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.