Show preview: Greenville

"That was yesterday, that day" opens on April 1st, with the reception on April 21st from 6-8 pm.  The Coldwell Banker Caine Main Street Gallery is located at 428 S Main Street in downtown Greenville. In addition to the previously posted images here and here, the four paintings below will also be on view.  The gallery is open to the public M-F.  

Just a friendly reminder, all images of my work on this blog and my website are my intellectual and creative property.  If you want to share, please ask beforehand and no images or partial images may be used for your commercial purposes without my express consent.  Ever.  Sadly, this needs to be stated periodically.  

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and I am broken to their passing feet

2016, oil on canvas,  36" x 24"

ballad of the firebombers (for Anne)

2016, oil on canvas, 36" x 24" 

 the sea that bangs in my throat

2015, oil on canvas, 36" x 24"

fearing death and what death invents

2015, oil on canvas, 36" x 24"

The next movement

what you alter in the remembering has yet a reality

2016, oil on canvas, 36" x 24"

The madness of deadlines has set upon me.  From here forward I work against the enemy of oil painting, drying.  As the cool snap abates, there are night sessions ahead ,working, working, working.  I deliver next Wednesday and then take a breath before jumping back into the Stations show.  In one year, I will be in NYC, looking at the work hanging up on walls.  It seems so surreal even now.  

The work is beginning to take on new aspects, it feels as though it's evolving and I'm along for the ride.  New approaches present themselves, making the process fresh and interesting.  I love that subtle changes in things like where I get my canvases from cause issues to either incorporate or work around.  I'm happy.  I'm fortunate.

Show Announcement

that was yesterday, that day, 2016, oil on canvas, 36" x 24"

I'm pleased to announce an upcoming exhibition in Greenville, SC.  The lovely folks at Coldwell Banker Caine have opened their Main Street Gallery to me for an April-June run.  Yes, the exhibit will be open and available for viewing during Artisphere.

"That was yesterday, that day" is a collection of small works, and my first show in Greenville since being in the upstate artists juried show in last year's Artisphere.  This may be my last exhibition in South Carolina for some time, so I hope to see you there.  There will be a reception on Thursday, April 21st (one month from today) from 6pm to 8pm.  Drinks and such will be provided.

I did an interview with them to support the show.  Please check their blog soon to view it.  If you are interested in purchasing a work prior to the opening, please contact me through the comment form on my website.  There will only be 6-8 paintings available for this show.

City stories

A friend (and fellow painter) and I were walking around the lower east side of Manhattan last Friday, checking out art shows and talking.  At one point we were discussing social media and how it's never been easier to get one's work out into the world.  The conversation turned to an Australian artist whose work we both admire, are mutually friends with on Facebook, and whom we have never met.

Just the fact that two artists, one from NYC and one from SC were walking around discussing her work on the other side of the world is an incredible thing if you think about it.  To me personally, the greatest success is respect and recognition from my peers.  When you enter into real dialogues with those who do what you do professionally, you grow.  Even though artists do what we do in isolation (the studio), we all need and benefit from community.

I visited The Cloisters, the Met's mediaeval art museum along the Hudson at the northernmost tip of Manhattan.  It's a haul, but I got what I needed and was able to come home and finish a painting I had been wrestling with for a few weeks.  If there is one advantage to living in a large city with world class museums, it is, as an artist, being able to go see whatever art you're thinking about.  Even if you can only see a related piece, it's huge.  It reminds me of the story of Delacroix's Taxi.  Here's a version told by artist Byron Kim.

I am currently pushing ahead on the upcoming Greenville show.  I load in a week from next Wednesday, so there's lots of work to be done.  This show was unexpected and so about half of it is new, and the other half were incomplete paintings that I've since gone back into and finished.  I'm effectively working on three shows at once now, and it's been a very good place in terms of how I work.  I'll post details about the opening reception soon.

Art and travels

Kicking waves at the moon, oil on linen, 

60" x 48", Rico '16

Taking art to Atlanta tomorrow, the first few pieces of (hopefully) many more to go.  This piece will not be dry for the trip, but I hope to have it to them soon.  There is talk of an exhibit as soon as late Spring/early Summer of this year.  

The NYC show is coming along very well.  No exact dates, but tentatively set for March of 2017.  Updates as soon as I receive them.  

Success attracts the successful, it is one of the complexities of life and the world we live in.  As things start to happen for me, new doors are opening.  There has never been this much wet work in the studio; I'm running out of room.  

I'll be in NYC a week from Thursday, making the scene and checking out the incredible James Austin Murray at Lyons Wier Gallery in Chelsea.  "Super Massive Black Hole" is not a show to be missed.  The write up is itself a work of art, and does a great job of describing Murray's work.

"It is easy to try and pigeonhole Murray's work as Abstract Expression, Minimalism and/or Opt Art. His work is void of representational content, the work is monochromatic and it fools the eye. Watching Murray's maturation process unfold, I've witnessed the reward of many trials and tribulations, fast starts and abrupt stops, all leading to what can simply be called Intuitive painting."