised at the end of the paper as Dali mentions the subject of Paranoid-Critical Activity, is the comparison of disparate paintings such as Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, Millet’s Angelus and Watteau’s Embarkation for Cythera. How can these paintings be related in this topic of Paranoid-Critical Activity?

I quote part of a verse at the end of the Conquest of the Irrational, ” The imaginative fat and the monetray idealisms between transfinite arithmatics and sanguinary mathematics between the “structural”entinty of an ‘obsessive sole’ for the sole in question remains totally exterior…

” What?

Maybe Dali is the elusive mystery he claimed to be. That is part of the “divine.”

I’m Back

So I haven’t been writing for a little while. I have been reading and working in my studio.

I currently, have about 5 new collage works on display in The Drake Hotel’s General Store. They will be installed till July 31, 2010. I will post a picture at the bottom on this blog.

I have written some new poems and I’ll post one of those as well.

But in the meantime: The book I would like to share is called -

My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic

Phaidon Press 2009

www.phaidon.com

Art Buying and Collecting: Questions to ask oneself? Per Charles Saatchi, there are no rules.

“Nobody can give you advice after you’ve been collecting for awhile.”

“Artists need a lot of collectors, all kinds of collectors, buying their art.”

“The more you like art, the more art you buy. So I find it easy to buy lots of it, and seeing art as an investment would take away all the fun.”

About artists: “If you study a great work of art, you’ll probably find the artist was a kind of genius. And geniuses are different to you and me. So let’s have no talk of temperamental, self-absorbed and petulant babies. Being a good artist is the toughest job you could pick, and you have to be a little nuts to take it on. I love them all.”

What’s the point of art?

“To stop our eyeballs going into meltdown from all the rubbish TV and films we happily look at the rest of the time.”

“ Art is no investment unless you get very, very lucky, and can beat the professionals at their game. Just buy something you really like that will give you a thousands pounds’ (L1000) worth of pleasure over the years. And take your time looking for something really special, because looking is half the fun.”

“ I had a few bits and pieces and hung them on the walls, but once you have bought something that doesn’t fit in your home, and has to be stored in an art depot, you’re officially an art collector.”

These are just a few quotes from the man himself.  The website is http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

Artists can post a profile on this website http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/saatchi_online_index.htm . Welcom to obscurity. This site is chalk full of profiles. You can particiapte in a showdown, in which you are put againt another artist and judged.

Obscurity 05/10

 I hide in nothing

Away with your dreams

And take opportunity

It’s what matters most to you.

O the imagination is a terrible thing

Because you cannot repress it.

It slips between the fingers

And amasses below the common ground.

No matter what they teach you

you are forgotten or an afterthought

Like New Year’s day last year and the year before it.

I do not know that I do not like the way I am

I do not look for new ways to teach you

I am exact.

Execution is persistent.

And surprises are better

Because they are full

Make you laugh sardonically

And I like that about myself.

Weep bitterly,

Cry incessantly

Smother yourself with revolt.

I am good at what I do.

It's always make-beleive with you

My Etsy vs. Ebay Experience

The Five Furies Louise D'Andrade

I am interested in trying new things. I have become recently, absorbed in self promotion, which for myself has been difficult and frustrating and time consuming.

I enrolled in both Etsy and Ebay. In the beginning, it was about buying stuff. Items for my work, for personal use and for gifts. Then I decided I have stuff to sell. I have stuff piling up in my studio. Stuff coming out of the woodwork, bulging from closets that I would like to send to a good home, to people who really want it and would love it as much as I made making it.

So began the journey of online marketing and sales.

I have learned a lot about both sites, but I am sure I do not know everything. And since I have only been doing this a few months, I am sure there is a whole lot more I can and will learn from this experience.

It’s been about 4 months and I have sold one item yet.

Listing items: Ebay is much more expensive. Ebay charges based on the price you put on the item, and if it’s a nice pricey work of art the more you pay. After this, you then pay for adding pictures (the first is free). Any other add ons, guess what? You pay again. Etsy you pay .20 per listing which includes up to five pictures.

Your listing is up for 7 days, beyond that time, you pay for extended days on Ebay. The longer your items stay online the greater the chances of people seeing your item based on tags, and what is being searched.

Your items stays listed on Etsy for 4 months. The problem with that is there are so many items to search through in a four month period and your products get lost in the shuffle. Enter the “showcase”. The showcase is a chance to widen your audience and capture more shoppers and hopefully, buyers. But this comes at a cost. Depending on the showcase, the cost is $7-$15. So expenses can rise if/when you capture a coveted spot. “Main Showcase” has so far eluded me. Yet, I have had a few “art showcase” spots and have noticed my view-ship has risen each time. If one can get a Saturday or Sunday spot, I have noticed this makes a difference. I believe more people are online shopping on these days and therefore you have a greater chance of selling something or at least getting noticed.

I have avoided getting noticed and just being ordinary for a long time. So getting out there and selling your art, really yourself as well has been a learning experience. It’s far from over. I can only hope I get better at it or else I may not have any space to work in because I shall be consumed by storage space.

As this story progresses I will update and post on this blog. I would be happy for any suggestions on making myself a better marketer as well.

Poetry for a Day

I have compiled a poem from sentences taken from 17th century poems and literature. I have been doing this as an exercise to find inspiration. But sometimes I just like the juxtaposition of ancient language vs. modern language.  And it compositions tell me a lot about myself and what I am thinking about in the time they are compiled.

A poem for a Black bird

But though he seems in star and flower,

 The busy day, the peaceful night

 His tail and his foretop twin in their hue,

 His virtues walked their narrow round,

 He knew her well and gave a sigh

 greeting her with silence and tears

 And feels his life in every limb

 Burningly it comes to him all at once,

 To hold his love within his arms

 To kiss, embrace and feel her

 For he knew his days in the world

 Had been lived out to the end

 The blood shot up into his cheeks

 Bedecked in bright red was the body of one;

 She goes to bed where sick he lies,

 And bound both with a band of bright green

 Vowing never again to rise,

 To sing so wildly, “let me go”.

 It was hard then on the young hero

 They say hope is happiness

 And feels its life in every limb.

Here is something I wrote in 2006. This is not compiled from any other literature.

 

Is there no end to the pursuit of happiness? by Louise D’Andrade 2006

I heard of your search but I could not help.

I heard that you were looking in the wrong places, so I did not help.

I heard you were in dire straits, I chose

To keep silent. Even if you could hear me,

You would not dare it, it would mean

You would have to admit your mistakes,

Take up your regrets, become a failure.

Humility was never your strong suit.

 I saw you in the wake of the aftermath,

Bathed in embers, fire like ears around

Your collar, striped of your innocence.

Where is the child I once knew? The one

Too stubborn to handle their history, and

Their future, the one too proud to talk to me.

 I could not help you, even if it was all I wanted.

You were not there to be what you wanted.

Automatically, you put me in my place.

Over here, far, far away, out of reach.

Photo by Louise D'Andrade

Artist a Day

It’s been a few weeks since I first submitted my name and work to the website an www.artistaday.com. My page went up on April 15, 2010. Their mandate is to bring further exposure to artists.

“To raise awareness of art globally and bring more art to more people.” The website states on their About us page.

They have 800,000 subscribers, have featured about 1000 artists and had over 170 millions visits in 2009. Does it work?

My page has 22 comments,  I have a rating of 3.68 and my readership on my blog went up 1000%. I have had more visits to my website in 2 days than I have had in months and my website was started last year in 2009. 

While the majority of comments were positive, flattering and conscientious. There were also a few comments that raked me across the coals. They were even so bold as to suggest I work in another medium. I was made to compare myself to the sculptor who made Laocoon, even Mozart and Shakespeare. That I suffered from mediocrity.  The reference to Laocoon albeit a masterful work in its execution and expression isn’t contemporary, neither are the other masters mentioned. An artist learns from the past then improves or changes it. the “Masters” learned from other masters before them by copying. In the case of Laocoon, Michaelangelo was influnced by this sculpture. Auguste Rodin was influenced by Michaelangelo. Brancusi was influenced by African and Oriental art. I am influenced by Tony Cragg and Anish Kapoor. Art changes with the times.

My own hesitation about using books or “destroying” books flew out the window when I discovered books are being destroyed by recycling companies when publishing companies, book stores, thrift stores and defunct libraries have books that don’t sell or are in surplus or close down. As I looked into this topic of book destruction, I discovered throughout the centuries books have been destroyed by conflicting religious groups and by governing bodies to make social and political statements. Today books are being destroyed because of surplus and consumerism.

I recall experiencing a work in the Guggenheim last year in May by an artist Ann Hamilton. The books,  from a closed library were sawed to pieces and held by their binding. This was a huge installation because it moved from ceiling to floor and focused on language.

 ”where an attendant exchanges weights composed of thousands of cut-up books  that counter the pulley system that propels the mechanism itself.” (Wikipedia : Ann Hamilton)

Human Carriage: Ann Hamilton

My work with books I can only hope draws attention to the book as a precious object. That their essence although it’s changing and becoming digitized increases their value.

Having this kind of exposure on the internet is new to me. So I have had a very slight taste of “Celebrity Syndrome.”  You make a public profile and everyone wants a piece of you. I guess this is when you develop a “thick skin”.  This is  an extremely valuable lesson for anyone entering the online community. It is large, overwhelming and can be very negative. Just don’t give up yourself and what you believe because of those few people.

Check out the web page at http://www.artistaday.com/?p=6067. Vote if you feel like it. But making comments requires an email address.