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