lexi--by gardega

fun

I am going to have fun and upload stuff for the next two hours..old stuff, new stuff, random stuff.

strange day

I woke up at four this morning and then at five I went to get my big gulp at seven eleven. For some reason I decided to buy a scratch off ticket (I rarely gamble.) I won 50 dollars and bought a second and then I won seventy dollars. Then I went to get gas and I saw a Uhaul with a huge graphic of a horseshoe crab on the side (it was a Delaware Uhaul) Exhaustion has been breeding strange dreams in my head, the sleep of reason produces monsters...I need to start running again and drawing as well. I shipped mary's art today as promised.

bar design--- by gardega

Here is my first stab at a design for a bar inside the club I am doing glass art and design for. The design theme of the club is classical design meets rock & roll. My bar has a bit of a nod to art deco accented with some reverse carved smoked mirror that will be lit from behind with LED lighting. The carved mirror will have art nouveau influences and also a nod to tattoo type line quality to keep the rock and roll feel. I am working out the "shark fins" atop the bar. The bar will accented with an old chandelier above. The two end pillars will be semi- circle shelving. I am also designing the entry way as you climb up the stairs and will post that soon. I will be at post office today mailing late art so dont yell at me, it will be there soon!

howdy

long , long day. I was in brooklyn by six AM and I returned at 9:00 PM. I am caught up doing artwork for a night club interior that I will post soon. I told them I would help design the bar and draw it tonight but I am cross eyed and bleary and will probably wake up at four and scramble to get it done as I usually let the demons of panic motivate my pencil.

dream awards

I woke up at four this morning from a strange dream and started updating my site. I think that there should be an awards show for dreams. If your teeth fall out into the sink you can get an award for the most disturbing dream. If you run as hard as you can and get nowhere you get an award for frustration. Then there is the dream of falling, there should be falling dream awards--- Maybe I just took a quick dip in lake stupid.

artist of the day---dulac

One of my favorite artists of all time is a book illustrator you may not have heard of--Edmund Dulac. I would like you to compare this picture to the one I commented on below by the well-known artist jasper johns and compare the two. This picture took amazing skill and patience and planning and seeing, the other piece---not so much...Dulac thrived during the "golden age" of illustration. It is hard to find much about his life and I have tried to find biographies on him. He had a great eye for color and style in his work and often made use of contrasting patterns as well. I will soon buy new books by him as writing this got me interested in his work again. I hope your eyes feel better after I assaulted them with the last work.

the family and the fishing net

a collector asked me yesterday to buy my family and fishing net painting. I was unable to sell it because I had decided a few days ago to "put it to flame." I did video the process so I have that to upload soon.

bad artist of the day--jasper johns

This is an example of a painting that is very famous and also quite bad. I am not being mean I am just being honest.. I do not believe any human can actually love this work, if you love it I am all ears and await to have my opinion shattered like a cheap vase.

good morning

Woke up to the snow. I will stay at home today and not drive into brooklyn like I have been 7 days a week. I will put some energy back into this thing today as I have been neglecting her a bit. There is snow falling out my window and if we must suffer with winter there should at least some be snow for us to enjoy. I know I am a true genius because I forgot to buy a four wheel drive pick up. I just stumbled onto the lot and pointed at a silver truck and said mine. They charged me extra and I was happy and drove away.

update

I am a bit caught up in designing glass for the club space. I should load up some new art tomorrow. and I will also ship out art that people are waiting for (mary) thanks...

what is this?

can anyone tell me what creature this is and is it obvious? look into he eye...

long day

post new art soon--long day in nyc and brooklyn. I was on subway and I met alan colmes from fox news-- By chance I had bought a signed baseball from him and painted him in my last supper painting--- small world and he was a very nice person. He had on strange blue john lennon like glasses. great guy. mucho tiredo

glass art

I was hired yesterday to do a bunch of glass artwork for a new club called Europa that is going to open in brooklyn. It looks like Bestsey Johnson is designing the clothes for the staff and the band Velvet Revolver will be the first band to play in the club when it opens.

ashes to ashes

Occasionally a painting never find it's legs. Sometimes I will paint something I hate and someone else loves it and buys it. Sometimes I like a painting and no one else sees it. Sometimes I am not happy with a work and no one else seems to love it. Occasionally I paint over or destroy such works, fire is a nice way to purify a painting. My version of the family and fishing net failed to become a loaves and fishes miracle and It was my duty to destroy it...I took the time to burn it into ashes. I figured since I videotaped the birth of the painting I would also video the death of the piece. I will load video up soon.

government land

I found this picture on ebay. It is a picture used to demonstrate government land for sale. I am sure whomever took this photo had no idea it was anything more than a snapshot to show retirement property. I find this picture to be very much a work of unintentional art and quite satisfying. It kind of reminds me of a pink floyd album cover. I wonder if there is a place in the art world for "unintentional" art.

two suns in the sunset...

I was on ebay tonight looking for artwork and old prints to buy when I came across a picture that made my hair stand up a bit. I found a picture by an artist I have never heard of before--he is from California. I will let you look at the reason I was taken aback by his painting. I had to put our pictures side by side to demonstrate. I am not sure if he was a well know artist etc. I wished I could afford to buy his painting so I could hang it up. Next to my copy of my own picture. I am not sure who owns my original of "the other side." this wholes thing reminds me of a roger waters song..

finches

John Jonston (or Johnstone), a descendant of a Scottish family, was born in Sambter, Poland. He was interested in both medicine and natural sciences, and studied at St. Andrews, Cambridge, and Leiden. He published major natural history studies, including Thaumatographia Naturalis (Amsterdam 1632), a compendium of contemporary knowledge of natural science including astronomy, paleontology, plants, animals and man. This was followed by Theatrum Universale Omnium Animalium (Frankfurt, 1650), with plates after his drawings engraved by Mattias Merian depicting the entire range of animal species. After having spent most of his life travelling through all parts of Europe, he settled in Silesia.

Alex says----these were published 350 years ago and hand colored, I found them on ebay. I like looking on ebay for old art.

butterflies

This over 225 year old original antique handcolored copperplate engraving is taken from a fragment of
Carl Gustav Jablonsky’s famous work „Natursystem aller bekannten in- und ausländischen Insecten. Der
Schmetterlinge erster Theil” (Natural History Survey of Insects, Including Related Foreign Ones: Butterflies),
engraved by Ludwig Schmidt, and published by Ben Joachim Pauli in Berlin/Germany, 1783.

Carl Gustav Jablonsky (1756-1787) was a naturalist, entomologist and illusstrator who also was private secretary to the
Queen of Prussia. He edited the first two volumes of his major work on butterflies; the remaining nine volumes were edited by
Johann F.W. Herbst (1743-1807) a German naturalist and entomologist, after Jablonsky's untimely death at the age of 31.
Jablonsky also began the first complete survey of coleoptera, an order of insects including beetles, borers, weevils and fireflies,
a project also taken over by Herbst and published between 1785 and 1806. A great number of the plates were drawn by Jablonsky himself. The work should be considered a first attempt to a total survey of the coleoptera.

sea monster

I found this drawing in my bottomless files today.

on the road

I have been thinking a lot lately about hitting the road with my sketchbook and pickup. I probably wont as I have a lot of reasons not to hit the road but I would like to travel across america with my book. I would need a sponsor like ford motor company...

second version new york city

Here is a second version using some scroll designs from my sacred crab drawing.

nyc final

Here is the final version of the NYC Ambassador Yellow Pages. I made a second "riskier" version as well I will upload soon.

homage

strange flowers

winter witch

Here is a piece "in progress." I am trying to put a face on winter. he will either rise like the spring or sink and fall like winter into the piles of discarded things.

oil on gold leaf

sunday

I am working on a portrait on gold leaf that I will finish today. I will post when done.

strange world-- the family and the fishing net

This is a painting I painted on you tube. It was painted to the peter gabriel song "the family and the fishing net and that is the chosen title for the work as well. I am still figuring why I paint halo clouds. If you know what you are doing in art you are not making art--- you are baking bread and it will grow stale and crumble with time. this for sale on ebay

ebay link


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wg4UXt8sHM

artist of the day---seurat

I was never a huge fan of seurat. I must admit that this painting is one of those that "sticks with you." He was interested in the idea of putting a bunch of colored dots together to reach a "purer" color effect. The sad thing is that the intended effect was a failure (I think he even admitted in the end.) I like the idea that he was using science a bit in his approach as most artist brains have as much use for science as a slug has for a salt shaker. I guess this artist most be at least nodded to for his place in art history and for this painting as well. I much prefer the carefully laid dots to the swine and swill of abstract impressionism. Anyone who does something totally different is sometimes to be admired as well. He is labeled a neo-impressionist in the world of art-speak.

During the 19th century, scientist-writers such as Michel Eugène Chevreul, Nicholas Ogden Rood and David Sutter wrote treatises on color, optical effects and perception. They were able to translate the scientific research of Helmholtz and Newton into a written form that was understandable by non-scientists. Chevreul was perhaps the most important influence on artists at the time; his great contribution was producing the color wheel of primary and intermediary hues.

here is some wikipedia info as well.--

Chevreul was a French chemist who restored old tapestries. During his restorations of tapestries he noticed that the only way to restore a section properly was to take into account the influence of the colors around the missing wool; he could not produce the right hue unless he recognized the surrounding dyes. Chevreul discovered that two colors juxtaposed, slightly overlapping or very close together, would have the effect of another color when seen from a distance. The discovery of this phenomenon became the basis for the Pointillist technique of the Neoimpressionist painters.

last supper

I have re-listed my last supper on ebay. I have lowered the price as it seems no one understands the surreality of having a 32 square foot painting of news talking heads staring off their walls. I should have painted the picture with soft and warm puppies instead of analyzing media heads. If I do not sell it before I move I have master plan for it that will involve you tube and will be something to see. As my brain conjures this path it gets more exciting. my ebay store link is below my mug shot.

swamp angel by gardega

Someone bought my swamp angel yesterday. I think I am sadder to see her go than I was the relationship with the person I made the piece about.


"Plus ça change...

quote of the day-- n.peart

(It's)Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you -- the blind who once could see ---
The bell tolls for thee...

morning from american alex

I was in a foul mood yesterday then I saw a young marine kid getting into his wheelchair at 7-11, (probably an Iraq casualty.) I realized I take for granted that I can walk into places on my own feet.

everything is relative and perspective is everything.------------gardega

peter gabriel--- passion

This is my favorite album of all time. It is a peter gabriel sound track to the movie "the last temptation." I have gone through about 6 copies of this album. The only you tube I could find of it was of some figure skaters---This is a great song from the album..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoqrfBQhGgA

who?

This is a picture of one of the most brilliant minds who ever walked upon American soil. can anyone tell me who this is?


ANSWER!

Peanuts anyone?

George Washington Carver

Did a report on him in school what seems like a million years ago

Gene Torpey

great picture

I found this great picture on the net today, had to share it.

new readers

I have a bunch of new readers from some recent radio air time--If anyone is new and would like to drop an email to me I would appreciate it...I sometimes feel like I am talking to the wind so it is nice to hear from people.

here is my email: alexgardega@gmail.com

a free drawing to my first five responders

suffocated by mirrors, stained by dreams

I get claustrophobic in winter, The skies close down and the sun shines anemic. The long, dalinian shadows of late summer are gone and the color of hope is lost on my palette. It takes a force of will to shake off the cold skin and to find warmth in the old paints and pencils. It is a strange world, a dark corner. I am sure it was winter when Munch screamed and Van Gogh painted his empty chair.

american alex--last supper fox news

explained and for sale in my ebay store (click link below my mug shot to right)

american alex---last supper geometry

Here is my geometric study of Leonardo's Last supper. I used this to figure out how he grouped his figures together in four sets of three. I also based my Fox News last supper on similar geometry. You can see my fox news painting in my ebay store ( click link below my photo)

american alex--glass portrait of odd nerdrum

Glass portrait of the greatest living painter....

ODD NERDRUM

"theres genius in kitsch and kitsch in genius"--gardega

american alex----white stag

A rare white stag has been spotted in the Scottish highlands. It is believed to be one of only a handful in all of Britain. in Arthurian legend the white stag represents mankind's spiritual quest. Supposedly it can never be caught and whoever sets eyes upon the animal will experience profound change in their life.
I sense a series of white stag paintings coming out of my hand soon, what a great animal.

amercian alex---Ouroboros

If you would like to learn about the symbol Ouroboros you can click on link:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros

american alex---halo cloud

I have some new viewers so I thought I would put up some work that exemplifies certain "periods or phases" of my work. Here is a sample from my "strange world" series. I have determined the strange world is all about transformation from the old, the comfortable, into a new and unknown internal horizon. If you are not busy being born--- you are busy dying and birth is often our first "trauma." The halo clouds are either the religious halo or the mythical Ouroboros, I am not sure. I would like to write a story about a huge halo cloud that forms over the world and remains both night and day and how humans react to it. This one is for sale for 75.00 I am trying to put less work on ebay as it becomes a pain in the neck after a while.

american alex

fox news

my painting is still up for bid on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290204688096&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

el dayo longo

I spent 5 hours in traffic returning from Brooklyn tonight. I called into a liberal radio show to discuss the constitution and the host was very nice, He invited me to call back anytime. I saw ten accidents on the way home and vowed not to be one of them. I guess every rose has its thorn, in NY we have winters and in LA you have smog. I am cross eyed exhausted...

lightening

is lightening just an upside down tree?

photos

just because you can take pictures doesnt mean you should take pictures.

Here is a photo of me at five months as I was staring intently at the tear in the photo that had not even happened yet. The number seven is revelatory.

glass painting

Reverse-glass Paintings on an American Sideboard
Simone Bretz

Reverse painting on glass became popular in Federal America and was practiced mainly by foreign-born artists in Boston, Salem, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. For example, "Walker and Chandless, Painters, in General, from Dublin and London," advertised "Painting on Glass and Transparent Painting" in the Maryland Gazette in 1790. Such paintings, with subjects ranging from flowers and geometric designs to allegory, mythology, and scenic views, were usually incorporated into mirrors, clocks, and other furniture. Ten reverse-painted glass panels, varied in size and shape, can be seen on a neo-classical sideboard in the collection of the Department of American Decorative Arts (Figure 1) that had been commissioned by General David Van Ness (1743–1818) for his Maizefield estate in Dutchess County, New York. Major elements of the designs used on these panels, including urns, cupids, foliage, lyres, and masks, were derived from plates in Thomas Sheraton's The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book, first published in London in 1791. In an accompanying text Sheraton wrote: "These may be painted, inlaid, or gilt in gold behind glass, and the glass being then beded [sic] in the pilaster, it is secure, and has a good effect."

At the end of the eighteenth century, domestic glass manufactories in several major commercial centers were competing with imported crown and cylinder glass from England, and as such the origin of the panes used on the Van Ness sideboard cannot be assumed. Samples from two panels were analyzed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and both were found to be potash-lime glass with a ratio of potassium to calcium of approximately two to one, containing only relatively small amounts of sodium, magnesium, and aluminum. These results may point to a domestic source, as glass with very similar composition is known to have been made by at least one eighteenth-century American producer, the New Bremen Glassmanufactory in Maryland.

Well-executed reverse-glass paintings do not reveal the complexity of their manufacture. Since the designs are applied to the back of glass panes they must be built up in reverse—starting with the foreground and working "backwards"—which makes corrections virtually impossible. The technique used for the glass panels on the Van Ness sideboard is called metal-foil engraving, although in technical and art historical literature it is often referred to as verre églomisé. Gold leaf was applied to the back of the glass with a size such as clarified egg white, gelatin, or gum, and then engraved with a stylus of metal, wood, or bone. The design was completed by applying a colored background with paint (Figure 2).

perception as I understand it

Every chef I know hates Emeril--I think I understand why. What makes Emeril great (aka popular) is that he is fun to watch and very entertaining. That is at least 50% of what makes him a success. It is more than the cooking or being a "good" chef--- he is a character and that counts as much as his shrimp marinara . Most artists and chefs have the personality of lawn furniture and the frustrated psyche of an ice salesman in the antarctic. People love to knock others when they rise up a bit as it makes them feel better about themselves. That is not a good or bad thing, it is just the way it is. I may not be the greatest living artist but I am allowed to think I am. If I want to sell the idea that I am the greatest, I must believe it first, otherwise you will never buy my ice. Art is perception and perception is a wiggly worm on the end of a strange hook called reality.

fox news last supper

My last supper painting is still up for sale on ebay. There are numerous people watching it but no bids as of yet but there have been a lot of inquiries. I personally think that Rupert Murdoch should break out the mighty piggy bank and buy it for his library.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290204688096&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

sacred feminine--by gardega

Here is a sufficiently wrinkled drawing of mine that is worth showing because I like the energy and design of drawing. It is easy to un-wrinkle art if you wish to iron it at low temps. I plan to carve this in glass. It is two foot by three foot.

for sale


50.00 dollars

wings of genius--by gardega

Here is a drawing I made as a study for a glass carving.

Title--- "wings of genius."

The wings of genius are awake and poised---ready to fly but they are held fast to the earth by an iconic American mailbox symbolizing the tension between earth-bound day to day reality (delivered daily like mail) and the need for transcendence into the heights of heroic thought. this would sound like art world doublespeak if it were not actually a valid psychological analysis.


for sale 50.00

large drawing--- about 2 foot by 3 foot...

Monika---swamp angel

Here is a glass carving I made last year. It is 21 inches by 30 inches. It is titled Monika (swamp angel) I call this style "punk nouveau." It is inspired by steuben and also by gardega. I am trying to get rid of much art before I move. this is for sale. it is a nice detailed piece but I am done with the relationship to both the woman and the piece so it is always best to move forward and turn your collar to the cold and damp as your eyes are stabbed by a flash of neon light.

500.00 dollars. Shipping is 100 dollars. email me to purchase

alexgardega@gmail.com

chicken man on glass by gardega

sometimes art flows out of my hand that I have no control over. It is like those cars in the amusement park that ride down a track---you are not really steering the car. This painting on glass is one such piece.


It is for sale for 150.00

My glass paintings are going to be my next "big thing"

beach painting

Here is a painting for the Nassau yellow pages cover. I will give Long Island credit for one thing and that is nice beaches. This is roughly 15 x20 and for sale. I will include a signed/ printed book cover as well.

100.00 not on ebay.

statue of liberty--by gardega

Here is the original painting that graced the cover of Manhattan ambassador yellow pages 2007-2008. I will include the original printed cover with the piece if purchased.

price $100.00 15 x 20

email me. alexgardega@gmail.com

"yankee" illustration by gardega

Here is a painting I made for Ambassador Publishing,Bronx edition. I am not a baseball fan so the ceo gave me tickets to a game so I could actually study it. I enjoyed my first baseball game. I will include an actual printed cover/ tear sheet if someone wishes to buy this. the yellow sky is what gives it away as a yellow page cover...It is interesting to paint subjects you do not know much about, you have to look for things that interest you. The interesting thing here was that it could not look too much like the Yankees etc it had to be a "generic" team.

this is for sale--- $100.00 not on ebay

email me

what's it worth?

I read about a Zurich museum robbery this morning in which some valuable paintings were stolen. I began to think about the idea of the value of art and how relative it really is. Art is worth what people will pay for it. I wonder if they will one day have computer that will scan subjective items like art and make a value judgment of it. A lot of art has to do with the "back story" if you never heard of picasso and his legend would you stare at his paintings if they were in some antique shop or would you take out the painting and use the frame for something else? much like quantum physics, half the experience of art lies in the beholder. As the legend of Gardega grows and my bones are interred (along with my good), perhaps one day my paintings and art will be something that people will want to steal. Although I did have two glass art pieces stolen from a NYC night club....

Nepal

I woke up this morning and looked at a map that tells me what country people log into my site from. I found that a person from Nepal has been logging in. I would give four toes to go make watercolors in Nepal. It is the little things in life that make you happy, like finding ten dollars in an old pants pocket...I will be home today and will do some new drawings and may go do a winter's beach watercolor.

dylan quote

the only people you have to think twice about lying to is god and yourself...

(this may be my favorite quote of all time)

Billy Rose--illustrated by dali

Here is a book I bought off of ebay and received in mail yesterday. It was written by a cabaret owner in NYC and illustrated by Dali. I decided to research the writer and find out about him as I am a NYC history buff. He seems to be a producer and and a writer and lyricist of some renown. He was worth 42 million when he died. He wrote the lyrics for me and my shadow although they say that he was more known for promoting the songs and using this to get a co- credit as lyricist. (at least according to wikipedia) When he died he left his left no money to his estranged sisters. Another morsel of New York history...

John Lennon read his poetry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzqCAfyiSVI&NR=1