New Piece, New Technique

I completed a piece this past weekend that I did as a birthday present for my friend Mason Paul, gallery owner/director at Synthetica-M gallery in Cincinnati's Brighton area  I've always been a bit hesitant to give art as a gift because you just never know if it will be liked by the person that receives it.  Of course, if you know the person well enough that shouldn't be an issue.  Anyway, I've shown at Synthetica-M a couple of times and felt like I'd gotten a good enough sense of Mason's aesthetic preferences in art that I figured it was low risk doing a piece for him.  And as it turns out, he liked it!  This is the piece:

This is a small piece, around 6x8" or so and it's done on a wood panel.  I'm pleased with how it turned out and I was particularly happy with 2 things specifically.  First, I have a French dictionary from 1906 that I tore out and incorporated the entry for the words "synthetique" and "synthetiquement", in reference to the gallery name.  Synthetica isn't a real word so those were as close as I could get to the actual name of the gallery.  The other thing I was happy about was that I used an image transfer technique I'd read about but had never tried.  The image of the water tower is the one that I (successfully) tried using this method.  I think the element works well content-wise (there are a few water towers in Brighton where the gallery is) and compositionally adds balance to the abstract. 

The short description for the process I used to do this is this: First, you print out an image on a black and white laser printer/copier.  You then paint a over the image using a clear gel medium.  Once that's dry, you run the piece of paper under water allowing the paper to dissolve, leaving the image embedded into the back of the gel medium.  What you have then is a sort of translucent piece of gel medium (sort of like a fruit roll-up) with an image on in.  You then use the same gel medium to adhere it to your piece and it pretty much just blends right it.  This is not a new technique by any stretch, I'd just never tried it before.  Can't wait to try it again!

Happy 40th Mason!

First Piece of 2012

Call me crazy but I think 2012 is going to be a good year.  To kick things off right, I did a new piece over my holiday break from work.  I had found some cool objects at a place in town called Building Value, that sells salvaged items.  Funny how quickly the story came together.  In hindsight, I seem to have channeled my inner Rauschenberg.  Here is the piece:

Here's to a creative, productive 2012.  Stay tuned for more work and posts this year.

DR

Secret Artworks 2011

For the last 3 years I have been happily contributing to Cincinnati's largest arts charity event hosted by Artworks, called Secret Artworks.  I've blogged about the event and it's benefits here before but never get tired talking about it, nor participating.  So much so, that this year when asked if I'd join the planning committee, I happily accepted.  I was honored to work amongst such a dedicated team who volunteered lot of hours alongside the full-time Artworks staff to put this all together.  The event was this past Friday night and it went off perfectly!  We held it in a new space this year (the former Contemporary Arts Center) and the museum-like venue only helped the already strong work stand out that much more.  Special credit should go to Jolie Harris and Janel Carol for heading the planning committee and of course to Tamara Harkavy and the Artworks staff! 

I also submitted 3 pieces, 1 of which I know for sure was acquired.  The piece is called LA Ghost and is a study for a series of pieces I will more than likely start over the holidays.  Since it is technically no longer a "Secret" I thought I'd share it here:

Virginia Romanou

Today is my aunt Virginia's birthday so I thought I'd write a little about her. 

Virginia is my dad's younger sister (whose age shall remain forever a secret!) though she feels more like my older sister and it's very obvious that we're all related.  She's an artist and designer by education and profession, though neither of those words seem to encompass anywhere near all of how she manifests her creativity.  Simply put, she is an idea person with an immense amount of creative energy, all she needs is a medium.  Books, posters, paintings, exhibits, sculpture, interior spaces, furniture, fashion, photography, the list seems to go on.  Funny how the focused and restrained artistic drive in my grandfather was channeled so differently between his descendents.  Having just returned from a trip to Greece where I spent an unforgettable time with my dad (I'll write about that next) and regrettably a short time with Virginia, I still feel energized and inspired by my times with them.

Last year Virginia had an exhibit in Brazil that I was unfortunately unable to attend.  She had been working on a series of black and white abstract pieces that come together in what she called "stavro-lexo" which translates from Greek as crossword puzzle.  These pieces are beautiful in their subtlety and sensitivity in their own right, but curated and composed into the larger work which takes on a life of its own.  Simply amazing.  Here's a picture of the piece on the wall of her studio:

Needless to say I am a proud nephew and whether she knows it or not, she inspires me constantly to push myself as an artist and designer and to always keep following my passion, experimenting with styles and techniques and never locking myself into one medium.  At the end of the day, creativity is an energy not unlike lighting, water or wind.  All different but essential in moving life forward. Maybe nature's passions materialized.

Xronia polla theia mou!

Missing Pieces

Ok, this is sort of a play on words but stay with me for a minute.  I always tell people that art is for the artist and if anyone else likes the work they do, it's serendipity.  With that, most artists I know feel the need to keep a new piece around a bit to sort of feel it or live with it.  Let it speak back to you in a way.  That's how I feel for sure.  Right when I finish a new piece I tend to say to my self that this is my new favorite piece and how can I sell it.  But art is like anything else living in that if you need to keep it, it'll tell you and if it's ok to let it go, it'll tell you that too.  If you're not an artist this may sound ludicrous, but trust me, it's true.

Well, I did a show earlier this year in April where I was cranking to the last minute to get 2 pieces done in time for the opening.  Both sold which was cool, but the only problem was that I never got to live with them at all before they were put on exhibit.  One of the two I was ok with selling when I did as I had another one from the same series that I preferred anyway.  The other one however I not only didn't get to live with, but I dont even know who bought it.  It's not necessarily the most significant piece I've ever done or anything, but it was a bit of a departure for me and I really like it.  I'm sure I'd have sold it soon enough anyway but I would have liked having it around for just a bit longer so it could say goodbye.

This is the missing piece.  "Color outside the lines".

Silently Obtain - Synthetica-M Gallery - 9/3/11

Last night was a 1 night event at Synthetica-M gallery called Silently Obtain.  The concept was to have a number of pieces on exhibit and rather than being priced with the built in gallery commission, the pieces had a "reserve" price that covered what the artist wanted to make and the rest going to the gallery.  I think the idea was really great and the turnout for the night seemed good too.  Aside from the uncharacteristic (for September) blazing heat, we had a nice crowd.  The opening of the new 3rd Party Gallery next door to Synthetica added to a good vibe to the event.  I met some really cool and talented people too, some who happened to be artists exhibited in the show.  Thanks again to Mason Paul for including me and putting on another good event!  You may also want to check out the work of Alton Falcone, Jared Dreyer and Curtis Goldstein.

This is the piece I had on exhibit last night.  "In a fit of fuchsia".

Dynamic, Transformational & Static - Video

Synthetica-M Gallery owner/director, Mason Paul has posted a video of the current exhibit that I am a part of.  Check it out here!