It is interesting to contrast Hefferlin with Picasso (he is one of my favorite artists). He created some of the best compositions of all time, but he frequently distorted the subjects – like the woman's face, body, and other objects – to make very clever compositional arrangements. But in distorting reality so much he threw the baby out with the bathwater. He was visually saying that reality is a chaos of distorted perspectives that are not true to real life. What is exceptional about Melissa is her ability to tweak these pattern motifs while keeping a realistic perspective, a feat of integration that Picasso doesn't match up to.
Ex-Student Chan Luu’s Recent Painting Floating Flowers
Chan Luu is a fashion designer icon, yet 10 years ago she came to mentor with me and to learn everything she could about painting, drawing, and pastels.
John’s Sunset by Michael Newberry
My brother committed suicide and this is a memorial drawing. Newberry, John's Sunset, Charcoal on Rives BFK, 26x19" Studio Collection. A few years ago I got the sad news of my brother's passing. The moment I heard I knew I would be doing a memorial drawing. I was a little scared to do it, I …
Icarus Landing: Incorporating and Transcending Two Major Traditions in Western Civilization
Damn Complex Chaos to Visual Language
Rend
Newberry, "Not to Be Answered", charcoal on Rives BFK, 19x13 inches. Death touched my life when three people near me, in the same year, died. The horrible result was that I felt nothing. One of them was a Dutch woman I didn’t know very well, but we were related in a sense. I knew she …
My Guide to Visiting a Museum
First They Came for Black
Down Under and Back
Left to Right: Dr. Gary Geier, Eva Newberry, me, Emily Newberry For decades now I have been living the romantic version of the isolated artist's life: too passionate to be a sell out, smart enough to own every second of my time, and calculated enough to always have a functioning art studio. The big winners …
Portrait of Duchamp
Portrait of Duchamp, ink on paper, 5 x 5"
Idyllwild Paintings 2013 – 2017
PREVIEW Just published, available in Coffee Table Book and Kindle formats. From the inside jacket cover: Idyllwild Paintings is a journey from the indifferent art scene of Downtown L.A. to the granite mountains of Idyllwild. In danger of losing the meaning of being an artist, Michael Newberry sought a place to explore depth, death, love, …

