Monthly Studio Update - January, 2002
MONTHLY STUDIO UPDATE: JANUARY 2002
Non-Studio Updates:
Happy New Year and wishes for a flourishing 2002.
Blithely, I won't make any New Year's resolutions as my coming days, weeks, and months are packed with exciting events and work; all of which borders the limits of my capacity for painting, joy, and revolutionary pursuits.
I will mention upcoming events later in this update but, for now, I would like to bring up a few rewarding acknowledgements and accomplishments I experienced in 2001.
Writing is relatively new for me and this year I was published on the web and, significantly, in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Dr. Chris Sciabarra editor. The following titles are links to the my aesthetic articles and two autobiographical stories:
On Metaphysical Value-Judgements
Review of Paul McCarthy Exhibition
An extremely significant acknowledgement of myself as an artist came this year from Dr. Stephen Hicks, philosopher:
From an earlier exhibition and recently translated, a review from archaeologist, art historian, and art critic, Thodoris Archontopoulos.
Newberry at To Dentro (The Tree)
Another highlight of 2001 has been the creation of the Newberry "Conquer the World" package. It was beautifully made and designed by Anna Moody & Associates. It is a package with an embossed cover that encloses three separate parts: A sixteen page catalog of my major works; the Newberry Manifesto with an introductory essay Post-Postmodern Art by Stephen Hicks; and a summary of my aesthetic values.
The purpose of the package is that it is a proposal for exhibiting my work that will go out to the World's leading contemporary art museums.
This brings me to another project that is in the works but one that I am tentative about mentioning before it becomes a reality, it is the development of an aesthetic foundation. Hopefully I will have substantial news about this organization in the coming months.
Coming up this summer I will give a lecture for The Objectivist Center's summer conference:
The Enlightened Hero and Heroine:
A New Form of Heroism in the Arts.
Heroism in art represents the furthest reaches of human potential. In art history periods of heroism are marked by slightly generic prototypes that convey the struggles of warriors and the poses of divine beauty. It is rare to find in history a self-aware heroic being. Radically, some of today's artists are creating new depths and insights into the meaning of heroic. Using examples of these artists and contrasting them with some historic examples, I will show you how they are creating advancements on the heroic theme by their depictions of individuality, of self-awareness, and of the drive towards enlightened fulfillment.
Last note, I am more than pleased with the Newberry Naissance website. For the year 2001 the site had 12,000 visitors half of them were from distinct Internet addresses. Imagine showing the artwork live in my real-life studio to all those people!
Studio Updates:
Artemis is coming along. The areas surrounding her are almost complete. Unfortunately, there is photo glare on the right side of the image. Knock on wood, Artemis is going very well. All the marks I am making satisfy me and I am working directly in color towards the end I want. This is not always possible.
I am working Venus in a different manner than with Artemis in the sense that I am working to get the light and dark shades of the background before I start to apply the final color. I had tried approaching Venus by painting the color I wanted for final outcome but it didn't work for me. So I retreated back to making it monochromatic afterwards, when that stage feels right, I will begin to lay color over the tonal layer.
The pastel of the bed is a color study for Artemis.
The following two pencil studies are ideas for a man standing above a valley. I intend the valley to be futuristic; to have a few magnificently high buildings isolated in pockets and surrounded by farmland and nature. Kind of like a small Greek village except that one of the buildings could house several thousand people. The idea is that inside the buildings there would be hospital, supermarket, services, and living quarters but the building would be in the middle of nature.
That's it for January, 2002!