Refrigerator Art Online

Art in decline?

Dorian — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:54:59 +0000

I just read a very disturbing article in the Washington Post, that is suggesting that artist appreciation is declining in the United States. Perhaps due to the dwindling budgets in most public schools, the amount of field trips scheduled has declined. This is ultimately causing a gap in art appreciation within a generation since there is limited exposure. “From 1992 to 2001, 26 percent of adults reported that they visited such attractions, but the number for 2008 dropped to 23 percent.” So please please please visit a museum, attend a play, or attend a concert. Anything to show your appreciation for the arts.

No to explain my absence. Trey (my son), has begged me to continue enjoying the arts. So my husband and I visited Brattleboro, Vermont. The art in that town is phenomenal and it’s encouraged me to seek out new art talent. It’s my third break from blogging, but I am back fellow art lovers. Enjoy!

Art Cyberworld Links

Dorian — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:02:42 +0000

Here is what my fellow bloggers are talking about:

The Brooklyn Museum is preps for Wikipedia Loves Art (Bloggers @ Brooklyn Museum)

India Artist Exhibition of Fakes (Art News Blog)

Peter Doig New Paintings (Art Observed)

Paul Pitt’s Outsider Art (Beverly Kaye Gallery)

Check out the Andy’s (adorable) Rascals (The Buzz)

Have a great day!

Introducing Joe Romine

Dorian — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:48:25 +0000

I would like to introduce my first guest blogger Joe Romine, a comic book artists who will be writing about art techniques and methods in the future. In the mean time, here is a little bit about him and his passions. Enjoy the read and check back frequently for his upcoming postings.

Hello everyone, my name is Joe. Since this is my first post on this site I though I would tell you a little about myself. I am from Ohio, born, but not entirely raised. Throughout my 26 years of life I have been fortunate to travel the country to the west coast and back again…twice. But really I should be discussing art and how it relates to me.

Artistic ability, whether it is drawing, painting, or music, seems to be firmly embedded in my genes. My father is a musician, his brother and uncle both artists, and myself, well, I seem to have been blessed with the gifts of all three.

However, my true love is drawing and painting. I do a lot of comic book style drawing and tend to lean toward photorealism, I have included a couple of examples, but I do not limit my self to only comics. As an artist I branch out and try different methods and techniques for the purpose of broadening my horizons. Not only that but it pays to be versatile. Lately I have been experimenting with a mix of traditional and digital painting to achieve various effects and qualities in my work.

Ah, painting. As far back as I can remember I would sit and watch Bob Ross paint those happy little paintings. His brush caressing the canvas creating remarkable masterpieces with ease, and easy is what he made it look like. Well, I suddenly got an itching so I better go grab a pencil and paper before it leaves me. I’ll talk about techniques and such more in detail the next time. Thanks for reading.

Dedication to Trey

Dorian — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:52:06 +0000

From time to time you have read my jokes about how I would love my son Trey to be as passionate about art as I am. At 17-months he has a hard time understanding what to do with his feet let alone paintings and sculptures. But as Barack Obama gets inaugurated, I hope Trey will one day understand that he can do anything that he wants as long as he is passionate about it. That’s the message for today and I hope all of you who read, paint, study, endure, sculpt, dream, mold, create –I hope you realize that with hard work you can accomplish whatever you want for yourself.

I will be picking up posting tomorrow. I will be introducing my new guest writers, showing off some new emerging artists and sharing some industry gossip. I would like to thank the 12 people who read my blog regularly (I kid) for keeping me going.

Trey Price

Pounder-Kone Artspace presents…..

Dorian — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:10:42 +0000

This invite came across my inbox. If you are in the LA area, check out this exhibit of photographers Ming Smith Murray and Willie Middlebrook at the Pounder-Kone Artspace (3407 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles).

Willie Middlebrook has received numerous awards, honors, fellowships and commendations for his work as both an Artist / Photographer and Arts Educator, including two National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellowships in 1982 and 1992, a Brody Individual Artist Fellowship in 1995 and a California Community Foundation J.P. Getty Individual Artist Fellowship in 2001. In 1991 he was honored by the County of Los Angeles for his contributions to the Art of Photography. In 2001 the Mexican Minister of Culture honored Middlebrook for both his Photography and his Community Arts activism during the 3rd Annual Festival del Fotografia in Tijuana.

Images from here.

Ming Smith, presently resides in New York City and Los Angeles. Her work as a photographer spans over 30 years.

Cyberworld Links

Dorian — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:03:03 +0000

Here’s what some of my fellow bloggers are talking about:

Art Market Price Corrections (Art Market Blog)

Way Cool 3-D Chalk Art from Julian Beever (Indoor Street Art)

Feces for Sale? I thought I’ve seen it all. (Art News Blog)

The beauty of urban art (I Heart Art Blog)

Winner Takes All!!!

Dorian — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:04:08 +0000

Philly.com highlights an art contest where the winner takes in $150,000. So if you have the goods, enter this contest!!!

Art: Smaller is better than bigger

By Edward Sozanski

Contributing Art Critic

Jubilation erupted in Philadelphia’s art community last month when Tyler School of Art announced that retired property developer Jack L. Wolgin had given the institution $3.7 million to endow a $150,000 annual art prize.The competition for this prize, now the largest of its kind, will be international. Besides the cash, the winner will exhibit his or her art at Tyler’s new facility on Temple University’s North Philadelphia campus.

Local art administrators contacted by Inquirer reporter Amy S. Rosenberg rhapsodized about how the prize would enhance the city’s stature as an art center and would attract international attention to the city.

There was only one dissenting voice among the art insiders whom Rosenberg was able to contact. Robert Storr, former curator at the Museum of Modern Art, consulting curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and dean of the Yale University School of Art, thought Wolgin’s gift should have been dispersed in a way that benefited more artists and institutions.

Storr observed that prestigious art prizes tend to be awarded to established artists. “What we have is a web of higher-end prizes,” he said. “The underserved among us are the artists who are less well-known.”

His comment nails the problem with the Wolgin prize. Whether it’s grants, residencies or prizes, art-world rewards too often go to artists who already have been rewarded.

It’s not surprising that art administrators would enthuse over the Wolgin International Prize in Fine Arts, which is to be awarded for “work that transcends traditional boundaries and exemplifies the highest level of excellence in painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, ceramics, metals, glass or fibers.”

It’s interesting that the prize omits two growth areas in contemporary art, installation and video. In any case, presumably it will create a lot of work for administrators processing applications, selecting jurors, organizing the jurying and the exhibition and sending out hundreds of rejection slips.

Tyler and Wolgin himself are the other main beneficiaries. By establishing the world’s richest art prize and naming it for himself, Wolgin has bought a modicum of immortality.

Tyler will be able to score recruiting and marketing points, regardless of whether the winners turn out to be artists of merit or, as with Britain’s Turner Prize in recent years, sensations of the month.

But what about artists? They get a chance to participate in an international lottery, winner take all. One artist pockets $150,000, while everyone else goes hungry.

Celebrating Art In Washington D.C.

Dorian — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:55:47 +0000

I am a little worried I may be jumping on the Presidential Inauguration bandwagon, but there are some spectacular art exhibitions currently showing in Washington D.C. Surely this is an important moment in history, but I am waiting to see some monumental changes in our country before I celebrate the accomplishment. While I am thrilled to see an African-American man become President, I am taking a wait-and-see-approach. OK, enough of my commentary and on to the exhibitions.

If you dare to go to Washington D.C. or need to celebrate the occasion, these are the exhibitions you are not going to want to miss:

1) The National Portrait Gallery will have the now famous Obama portrait by Shepherd Fairey. Now’s the chance to see it up close. There is also an opportunity to view portraits of President and Mrs. Bush.

2) The Smithsonian American Art Museum will be an ideal location to see painting by Alma Thomas and Lois Mailou Jones. Thomas is the first graduate of Howard University’s Fine Arts Program and Jones taught at Howard from 1930 to 1977.

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3) The Anacostia Community Museum is hosting the exhibition, “Jubilee: African-American Celebration.” This is an ”exhibit of photographs, paintings and video at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum, chronicles holidays and celebrations observed in black American communities from the days of slavery to the present.”

4) The Smithsonian’s Ripley Center is currently showing “After 1968: Contemporary Artists and the Civil Rights Legacy,” This exhibit is showing the cultural affect after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. “This exhibition examines the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement while exploring the continuing relevance of progressive social change through the art of the After 1968 artists, a group of young emerging artists born since 1968. These artists approached issues of racial identity, commodity culture, and political action in response to the legacy of the year 1968, when political unrest and social upheaval dominated the landscape.”

This is a very small list of exhibitions in Washington D.C. and if you know of other, let me know. Cheers!

Barack Obama’s Future Impact on the Arts

Dorian — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:38:03 +0000

There’s no doubt that health care, the state of the economy, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and foreclosures are hot-bed topics that deserve attention in 2009. However, many artists are closely watching the affect the incoming Obama administration will have on cultural policy. The January 2009 issue of ArtNews discussing in detail the anticipation behind Barack Obama entering the White House.

Barack Obama has enlisted the help of George Stevens, Jr founder of the American Film Institute and Margo Lion, a Broadway producer to lead the National Arts Policy Committee. The committee will include a long list of industry experts who will examine the changes that need to occur in terms of health care for artists and money allocation for artists and artist organizations. Additionally there will be training programs created for young people who want to teach art in low income schools and communities.

In the past 15 years there has been a dramatic drop in funding and grants for artists. Many are hoping that the Artist-Museum Partnership Act will pass between the two houses within Obama’s term. Such an act will help address the needs of visual artists who are often ignored behind the curtain of writers who receive a large portion of grants. I think this is a topic that will not be ignored because of his devotion to his children and the cultural footprint he leaves behind will especially affect his children. We shall see.

If you are interested in more information about upcoming policy in the arts you can also visit Arts Vote. Here’s a video of Barack Obama addressing a need for more exposure to the arts. I don’t think he fully answered Tom Brokaw’s question but hopefully he will address us more about his plan in the future.

A Look At Encaustic Paintings

Dorian — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:03:35 +0000

I recently became of fan of encaustic, a technique I was not familiar with until I saw the work of Gregory Wright. After seeing his piece, Breaking Through, I decided to look up the technique so I had a better appreciation what he does.

According to Wikipedia, “Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface — usually prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used. ” I can only imagine the amount of preparation that goes into preparing a piece. My lack of patience would cause me to stop at preparing the wax. LOL

So what is it about Gregory Wright that makes him so special? After reading his artist statement, I was able to look at his artwork and totally understand what he was trying to convey. He writes, “My intention is to capture a visual reaction and materialization of emotions. I paint intuitively in encaustic and oil. I am inspired by landscape formation and the essence of light. I explore sinuous fluid shapes and biomorphic motifs with cosmic and microscopic influences. My compositions exceed the boundaries of their surface, as though they were close-ups.”

I was pulled into exploring Gregory Wright’s artwork because he is inspired by the earth’s layers. Also he captures the activity and movement that is occurring from within the surface. Wright’s paintings also reminds me of the mathematical fractals I studied in school, which is appropriate considering his work is similar to that of scientific compositions. And as he suggests, his pieces are very similar to looking at organisms in a microscope. He dissects elements and reproduces what he sees. Very nice.

I’ve also included two additional works by Marsh Scott. And for a better understanding of the encaustic technique, check our the You Tube video below. Enjoy!

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Pictures obtained from here and here.