childhood journal

I found this today, It is the journal I kept when I was about nine or ten and living on a small farm in texas...It is funny to see I have not changed much in all that time and yet the world has spiraled into a maddening orbit...

first day of winter

I will put more art up today to celebrate the first day of winter. I am not sure why I would celebrate winter but it is good to live where the seasons change her mind.

discovery video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SBOKcuVHDo

here is an interesting bit on H.crab vision..

gardega at art basel

strange world--beyond the visible

Strange World is a series of watercolors I started painting in Los Angeles on the beach on thanksgiving. It was an attempt by me to escape into a different frame of reality and escape the dark place I was in at the time. Luckily, the downside of having a strong imagination is that you can use it to escape the salt-mine of reality when the spirit needs a break from flatland.


click here to buy

ophelia print

Here is a chance to own my sought after Ophelia signed print. It is on ebay and explained there as well.


buy it here

brooklyn bridge print

here is a chance to own the aforementioned brooklyn bridge print:

click below:

ebay

friday

Good morning everybody. After speaking to many of my collectors and friends I have determined that people want me to upload new work for sale to the site and I will spend all day doing just that. Like many artists I have been spread thin among projects but I am determined to keep this site alive and interesting. I will be drawing and painting for eight hours today with one break to deliver something. I will load up at least ten new works today. It is funny how keeping oneself afloat as an artist is the very motivating factor which makes you hit the art table... It is nice to have my mural behind me and soon I need to start my St. sebastian painting for CFM gallery.

brooklyn bridge--- signed print

Here is one of my tear-sheets from my new brooklyn bridge cover. There are only fifty of these that I will sign and number. I will put on ebay in an hour or so..

gunthers watercolor

I have re-listed my gunthers watercolor, done at kerouac's infamous watering hole...there is no minimum price set so those who have had problems winning my art my have a better chance on this one...

click below:.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290192864653

Christams with Dali---a novel by gardega

STAVE ONE

DALI’S GHOST

Salvador was dead, this was fact and the door was not open to speculation or doubt. There was little room for rumor nor rebuff regarding the passing of the great surrealist. One need only to walk into the corner less room and gaze upon the masters lifeless frame to understand the true gravity and weight of the loss that would soon become international news and local fodder for tea-time talk about his legacy and the notorious loose ends that swirled around his life and estate in his final hours on this earthly plane.

While most around him were more concerned with the heavy snows that were falling outside their frosty windows this afternoon they still held in the back of their own limited craniums concerns as to what their personal fortunes would bear out without the good ship Dali beneath them to cover their expenses and bills and livelihood.

Meanwhile, In the sleepy eastern town of Clacton On The Sea, there was a singular child who wept the kind of tears that only a child (or a woman who loses a child) can weep.

tis the season

it is much better to receive than give when you get a gift such as this...

the great un-american novel

Today alex had a vision for a novel that will be the first great american novel that does not take place in america. My novel will be called Christmas With Dali and it takes place in england in the mid 1800's. They always say that a writer should only write what they know about personally and that is why I chose england in the mid 1800's. I will serialize my work of literature on my blog soon!

queens cover

I had a wonderful birthday and would like to thank all my friends and supporters for making it so.

good morning

all reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated ...

the stash of secret pencils

On the Texas farm on which I lived as a child, there was an old and scary wasp-filled barn that I would sometimes venture into when I was feeling brave (which was often). My bravado was amply rewarded one day when I found a big box of pencils half- covered in sawdust and spiderwebs. The special thing about the pencils I found was that they had a really dark lead in them and I became obsessed with only using pencils that had a really dark lead in them and not the soft and vile lead that my other pencils had back at home. I kept my magical secret to myself and would sneak out to the barn and "steal" the good pencils whenever I needed them. I was always afraid of getting caught because it did not occur to me that they were only pencils and would not be missed by anyone, anyways. Years later, when I was in art school all the lemmings would dress the same and draw the figure in the same style using mechanical pencils to make extra sure to take all the life out of any human figure they tried to draw. I have never even held a mechanical pencil and would rather sell insurance than draw with a such an instrument. It was I alone who understood the true secret of art and that no art will flow from anything as dreadful as a mechanical pencil and that is why my art school comrades (whom I never spoke to anyways) are now happily working away making mechanical layouts for western union and insurance companies.

childhood drawing--age seven

I too had an obsession with flying machines as a child, although I think Leonardo's had a better chance of taking off as his was not piloted by duck with sneakers.

childhood drawing--age six

Here is another drawing I made at about six or seven that in today's sanitized world would probably put me into a special classroom and under observation. I find there is a certain happiness to my early work that brings me back to the carefree dreams of a solitary child on a remote texas farm...It is clear to see that I did not think like the other six year olds and spent much of my time thinking alone about the world realities and surrealities beyond the next field.

childhood drawings

On this, the birthday, of your humble artist, I find myself reflecting on my childhood and the art I made as a child. I would call much of my childhood art fairly unconventional and at times rather odd. I have no idea what was going through that little texas brain of mine but I do remember that drawing for me back then was pure bliss because there was no right or wrong...(Although I would often go into obsessive fits if I could not get a line to flow the way I wanted it to go...) this piece was age seven and shows signs of a budding genius (or at least a kid who should be closely monitored....)

good morning

today I will travel into nyc for a meeting with yellow pages about my cover. I will have lunch with one of my friends and collectors and then a second meeting with ny artist series website later. Perhaps I will remember one of these days to do my christmas shopping..

holiday greeting

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes
for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress,
non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice
holiday, practiced within
the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your
choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the
religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their
choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all I also
wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically
uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted
calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of
choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped
make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater
than any other country nor the only America in the Western
Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race,
creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or other
preferences of the wished.


(I cannot claim authorship of this document)

alex writes a limerick

there once was an artist named al
whose brain on to fame he did sail
if the wind ever died, with all of his pride
he would paddle towards fame in a pail.

my oath

I would like to add a final word on leonardo and geometry and nature. One must consider the human being as a work of architecture not unlike the pantheon or the parthenon or the alexethon. God uses his own mathematics to construcut nature and a genius like leonardo (or a non-genius like gardega who works hard to be a genius understands this.) That is why great artists have studied geometry and especially divine proportion (which is best explained as the small is to the large as the large is to the whole.) Although much wisdom is lost and modern artists are adrift without the sturdy rudder of geometry I promise to do my best to re-light the torch of renaissance wisdom that was almost completely extinguished by the death of Dali.

Good Day Alex

I guess I win in the share your birthday with someone else contest (I think Albert Einstein trumps Keith Richards) but nonetheless HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Alex I have a question for you. I own two works from you, an Ophelia print and a watercolor. I would like to add to my collection but I have tried on ebay and every time I get close someone outbids me with seconds to go. By the way, I am the person who was fairly good at answering your word clues recently on your web site. I wanted to buy your palette once but you had already sold it and promised you would give me a chance at the next one (if I replaced it). How can I go about buying pieces from you without playing craps on ebay. Can I send you some new equipment (did you ever find your brushes) or something like that. Sorry to take up your valuable time and again have a happy, and healthy birthday and a wonderful holiday season

Gene

leonardo exposed---step 10

Now that Gardega has taken you back through the sandy ruins of time and guided you skillfully through the the footsteps of leonardo as he created a masterwork. I will show you how he grouped his disciples into four neatly grouped groups of three. Notice that the purple "zones" were used by leonardo to group the torsos of all his figures-- at times leonardo even told them to lean ever slightly more into "the zone" like a photographer tells his wife to move closer to the Eiffel tower. This has been my gift to all my collectors and fans and supporters who believe in me and my work and my endless drive to save art from the soulless and modern infomercial it has become. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Now back to the regularly scheduled program..

leonardo exposed---step 9

With my latest lines it is clear to see where more verticle lines can be drafted according to the major axis points! I will allow you , my humble reader to find the top of Leonardo's table yourself using my construction and to enjoy the uncovering of genius by a non genius who works hard enough to become a genius. Now that I have shown you how to figure out Leonardo's construction I will show you another four leaf clover that has been overlooked by the fools who think there is women and hidden chalices in Leonardos masterwork!

leonardo exposed---step 8-- copyright gardega

Being that it is the holidays I decided to be kind and color code my process for you so as not to confuse you as I dissect the last supper. The red dot indicates a point not to be ignored as it is clearly what was used to construct the verticle line that forms the side of the tapestry. I used a green dot to show the same line on the opposite side of the picture.. Notice how in each major point where a major horizontal meets a major verticle there occurs an important construction point in the creation of the last supper.

leonardo exposed--step seven

Please know that the center point (which is centered upon the head of christ) gladly radiates outward and meets the points we determined earlier to construct the tops of the "abyss like" tapestries. Now--- if you put aside the minor discrepancies of my scan and ruler etc I think one cannot doubt that gardega has done a noble job this far of following the foot prints of leonardo through the sandy ruins of time. Please do not leave my party yet as you are a welcome guest and I have not shared all the wine of my intellectual pursuit.

leonardo exposed--step six

Behold, dear viewer, that our three squares were kind enough to give us points to draw two more horizontal lines that divides the picture into four equal horizontal parts! Beyond giving were they as they also gave us the point which marks the height of one of the tapestries which is all leonardo needed to determine the height of all the tapestries! I will demonstrate this clearly in my next entry!

leonardo exposed---step five

If one could not see that transcribing two squares also called for a third central square then you should be now elevated to see the logic and reasoning as the mind of gardega dissects the mind of leonardo. This construction is mine and mine alone and not borrowed from books or found on the net as alex is as honest as a dalinian shadow is long. I find no need to steal or borrow from other artists aside from some good ole influence from the great thinking minds of art. By now there should begin to gel in your minds eye a picture of leonardo illuminated by candle light late into the Renaissance night drafting the very same lines.

leonardo exposed----step four

minus the slight error in my rush to draft the lines you can see how Leonardo found the outside corner edges of one set of his tapestries. Coincidence or did leonardo understand that nature uses geometry in all her constructions?

leonardo exposed---step three

after you graduate from crayons to pencil you can divide the central square as shown and magically find the construction of the ceiling! again, there is some fungible room for scanning etc...

leonardo exposed---step two

It follows logic that even a third grader could take his plastic ruler and crayon and arrive at the next logical step of breaking down the last supper into its sacred geometry. (As of yet I see no women nor hidden chalices.) One can already see that there is strong evidence that these vertices's were used as construction lines to determine the lines of the tapestries on the wall! behold progress!

leonardo exposed--step one!

There first thing one must do is to pretend you are a cell and divide yourself evenly both horizontally and vertically. I think a third grader interested in geometry would agree that this is a noble and confident step forward on a long journey...please allow for slight discrepancies due to scanning etc...

happy holidays from gardega!

I decided it is my duty as a human and artist to share with you my unlocking of the geometric secrets of the last supper. I am not interested in the patenting of my genius, I will share it with you for free as a holiday gift to all my faithful supporters! viva leonardo! I cannot stand that leonardo had been coded and eroded and toaded and so and.... The only mystery to the last supper is the sacred geometry that created her. Most artists think geometry is the name of the small man from fantasy island but I am here to save the misguided and shed some light on the brilliance of leonardo so we can prevent the further yellowing of the varnish of his genius by fools.

collection of

the following people own art by gardega:

martha stewart

woody johnson (johnson and johnson)

Matt dillon

ford motor corp.

art garfunkel

the clintons

drew barrymore

armani exchange

richard johnson

natural history museum

the chrysler building

bruce cutler

quizzman

the goldsteins

mary d

mrs. babanick

the rooneys

bill oreilly

sean hannity

steve doocy

judge napilatano

palm steakhouse

brian kilmead

sumner redstone

joan and david corp.

bruno magli shoes

quote of the day

"obscurity is not an option" avida dollars

horseshoe crab

I will upload video in a few of alex in art basel with my infamous remote controlled horseshoe crab as she navigates the convention center...Later on I will read some of dali's writing and upload that video as well! the things I do to avoid painting the statue of liberty!

viva procrastination!

viva alex!

viva don knotts!

andy warhol

I never much cared for andy warhol's art. I do think he had some interesting ideas but his whole cult of personality thing was lifted (admittedly) from Dali. He was actually a decent draftsmen and did a bunch of shoe illustrations before he got famous that show competency with pen and ink. I give him some credit for understanding as much as he did about fame and the game of art. I think he was surrounded by a bunch of pretty sad and negative people in the end and I wouldn't want that energy around me. He invented the fifteen minutes quote and alex invented the "obscurity is not an option" quote. I am not interested in looking at his work ever but I understand some of his concepts. I prefer my brooklyn bridge to his if I must be honest. The funny thing is I found this image for the first time today and realize that he made a blue bridge against a yellow background. My yellow background was predetermined by the yellow pages and blue was a logical color to set against the yellow. I guess great minds think alike except I prefer to be alex as I am still making pictures.

saturns rings

I was thinking about the concept of age last night as I am a year older come tuesday. Although thought (and especially brilliance) does not age I find it fascinating that each year we creep closer to our final breath on the earthly plane. I was doing my regular research last night (which lately includes more astronomy and less DNA) and learned that they now believe that the rings of saturn to be as old as the solar system and possibly as old as 4.5 billion years! Even though your humble artist cannot wrap his brain around 4.5 billion years I will help my readers understand--- If you stack a billion pennies-- one atop the other--- it will make a pile 1,000 miles high. If you stack a penny for each year of alex it will be not so very high. The zinc core of a penny is coated with copper which is the same coating that coats the statue of liberty which brings me back to my art table deadline...

happy monday

today I will finish my NYC cover and deliver it. I will then start my drawings for my st. Sebastian piece for a gallery in NYC. I attended a christmas party on saturday at the home where the mural was painted. I cannot explain the work this man put into his wine cellar, he spent six months on woodwork alone. The party was great and I met a lady who does design for ralph lauren perfume bottles. We had a long discussion about glass art and I am going to meet her art director to discuss working with them on some projects.