NEW BLOG

http://gardega.blogspot.com/

click here to buy my art sauce

New Blog

ALEX HAS A NEW BLOG!

http://gardega.blogspot.com/

or feel free to cruise the memory of this one...

NEW BLOG

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a grand one and those who didn't celebrate had good Chinese food or took in a good movie or just relaxed and did nothing. This is my final entry on this blog and I will miss it very much. I really want to start new and fresh and shed the old "skin of the past." I will keep this blog for archival purposes and back it up and save it etc. It has been a long and strange journey. I am making a lot of changes in my life and in my psyche and everything I do is usually about 119% so I am not sure where I will land after I jump out of this plane.


My New Blog is on word press and I am finding it a little bit clunky to use when adding content so I may switch formats to blogger eventually if I don't get used to word. Either way it will be all New Stuff! And I will explain the new paradigm when I understand it, myself. I may actually try to edit and punctuate on my new blog.


Meet the New Blog...Not the same as the old blog. (to paraphrase The Who)

http://gardega.blogspot.com/

three priests

Here is me with various blow ups and repros from one of my large and crazy paintings from the younger days. This piece has stood the test of time and many a bidder. I never wnated to let go of him over the years as it is a symbol of my past. I posted this because it is the last post on the OLD BLOG...and Now I will start NEW BlOG. I will link after christmas.

NEW BLOG

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I finished my shopping and now I am free to spend a few hours in DEEP REFLECTION. I have started a New Blog and it will include none of my past. Everything I do or make from here on in will be of the New Thought, the New Paradigm.. I will not erase this blog as it served me well (like a leg or foot) and it will be available for perusal... My new blog is all about me reaching as far as I can into the unknown and deep inside and pushing myself as hard as I can mentally and physically. I am going to start a serious regimen of exercise that starts at 4AM and includes running and lifting weights and then meditation and finally artwork. There will be no filler on my new blog. No cheap dashed- off art or hurried work, no pet portraits or commercialized crap. I am striving for perfection (which I can never achieve.) I am reaching for quality not quantity and all the regular supporters of my art will have special access to new work etc... I cannot thank everyone enough for their support over the years. My new mission is multi-fold and it includes regular Life Drawing, A Weekly Painting, and MAJOR WORKS which will be finished when they are done and not anytime sooner.

merry Christmas to all and happy holidays as well....(unless you are a pet photographer, then the ghosts of bad art past are not done with you yet.)

Merry Christmas France!

Your Possible Pasts

They flutter behind you your possible pasts,
Some brighteyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
A warning to anyone still in command

[Cattle truck noises]
“Ranks! Fire!”

Of their possible future, to take care.
In derelict sidings the poppies entwine
With cattle trucks lying in wait for the next time.

Do you remember me? How we used to be?
Do you think we shoud be closer?

She stood in the doorway, the ghost of a smile
Haunting her face like a cheap hotel sign.
Her cold eyes imploring the men in their macs
For the gold in their bags or the knives in their backs.
Stepping up boldly one put out his hand.
He said, “I was just a child then, now I’m only a man.”

Do you remember me? How we used to be?
Do you think we should be closer?

By the cold and religious we were taken in hand
Shown how to feel good and told to feel bad.
Tongue tied and terrified we learned how to pray
Now our feelings run deep and cold as the clay.
And strung out behind us the banners and flags
Of our possible pasts lie in tatters and rags.

Do you remember me? How we used to be?
Do you think we should be closer?

a patrons poem...

Twas the 22^nd of December

And delivered by mail

Was art work by Alex

He never does fail

A lovely gift for Christmas

In any ones mind

Was an art deco drawing

That was a design

It is large and precise

The line this Alex does draw

It is intricate and detailed

With barely a flaw

It will be added to my others

Pieces I adore

My collection is growing

You just can’t ignore

I’ll frame it and hang it

I will do my part

Who knew this would happen

From Gardega fine art

My wish for the artist

Oh Alex my friend

Is that such lovely gestures

Never do end

And I heard him exclaim

From McSorley’s by light

Merry Christmas to Alex

And to all a good night

Gene

scrooge

I have a feeling this will be me in about 20 years, except I will be covered in paint and probably have a bottle of cheap booze with me. At least I will go out painting which is what matters to me in this short little roller coaster called life.

Happy Holidays

I am a huge fan of Christmas and the Holidays in general. To me it is a brief respite from the madness of the daily grind. I like to sit alone and watch Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol (the old black and white one) and drink a bottle or so of The Red. I like to eat a lot of food and then get presents (which is infinitely better than giving them, I SAY!) I like Ole Scrooge and see some good qualities in him. He is a loner and I am the same. I find life a hilarious and awful joke that should be milked for every last drop of livng and humor you can get out of it. He was just miserable...we are both workaholics. He had better clothes.

a poem for a day---by gardega

Their tidal pools grew smaller
words like sharpened knives
the desperate and the lonely
seeking out their lives.

The trap was set so long ago
existence now is all they know
swimming in a soup of lies
a circled drain, worn out eyes.

there's no way to the ocean
the tide has left for good
the escapes are short and heartless
the plot misunderstood.

You sold a dream for nothing
and that's what you got in spades
swimming now in circles
as the light of glory fades.

Mcsorleys poem--by Gardega

Ahhh, the light of Mcsorleys is fine
like Rembrandt's ghost is will shine
across the wood floors, down memorie's shore
to brighten the faces of time.


a.gardega dec. 2008

How to paint like an old master--- by Gardega

1) You cannot paint like an old master so do not try.


2) Instead, paint like yourself and perhaps you can become a New Master.


3) Do not rely on photographs until you know how to draw from life, then you can use photographs.


4) Do not become a commercial hack, hold onto the elusive and difficult squirmy worm of integrity, it is the only umbrella you will have against the rains of despair. It is like virginity--- the only thing you cannot get back after it is lost. Give not into pet portraiture unless all is lost and the wolves are chewing at your cold and naked toes and even then it is better to be brave and sketch those very wolves than paint bourgeois poodles for a handful of clammy dimes.

5) Never listen to professors or other artists, they are fools and have nothing to tell you.


6) Do not (under any circumstances) subscribe to any methods or SYSTEMS that you ape from another. This is the surest way to kill the spark of genius that smolders in inside.

mcsorleys underpainting

Here is the base of my Mcsorleys painting. I always begin with a burnt sienna base. Explain more later.

bailout notes.

WASHINGTON — It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going?

But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they either can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.

"We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,"' said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."

The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?

None of the banks provided specific answers.

"We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking," said Barry Koling, a spokesman for Atlanta, Georgia-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.

Some banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going.

"We manage our capital in its aggregate," said Regions Financial Corp. spokesman Tim Deighton, who said the Birmingham, Alabama-based company is not tracking how it is spending the $3.5 billion it received as part of the financial bailout.

The answers highlight the secrecy surrounding the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which earmarked $700 billion — about the size of the Netherlands' economy — to help rescue the financial industry. The Treasury Department has been using the money to buy stock in U.S. banks, hoping that the sudden inflow of cash will get banks to start lending money.

There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money — not to hoard it or spend it on corporate bonuses, junkets or to buy other banks. But there is no process in place to make sure that's happening and there are no consequences for banks who don't comply.

"It is entirely appropriate for the American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry," said Elizabeth Warren, the top congressional watchdog overseeing the financial bailout.

But, at least for now, there's no way for taxpayers to find that out.

manhattan house

http://www.manhattanhouse.com/mhvideo.html

On memorial day I was asked to fill in for a video about the Manhattan House. It is a famous building in NYC. I was paid a lot of money to pretend I was rich and married and to sit on a couch and read the paper. I am somwhere in this video but I havent seen myself yet.

my friends band...

mcsorleys cell phone photos

lost souls second version

I started a second lost souls painting after I packed up my first one. I am going to stick to this series for a bit.

my birthday present

Viva the ostrich!

blueline glass

I have recently partnered with a major NYC glass company and we now offer anything you could want in glass.

http://carvedglass.blogspot.com/

Leonardo Learning---by Gardega

The Gardega Newsletter

I have finished my hard copy newsletter that will be snail mailed to galleries etc...here is a scan of it. I am not good at MS word, must learn more.. Tedious thing that MS word...

Uncle Sam has fallen and he cant get up. My friends used call me crazy conspiracy guy but now I am now vindicated and stand right as rain. I predicted three years ago that the American economy would collapse on herself like a red white and blue souffle. My friends laughed at me and went back to watching their televisions and sports but I stayed steady at my research and saw the Great fall coming from afar. I am not an economist and I cant balance my own checkbook but I understand the workings of the Big Clock and I knew the hour was getting late. I was chicken little except I was right. The sky was falling. Most artists have no sense and are best left alone in paint smeared rooms muttering about being misunderstood. I am not that, I care about our country and our people and my art as well. Horses run wild long before a storm is even on the horizon and the brain of alex was running overtime because I sensed there was big trouble ahead. No one would listen to me and now they wont even say I told them so...I am not here to be right but I knew why it was coming and how it was coming I knew the dollar would be intentionally tanked and that big industry would be nationalized. The worst is yet to come and there it is not time to hide in TV and sports and diversions. How did I know all this? that is a story for another day...

Gardega on Math

Math does not exist, math is simply the pepperoni we throw down on the "pizza of life" to make sense of things. There is no math in God's mind. Math is simply man's map of "the territory" and if you have read Descartes you will know that the map is not the territory.

nineteen

I have decided that it is of no small importance that the Flower of Life geometric construction contains 19 circles. (the outer largest making 20 total.) I am going to decode this thing in my lifetime as I will live to 300 and seven years of age.. I have already determined that the center circle (which I shall label one is symbolic of birth. )I will explain this later in illustrated form as to why I believe this to be true...1 down---19 to go.

1) birth
2)
3)

etc

I woke up at 4:27 Am today to start my day and Have my pepsi and read my six newspapers online andthen to my emails. I canot read the post online for some reason I have to hold it in my hands so I go out into cold morning of NYC and buy one. I find it funny when I read my emails that people comment that I am either A) liberal or B) conservative or C) insane--- Alex is neither, although C is another story. I have dipped my toes into the cool waters of both schools of thought and I have decided, in the end, that it is best being alex and that is the school of thought I prefer which is 100% independent, unadulterated, non homogenized , and onlypartially dumbed down by flouridated water and TV. Alex- think is free of groupthink and cares little for consensus. Alex- think requires me to mentally push the envelope at all times as far as I can in order to discover the fruits that lie beyond the grasp of normal-think. As a caterpillar on the end of realities branch, I reach outward into the emptiness of space time and half the time I have no clue.

I have decided to make a little movie retrospective of most everything I have done up until now in art. I will then remove all those images from my computer and take any remaining art I have and give it away to friends and sell the rest. I want to start FRESH. I want to turn my collar to the past and start a new canvas. I will only know that path by sitting down and studying intensely where I have been. I am going to spend this week in the cleansing and cleaning of my files and my closets... What I cant bear to part with will go to Mom and Dad's. I want to purge all visual reference to my past which even means slowly replacing my websites with images of THE NEW. I have already started mailing surprise packages of art to those who collect my work.---Keep an eye on your mailbox...

post number 2,347

As I head towards yet another birthday I find myself reflecting on the available light of The Past. I also look to the future to a light that doesn't yet exist but is (in a quantum sense) infinite possibility. This is my 2,347 post in roughly two years which probably qualifies me for some category of obsessive behavior but that is a twice told tale and means little to me as I enjoy being obsessive and compulsive and sometimes impulsive and occasionally repulsive. As a teen (and then some) I was a fairly crazed reckless person/ artist--- I had the market solidly cornered on rebellion inc. and had my share of bumps bruises and scrpaes and I had more laughs and good times than a man can count on all the marble toes in The Met. There were times I had so much fine I scarcely remember the fun I had. Even the few nights in the "house of bad decisions" make for damn good stories I can still laugh about--- (as Geddy Lee once called it.) It is strange to feel you are putting your days as a young and wild man to bed and strapping on the sensible shoes of "solid citizenship." Even huck fin grew up eventually but he sure lived a hell of a life. I think in the end of life as you sit in the chair of "summation" the things you will remember are the good times and the laughter and the craziness and crazy plans and the daring and black eyes and bumped heads. I think the flourescent light of corporate obedience and "things done right" may not be at the forfront of a lot of people's brain as they reflect in the shadows of their "final years." There are no guarantees in this life, the only guarantee I know is that a life lived against what you were really put here for is like beer without alcohol in it. Near life...


viva dali!

the restless wind
has seen all things
in every kind of light
rising with the full moon
to go howling through the night

the sleepless wind
has heard all things
between the sea and sky
in the canyons of the city
you can hear the buildings cry

oh the wind can carry
all the voices of the sea
oh the wind can carry
all the echoes home to me

Run with wind and weather
To the music of the sea
All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Chase the wind around the world
I want to look at life --- In the available light

play of light
a photograph
the way I used to be
some half-forgotten stranger
doesn't mean that much to me

trick of light
moving picture
moments caught in flight
make the shadows darker
or the colors shine too bright

oh the light can carry
all the visions of the sea
oh the light can carry
all the images to me

Run to light from shadow
Sun gives me no rest
Promise offered in the east
Broken in the west
Chase the sun around the world
I want to look at life --- In the available light

All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Shadows hide the play of light
So much I want to see
Chase the light around the world
I want to look at life --- In the available light

I'll go with the wind
I'll stand in the light

Met Photos

I have been taking photos of details of classical sculpture at the Met. These were only made for reference but I am thinking about expanding the series after I am done with my poodle series.

I have sold my lost souls painting and must ship it out tomorrow. Selling paintings is like selling children, never easy to let them go but then again there is one less kid to trip over... I think I may have sold my last supper and that is a good thing--That child is very large and consumes a lot of my space and stares at me when I sleep. She was in the NY Post and got me in a little trouble. Like children you can always make more paintings but the government sends me no checks for squeezing out more each day.

happy Holidays!

george inness--early autumn montclair

Here is a painting by the great artist (and philosopher) george inness. You know he is great because he made jersey look so pretty---Not even God managed do that. Is it me or is there something interesting in the reddish tree? take a close look and get back to me, I have a theory...alexgardega@gmail.com


If my theory holds true it will be a great discovery in line with ice cubes and chocolate milk.

great video series on egypt

"The mean global temperature, at least as measured by satellite, is now the same as it was in the year 1980. In the last couple of years sea level has stopped rising. Hurricane and cyclone activity in the northern hemisphere is at a 24-year low and sea ice globally is also the same as it was in 1980."


People get mad at me because I sometimes tow unpopular lines. I have never cared for the popular view of things. I like to the think there should always be one guy out there like Copernicus--pissing people off with his ideas.

illustration

I am almost done with this illustration--Cant say what it is for. This is for sale if anyone wants to buy it. What is inside the box? I am not saying.

in search of the sacred buffalo with arisman

Here is an article a wrote a number of years ago for a magazine as I went in search of buffalo on Long Island with my artist friend Marshall Arisman. He is a great artist and was my professor in art college. I think he could speak to my previous post as he is an artist of great integrity and I have yet to see him paint a poodle.

art vs. cheese

As an artist there are many paths one can walk down in life. At various times in my life I had opportunities to make a lot of money doing various things that artistically didn't "feel right." I always had trouble sitting with myself when I attempted to "sail the seas of cheese" I never felt right when I turned my back on myself and what I believed art could be or should be. Idealism is a single man's game and a family often changes that perspective. Part of the reason I have traveled on my own for most of my life is that I knew that if I answered to myself alone I would never have to "prostitute" myself to support others. I never understood those people and artists who jump whole heartedly into a commercial-crap lifestyle and milk for all its worth and then one day find themselves in some identity crises because they never followed what rang true to their own hearts. I can understand a family man doing whatever he has to do to survive but Icannot understand a man who doesnt at least have a "go at it." In so far as what really rigns true to them, artistically. I have done my fair share of hack work and bad paintings but for the overall sense of what I am after and what I have done I can sit with myself. I look to those who came before me to keep my spirits up and even though I sometimes think about the monetary gold versus the alchemical gold of the spirit. I can say that I kept the course and paid a lot of dues and I have a lot of funny stories about the stairs I have fallen down. I think the illustrations for this rambling are self explanatory.

cell phone photos

I always try to rely on a sketch book and not a camera but sometimes I am lazy and forget my pencils. There is a light (at times) that comes through the windows of Mcsorleys that is like a Rembrandt painting. I took this Brooklyn subway photo at 7 Am---that light is a little less warm and comforting.

framed

My friend amy sent me this photo today. She bought my spirit painting and did a nice job framing it. You can tell she is a lawyer and not a photographer. I love to see framed photos. A thing well framed is a good thing.

doodle of the day

when I am on the phone I usually pick up the closest pencil and or pen and doodle without thinking...I drew this yesterday---When you are on the phone you draw some strange things.

alex's birthday

Alex is another year older next week. If anyone wants to send me a gift you can send me hot sauce. I collect hot sauce and pour it on everything I eat..the hotter the better! No wimpy sauce.


486 east 74th st. apt 2b
New York, NY.
10021

When my grandma passed away I got back some old paintings. Here is one that was in her attic, I painted this in 4th grade...all those years ago..I entered this in my first art show..Light is a constant thread in my work since I was a child.

the greatest image of all time

I realized tonight after I spent six hours cleaning up my desktop and images (thousands) that there is one single image that I believe is the greatest image ever created by a human/ artist, it is not Raphael or Michaelangelo or Leonardo or even Gardega...it is the unknown genius that was Alfred Kubin. I have little doubt that there is not a better image better image created by a human than this image. I don't want to hear about your mona lisas and the like, "there is a presence here no one denies..." I have been obsessed with pictures since I was two and I have made my call....

ebay

I have listed Lost Souls on ebay. I can probably get a lot more from my gallery in NYC but I decided to put it up for sale today.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290282032049

award winning photograph explained

Here is a photograph that won first prize in the metro global photo challenge--beating out 55,000 other photos. What I like about the whole story is that it was just a guy with a point and shoot camera, not some gadget geek with a million lenses and the like. I decided to look into its geometric composition to see why it is pleasing to the eye. I used the Gardega Method of perfect geometric compositon ot see if it follows my idea of perfect geometry. First I chose the horizon line (blue) it is facing up hill so it is a bit higher than one would normally choose. Next one should divide photograph along its diagonal. Where these two lines meet is the best place for a point of interest. I figured this method out by dissecting Goya's work over a few months time. I call it the Gardega Method because no one knows that goya used this except me and he aint telling on me. Art is much more than lines and geometry and without soul you have nothing but I wanted to prove why this picture won even though the photographer has no idea he was using the Gardega Method.

torture---the art of....

I read today that there is a large group of musicians that are upset that their music is being used to torture detainees at GUANTANAMO BAY. They play the music extremely loud morning nand night and it is a means to break down the prisoner and drive them insane.

these songs are being used.

"Enter Sandman," Metallica.

• "Bodies," Drowning Pool.

• "Shoot to Thrill," AC/DC.

• "Hell's Bells," AC/DC.

• "I Love You," from the "Barney and Friends" children's TV show.

• "Born in the USA," Bruce Springsteen.

• "Babylon," David Gray.

• "White America," Eminem.

• "Sesame Street," theme song from the children's TV show.

According to an FBI memo, one interrogator at Guantanamo Bay bragged he needed only four days to "break" someone by alternating 16 hours of music and lights with four hours of silence and darkness.

Ruhal Ahmed, a Briton who was captured in Afghanistan, describes excruciating sessions at Guantanamo Bay. He said his hands were shackled to his feet, which were shackled to the floor, forcing him into a painful squat for periods of up to two days.

"You're in agony," Ahmed, who was released without charge in 2004, told Reprieve. He said the agony was compounded when music was introduced, because "before you could actually concentrate on something else, try to make yourself focus on some other things in your life that you did before and take that pain away.

"It makes you feel like you are going mad," he said.

all I can say that if you are some low IQ'd meatbrain from Oklahoma and you think it is cool to do your duty and torture people in such a way then it is only a matter of time before jackbooted karma knocks on your door. If you allow/ condone torture of people it is also only a matter of time before a country tortures it's own citizens. The wheels of karma grind slow but they grind exceedingly fine and true. I am not sure how people could spend a day doing such things and then go eat tacos and watch TV. Living in a box is enough torture on its own. I initially intended to make a joke about modern art being torture but I will refrain out of respect for humanity.

turner museum

here is a great website about Turner..

www.turnermuseum.org

please pay it a visit.

Brain Waves

Today I will speak about brain waves as it is a very interesting subject. My recent brain MRI really got me to thinking about the brain again. I think I am the only person who had a brain MRI "for fun." It is strange to get zapped with so much magnetic radiation. Neural activity is electrochemical, which means if you harnessed enough brains together you could (in effect) power a blender and make margaritas. This electrical energy can be measured in waves and in cycles per second. I will expand on this after my pepsi and shower.

composition

Here is a photo I took last summer. My question is--- would it be a better comp. with or without the bird to the far left...I am not interested in dumb photography rules of rules of third etc and other such bunk...I am interested in the spiritual composition...not the pet photography composition.

brooklyn bartender

I took this photo last year...(she never knew I snapped a pic.)

secret project

Here is photo reference for my latest project I am working on that I can't speak about yet.

gardega on turner---"the sun is god"

It is time for me to revisit turner and remember his July show at the Metropolitan that I attended religiously six sunday mornings in a row. Turner is one of the first artists that I liked but never really understood until I saw a large body of his works in person. It was the Met show that brought me around and opened my eyes to his glory and genius. The thing with turner was that he knew his craft and was skilled as a draftsman so when he "let go" of his roots so to speak and Became the turner we know, he had the majesty and genius of a skilled hand behind him and if not for that he would have painted soup and barley (like the expressionists) who did not possess his skill and succeeded in only painting soup and barley and whose work look as dated as old copies of TV guides from 1983. No, turner stood the test of time and was not truly understood "in his time." My favorite turners are the ones that dip one toe into the unknown and the "otherworldly" and seem to take place in a completely foreign and strange world. Like many good artists he was an eccentric and never married, lived with his pops and painted away in some studio in a corner of england. His greatest titled work was titled "colour beginning" but only because it was a work he laid down colour for and never finished so the title is an accident---I like the idea of the "beginning of colour" although the "beginning of light" would be more apropos for turner. I do like his watercolors but I still think Moran had the edge on him but I am sure Moran gleaned a lot from the master somewhere, somehow. I have included a couple of scribbled notes I made at The Met about his work.

comments

Alex,
tried to post a comment on your great post on THOMAS MORAN, I could not
conveniently find a prompt to make a comment.
That may be why you don't get any/many comments?
Douglass Montrose-Graem
Director
The Turner Museum

watercolor of the day--thomas moran

These are strange and dangerous times and it makes little sense to discuss watercolors----it is like picking flowers during an earthquake. But I am comfortable with such things and man cannot live on bread alone. Spirit must be fed and that is why bankers buy art. Thomas Moran was one of the greatest, if not The greatest watercolorists I have ever come across. He puts homer to shame and the same with turner. He is one of the great colorists as well, His grand canyon works are the height of color harmony. Here is a work called hot springs. Back in the day you couldnt just point a digital camera at things a take 40 shots and pick one and call yourself an artist you had to wrok for your art. If you did use photography it was heavy glass plates and bad chemicals o nth back of pack mules.

Fast times at Kremlin High

I have been ensconced in research about russia and the kremlin and putin and the oligarchs--not sure how I got on this tangent but I am riding the wave straight into the shore as I am seeing correlation's to our present situation..here is my rough and unedited and typo'd rough copy.

Welcome to the New Russia. The cold war has thawed like cheap chicken and the missiles and fear have been replaced with Oligarchs and men named Vlad with yachts and mansions in London and Paris. In a land where Billions are made and lost faster than a prom dress there is not much room for rule of Law, that is left to the thugs and The State.

Putin has long stated that his mistake was letting the vast resources of oil and minerals fall into private hands and his mission is to use any means possible to to grab back the the companies and get the state's fingers back in The Pie. Putin is the quarter back and his right hand man and wide receiver is a man named Sechin, his “Chief Raider.” His job is to “look into” a companies financial “health”..this code for force lets scare the wits out of your investors and you may be let off for a fine of a few hundred million (chump change in these parts of town.) The Kremlin will knock on your door and make you an offer you “can’t refuse” maybe they will stick you with bogus tax fraud or prison or worse--- When the government grabs the reins of your horse you can bet it is only a matter of time before your entire buggy is in the ditch. The K word is like kryptonite to investors and Putin and co. take full advantage of the self started fire sales, short selling In back rooms and buying up assets for pennies on the dollar..either way, it is welcome to The STATE, The New Russia ---go team Ra Ra.

“Mrs?” “We are here to inspect your home….what is this--- mold?!” We are taking your home to make sure it is safe! “But I will be homeless!—that is not our problem!… In the United States, mortgage-backed securities sank once mighty investment banks. In Russia, it is the personal business empires of the oligarchs and the loans they took out from Western banks, putting up shares in their companies as collateral, that are at risk.

The Oligarchs are worried---The ground is sinking under them like some great Florida sinkhole and the Kremlin is their only hope. Time to make the Faustian deal. Now I will get back to my statue of liberty painting.

interesting interview

http://gawker.com/5103950/touchy-artist-flips-out-on-60-minutes?autoplay=true


Here is an interview with Julian Schnabel. I think he is a good filmmaker and a weak painter. Met him a couple of times and he is nice enough but Robert hughs is right...

reality explained--by gardega

In order to understand reality one must understand PERCEPTION (Our view of what is out there) we are like a man with bad eye site looking through a key hole into a dimly lit room. Our best explanation of "The Room" is not even close to what the "real room" is. A painting of a tomato is not a tomato. Now for the strange part----there is no "out there." Everything exists in your head, light, sound, other people...all exist in your own head. Basically reality is infinite possibility and out of that you create a small chunk of existence that you believe to be true. The 5 senses are the only thing we have to interpret "reality." We only see a small part of the visual spectrum that is infinite and beyond our senses. What is there that we cant see? infrared--etc etc and these vibrations are far beyond our limited visual capacity..so then why do we tend to believe that if it is not in front of our eyes or limited senses it cannot exists? because we are humans and fools.


adios

purgatory

5 foot by 4 foot

on the easel---eternity

The ocean is a symbol of eternity, methinks. just as the snake biting it's own tail is a symbol of eternity. I am not sure where this painting is going but I will finish her soon. it is oil 51 inches by 51 inches.

on the easel--Lost Souls

I was painting for 8 hours on a seascape and then I had about ten minutes to get ready for a dinner. I put down my seascape hit a couple of shots of jack daniels and painted this in ten to 15 minutes. I normally dont discuss time (as in how long a piece takes me) as a rule but often art is about a moment and the greatest of works have been killed by over- laboring them. I am not sure why I painted this or how it came out of me but I know that is about the idea of the souls who are lost in eternity, in purgatory. The idea of forever is too much for my brain and the idea of being in a kind of hell forever is even worse. This is oil on canvas 18 x 24

latest work

Here is a drawing of a statue that is somewhere near central park..Maybe you know the statue? NYC trivia question....It is a piece I am using for an illustration job. The yellow is photoshop so if you want to buy the original art it will not have yellow unless I add real paint to the original piece. I am working out an illustrative narrative that begins in Central Park and ends in Staten Island...all I can say for now.

change, loose and otherwise.

like most Americans I can see that america is a ship that may or not be sinking but she is listing. I was glad that people felt a lot of hope again with the election and America needs hope---- big time... As a former Texan I agree with Willy Nelson that George bush should neither be considered a Texan nor a good president. Yet, I feel bad for all the people who have so much hope and think that you can have a rock star type president who will plug in his guitar and change America and washington and upright her dirty ways. It just is more than one man can do--too many hands--too many strings. A lot of people got mad that I would not support Obama just as a lot of people got mad that I would not support bush or clinton. Here are some examples of things I wanted changed that Obama promised but now is backtracking on.


1) warrant less wiretapping:

Obama promised to end warrantless wire tapping of americans, he is now back tracking on this issue.


2) He promises to pull troops out of Iraq, this will not happen and certainly not in 16 months.


3) He has aid he wants to increase troops in Afghanistan--more war and more lives lost.


4) He has picked Hillary to be in his cabinet. More bush/ clinton dynasty in white house. That is not change.


5) lobbyists--as a pro-bono illustrator for the citizens against gov't waste newsletter I can tell you it doesnt take much research to understand that Obama's promise that his washington "will have no place for lobbyists" is a promise that is already history--just words.

6) ending torture and closing gitmo---I will make a promise to end my blog if either of these are achieved.


7) missile defense systems---He promised to end them and now he is advancing them.


8) please do not misunderstandimate me. I want change and for the good ship america to sail onward into greatness--- but there are no fairy tales in politics and nothing ever changes so the only change will we get is more of the same. The american people must change and become independent thinkers and doers and start change within ourselves. I think I am about four shades more jaded than kurt vonnegut and I wish I could believe in a politician sometimes, it would be easier---- But I have met the new boss and he is the same as the old boss. Dont blame me, I am just a messenger. Artists should draw more and talk less and politics are best left on the tv but I was getting flak from obama fans and had to speak out.......My friend used to tell me everything is corrupt and I thought he was just cynical----now I carry that flag.

pyramid

the top 1% of the american financial pyramid own more wealth more than the bottom 90%. I am not a big believer in the redistribution of things as I believe the only thing that makes anyone (especially an artist) any good is an insanely competitive nature. Look at history and this will show to be true----look at leonardo vs. Michaelangelo and edison vs. tesla etc etc....I think it is kind of sad but very true.
I still think it is a pretty unbalanced pyramid. Maybe they could roll some coins down the sides every couple of years and have a pizza party for the poor slugs and artists slaving away below. Even scientists are vicious and competitive and backstabbing. We are like monkeys with less hair. If I had to give away my pencils as a kid I would not have been a happy camper and I am still a kid and I dont share my pencils.

Two great virtues


patience and wisdom.

pastel on canvas

edgar degas

I am a big fan of degas and his use of pastel.

here is a picture I made---- pastel on canvas. I have never tried pastel on canvas before. I think I will finish it and mix in some oil paints as my pastels are oil pastels and can be thinned out with turps.

16 x 20.

the history of american art--by gardega

Alex (whose name is also sometimes American Alex) awoke this morning at 5:30AM preoccupied with the thought of American Art. I decided I would work out the sand in my psychic oyster and share a pearl of knowledge and or/ opinion about the history of American art. Colonial art is not worth a hill of refried beans so I will not speak of this at this time. Americans were searching for an identity and the best they could do was ape the English and make lifeless portraits which did not yet flow with the blood of American genius or spirit. There were a few noble attempts and a Benjamin West etc and whatnot and etc. But they were still too busy making antiques and churning butter and cropping to make great art. One should take a moment to ponder the naïve artists and folk artists and then realize you have wasted your moment pondering something not worth the pondering you pondered. Soon we arrive at the Hudson river school painters who were noble and well intentioned and most fell short of greatness save for Church who was the greatest of American artist’s and Bierdstadt and a few select others whose names are not on the tip of my brain right now. Then we must come to (and think highly of) the great illustrators from the golden age especially Pyle and NC Wyeth who are the greatest of American artists and go far beyond the “I” label that is often place on them as illustrators. Remington was a truly American artist who had not the skill of Pyle but made nice Horses and developed a unique style all his own. Hopper cut his teeth as an illustrator and crossed into being a celebrated fine artist and had he not been an illustrator and faced deadlines and knew perspective he would not have become the hopper we know. Now lots hop back to the American impressionists and say they meant well and leave it at that as Pyle (who was only an Illustrator) far surpassed their daubings and paintings of fields and streams. (Sometimes you must go North by Northwest.) I will now mention Norman Rockwell and The younger Wyeth's and leave them a rightful place in The pantheon of great American artists. I will also mention Ryder as he was the most original of all American artists. I will also mention Sydney Mount as he was the first surrealist and did not even know it so I cannot give him overmuch credit. If you invent the wheel on accident I suppose it still rolls. I will now talk about the decline of American art and the abstract expressionist whose paintings are now as dated as disco and leisure suits and perms. The great mistake in American art was made when one man screamed "go flat!" It was then that all knowledge and hope and geometry fell out of art like candy from a pinata. Art was now in the hands of house painters and charlatans. They are best left as footnotes on the great American Art Dream. Pollock stole his drips from Max Ernst (who showed him the tin can of automatic drips) The Op artists could have been something had they real understood geometry but alas it all became a childs game of visual puns and optically promises that were broken in their own lifetime. We can breeze through the 60’s and seventies and mention Warhol, who (admittedly) took his whole thing from Dali But made some valid points about mass production and commodification (my word) . (His best work was his shoe drawings he did pre-fame for a living.) The 80’s will be ignored by alex as will all art up until now aside from Dr. Seuss who had a greater mind than all the American artists of the last 50 years with the exception of charles schulz who was a minimalist and a genius. Photography must be mentioned as it changed art forever. Abstraction and "non representational art was a reaction to photography but only Dali (not American) saw the genius in "hyper realism" which is one step beyond photography and two steps beyond "photorealism" which was a non intellectual-mechanical endeavor and no better than abstract depressionism.

oh yes---I forgot eakins

sat in the corner of the garden grill with the plastic flowers on the window sill....

lot of five drawings by gardega

In order to get to the surface you have to swim through the darkness and into the light. That is the point of this drawing. Maybe you can float to the light in peace, I am not sure. This is another lot of five drawings, this is the only one I am showing the rest I will pick myself. They will be nice drawings, not doodles.


price 100.00


you can buy to the right or email me.


alexgardega@gmail.com

five drawings by gardega

I am selling my drawings in lots of five. I need to clean my house again as I am sick of tripping on my own art., I am sick of living like a pack rat. My art breeds like french rabbits on viagra, I wake everyday and have more stuff. sketches and drawings and doodles are piled everywhere like a crazy person. I am sick of ebay as well--- it is a pain to post and I spent thousands of dollars in fees.. I am trying to sell off of my own site and I am learning the ropes. Here is one of five drawings you will receive in a lot. The other drawings are up to me.



100.00 lot of five sketches by gardega,

email me or you can click on the button to right and buy for 100.00. just specify what you are buying. The first person who buys off of my site will get a free gift from me.

iris panel

I recently unearthed this piece. It is an iris on gold leaf. The exact size is 5 inches by 31 inches. It is oil on gold leaf on masonite. signed lower right.


For sale $100.00

school of athens geometry--by gardega

I have been trying for months to figure out the geometry that raphael used in his construction of the school of athens. I spent my thanksgiving drinking wine and working on it. I finally figured it out using overlapping pentagons. I have very little doubt as to this being his method of construction. I also think the circles may represent planetary alignments by I will not stray into the esoteric, I will stick with math and truth. I used some photoshop to make it easier to see where my drawing fits in. Overlapping pentagons is pure genius. VIVA Raphael. Try drawing this yourself and you will find that it is very hard to keep track of which circle ends where and for that matter how many overlapping circles there are...can you count? I was constantly losing my place and would have to start over from scratch.

watercolor of the day---by gardega

Whenever I venture back to my parents I go through dozens of my "pack rat" bins I own and dig through them to find stuff. I have about 50 bins full of things that other people would never understand. I save old magazines, articles, old sketches---- anything I think I may be able to use one day. I try to throw things out but I have a hard time. I found this sketch on turkey day. It was a watercolor I made for a mural proposal for an architect years ago.


If you want to purchase this it is $100.00 dollars. I set up the blog today to accept cards and paypal.. Not sure if it works yet. feel free to try.

watercolor on paper 8 x10 roughly

words of the day--n.p

All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razors edge
Dont turn your back
And slam the door on me

alex explains the dollar

If you look on a dollar you will see that it is a federal reserve note. It is not actual money. The fed is not a branch of the govt. but rather a private institution that prints money willy nilly and lends it at interest to banks. The constitution says that only the treasury can print money. But no one cares about that document anymore. Each dollar used to be backed by gold. it is now backed by nothing except hot air. (which is why one day it will be worth nothing. ) you cannot print money out of thin air forever. We have what is known as a FIAT CURRENCY* a fiat currency is like a Macy Thanksgiving parade float eventually it is deflated or put to pasture (or worse.) People tend to think they hold actual money in their hand, you are essentially holding a promise (just as lucy promised not to move the ball..) Enjoy your turkey and drive safe. My brain hurts when I think about anything but art.


*The terms fiat currency and fiat money relate to types of currency or money whose usefulness results not from any intrinsic value or guarantee that it can be converted into gold or another currency, but instead from a government's order (fiat) that it must be accepted as a means of payment

melamine

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,457710,00.html


Our tap water is full of pharma, flouride and poison --bottled water is even more polluted and our milk is full of bovine growth hormones. now this. I am going to start drinking whiskey.

all I want for christmas is this....

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/11/25/2008-11-25_100g_book_on_michelangelo_to_go_on_show_.html

Gardega Newsletter---rough draft

Dear Sir/ Madame,

I am writing to introduce you to my work and to my humble newsletter, The Gardega Report. I am an artist whose vision is focused sharply on the heels of the great American Art Dream. My art is a thing undefined, a token of my journey down a strange highway. I am most interested in visual imagery that creates a sense of transcendence from the “here and now” and whatever media or highway gets me there is not important. My vision is influenced by science and literature and the Renaissance and the modern media. As an explorer, I do not make the same visual bread everyday, Picasso spoke of this and I share his restless nature . My ingredients and vision change with the available light of reality.

I have a large following throughout the US and abroad of collectors who buy my work. I have done countless commissions and architectural installations. I have decided to get back to my gallery roots and I am looking to expand my gallery dealings as I have dealt with many galleries in the past and I have owned my own NYC gallery. I believe strongly in my work and I still believe that art matters and honesty matters above all. Perhaps contemporary art is a comment on the quantum emptiness of the American dream-atom. I prefer a reality and an art that speaks to the heart. It is the journey in art I am after, not the arrival. I have no map and I reject the ones drawn by other’s hands. Technique is not craft anymore than heartfelt honesty is kitsch and irony is a twice told tale. If you are overly aware of what you are doing (in a calculated sense) you are not making art, you are baking bread. Only the madmen and dreamers have advanced art and the colors of conformity fade in a season. Albert Pinkham Ryder said he felt like a caterpillar on the end of a branch reaching out into nothing.

That works for me.

Alex Gardega

"MODERN art is like a Hollywood whore on her last legs no one loves anymore. She needs a savior to drive a stake through the foul heart of modernism and to bring painting back to the lofty planes of the Renaissance" - art-world rebel Alex Gardega . . .

PAGE SIX: January 14, 2008

staten island book cover

I painted this for ambassador publishing. It is Staten Island. Yes, I actually took my first visit to S.I to try to make it right. I must admit to heightening reality a bit. I will include the tear-sheet/ book cover print as well.


for sale.

(I will include a signed tear-sheet/ book cover print as well.)

18 x 24 oil on canvas




email me for inquiries. alexgardega@gmail.com


happy days are here again, the sky is blue and....

ivory ghost

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/23/massachusetts.piano/index.html

quote of the day---hst

"Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men's reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of 'the rat race' is not yet final."
—The Great Shark Hunt, 1979

art with alex video

irises.

I found this in my archives/ closet today. It is oil paint on gold leaf. The only reason the gold leaf looks a bit not flat and wavy is that I simply dropped it into this frame to photograph it. If the glass is pressed against piece then it is flat. I didnt want to press it as it was still a bit wet from touch ups I made. The actual piece is aabout 15 x 20. the frame is 24 x 30. I am not sure about the green matte. White would be better or cream.

great interview

drawing age six--gardega

I drew this when I was a child. I found it for the first time today. Yes, that is the WTC I was obsessed with the WTC as a child because of the king kong painting that was made for the 1976 king kong movie.this drawing really kind of scares me when I think about it.

words of the day

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

terrible beauty

I think there is no greater horror than the prospect of a nuclear war. Somehow I have always been fascinated by the mushroom cloud created from nuclear explosions. I wish I didnt find them interesting things but I do. I also hope never to see one. If you think in certain terms maybe that fuzzy old scientist einstein did more harm than good by letting the atomic genie out of the bottle. But if not him then it would have been another.


No one who saw it could forget it, a foul and awesome display.
-Kenneth Bainbridge, physicist

outdoor heaters banned in EU

EU bid to ban patio heaters (even though they don't harm the planet)

By DANIEL MARTIN
Last updated at 15:06 31 January 2008

• Comments (12)
• Add to My Stories

Smokers forced out into the cold could have patio heaters taken away to save the environment by the EU

Patio heaters have a minimal effect on the environment, an expert said yesterday.

Dr Eric Johnson spoke out as Euro MPs were about to demand that outdoor heaters be banned to tackle climate change.

Millions of Britons have the heaters in their gardens and they give a vital boost to trade at pubs, cafes and restaurants by enabling customers to sit outside in cool weather.

They have become particularly important to pubs since the smoking ban prevented customers smoking inside pubs.

Read more...

• Blow to obesity campaign as EU refuses to back simple warning labels on packaging

Industry experts say a ban on outdoor heaters could cost the pub and catering trade £250million a year in lost business.

Euro MPs are today due to vote on a resolution calling on the European Commission to set a timetable for abolishing goods with low energy-efficiency ratings, with outdoor patio heaters specifically mentioned.

But Dr Eric Johnson, national expert reviewer for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said plasma televisions produced more carbon dioxide than patio heaters.

"The overall impact of outdoor heaters on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions is very minimal, and once you look at the domestic models used in homes, the impact is almost non-existent," he said.

"Once comparisons start with wellknown offenders such as aeroplanes, outdoorheaters dwarf in comparison. In fact, plasma TVs produce far more CO2 than patio heaters when you compare normal usage patterns for each appliance.

"What constitutes a waste of energy is always going to be open to debate but it is important that the public is properly educated about environmental impacts."

Dr Johnson said Government figures showed that emissions from all domestic patio heaters amounted to 22,200 tons of carbon dioxide - only 0.002 per cent of the total UK CO2 emissions.

By contrast, TVs produce 4.6million tons of CO2 a year in the UK. It would take an equivalent of more than five patio heaters to produce as much CO2 as one TV on stand-by mode does in a year.

Today's European Parliament vote was initiated by Liberal Democrat MEP Fiona Hall, who represents the North-East.

She has also called for the abolition of the stand-by mode on electrical appliances and new EU-wide minimum standards for energy efficiency covering air conditioning, TV "decoder" boxes and lightbulbs.

If her motion is passed the Commission will have to consider it. The resolution does not specify how long the phasing-out period should be, saying the decision should be left to the Commission.

thank you

a big thanks to Mary for the box of canvas. Mary is a great DJ in westchester who I have been lucky enough to meet a few times. She has always been a big supporter of my scribblings. I would listen to her on the radio as she is a great DJ and has a nice voice. I have linked her below.

http://www.wfasfm.com/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=MaryDesilva&category=airstaff&submenu=airstaff

words of the day--peter gabriel

The wretched desert takes its form, the jackal proud and tight
In search of you, I feel my way, though the slowest heaving night
Whatever fear invents, I swear it make no sense
I reach through the border fence
Come down, come talk to me

In the swirling, curling storm of desire unuttered words hold fast
With reptile tongue, the lightning lashes towers built to last
Darkness creeps in like a thief and offers no relief
Why are you shaking like a leaf
Come on, come talk to me

Ah please talk to me
Wont you please talk to me
We can unlock this misery
Come on, come talk to me


I did not come to steal
This all is so unreal
Cant you show me how you feel now
Come on, come talk to me
Come talk to me

The earthly power sucks shadowed milk from sleepy tears undone
From nippled skin as smooth as silk the bugles blown as one
You lie there with your eyes half closed like theres no-one there at all
Theres a tension pulling on your face
Come on, come talk to me

Wont you please talk to me
If youd just talk to me
Unblock this misery
If youd only talk to me


Dont you ever change your mind
Now your futures so defined
And you act so deaf and blind
[and you act so deaf so blind]
Come on, come talk to me
Come talk to me

I can imagine the moment
Breaking out through the silence
All the things that we both might say
And the heart it will not be denied
til were both on the same damn side
All the barriers blown away

I said please talk to me
Wont you please come talk to me
Just like it used to be
Come on, come talk to me
I did not come to steal
This all is so unreal
Can you show me how you feel now
Come on, come talk to me
Come talk to me

I said please talk to me
If youd just talk to me
Unblock this misery
If youd only talk to me

drawing of gay talese

I stopped into Elaines for a few red wines last night. The writers Peter Hamill and Gay Taleses were holding court at a table. I drew a few napkins of the table. Gay Talese liked a few of them and he signed my quick sketch of him getting up and leaving. Pete Hamill wrote a great book called a drinking life that I read many years ago. I am pretty proud of my napkin signed by Gay Talese, it is a keepsake. They kept a couple of my drawings I wonder if they will save them and frame them or toss them.

Gay Talese (born February 7, 1932) is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism or "new nonfiction reportage", also known as New Journalism. His most famous articles are about Joe DiMaggio, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

Talese is a visiting writer at the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California each spring.

quick charcoal drawing

Here is a four minute charcoal sketch that I drew from my head tonight without reference or too much thought. I did not add any sound as I was lazy.

some books alex has read and recommends

The secret life of Dali---salvador dali

Hidden Faces "

Dali on modern art "

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter s. thompson

Prince Jellyfish "

The sun also rises Hemingway

complete short stories "

To have have and have not "

The jungle upton sinclair

The lives of the artists vasari

The dialogues of plato plato

every work by Vonnegut V.

the complete works of Joseph Campbell

The complete works of carl jung

The journals of Delacroix

Da Vinci on painting

Illusions richard bach

the stranger camus

the plague camus

no exit------sartre


sacred geometry


the work of vitruvius

anything by bradbury especially dandelion wine.

billions and billions----carl sagan


the renaissance ---any book with this title will do.

joseph conrad----heart of darkness---best story ever written..

all I can remember right now.