Had a good time at Galerie St. Etienne last night - great show of older Austrian and German prints and drawings by many well known artists, all about Cafes, Bars and such.

I also ran into a old friend Russel Nelson who I had not seen for at least 5 or 6 years, the last time was at our mutual friend, Lestor Afflick’s funeral back in early 2000.

I liked Otto Dix’s PUB watercolor and George Grosz’s Dr. Benn’s Night Cafe which was a photo lithograph.  Gustav Klimt’s Seated Woman with Hat and Veil and Woman Resting in Armchair, both from the turn of the century were small works, but really fine.  I was surprised there was so much good work at Galerie St. Etienne.

   

Go to the Galerie St. Etienne to see the rest of the works.

I thought I’d bring readers up to date with what I’m doing - painting when I can paint.

This is a nude study I did today (I’m not really a portrait painter - or a figure painter and I don’t know anatomy well - more of a colorist); I don’t think of my work as anything other than an expression of me.  Having said that - I’m happy that there is a wonderful place like Brooklyn Artists Gym that makes it affordable for people like me to have a large studio space (~4000 square feet) to paint in.  It’s shared space, but that is not a problem as far as I can see since hardly anyone is there.  

My photo, taken with a 1.3 Megapixel cell phone camara and cut down to size by Picasa2 loses some of the subtle elements - but as an image - this is a good enough snapshot - I spent about 90 minutes on this painting which is, I think, 20 x 30, but I’m not sure of the exact size.

I did this window study in Oil Pastel a couple of weeks ago - maybe 3 weeks ago (or it could have been a month ago for all I know).

 

And here’s the Brooklyn Artist Gym studio space that I paint in …when I get over there (maybe once or twice a week if I’m lucky).

As soon as I walked into Monkdogz the other night, Bob Hogge (in black, below) came up and introduced himself (it’s his gallery) and offered me a drink.  Bob really took the time to talk to me …how unusual!  Being as I like some of the work in his chelsea gallery and the feeling in the gallery - I thought I’d write it up in ArtNYC.  

Bob Hogge strikes me as someone who’s been in the art world for a while - a search on Bob Hogge brings up a Robert D. Hogge who invented “Xfusionistic” art - I think that’s the same guy, but I’m not 100% sure.

I asked Bob Hogge if it was really true that it takes 2 years to set up a NY Art Show.  He said it depends; my gist is it does not take that long to get a show in his gallery if your his kind of artist - someone that is dedicated, is willing to put yourself foward. He sees his gallery and selection process as different than any other gallery…and I believe him.  He had some pretty good work on his walls.

I liked an artist called Marcus Van Soest (he’s an artist to watch) who is showing his work currently in the Monkdogz gallery….Bob Hogge told me this artist got on a plane and came right over to the gallery to ask to show his work in Monkdogz because he had read about Monddogz and Hogge for several  years.  Looks like the trip paid off as Marcos is one of Monkdogz collection of artists that are shown in the Chelsea gallery (Monkdogz has an online gallery that anyone can join for free).

  

Van Soest was the most original artist I have seen in Chelsea lately - powerful work.  There’s a lot of info on him online and you can see pictures from the opening at Monkdogz Urban Art “Came to Believe” show last week (which I did not know about or I would have come).