the art of humor

does humor belong in art? Frank Zappa

I drew this in 2004. I sometimes like a good chuckle as it helps release the stress of being an "artiste"

Please Vote.

Please vote on the right for Picasso or Dali---I am curious as to the public's stance.

drawing age 6

As a child I had an obsession with American Indians. (I always wanted the Indians to beat the cowboys on TV) I used to find arrow heads on the farm I grew up on. There was a baseball field near our farm and I could hear the people screaming sometimes---My dad told me it was Indians and I believed him for years. I have some American Indian blood in me. There was a joke among certain friends of mine that it was impossible to "sneak up" on me when we were growing up. Perhaps that is genetic and accounts for my love of fire water when I was in my twenties. "Nowadays" I dont go out--I stay in my apt and draw and paint.

portrait of lexi--by gardega

SOLD

grains of sand---

To see a World in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

william blake

to view grains of sand as you have never seen them, click below. So much to learn and see when you turn off your TV.

http://discovermagazine.com/photos/01-each-grain-of-sand-a-tiny-work-of-art

greetings, egypt.

update

Today I will deliver Bronx covers then I have to go to Brooklyn to finish some glass work. A great artist to google today would be Edmund Dulac. A great genius among men. I will write about him soon.

places to paint

I want to paint in the following places:

Barcelona

New Zealand

Texas (again)

South America

Florence

Atlantis (again)

great bread

Here is a not-so- great photo of my "great bread." The detail is lost but I will re-shoot. I want to tone down the reddish brown as well. I am trying to get my bread to have an "inner light" and to bring life to the mundane. It is only half-painted (or baked) at this point..

the great bread

I am still working on my bread painting and will photograph today.

central park--photo

I took this photo yesterday. Correct me if I am wrong but I think this a dogwood tree. I will paint this tree soon.

yankee stadium

Every year I have to paint Yankee Stadium and every year I battle the thought as I am not a baseball fan and I never know how to attack the painting and I fret and avoid it until the last minute when I have no choice but to sink or swim. After exploding yellow paint all over my art books I decided to paint outside behind my building in the sun. I think I have solved the Yankee cover for this year which makes me feel better but that is up to the art director and the "powers that be."

coincidence?

EDGAR DEGAS


GARDEGA

I think not!

explosion

Sometimes, when you are under deadline pressure and your primary yellow paint doesnt want to open and you have a really bad headache--- You can squeeze the tube harder to try to unblock the dried paint that is clogging the tube. Hopefully you are standing close to your favorite art books when the bomb goes off. If I had bad "modern art" books I could leave the spattered mess on and call it art.

bronx cover--by gardega

Here is my cover for the bronx yellow pages. It is inspired by art Nouveau and the artist Dulac with a few other influences from my unconscious... This is the Haupt conservatory in the bronx----I recommend a visit....I am working on Yankee stadium now as it is a dual cover (spanish and english)

jupiter--size

if Jupiter was hollow it could hold 1,000 earths...think of that, 1,000 earths

the bronx conservatory

Many people do not realize that in The Bronx is a famous conservatory. I have painted it a few times for book covers. Sometimes art actually teaches you things..I went to my first yankee's game to paint it for a book cover---I took the staten Island ferry for the first time and I went to Bronx zoo as well...

quote of the day

George Edward Woodberry - "Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure."

painting of jamaica--by gardega

This is a rare Gardega. It is rare because it is one of my only impressionistic inspired pieces and it is one of the paintings available from my teenage years as I was 17 or 18 when I painted it. I remember if I drew a picture for one of the locals I would get surrounded and get stuck drawing 20 pictures for them. It was a great trip. I remember the pineapples tasted better than anything I had ever tasted and the rum wasnt bad either.

oil on canvas 16 x 20. for purchase.

alexgardega@gmail.com

for sale--portrait of lexi

This piece was just shipped to me from Miami and is for sale. It is a framed watercolor 22x 30 ( sized is approx) Photo is a bit distorted because of glass face protecting image. This i8s one of my art nouveau inspired pieces. That I never really wanted to part with but I have less room now in NYC so she is for sale.

alexgardega@gmail.com

artist of the day---frederick church

This painting is called the Heart of the Andes by Church. It is one of my all time favorite masterpieces and when it was painted it was the talk of town and drew crowds of thousands to simply view it. This is on permanent display at The Met and is worth the trip alone just to view, it is a huge painting about 10 foot long and 5 feet high as I can remember. Church built a great house on the Hudson river called Olana (which I went to visit years.) ago.

here is some info.o nthe artist-- the rest you can google yourselves...

Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. While committed to the natural sciences, he was "always concerned with including a spiritual dimension in his works".^[1]

The wealth of Church's father allowed him to pursue his interest in art from a very early age. At eighteen years of age, Church became the pupil of Thomas Cole in Catskill, New York after Daniel Wadsworth, a family neighbor and founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum, intoduced the two. In May of 1848, Church was elected as the youngest Associate of the National Academy of Design and was promoted to Academician the following year. Soon after, he sold his first major work to Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum.

Church settled in New York where he taught his first pupil, William James Stillman. From the spring to autumn each year Church would travel, often by foot, sketching. He returned each winter to paint and to sell his work.

here is

staples street photo project

I was recently asked to take part in the Staples Street photo project a project of artists photographed on Staples Street in Tribeca. I was hoping to be able to pick the good ones and only show you those. I am lazy so you can see the bad ones and ones that I would rather not show. All in all the photographer did a good job and it was a great experience.

http://alexg.chriszedano.com/Staple_St_Alex/Staple_St_Alex_G.html#0

link to Moran

http://www.nga.gov/feature/moran/early4.shtm

here is a link about the artist thomas moran. read, know it, learn it...

thomas moran

a moran seascape..

artist of the day----thomas moran

Thomas Moran is one of my all time favorite artists. In my opinion he is one of the great colorists who ever lived. I am running late to get to brooklyn today but you should google him and learn about the great artist. He did some great watercolors as well. A big influence and his originals are not done justice by the photos.

School of Renaissance Art

I am painting a painting I am going to sell for 1,000,000 dollars in order to start the NYC school of Renaissance art. I decided If I don't change art no one else will so I need to start a school to bring back what used to be.

happy tuesday

Today I have to go to Brooklyn to attend to details on some glass deadlines. While I am away my "Great Bread" will be rising to perfection as the secret mixture of oil medium slowly dries and brings flavor and life to my creation. Picasso said that most artists are like bakers, they paint the same thing over and over and over...I was never one who could stomach churning out the same art day after day. I jump around from style to style and my medium changes daily (like my socks.) The downside of getting a name is often people want that individual thing out of you and you get stuck painting for your audience which is akin to painting checks. I decided if I write something for now on I will add a random image of my work to accompany it to liven things up a bit....

study of Velásquez...

iris on gold.

I found this today. It was something I made two years ago. It was a test for a mural project I was planning---thought someone bought this and not sure why I have it. If you purchased it let me know. Otherwise--- it is for sale...

letter to my agent...

I once was asked by a children's book agent to draw him a bunny as a kind of art test. I don't really draw happy furry bunnies so I sent this drawing along with the poem you will find below..

You asked that I draw you a bunny

And a bunny, my friend, you did get

When I started it was pleasant and sunny

But soon it was cloudy and wet

I waited in vain for the sunshine

But the gold eye of heaven showed not!

What kind of agent would be mine?

When my bunny is wet as a sot?

I tried and I dried all the wet fur

So my bunny was fluffy and new

But nothing quite seemed to work, sir

So what was an artist to do?

I went straight down to Laundromat Lane

Where I knew there a drier or three

And I fluffed up my bunny, hurray

And drew him once more for thee…

Dreadlines

I have, over the years, developed great techniques for avoiding working on deadlines until the gun is in my face and I have no choice. Here are some of my favorite things I do to avoid "dreadlines."

1) Clean. I hate cleaning but I will clean my apt. from top to bottom to avoid sitting at my art table to face a dreaded deadline. I will scrub my entire kitchen and fridge to hide from the art table.

2) "Work" on something else. There is no better time to work on a pet project or to fiddle about on an idea of yours than when you are avoiding "real work."

3) Pace. I like to pace a lot and think as I pace and then pace some more.

4) Drink. I used to drink like a real artist and was fond of many a pub but now I do not leave my apt. except to work on glass art or jog.

5) Surf the internet. I often spend hours reading about DNA, Geometry and Art history. I am also I learned conspiracy theorist (of no small repute.)

6) Talk to friends. I have no friends as they are all married in the suburbs and are victims of government/ wife sponsored suburban mind control projects---very dark stuff. Their wives are programmed to shoo away all outdoor alley cats such as my freedom loving self.

7) TV. I no longer own a TV, I gave it away to my parents. Now I stare mindlessly at a cardboard box as it gives me the same neural stimulation I once received from my TV.

8) blarg. I hate word blog and I avoid like leprosy. I like to work on my website as I feel guilty if I do not keep it interesting for my humble readers with updates of splendid pet photos and other such non-such stuff such and things, etc ad nauseum and so on and...


... I have to get back to painting two bronx book covers...

the great bread

This is the under- painting of "The Great Bread." The problem with painting timeless imagery is that it gets compared with the best through the ages. That is why it is easier for artists to wrap bricks in tinfoil and call it modern as there is no reference point to compare it to.

words of theday--walt whitman

an old friend sent me this via email...

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Strong and content, I travel the open road.

I inhale great draught of space,

The east and west are mine, and the north and south are mine.

I am larger, better than I thought,

I did not know I held so much goodness.

Walt Whitman


that walt whitman was not only a great poet but he built a great shopping mall...

the great bread

Here is a bad photo of a loaf of bread I am painting. It has been years since I painted some of the basics. Bread is as timeless as painting as a motif. I plan to make this into a damn good piece of art and not be lazy. The structure is not bad, if you do not have structure you have a bad home that you shouldnt waste your wallpaper on. it is nice to have the oils flowing again and work on canvas as well.

"no more miracles, loaves and fishes, been so busy with the washing of the dishes...p.g

Courbet!

I walked in the rain this morning to The Met to see The Courbet exhibit (again.) There were fuzzy tourists already on line so I was not the first in but I was the first into the exhibit. The guards like to tell me you are the first one today---I guess they get bored standing around. Today was more powerful for me than my first visit. Courbet was a force of nature. His ocean paintings really got a hold on me. It struck me that one of the ocean paintings was Cezannes favorite and that I was staring at paintings that many a great artist stood in front of. I never thought of paintings like that before, think of all the great artists and minds that stood before the Mona Lisa. I want to paint waves and oceans now that I live in the city.

all those years ago...

art has many forms

This car is for sale on ebay. It is around $500,000.00 last time I checked. If I ever get rich as Picasso or Dali I will buy this.

New York Post

I did my daily ritual of a five AM Pepsi and a NY Post. My regular readers know that I have a fascination with the Post on many levels. Today I bought it and something did not feel right. I realized that they have shrunk the Post down in size by an inch or so! Most people wont notice but Alex noticed and was deeply affected. My pepsi can was still the same size.

quote of the day------a. einstein

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” Albert Einstein

quote of the day--machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli - "Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."


-----I never learned this lesson

Drawing of the day---by gardega

I drew this today--- I cannot reveal the whole thing as it is not time to sell the wine....Glass is beginning to be a medium of much strain for me as there are so many issues and problems with equipment and breakage. I must hide beneath the umbrella of possible futures.

gabriel in Central Park---by gardega

I will be painting a large canvas in central park tomorrow and it will be b filmed by the CEO of New York Artist Series. I will do one of my "Gabriel Pieces" a work inspired by the music of peter gabriel. I may use a song from the Passion album. It will be edited friday night or saturday and up for internet viewing over the weekend. I like to paint in the park especially when I am ignoring the park and painting an "internal piece." (No ducks or pets or people)....The downside is you usually get a crowd so you dont want to paint badly and it puts pressure on but such is life in love and art. People usually expect some swans or the like and generally not the chaotic madness that drips from my psyche.

36 views of mount fuji---by hokusai

This is one the great images ever made. It is the "Great Wave" and part of a series of 36 views of Mt. Fuji.


here is a link to the other 35.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36_Views_of_Mount_Fuji_(Hokusai)

one year anniversary of this thingy

I am coming up on one year (may 17th) of running this here website. I am throwing a small "bash" and will be meeting for drinks at the St. Regis at the King Cole Bar on 55th and 5th on May 16th (Friday). I will be giving away some free sketches and watercolors etc. All are invited and welcome, I am going to try to reserve a table space etc. Not sure if you can do that there. I'm thinking around 7:00 or so...Please RSVP if you would like to come, it will be fun and informal. There is a small chance of a change of venue if there are logistic issues but I think it will be fine.

all the best,

your humble narrator and scribbler

email me at alexgardega@gmail.com

all are invited.

quote of the day--joseph conrad

Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth! . . . The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires.


Joseph Conrad

the family and the fishing net

here is a video of old of me painting a watercolor to a song. trying to do more of these soon but tech. issues causing me stress!

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

link of the day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Z9mTlllPo

alex the curator

I am curating an art show for the artist Marshall Arisman in club Europa (Brooklyn) in mid May. All are welcome and I will update soon.

artist of the day---gahan wilson

Here is a photo of one of my favorite artists. For once I am not going to elaborate on an artist. I am going to let you google to find out about this great and demented genius.

man trapped in elevator for 42 hours

here is a great video of a man trapped in elevator. I am not sure why I find this video so interesting.


http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2008/04/21/080421_elevators/?yrail

glass medusa

Here is my glass Medusa (for my new viewers.)

quote of the day---james russel lowell

Freedom is the only law which genius knows.
James Russell Lowell

postage stamps etched in glass

My brain has been looking back on the glass stamp project I completed months ago. I have decided I want to make some more stamps in glass but I want to make them Gardega style, kind of surreal- Americana. Coming soon--- I have already designed two of them.

the pope---by gardega

I was walking up town today and I ran into another barricade and the cops were holding back people so the pope could pass. I saw the pope in his limo with another person who (I think) was the cardinal. I am not religious but it was a nice NYC moment.

vienna watercolor

I had a dream about Vienna last night. I have never been there. I woke up this morning and painted this--- a spiritual watercolor of a city I have never visited.

a different sky---by gardega

Art is a respite from the day to day world. It is an escape into another reality, another world-- a different sky.


watercolor 11 x 15

quote of the day----H.L. Mencken

"If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner, and wink your eye at some homely girl."

central park--by gardega

I ran a few miles in Central Park this morning. It was filled with cops and paramilitary as the pope was due to pass through. I sat down next to an old timer and we started talking about the police and the military and the erosion of civil liberties etc. He told me he spent two years in a communist prison near romania for speaking out against the government. He said they would torture him every day by putting his hand in a door and slamming it--- he showed me his bent fingers. He said America is crazy for giving up her liberties and rights. I agreed with him. If we wind up in a fascist theocracy or world communist government it is going to be like living everyday inside a dept. of motor vehicles.

orion nebula

I found this picture on the Nasa website today. This image is proof to me that there is no longer a need for abstract painting. Man has never even come close to achieving something of this power in abstract art. Lay down thy brushes.

magnetotail

This image is explained in posting below. this reminds me of an angel, a magnetic angel.

magneto tail

the earth is surrounded by a bubble of magnetism, this is in part to the molten metal "dynamo" core of the earth. this "bubble" stretches out into space into a "tail" that is basically a long mass of charged particles. If you ever look up and see it is a full moon you can know that the moon is in the middle of our magnetotail. When the moon is in our magnetotail she is being bombarded by charged particles. On the dark side of the moon this can cause the surface to raise into thousands of volts of electrostatic energy. There is speculation that this can actually create a wind, an electrical wind that raise particles into the air etc. This is one of Nasa's pictures to illustrate the tail...

bladder drugs cause memory loss

I read this morning that bladder drugs cause memory loss. I think that is how they are supposed to work. If you forget that you wet yourself then it doesnt really matter that your shorts are wet. what matters is perception. brilliant!

Update---by gardega

I have been back at my zen inspired watercolors. The more I mature in art the more I realize that there is a large philosophical difference between making art that is concerned with the "process" or "the journey" and making art that is concerned primarily with having a nice finished product to hang above and match your sofa ---Maybe the two meet somewhere on a dusty highway. It is very unlike me to leave out a lot of detail in my work but for some reason I have been working in a minimal fashion on these watercolors. I don't think it is laziness because I like to paint detail. It is more about restraint. Notice my 5 foot "priest" painting tucked behind my desk watching me paint....These are for sale if anyone wishes to buy one or all. Just state which one you would like to see from left to right and I will email you a better photo/ version of it.

article of the day

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=559967&in_page_id=1770

quote of the day

Anatole France - "It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion."

how to be a great artist---by gardega

If you are determined (or have a deep rooted wish to be an "artiste") I would like to offer up the rules of engagement that I have gathered up like crumbs in a german forest over the years.

the rules:

1) First you must have a great and unforgettable name before you even take a step onto the rocky path towards fame. Names as Picasso, Dali, Goya, Magritte, Kubin. These are names that carry with them the faint yet unmistakable odor of grandeur and destiny.


2) second it is best to have rich parents as you will not have to pick old pizza out of trash bins for ten years as you strive against impossible odds that would weigh down the most heroic of figures. Gardega had not such luxuries but you can compensate with stubbornness and tenacity and know that one day after the ten thousandth try you will find the right filament to light the bulb of truth and success.


3)thirdly, you must think for yourself and avoid the groupthink of modern life and it is best to be an individual to the 9th degree if you are understood or not you will be better off as it is much better to fail as Gardega than to be another at any cost.

4) Press my friend!!! If you are an unkown artist it is because you are not putting your turkey neck on the chopping block of fear and rejection. It is best to be known and to have people read about you and to buy your art. If you would prefer to hide in the shadows and drive a milk truck down the road of failed destinies you are so entitled! It is good to be on TV and radio and in the gossips and on the pavement casting the long shadows of envy among your comrades.

5) throw out your television. If you spend your time in front of the idiot box your mind with bog down like a chicken in a glue factory. Read those little things called books and research and study and do geometry and be not lazy. If you need to visit bacchus when your mind is weighed down with problems of analytical geometry and you cannot sleep then wine is fine and as baudelaire famously said "stay drunk young man" stay drunk on art, and life and wisdom and words.

ghost of renoir---by gardega

SOLD


watercolor on Arches paper 22" x 30".

This watercolor is done on a wonderfully crafted (and expensive) sheet of arches watercolor paper. I recommend when framing it that it is framed behind glass in a "Shadow Box" type frame so the rough edges of the paper are visible to the viewer as opposed to being hidden by a matte.

AHPPY RITHDBYA

GARDEGA SAYS "THINK OUTSIDE THE MAILBOX!"

another chance apparel

a good friend and collector of my work sent me an email about her clothing line and I thought I would share it on here. Her name is mary and she is a popular DJ in Westchester NY on 103.9 WFAS..

I have a side project to tell you about - Another Chance Apparel - with my co-worker, JJ Kennedy. It's a line of shirts that have been recycled from cotton waste and plastic bottles spun into fabric and made into shirts. The concept is: Everyone and everything deserves Another Chance - people deserve another chance and so do 'things.' Manufacturing tee shirts made from recycled fabric requires 2/3 less energy, it keeps plastic soda bottles out of landfills, and is just as soft and cozy as regular cotton or organic cotton shirts. Plus, since the cotton is recycled, no pesticides or chemicals were used to grow and maintain cotton fields for these shirts.

Please check out the Another Chance Apparel website at www.marydesilva.com (it's very bare, I built it myself, the real site will be up as soon as my webmaster is done with finals!!) and on MySpace at:
www.myspace.com/anotherchanceapparel


feel free to view/ buy her shirts!

color of the day----green

I chose green as the color of the day because there is a large amount of focus on the environment and the green movement. As an artist I like to keep the planet in good shape myself and worry about the oceans etc. The downside of the whole thing is that if we are not careful with how we legislate we create greater problems. Because of the mandates on Biodiesel many very poor countries are losing their main source of food---CORN. There are food riots and the price of the foodstuffs many of these countries survive on is through the roof. I would rather stick to oil if it keeps these third world people from staving and eating tree bark to survive. Also, a global carbon tax and all the talk about carbon footprint etc is a great way to simply throw another tax on the plate of "the little guy." If you do not think that the "global elite" are getting an extended chuckle out of a "global carbon tax" you are mistaken---If you really peel back the layers and use your grey matter you will see that a carbon tax is essentially a tax on our breath---We exhale carbon. I hope you see the humor in that one... I hope we solve our planets enviro problems but I do not want idiots writing impactful legislation that causes more problems than it solves. I feel like drawing a political cartoon of a poor family at a dinner table and the mother telling the young child to drink his biodiesel....

kilauea--by gardega

Here is a great photo of a lava flow in Kilauea Hawaii. This reminds me of the mouth of hell as it is depicted in many old Flemish paintings and by the Bosch "school of art".

amused to death---flicker rate

I have totally given up watching television. I got rid of mine and I often miss it. I feel that I have to replace the "zombie time" with other things to keep me occupied. FYI, it is a little known fact that the flicker rate of a television was optimized to create an hypnotic effect in humans----Increase flicker rate and you can bring on epileptic seizures.

update---by gardega

Long day in the salt mines trying to wrap up loose ends on projects. I get a big kick when I look at my blog map and I can see where people log in from. Someone from Brisbane, Australia has caught on to the site. I have no idea how people find it but it motivates me to stay on my toes and stay out of the bars and work away. I have taken another photo of my Ghost of Renoir and will post tonight.

ghost of renoir

I finally attacked my 20 dollar sheet of watercolor paper (22 x 30 inches). It is nice to work with good quality paper and supplies. I finished this last night at 3am and this is a really bad photo and I must re-shoot tonight. This piece is concerned with and influenced by the novel "the other side" by Alfred Kubin. It is influenced by that novel in spirit, not in a direct visual fashion to the story line. I chose the name for this piece the ghost of Renoir because it brings to mind the paintings of Renoir's women with umbrellas. I wish I had a better photo but I am off to Brooklyn and I have no time to re-shoot.


On a sullen and blighted shore
where the hands of time can reach no more
there walks the ones who came before
as if the sky had never changed
as if the blood still flows in veins---gardega

quote of the day--carl jung

Today humanity, as never before, is split into two apparently irreconcilable halves.

The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate.

That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner contradictions, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposite halves.

– C.G. Jung, 1959

buddha statue

no one thought the buddha statue resembled Bush sr. which I thought was an obvious likeness---Not that I consider any politician to have Buddha nature...

wine cellar mural--by gardega (longview)

here is a long view of mural...

wine cellar mural---by gardega

This is a shot of the finished wine cellar. I think the room itself is a work of art. It was a six month labor of love by the homeowner to create this room.

mural photos---by gardega

I went back to the wine cellar I painted today to take some shots (now that the wine cellar construction is 100% completed.) It was strange being in a room again where I spent three weeks working on a ceiling, the room felt like an old friend.. This is the Da Vinci inspired center of the 16 foot mural---Specifically it is the Battle of Anghiari. For any issues I have with the painting itself I forgive myself because I painted standing and straining my neck for three weeks.