after rubens---portrait of a woman

When I was younger I always tried to figure out how rubens and raphael drew/ constructed faces . There is still more to their work than I will ever understand.

pencil on toned paper with white hi-lites.

link below:

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290129991409&lk=URL

Design for a glass sculpture

I designed this one day as basis to make a glass carving from it. I have already started the glass piece and will finish it soon...this sketch is for sale. It has no real meaning beyond its design--- it simply grew out of a doodle I made and decided to expand into a finished work.

Fisherman on jetty

I painted this in my kayak in Northport. I added some details later when I hit dry land. I dont fish but I like to paint people fishing for the details and movements. I will put this on ebay tonight. ( or email me if you would like to own it.)

alex

click below to buy.

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290129990047&lk=URL

One hundred pieces.

I have finally sold over one hundred pieces off of ebay. Although most of my sales have been through people requesting art through the mail-- ebay is a bit easier for me as I instantly know who gets what art! If you have not got your art yet it is probably because I have ten orders left to fill on monday that we have issues or questions about. If you received art please give me feedback in email so I can hear what you think! I have much work left and will continue to post it to blog and ebay. I am finally painting again and will be in the post office a bit less "come monday." I find it funny that the first person to buy my art after the press in the post never paid and I am happy to keep those two pieces.

Glass Demon

I made this years ago and just got around to framing it. It is a glass carving of a demon from buddhist mythology. I forget the exact name. It is 1/2 inch glass with gold frame. There is no backing in photo so you are see through the glass piece into my yard..it will be backed with a dark backing soon.


glass 16 x 20.

Pandora's Box-----Flowers of Pain

Another page from the Pandora's Box series. This was loosely inspired by the poem Flowers of Evil by Baudelaire. I went through a period where Redon was a big influence of mine, he was famous for his other wordly work. he was a great master because he explored fantasy art without slipping into the realm of cheese and kitsch.

Pandora's Box----Dark Spirit

Sometimes a painting or drawing is not clearly defined but rather a fleeting glimpse like a dream or a memory. Some art is "beyond the visible." This is a piece from my series loosely based on the theme of Pandora's Box. I never completely understood these subconscious works and have decided to return to the well of the unknown.


(Water color on pastel paper with white hi lights.)

comment

Anonymous said...

Hi Alex: I received your package today. Thank you very much and this weekend I will be framing these pictures for my living room. I read your blog everyday just to see what new art is posted.
Thanks again,
Don (from Yorktown Hts,NY)

comments

My friend vinny the hillary supporter said no one reads my blog because there are no comments...I usually do not publish comments because I just figured out how and I am very busy..please leave comments so my friend vinny the hillary supporter can see that people read my blog. I will publish your comments and let vinny the hillary supporter know that you have commented on my blog! You can comment on anything even the weather--or even on Vinny.

Vincent

My friend vincent is a hillary supporter. (inside joke)-- back to scheduled programming

Middle Saranac Lake

This was painted in the Adirondack Mountains on an island in Middle Saranac Lake. The Adirondack Park is one of the largest national parks and has a long history of artists. Winslow Homer painted there and many other great painters. I am trying to get up there soon. The high key/ impressionist color pallet is not normal for me but that was what I saw. The way I scanned it puts the middle mountain in the center a bit more than I like but that is life.
bid below on ebay!

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290129805770&lk=URL

New Pieces on Ebay

I neglected ebay a bit lately and will put up ten new pieces today while everyone is at the beach or boating I will be getting a tan from my new computer monitor "soaking up the cathode rays" so to speak.

alex

Major Piece

Here is the actual piece mentioned in the the New York Post which ( I would assume) gives it some sort of collectors value-- The original bidder never paid. It is a portrait of The artist Julian Schnabel at the Spotted Pig in NYC. It is a tiny little quick sketch made at the bar. I will include an original New York Post page six page that mentions me and the drawing. It is $500.00 and non-negotiable, If I don't sell it I will give it to the artist so he can learn some drawing tips.

Gardega says on his new Web site, tendollarart.com. "I am clearing out my studio as both a practical and spiritual exercise." Among the sketches is a portrait of artist Julian Schnabel that Gardega drew one day at the Spotted Pig, and a nude of a famous, yet faceless, actress he politely declines to name.--- PAGE SIX

Kayak

Just got back from the kayak.. What a day outside after spell of rain and bad weather! Back to making the donuts.

Da Vinci Study

All the great artists have copied other artists in their sketchbooks at one time or another..The trick is to know which artists are worth copying!


old sketch on pink paper-- white Hi lites.

arisman

Here is a great photo of my friend and former professor Marshall Arisman www.marshallarisman.com He is one of the few guys out there carrying the torch of great art. We went out east on Long Island with my brother to find Buffalo (obviously we found them.) Marshall does amazing paintings of Buffalo and other "sacred animals." Stepping into Marshall's studio in NYC is akin to entering a shrine, a temple or church. Studying with him in SVA was important for Gardega because It helped me hold fast to my belief in the spirit side of art and kept me from the other side of SVA--- that of the anal retentive lifeless rendering school of thought.

quote

Never trust a skinny chef or a fat artist----gardega

study of a bust

I made this right after high school when I was "messing around" with styles. I still believe there are a lot of ways to express line in art without trying to render a photograph- like drawing. Line is an expression of the soul, it is like a chord change in music. If your soul is empty an devoid of a need to express itself then feel free to hang your hat on the peg of a lifeless-photo rendering. The greatest draftsman of all time-- Raphael understood how to give life to his line. I cant understand why people ignore his drawings and try to ape an exact copy of reality. As magritte said "this is not a pipe" he meant that it was a painting of a pipe. A drawing is not the thing, it is a visual representation of the "thing." In art school everyone started to use these little "mechanical pencils" because they were not able to achieve a sufficiently mechanical looking art with a regular pencil.

Country Music

I grew up in Texas and moved to NY at age eleven. I still listen to a lot of country music--older country like willie nelson and waylon jennings when I paint. I was watching fox news the other day and they had a new country artist on and he was showing off his tour bus. He was proud of his bus and showed the interviewer what he considered the most important thing on the Bus---Hand Sanitizer. He said with a big smile that he was a "germ-a-phobe." Then I got to thinking about how I cant really see waylon or willie or johnny cash touring around with hand -sanitizer and calling it the most important thing on the bus. I think there would have been a bottle of whiskey and some pills on the counter instead. Then I started to think that hand sanitizer was symbolic of the sanitization of modern music and art itself. Look at the face of Johnny Cash, that face shows every inch of the life he lived. His art reflected the life he lived, it seasoned his work and made it real and honest. I think the same goes for painters and artists. I think the secret ingredient of many artists today is to mix the same hand-sanitizer in with the old oil paint to insure their works is free of a showing any signs of living. Homogenized and pasteurized like dairy milk, they dabble away painting music that would best be played in elevators.

Oil Study

This is a rare oil study. It is from a book I had on victorian painters. I am not sure if this was Mid- Summer Nights Dream. It is oil paint.

20 x 24 inches

.For some reason blogger is not letting me post art right now..will try later.

Sotheby's

I just got a request for work from a person at Sotheby's. I will not name names (I hope they don't mind me mentioning this.) It was nice because it pulled me right out of a two day mental funk I was in.

I like these letters almost as much as the checks!

Hi Alex,

I hope you're doing well. I received my package yesterday, and felt
like a kid peeling back a wonka bar wrapper looking for the golden
ticket.,...and I got one! There's one piece in particular that you
posted a pic of before that I had been obsessed with, and I got
one!!! I can't believe it, and can't thank you enough for this
special gift. I can't wait for the weekend to get framing!!!!!

Thank you for doing this amazing project!

Brooklyn

Today I am in my Brooklyn Studio making glass art. Back later.

thanks

taking a breather

Stepping back a bit today to rest--- back to work tonight and tomorrow.

quote of the day

"art is falsehood, a picture is something which calls for as much cunning, trickery and vice as perpetration of a crime"--Edgar Degas

Strange World----false horizon

Dancing Pig

good morning

I will be posting new work up today. There are only ten orders left from the initial avalanche to ship out so if have not received your work yet you should have it by the weekend. Very excited to start painting again and to spend less time in the post office.

alex

300th post

I guess this is a "milestone" of sorts. It is the 300th post on my site/ blog. I thought I would show you my ever-cluttered mess of a drafting table where I dribble out my genius. (Never trust an artist with a neat work space.)
Thanks to all my fans and everyone who has bought the work of Gardega and made my life possible.

perfection

I believe that world is perfect the way it is----The desire to have the world or your reality be different is also perfect. If you want to change the world then move towards change. There have been many "bad" times in my life where I looked back and saw the reason why I went through a particular "hell." If you can see the perfection in your particular "hell" or suffering while you are standing in the middle of it, that is called enlightenment.

pain

There is a show on torture on TV---Don't hurt other people. Don't hurt your loved ones, don't hurt the ones you hate. If you inflict pain on other people for pleasure or any other reason you are hurting yourself and will pay a karmic price. Forgive the ones who have hurt you. Don't screw people over in business and don't forget to acknowledge the ones who helped you get to where you are.


preacher alex

random post

This is Rip's favorite painting---May his father rest in Peace.

Read your blog every day, love it. I also received my piece from you that was WAY beyond my expectations, it is amazing. I am trying to take a picture of it framed to email you, so far they are too blurry, but I'll get it right.

It's funny that you posted your opinions on different artists today. My husband and I have an ongoing debate that I would love your take on. Lichtenstein, I like his works, but husband says he's crap and ripped off too many people. Any thoughts?

Keep Blogging,

Kerre from Boston

answer: Lichtenstein was a fraud. He was not capable of rendering the images himself and the Benday dot thing attributed to him was first explored by the Divine Dali. He was only capable of taking comic artist's and capable illustrators hard work and appropriating it . Appropriation (stealing) is a common "go to" for artists who can neither draw nor paint original thoughts. I spent years studying the old masters to one day become Gardega. I do not today put pictures of bart simpson in my paintings, pray to the god's of irony and call it art. Most people do not know the first pop culture image ever ever place in a painting was a coke bottle (by Dali-- of course) If Lichtenstein was a good comic artist I would have more respect for his faded and dubious glory.

Renoir vs. Da Vinci

Renoir, when confronted with a question about the divine intelligence and majesty of Da Vinci declared--"he should have stuck to his flying machines." I try not to speak ill of the dead but renoir was a fool. The only truly great artist minds have encompassed both the scientific and the artistic. Most artists cant even spell geometry, the most basic and essential of the maths. Sacred geometry was the engine that fueled the old masters and the Renaissance and nary a word is uttered about it by artists today because they are too busy slopping paint on their pants to learn that a gnomic spiral is gods way of building a plant or growing a nautilus shell---To them Pi is something their grandma bakes, the golden mean an archaic term. In the end impressionism became just another ism and the smart money got out early. In the end there is only Da Vinci and then Dali and eventually Gardega.

good art------bad art (in french)

chagall-----NON!

Nerdrum----OUI!


MATISSE-----NON!

DALI--------OUI!


SARGENT-----NON!

Delacroix------OUI!

VAN Gogh-----OUI!


Pollako---------TRES NON!

MESSIONER-----TRES OUI~!


KUBIN------OUI OUI!

Gardega---Zut alors!

one for the kids...

This is a painting I made for the yellow pages. It is a picture of the "Alice in Wonderland" statue in central park. I love that book and that sculpture. It is a very upbeat piece and children love it. I really don't want to part with this one so I am offering it at $200.00 if anyone wants it...I really like it on my own wall because I am surrounded by a lot of darker works.

Early Nude

I drew this in my first year of art school. Sometimes your early drawings have a life outside of their "flaws and mistakes." Sometimes crudeness has elegance. Sometimes my personality is crude and my genius is hiding around the corner.

High School Art

I drew this in 11th grade as a cover to our literary magazine called "grok" the thing I like about this piece is how low-fi it is because I bought the letters and "stuck" them right onto the drawing...Photoshop has ruined art in a lot of ways.

alex

Brooklyn Bridge

After I painted this I became obsessed with the brooklyn Bridge. At this time I was also dating a beautiful girl Brooklyn girl named Monika and one morning as I left to get bagels I saw these books all over the streets. It was a surreal experience. She (Monika) was an angel but we parted ways eventually. Painting these covers for 4 years has been a delight! Ambassador Yellow Pages is a wonderful company.-- Painting on a yellow "base" opened up a whole new challenge for me in art, I had to invent a whole new style to make these work. If only relationships were as sturdy as this structure. The original is for sale but I don't want to sell it so it is not cheap. (If one looks closely they might even find Monika's initials hidden somewhere on this piece)

alex

Musician

I drew this for our high school literary magazine "grok." (Back in the late 80's before they invented cars.) I am sure this is a very famous musician but I don't know who..does anyone know who he is? please email me with the answer...

beetle study

I have horrid ADD. I once took an ADD test from a book and scored 99 out of 100 positive--- meaning I am as ADD as you can get. A symptom of ADD is often that you can hyper-focus, you can sit and study a beetle for three hours and draw it without moving. If I don't have a pencil in my hand I can't sit still and bounce around from room to room. My best friend Terry tells me that he has never seen me sit down in a chair since 1981. My parents tried for years to get me to take ADD meds but I am the most stubborn human alive and deny that I have ADD.

distorted self image

In keeping with my promise I am making art affordable for anyone. Here is a self portrait of me-self in 1991 when I fell on black days. I was very poor and trying to pay for art college blah blah blah ---at least I had my health and drawing skills. Americans really don't have problems, go live in a place where there is no clean drinking water and then you can complain to me. This drawing of my dark days is only $25. I never put up self portraits as I cant bear to draw myself. Very painful thing to do---drawing oneself.

green pencil on paper.

11 x 14 link below to ebay...I doubt this will sell.

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290128262405&lk=URL

serious request

can anyone who looks at this blog today email me...even if you have already emailed me today. I really want to see how many people read this this tripe that I type. It will only take a second second---I may even send you a free gift! I am dead serious about this, I don't care what you say in your email..I will read them all..please do me that small favor, I care not if you have nothing in body of email..I want to see how many people are reading. Dont be lazy!

alexgardega@gmail.com

Mission Statement

I decided as I near my 300th post on my blog. I would prepare a mission statement and make it clear what I am doing and why I am doing it. I started this site on a whim, I am very nomadic and move around a lot and every time I move I cart around my artistic past with me in big blue plastic storage bins. Sometimes I feel my past is holding me back a bit in art and I am too attached to what was. What is important in life is what is. I decided to let go of the past and let it inform my present and future (all in a fairly public forum.) This has been a great cathartic process for me as I air out the dirty laundry of my past art "attempts." I often feel that we live life driving in reverse using the rear view mirror. My commitment with this site is to get art out to people who really care about art and to make enough of a living to keep me "in the paints". I still do some commercial work, ambassador yellow page covers etc---I enjoy them and they do not encompass all my time and they even teach me things. Every person who buys a piece of art-- be it 10 dollars or $10,000 is giving me a gift that enables me to continue my one and only passion. I am grateful to all the people who have bought or continue to buy my art and contribute to my growth as an artist and human.

Four Seasons

I painted this picture from my sub-conscious many years ago. I was later enlightened by a gallery owner that I had painted the four seasons. It is a small painting on wood. I think this is in CFM gallery in NYC probably listed about $2,500.000 or so.

alex

study for a painting

I wished I had a nickel for every painting idea I scribbled in a sketchbook and never brought to life on canvas. I made this about 10 years ago. I never liked this page until now. I would almost like to bring it back to life somehow. I may auction this page.

Inks

I drew this when I was about 7 . We didn't have a lot of money but I was the happiest kid on earth. My dad was going to college at the time and he would regularly bring home a new colored ink for me to draw with. I still remember the excitement of trying out a new color--- Fireworks are still one of my favorite of man's creation and I guess I thought they would be a good thing to draw to make use of my many-colored inks. If you look closely you can see the beginning of my surrealist tendencies in art.


alex

I found this with my drawings...

does anyone want this? I found it among my drawings...It is an autograph signed by the girl who did the voice of the little mermaid...It is signed to avi? I have no idea why I have this...If anyone wants it for free just email me...don't re-sell it-- only for someone who has a kid who likes this movie. This is a free gift to anyone who wants it.

alex

Cowboy--age 6

As a child we lived on a hundred acre farm in the middle-of -nowhere Texas. At dusk I would hear screams and shouts when the wind blew in the right direction. (It seems there was a baseball field that was near our property.) I did not know this and I asked my dad what that screaming was and he told me it was Indians. I grew up believing there were Indians on the back of our property. I really like that idea that Indians lived on our farm. I always rooted for the Indians in the cowboy movies because I thought they were my "neighbors."

Deep in the woods

I am convinced that humans live in circles. We always "circle the drain" and wind up back where started. Picasso said his whole life was about getting back to drawing with the spirit he had as a child. I find myself getting back to where I started and seeing why I was interested in certain things when my eyes were bright. If an artist loses the light in his eyes all is lost. Goya hit the skids late in life and did his black series which I love to no end but they were devoid of oxygen and hope. There is hope in this shack in the woods. age 7.

war drawing

As a child I shared Da Vinci's fascination with the macabre and also with war. Even today I find war visually fascinating but I am no longer ignorant of the human toll of war. I once went through a period where I read dozens and dozens of books on Vietnam, I tried to get as much of a sense as I could of what it was like to be in Vietnam. My heart goes out to all veterans. I drew this in the same sketchbook as the indian chief. about 6 or seven years old.

Indian Chief

Alex was about 6 when he drew this. I was still the grasshopper child deep in the heart of a small texas town. I always drew and painted a lot of american indians. Later I found out I have american indian blood in me. I also collect american indian arrowheads. I only collect two things (three if you include debt) old american Coins and arrowheads. This drawing is actually still in the original sketchbook.

Grasshopper Child

Today I am going to show you a bunch of stuff I drew as a child...I dont think I want to sell any-- but it will be fun to see some of where I was at when I was the grasshopper child. gimme a few minutes here, gotta find the right box of stuff.

xela

Ebay Update

Hey America,

I have not run out of art, I am just getting out of the woods a bit with shipping out stuff. I have hired two models so I can start drawing again. (One is a ballerina so I am looking forward to drawing her.) I will soon be filling ebay up again with art and this site as well. I am also having a new website built that will encompass this blog and in addition give a better sense of the whole of what is going on in the mind of Alex. Alex thinks/ knows he has a pepsi induced cavity-- any dentists in NYC need art? Hang tough for new work--Dancers, Female Nudes and I will continue to explore my strange world. I should be in LA in mid July to paint any clients who wish to reserve pieces or meet for drinks please email me.

alex

jim

Doors - The Wasp

I wanna tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Comes out of the Virginia swamps
Cool and slow with plenty of precision
With a back beat narrow and hard to master

Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream
I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft
We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping
This is the land where the Pharaoh died

The Negroes in the forest brightly feathered
They are saying, "Forget the night.
Live with us in forests of azure.
Out here on the perimeter there are no stars
Out here we is stoned - immaculate."

Listen to this, and I'll tell you 'bout the heartache
I'll tell you 'bout the heartache and the lose of God
I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night
The meager food for souls forgot
I'll tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul

I'll tell you this
No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn

I'll tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Soft drivin', slow and mad, like some new language

Now, listen to this, and I'll tell you 'bout the Texas
I'll tell you 'bout the Texas Radio
I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night
Wandering the Western dream
Tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul

good morning

A good artist never drinks tequila a night before an 18 hr day...There should be a lot of art arriving today! Check your mailboxes...

alex

response

Hi Alex,

Just wanted to let you know that I came home today and my package was waiting for me! I love my Lady with Umbrella and Dancer and thank you for throwing in a Strange World as well. The Ophelia was a pleasant surprise.....I was wondering if you had any of the Swamp Angel left (I think that's what I bought on eBay), but if not, that's ok, as I'm quite happy as is. And I have to comment on what a great job you did on the packaging!

By the way, just thought I'd ask....do you have any dancers left? I think that's one of my favorite motifs of yours.

Take care,

Good day

We only have 10 folders left to ship from the first avalanche of requests..we thought we would get every single one out today but there were a few minor issues and questions about the remaining ten pieces. If you have not got your piece yet it will be there by FRIDAY 100%!!! I cant wait to start posting ebay and drawing again..

god bless

going out for a beer--- back soon to paint tonight.

Old Master Study

SOLD

$345.00

Good Morning America.

Big day today, assistant is going to be here, I will be shipping out all the final avalanche of requests so be patient! It wont be long for you if you bought work...More recent orders will go out later in the week.

Strange World---Silver Dawn

Before these Strange World paintings, I had never really used such little detail or information in a piece. I don't think it is me being lazy, Just a different way work.

strange world---western sky

Sold

$102.50

Topiary Mural

I painted this in my early twenties on the wall of a mansion on long island. Murals have a long history among artists--Picasso, Delacroix, Michelangelo, Leonardo all painted murals at some point. I painted many others but I am not sure I have photos..

alex

Strange World---fear of nothing

Its not what we don't know that gets us. Its what we don't know that we don't know that gets us. (This is not word play.)


11 x 14 watercolor

taking a break

Since this thing got started I have lost ten pounds due to stress and 18 hr days. Every night I think about how I could have finished one more drawing or mailed out ten more orders. After 12 hrs work today I forced my self into my kayak and hit the long Island Sound. I am learning that you have to put aside some leisure time and clear up the old head. Art is what I live for but there is a time to get away from the table and see the world. Drinking yourself to the floor after three weeks in a cave is not a way to handle stress. I knew/ know technically genius artists who never left their studio and have about as much life in them as linoleum. Art is about life, the art and artists that interest me are ones who have some LIFE in their work. I could care less if you know how to render a teapot where it almost looks like it could be picked up-----I own a thing called a camera. Get out there and see whats in front of you. Mix it up.

Early Work

I painted this when I was eleven. I had been painting seriously in acrylics since I was nine. My decision to study art and painting was my own and I pursued it on my own as no-one in my family was an artist. My parents were proud of my work but had no idea how to help or guide me. I am glad they never tried to steer me away from art, then again I am the single most stubborn person on earth so I doubt I could have been swayed into being anything but an artist.

moonlight---silent sorrow

Here is a piece I painted years ago. Often I would make up landscapes in an attempt to convey the internal world in an external setting. I am most interested in a mood not in a visual attempt to show people how well I can render individual leaves.

after corot

Here is landscape study I made after Corot..not sure what age, somewhere I have a great book on him and even a journal of his...It is heightened with white on tan paper...I always preferred landscapes to humans as they are less flawed. this is small about 8 X 10..up on ebay soon. you can email me if you want it before I put it up for bid.

Sunday June 10

hello...its 6:50 AM and time to start work. A rainy Sunday morning. Going to run my mile then I will be back working all day painting and posting. I should have at least 10 new pieces up today. At least when it rains I don't feel like I could be out in my kayak.