upodato

I decided to take a break tonight from work and to (attempt) paint an nice watercolor to clear out my system from rust and stress. (I bought a $20.00 sheet of arches watercolor paper today.) There is always a fear factor when I attack an expensive canvas or paper because it seems so precious that you afraid of "mucking it up." The trick is to forget that it is a twenty dollar sheet and to just lose yourself in the work. I will post the result tonight (me promise.) I saw an artist in Brooklyn yesterday I used to assist as a kid, he needs work so I am may hire him a bit. It is funny how the world turns.

spring ahead

almost time to run the clock forward into spring and turn our backs on the foul witch of winter---Must be nice to live in a climate that doesn't freeze! (Then again the seasons build character.) I am buried under deadline hell and will emerge soon with art and wisdom. I will emerge soon like a butterfly from a chrysalis, I will transform myself from a serious "artiste" who is exploring the shadowy depths of a wayward psyche to one who will paint your beagle for some rusty shillings.

article of the day

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/travel/02next.html?ex=1362546000&en=b185f7e5a5975980&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

painting of the day---william blake

william blake

the great red dragon and woman clothed with the sun.

alex rates this piece:

imagination---- 9


skill/ technique---------4



soul--------10


mood----9


color----8

word of the day---rara avis

rara avis \RAIR-uh-AY-vis\, noun;

plural rara avises \RAIR-uh-AY-vuh-suhz\ or rarae aves \RAIR-ee-AY-veez\:

A rare or unique person or thing.

1377

This is post # 1378. That is a lot of posts and it was also probably a good year for wine. That is a lot of rambling/ mumbling/ preaching/ reaching/ beseeching and teaching. Today all my glass is ready to start laying out and designing and I am going to photograph the entire process of creating 8 glass carvings before march 23. I am not going to have too much time for typing etc but I will post the progress of the job all the way until completion and installation. I probably wont have real art to show until tomorrow but I will post some photos tonight of step numero uno.

mailboxes

although I am in a maelstrom of deadlines, my brain thinks often about mailboxes and especially of the rusty "southern variety" mailbox standing dutifully on dusty Texas roads. These were the mailboxes of my youth. Mailboxes are metaphors for waiting and patience, methinks.

election

this is the election process as I hear it from my TV:



blah blah blah change blah blah blah change blah blah blah change


although change is truly the only constant I agree with simon and garfunkel that any way you look at it you lose.

I think I should be president because I would dutifully ignore my duties and hide in the basement bunker of the white house and paint pictures and let things "unmuck" themselves over time.

quote of the day--mark twain

It is a gratification to me to know that I am ignorant of art, and ignorant also of surgery. Because people who understand art find nothing in pictures but blemishes, and surgeons and anatomists see no beautiful women in all their lives, but only a ghastly stack of bones with Latin names to them, and a network of nerves and muscles and tissues.

---M. Twain

ebay

Not sure why I bid on this on ebay but there is something strangely surreal that transcends the intention of the artist. There is no "irony" in this piece. I will one day have to paint some "blades" myself.

busy alex

I am buried trying to make eight glass carvings for a nightclub by march 25th. The deadline is more brutal than I can explain. It is 4:49 AM and so windy out I think a witch on a bicycle just went past my window. I will update with my glass pieces when they are ready to photograph. sorry for being lazy on my site.

artist of the day--arisman

This is a painting by a good friend of mine and a former professor at art school. his name is Marshall Arisman and he is an illustrator and fine artist who mainly focuses on fine art these days. He is a rare artist and and a rare human as he walks his own path and it seems to be a very honest path. There are not many living artists that inspire my work but he is a great artist and a lot of fun to hang out with, we took a journey together to find buffalo out east on long island and I wrote an article about it for a magazine. you can google his name to see more of his work or find his site at www.marshallarisman.com

disasters of war--goya

Goya was a genius of the highest level--- and he makes some great canned goods as well. I wonder if you canned the disasters of war if they would sell to a public. Instead of beans you could have this picture on a label. Some conceptual artist will probably steal this idea and run with it to the local superartmarket. These are the things I think about when I am doing my laudry at 6 am on a sunday.

a dark and ugly thing

I joined a gym yesterday to work out some rust and to get my brain in shape as winter has sculpted my psyche into a dark and ugly thing. I move in two weeks so I thought I would take some time and get in shape before I leave the white picket fences and SUVs behind. I drove this morning at 6:30 to work out and the gym was closed. They open at eight o'clock on Sunday. There is no place in the suburbs for maniacs who start the train of their day rolling at 5 Am on Sundays.

glass study--by gardega

Here is my fifth doodle/design for a glass carving. I think this piece can work with some refinement. I have to finish all work by march 20th.

Harvard Yard

My former assistant has been accepted to Harvard Med School, she will be attending in the fall. I am very happy for her and will recommend she study the blood of the noble horseshoe crab for her thesis and after she makes the big breakthrough that will cure all cancer she will give me a footnote in the great book of medical discoveries.

Jarvick gets canned---by gardega

I was one of the first to let you know that the claim that Jarvick invented the artificial heart had more holes in it than your average swiss cheese. I get very annoyed when people take other peoples labors and pretend they are their own. It was gardega who told you about paul winchell, the voice of Tigger, and his part in inventing the heart. I was informed by a friend that Jarvick has been canned from the commercials as the cat was released from its bag! Viva gardega and Viva knowledge and infomation which is more valuable than art at times. The truth will set you free.

I go swimming

The water was around 40F. It changes your perspective.

ocean man

I am doing my regular jump in the drink today. It is just cold enough to check the temp of the water with my brain. I may be lazy and jump in the sound and not the ocean.

first sketches---by gardega

This is my very first sketchbook page in which I am figuring out a series of glass women for a brooklyn club. I like the initial energy so i will try to keep it in my final designs. It is very easy to kill the life out of your initial thumbnail sketches when you enlarge them and "refine" them. If you refine a native you risk taking the magic of what made that person. The American Indians were a very powerful people who gained nothing from being refined (like sugar.) I prefer the raw and the savage in art combined with skill and discipline--- so maybe there is a happy middle. This page is for sale if anyone is interested.

solar dragonfly

Here is a small electronic dragonfly. The dragonfly was a popular motif in art nouveau. I am not sure where the robot version fits into the art world.

bad art--rauchenberg

This is the worst piece of art Alex has ever seen and it is so very famous. do not worry, you need only to scroll down to see Rembrandt and he will save your eyes from this treachery. Many artists tell me I should be nicer and let other artists make their art--to each his own...I say-- BAH!! I must raise the consciousness to highest branch in the Tree Of Art where the birds of genius nest and play

rembrandt

This painting haunted me as a child. What an advanced subject matter for an artist to choose way back in the 17th century! As a child in Texas I saw a pig get hung up and slaughtered in the same fashion, I remember the blood freezing on the ground. I cannot say I liked seeing a pig get killed but I sure do like bacon.

forgery

I am 99% convinced that this is not a real Rembrandt but a Forgerino. Forgerino was a very famous artist who has been around a long time---It is awkward and forced and does not have the distinctive odor of genius that normally emanates from the work of Rembrandt. Maybe he had a bad day or was hungover. There are a lot of paintings that I find very suspect as to being by the hand of certain artists. I find it interesting that artist's find their own voice or style and "this" is hard to copy or forge. Only Hendrix can play Hendrix--- Although I do play a mean Dali when I am in the mood...I never really think I have a style although many people say that they can see my style in my different works from my glass to my watercolors----My nose is too close to my face and I cannot see it.

the best laid plans...

every time I make big art plans I get sidetracked by the lure of money on a big project I cannot turn down.

blown by the wind...

news article of the day

hapless, hapless, hapless...


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/28/biker.meeting/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Here is a photo i took yesterday on the subway in NYC. It has a NYC winter- vibe to it, methinks.

club photos

I have an insane amount of work to do for this night club in Brooklyn. They have essentially let me take a lot of control and make it as my own art gallery. I am so buried in work I cannot see. This is a photo one of many meetings I have had at the club. Everyone is super nice and there is zero club "sketchiness" going on--- which is very refreshing.

photo of man sewing

I took this picture through a storefront window in NYC yesterday. I am going to paint this soon as it reminds me of Vermeer's lace maker.

proof of genius

I stopped in a gas station yesterday morn. to take a picture of a Uhaul that has a horseshoe crab image on the side. (it is a Delaware Uhaul, ground zero for H.crabs ) I had to take out the Swamp Angel glass piece out of the cab of my truck to get to my digital camera. I took out the swamp angel and realized my camera was not in my truck. I drove away annoyed and then a few miles away I realized I had left something behind at the gas station. I turned around and drove back and picked up the lonely swamp angel that was waiting for me against a tree. (Somebody had already purchased it so I am very happy to have retrieved it as I was on my way to frame it.) I think this is sufficient proof that I am a genius and on a side note I forgot to get gas.

earthquake

I get regular premonitions of earthquakes and sometimes even the region comes to my mind. I had a bad dream of a California earthquake last night. Earthquakes are something I have never experienced except in dreams but I have seen many tornadoes in Texas.

I will draw your dreams---gardega

I woke up today thinking I would like to draw or illustrate peoples dreams. If anyone has visually interesting dream, email it to me and I will draw it. I will need as much information as you can remember. Recurring dreams are interesting, methinks.

the big bang explained--by gardega

A scientist said tonight , on TV, that the single biggest question in science is what set the "Big Bang" in motion. Firstly---Alex thinks, is that the whole question is backward. Why did anything have to set off the big bang, why is it limited to a cause/effect relation? If time is simply a mental construct as I believe (what is time without consciousness of time?) I think that by looking out we are actually looking in and ignoring the effect of the viewer on the experiment is foolish. Also, we must understand that our brain has never even been exposed to light, it has only created its own idea of what light is.

the map is not the territory---descartes

now back to our regularly scheduled program...

fluorescent future

There is a mission by "the powers that be" to rid us all of incandescent light and to force us to use fluorescent bulbs. In fact, it (a bill) has already been passed to do away with the regular bulbs that light our lives. I hate fluorescent light as much as I hate bad art, it is the worst thing I have ever heard of. I will break any and all laws as I cannot stand fluorescent light---it flutters and it is green and hellish and gives me bad nerves. I guess it makes sense that the future (1984) will be illuminated by the foul light of fluorescents! Fight back or we are doomed to a future lit with a sick and sad light. Fluorescents have been proven to cause severe psychic issues in homo sapiens and in animals.

by the way, they are all full of mercury.

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