Iris Scott

I'm always on the hunt for artist that makes me feel something with their art.  Recently I discovered the work of Iris Scott.  Her finger painting technique produces stunning works of art, which succeed in making me feel something: intrigued, captivated, happy.

Ashley Longshore

I'm pretty sure we all need an Ashley Longshore on our walls.  Unfortunately art requires cash, and I am also pretty sure I will never have cash again after making these baby(ies).  These future child(ren) will expect to be fed, clothed, and educated.  My husband's mother recently informed my husband that, ahem, children are expensive raise, and then she asked if we were still saving money!  (Love it!)

During the teenage years when our kids act out, I'm going to yell things like: "I could have purchased an Ashley Longshore!"

Fatima Ronquillo New Show

For those of you with disposable income,  one of the my favorite artists (she's a living master) Fatima Ronquillo recently posted her newest masterpieces from her current solo show at the Meyers East Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I love these paintings!

Boobies

Conversation that occurred last week:

Paxten: "Pat-Pat, why do you have a picture that shows his boobies?"

Me: "It's art.  It shows his chest because he's at the beach."

Paxten: "But it shows his boobies. Why?"

Paxten cracks me up...

Andrew Salgado

"The large scale, gestural paintings of Andrew Salgado works explore concepts relating to the destruction and reconstruction of identity – a process that he views as re-considering the conventions of figurative painting through a pursuit toward abstraction. To create paintings that engage beyond what is immediately visible, he often consciously questions the nature of identity (and painting) itself as something deconstructed, created, and tangible."

- from Beers Contemporary

I just discovered the works of Andrew Salgado online.  I am a fan.  I'm a really big fan. The art he creates is exactly the kind of art that speaks to me.  Lucky for me he's two years younger than me, which means I will be able to admire his art for many more years.  He's just getting started!

To my readers with a significant art budgets: go pick up one of his pieces and invite me over to see it!  His work might be the price of a car, but unlike a car they won't go out of style!  These pictures don't capture the scale of his work, but you can appreciate the masterpieces...

Wally Workman host Fatima Ronquillo

I'm significantly more passionate about the artist Fatima Ronquillo than my husband.  I think her work is extraordinary.  Her paintings offer little narratives of interest, which allow your mind to wander and explore.  Her art encourages more creative thought.  She's remarkable.

But as you know, art is extremely subjective and personal.  In a thick Southern accent we like to quote our friends Amy and Ann E.'s inside family joke: It's art, what does it mean to you??  

I've had my eye on Fatina's work for a few years, and recently she's exploded in popularity (rightfully so) and now her art is priced outside my current reach.

But as you also know, you don't have to own art to appreciate it, right?  Here's our chance to see her art!  She has an upcoming show in Austin, Texas at the Wally Workman gallery March 7-28, 2015.

If you're close to Austin, go see her work with your own eyes.  If you like it, then please contact my husband and inform him his opinion is incorrect!  If you don't like it, then please contact an optometrist and go get your eyesight examined!

Philly Art Tour

The weekend before last, I spent most of the day touring Philadelphia Museum of Art while my husband was taking his last final exam.  My husband likes it when I visit museums, because he says I can't try to buy anything in a museum...of course after this move/remodel I can't try to buy anything because we have cleaned out our checking account!

It was my second time to tour the Philly art museum, and it might be one of my favorites.  On that day, here are the pieces of art that spoke to me!

I'm always a fan of a realistic portrait and the narratives they represent...

An artist's use of light in paintings is always captivating to me...

This painting is huge, and made me smile for a long while.  Love it:

These paintings are so simple, yet so beautiful...

And these flowers are spectacular...

I love art.

Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin

The painting in our dinning room is a replica (copy) of Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin's 1855 work titled Jeune homme nu assis sur le bord de la mer  (naked young man sitting at the seaside).

Santa Barbara Courthouse

We were legally married in the sunken garden in the Santa Barbara courthouse lawn, right under the palm tree grove in this painting.  My husband's sister and her husband contacted Chris Potter, a Santa Barbara artist, and had him create this painting as a gift to us.  It's spectacular.

Nicole Newsted

I'm saving my money to remove a wall in our house.  I'm trying to open up our 1980 one-story ranch-ish beauty.  If I wasn't saving money to remove a wall, then I'd purchase this painting by Nicole Newsted titled "I'm Obviously Going to San Francisco."  How does this painting not make you smile?

This art would look great in a nursery or a hallway.  At 30 x 40 this work really sets a fabulous tone.

Kusama

 When we were in Argentina, I waited in this line...

To see this...

And to see this...

Seriously.  I waited in line for this?  I don't remember the last time I waited in line for anything, and I waited in line for this?!  

It was part of the MALBA's Kusama exhibit.  Kusama is celebrated as the most important living artist from Japan, and perhaps she did something significant in the 1960's but today it just looks like she did a lot of drugs.  She's on drugs, right?  She has to be on drugs?

My husband enjoys modern art.  I enjoy hyperrealism art.  Modern art rarely speaks to me.  I can paint dots. I can glue shit to a chair.  I can paint an entire canvas in white.  I cannot find the significance in a pattern on oil and canvas.  Is this arts and crafts or is this modern art?  

I don't believe the hype. 

Roger Mantegani

In my solitary Argentina days I visited at least twelve art galleries, because I have a passion for art.  (If only I had the bank account to support my passion!)  When away from home I like to hunt for the local artists that catch my attention.  At Espacio Arroyo Galería de Arte I discovered Roger Mantegani, and his works thrilled me the most by a factor of one hundred.  His skill at the hyperrealism is divine.  I'm lost in his works.  These photos do not capture the magic, but they remind me of what it felt like to see his work in person.

And the Gallery told me that Mantegani is gay and for this series he is only painting with his boyfriend as the model, which is why you start to see the same man in his works.  How romantic is that?  If I was an artist, then I'd only paint portraits with my husband too!!

Philly Art Tour

Two weeks ago when I joined my husband in Philadelphia we toured the art museum.  (Yes, we ran up the steps and did the Rocky move before entering the building.)  I love visiting museums with my husband because we are on the same frequency: stop and enjoy the art that speaks to you, but don't slow down for the art that doesn't.  Also, if I really like something my husband is okay with multiple return trips to that spot in the museum.  Here are just a few items that caught my eye...

On the outside this pot is interesting enough, but the wow factor emerges when you take a peek on the inside.  I'm passionate about all things blue- this shade of blue was so lovely.  This pot represents my goal in life: be interesting enough on the outside, but be more lovely, more brilliant, more interesting on the inside.  I hope I can teach my future children that quality.

Furniture is art too.  This chair was extraordinary.  Something so common in our lives, a chair, is taken to another level because of the design.  I really wanted to sit in this chair, but my husband advised against it.

This is dog crate is over 2,000 years old and from around China.  Now I know why I like Chinese people so much: clearly they understood that dogs are sacred.  I might need to get a more magnificent crate for my dogs.

This portrait was humongous!  It was titled Portrait of Aurelia "Thistledown" Clifton Brown on Her Pony, 1930, oil on canvas and it was donated by Aurelia C. Brown's estate in 2012.  First all, I'm jealous that she grew up with a pet pony!  I still dream of owning a pony or two!  Second, I respect any artist that includes dogs in portraits!  Third, I'm totally going to have humongous portraits painted of our  future children! I don't know why I can't stop using exclamation points in this paragraph!!!

Gustav Klimt's (1862-1918) Frauenbildnis (Portrait of a Woman) is an unfinished large scale work.  It is thought to be his third work portraying Maria Munk who had shot herself in 1911 at the age of 24, in despair over a lover.  Klimt died before he had the chance to finish this masterpiece.  My husband and I sat on the bench in front of this painting and took it all in for quiet some time.  This work spoke to me deeply.  I studied every inch of this painting, and then in my mind I finished this work.  It is beautiful. This work reminds me that we really have to stay on top of life to ensure there are no "unfinished canvasses" left behind.