Keith Haring Steals the Show

The Haring installation at the Rubell Museum highlights a fine collection by this artist. Memorable, powerful images like the heart artwork in the long hallway, carries your eye directly to this piece. I particularly enjoyed seeing more intimate works of drawing and narrative panels. The story of the wall of drawings was entirely compelling and enlightening.

The political pieces of the Statue of Liberty and Mickey Mouse are still potent and ave meaning today.

The general public will certainly be able to relate to this reachable yet sexual artist. Knowing so many who lost their lives to AIDS in the 80’s this work exemplifies this era.

Rubbel Museum Drive by

Diverse subjects, media and overall discomfort leave an lasting impression. After seeing hundreds of artwork,s some memorable and some absolutely not, the Rubell collection can stop you in your tracks. The overall theme of its inaugural offerings are overwhelmingly figurative. The collection is vast yet carefully curated for this years art week.

I will skip by installations for the sake of quantities and share the pieces that left an impression. I also have not emphasized the overtly sexual content of the Rubell’s collection but the content here is pretty obvious. No judgement on my part but certainly the collection reflects contemporary statements.

I have tried to organize images to some extent and in some cases did note the information about the piece provided by the museum. Unfortunately I was not able to include every card but a few can clarify some questions as to date, artists names and media.

The good news is the museum is now officially open to the public. Here is some info that can help you organize your visit. Contemporary works by emerging & established artists displayed in a repurposed DEA warehouse.

Address: 1100 NW 23rd St, Miami, FL 33127

Opened: 1993

Tickets: $5–10 · rfc.museum

Phone: (305) 573-6090


Enjoy the images and let me know what you think!

The Rubell Museum 2019 Miami Art Week

With so many incredible venues to see art I scheduled the new Rubell Museum for my last day.  Noteable is the fact that this is the Rubell’s new 100,000 sqft  space to house their private collection.  This museum contributes to the rise  and serious quality of collectors in Florida and Don and Mera Rubell’s tastes  influence international art collecting.

This is apparent in so many of the galleries showing work in Art Basel (Convention Center), Fairs and events throughout South Florida.  Last year their smaller also remarkable space exhibited the works of under collected Black artists.  With the Rubell’s stamp of approval many venues were heading their advise, showing an international array of African artists. 

I was impressed with the fresh approaches to media from these artists with an explosion of paper, paint , fabric and pattern.  One artist that captured my eye was  Amoako Boafo, a Ghana-born artist who works and lives in Austria.  Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago sold out their booth in Basel.  I also noticed the works in Art Miami and I believe Pulse fairs.

The influence of Austrian artist Egon Schiele cannot be denied, particularly in the application of paint which appears to be finger painted.  The elongated expressionless portraits leave a feeling of loneilness balanced though with lively, delicate patterns and strong flat color. These are simple yet powerful works! 

Loved these!

Hybrid Strategies 2.0 opening night.

The Hybrid Strategies 2.0 exhibit featuring ten noted Broward and Palm Beach county artists opened last Thursday night (May18, 2017) in a new space in Pompano Beach.  Magnetic Gallery, the vision of curator Byron Swart was created to present innovative art in yet another venue supporting the cities mission to become a cultural destination.  Swart a part of The Creative’s team, is also responsible for introducing important international, national and regional artists as the curator for the gallery located inside of Pompano’s new Cultural center.

 

Since my departure from teaching for 39 years I have been very fortunate to become more acquainted with Pompano’s art community.  An appointment to the cities Public Art Committee for the past two years has introduced me to new wonderful lovers of art who are committed to making our community enriched through Public Art.  I have also been very involved with The Bailey Contemporary Art Center participating in events there, and recently had a very successful one person show of my new work.  Many, many more new viewers have been introduced to my art through the Bailey.  It was a wonderful partnership and I thank all at BaCA for the opportunity to exhibit my work in their fantastic space .

Art is moving to the more eastern parts of the city.  Wrapped traffic signal boxes and artist painted large scale sculptures of Pompano Fish are enjoyed throughout the city and more are being commissioned.  Now, thanks to the Pompano Citi Center, space has been provided in a storefront to promote local and South Florida art.

I was pleased to be invited to be a guest curator in this new huge gallery space. The result is a reset of a show I organized in 2008, exhibited at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale's gallery.  That original exhibit was prophetic in that it was a new body of mixed media work as I gradually pulled away from painting with oil on canvas and was enjoying a new phase of experimentation due to health purposes. 

Eight years later the artists in version 2.0 of the show have continued to make innovative mixed media art.  The artists have enjoyed recognition in many areas including the Cultural Consortium Fellowship, whose art has been selected for prestigious local museum competitions and are extraordinary educators as well.

It was a pleasure to reconvene this group of talent for another look at art that opens itself to innovation and experimentation with varieties of media.  The feedback I received throughout the opening night was overwhelmingly positive.  The audience was engaged looking at the work.

Although very diverse in intent and approach to content and material I was very pleased with the cohesiveness of the exhibit.  My belief that really good art despite its differences has inherent continuity based upon artists that continue to create works that continue to expand the vocabulary of art.

I am pleased to share images of opening night and will be sharing the actual artwork here in a later post.  This is just a taste of some of the art but I would love to invite you to come to the gallery and experience the show for yourself.  All works are for sale and are reasonably priced.  Stop by and enjoy.   The show continues through June 4. 

Here are some images from the opening.  Enjoy!

 

It's been a while...Selections from Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California.

While in Long Beach I always make a point of stopping by The Museum of Latin American Art.  A relatively new space dedicated to both historic and contemporary Latin art, I have never been disappointed in their quality exhibits.  

One bonus is the Reciprocal Museum Membership that many museums such as the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach share with The Ft Lauderdale Museum of Art.  Four southern California museums, The Museum of Latin Art, The Long Beach Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum and the Orange County Art Museum in Newport Beach became destinations to explore thanks to my membership.

This trip I was traveling with my artist friend,  Blima Efraim.  Always a pleasure to share these rewarding visual experiences in the moment.  Blima standing before the artworks and installations provide an awareness of the monumental scale of the artwork.

https://www.molaa.org

DREAMLAND  a Frank Romero Retrospective is a visual delight.  Highways of imagination have you traveling to a time that still feels like the present.  Slices of life and politics are a collage of references unified by an extraordinary sense of color and brush marks. The combination reveals a wonderful personal journey.

 

From the lovely Dreamland brochure.  Art as an educational experience is a mission of this museum for sure.

 

I am happy to share some amazing photos of Frank Romero's interesting and powerful work installed impeccably at the MOLAA Long Beach!  

This gentleman seemed like he was part of the exhibit in a Norman Rockwell kind of way.  

This gentleman seemed like he was part of the exhibit in a Norman Rockwell kind of way.  

           Installation view

           Installation view

Detail.

Detail.

A matter of scale.  

A matter of scale.  

The Process:  Collages of found references are assembled and drawn.  These large scale drawings display fine detailed network of crosshatched modeling.  

The Process:  Collages of found references are assembled and drawn.  These large scale drawings display fine detailed network of crosshatched modeling.  

The drawings are ultimately developed as large scale expressionistic paintings.  His naive approach to composition draws you into what seem like random compositions.

The drawings are ultimately developed as large scale expressionistic paintings.  His naive approach to composition draws you into what seem like random compositions.

A couple of details from other Romero work although painted in the 70's - 90's.

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=6213

Art is for me a way to learn about culture and history and personal expression.  It has been a pleasure to discover the work of Frank Romero during my visit to The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, CA.  

I will be sharing my art adventures here.  Stay tuned for some visual treats.

Waiting for a Return of Wonder

The studio has been busy.  Curators and collectors have been stopping by.  I have work and lots of it.

It is interesting for me to live with work that I have made throughout periods of my life next to new work.  I was a painter and have had to take a hiatus away from the materials that gave my work life in order to reinvent myself using new non toxic and digital material.

The journey continues in a new form and although the process took time it has become an integral part of how I define myself as an artist.

A look back reveals a continuation, a departure not necessarily a separation, just a shift in media.  An awareness of life and natures dualities remains the preoccupation of my explorations both then and now.

This painting is resurfacing now influenced by the recent Rio Summer Olympics.  I was moments away from booking a trip to Rio in the late 80's but circumstances prevented me from being able to leave.  I thrust my disappointment into a drawing that evolved into this painting. A narrative of the experience was recorded as a painting.

I recently hung it our living room from its hallway storage spot. The original painting has never really been exhibited publicly, maybe once.  To me, one of my strongest works.  

An acquaintance requested to come by to see my work as she saw a piece in a recent exhibit.  She originally was interested in a particular digital work but once she saw my paintings she began to think of places to hang the work in her home.  

My original work is quite large and she had limited space and really fell in love with the art.  We decided to print an archival giclee print of the work on canvas in a size that she felt comfortable with.  The final piece has some limited hand painting on it just to keep the colors as true to the original as possible.  The results are astounding.  I call the reproduction my mini me.  

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJh7napjFTY/

I posted a quick photo of the original and little printed canvas in the link above.  Check it out!

I have quite a few new experimental collaged prints coming here soon.

All work on the site is available with prints of artwork on request.  

A free (for now) alternative to Photoshop

Wow!  It is Photoshop's 25th birthday!  Although there has been several alternatives introduced to the market place at way cheaper prices, Photoshop still survives.  While scrolling through FB where I have many, many friends in the Graphic Design industry I came across this new product.  Thanks Marion S for the post.

The short video reveals this new applications abilities and they look streamlined for professionals.   The best news is that right now a Beta version can be downloaded for free.  

http://www.creativebloq.com/adobe/photoshop-celebrates-25th-oscars-ad-21514251

Right now this is not an embeddable link so cutting and pasting will have to suffice for now.I plan on installing this on my desktop and will review it in the near future.  

To celebrate the tool that has helped shape creativity, artists from all over the world contributed their most amazing dreams-and their working files with layers. These PSDs were then animated layer by layer to create a film made in Photoshop. #Photoshop25