I’ll be in Philadelphia most of Saturday to view Cézanne and Beyond exhibition- see information below:

The Large Bathers, 1906
Paul Cézanne, French
Oil on canvas
82 7/8 x 98 3/4 inches (210.5 x 250.8 cm)
Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund, 1937
W1937-1-1
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Cézanne and Beyond

February 26, 2009 – May 31, 2009

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Paul Cézanne’s posthumous retrospective at the Salon d’Automne in 1907 was a watershed event in the history of art. The immediate impact of this large presentation of his work on the young artists of Paris was profound. Its ramifications on successive generations down to the present are still in effect.

This exhibition features forty paintings and twenty watercolors and drawings by Cézanne, displayed alongside works by several artists for whom Cézanne has been a central inspiration and whose work reflects, both visually and poetically, Cézanne’s extraordinary legacy.

One of the interesting features of the Cezanne and Beyond show is the use of Social Media where visitors are invited to make comments about the exhibition that are displayed online, at the museum site.

It’s interesting, as an artist, but more so, as a someone who measures and uses Social Media, how little it’s used by Museums; sure, the Brooklyn Museum is taking a more active role by having it’s own networking group and creating events utilizing Social Media – but for every example like Brooklyn Museum and now, Philadelphia Museum of Art, there are hundreds of others that don’t do anything with Social Media, that don’t know how to do anything with it, either.

Was at my studio today but did not get much done except touch up my painting Cezanne’s Back Yard, which I painted last week. 

I like to study my own work in my Chelsea work, as photos, absorbing what I did for what I can learn and improve.   I looked at Cezanne’s Back Yard and saw some more orange in the lower left of the painting – on the table in the foreground.  After a day or two of having the same feeling – decided I would view the painting today and decide if I should add the extra orange coloring; I did, but the change is subtle, hardly detectable in a photo.

Meanwhile, I found an article written in Art in America - July 2002 – Saving Cezanne’s studio: the author recalls his youthful efforts to preserve Cezanne’s final studio in Aix-en-Provence, and the disillusion that followed his successful campaign – Memoir by James Lord.   In 1950, when James Lord first visited Aix, hardly anyone knew Cezanne’s name.  Kinda weird, if you ask me …. as several streets and restaurants now called after Paul Cezanne – in fact I bought a Comic Book of Cezanne’s life when I visited his studio – it’s in French so I can’t read it (unless I get someone to translate it for me).

Also, here’s the movie I made a couple of weeks ago when I was in Aix-en-Provence and visited Cezanne’s Studio and painted a study for Cezanne’s Back Yard.

I forgot to put this painting in my last post – so here it is now.  I feel like I got what I wanted and am stuck at the same time – like is should have been a bigger painting.

In a way, I wanted to suggest what I’ve been reading and thinking about and contrast it to what I thought about 20 years ago.  I put in The World View of Paul Cezanne by Jane Roberts and Eugene Delacroix’s Journal as the two books – along with a black sketch book of my own. 

I pulled in plant that I’ve seen in the studio before and and been a part of some of my other paintings over the last several months.

There’s things I like about this work, while feeling, at the same time, it’s too crowded – there’s too much going on here to be be contained in a picture this size.

I hung out at an art opening going on at the studio and then went over to the Postmark Cafe where I wrote this post.

Time to go home, I’m tired, drained.

When I  was at Search Engine Strategies this week I was talking with Bryan Eisenberg about attending EMetrics Summit in San Francisco early next month.  Right now, it’s not certain I’m going;  Bryan mentioned to me that I might be able to offer Jim Sterne a painting in exchange for the conference fee as I can’t afford to pay it and some others on my team are are going- did not know I would need to attend, till this week).

My own opinion is that all US analysts in my team should attend Emetrics, especially this time since they all voted for me.

My mind is somewhat muddled and I needed to paint so I would know what to do – to I get “inner” direction as I paint.  As I paint, I feel myself connected with what some people call “The Higher Self”, and others call “The Guide”.  I often know what to do as I paint my feelings – and I hope when people look at my work the feel my feelings (like I felt Manet’s feelings 20 years ago when I stood infront of The Picnic on the Grass (Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe) (see below) – I felt what I belive was Manet’s feelings though time and space, as he painted- particularly the top, where the bird wasy flying (hard to see even in the high def picture below)- that’s what I strive for – that is what Art is for me.

 

Manet -  The Picnic on the Grass (Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe)

I joked to Bryan, at SES, that a Web Analytics Still life a la Cezanne might be the way to go.

I don’t paint for money, I don’t care about money when it comes to painting – my work is entirely for my self development - but I did want to try out the idea and found it challenging - here’s what I did today.

Marshall Sponder – Web Analytics Still Life study

I’m not sure about this painting. 

I thought about the 5 clay pots as being 5 constructs in Web Analytics (IE: pageviews, visits, unique visitors, geolocation and time spent on page) while the Pepsi/Coke bottle lying dead was the injury of being left out (I was thinking of a  Manet’s painting The Dead Toreador lying on the ground which is actually in the National Collection in DC).

Manet – The Dead Toreador

What is to be done?

My inner guide  – “do nothing“.  

Perhaps, the issue will take care of itself – be made right.  I should find out Monday or Tuesday if I have been elected to the Board (I have) - if so, I’ll need to find a way to attend.  I hope writing about this, which is expressing my feelings, is part of “do nothing”.  I’m expressing feeling, that’s all.

The Trip to Paris late in May complicates issues for me somewhat - I don’t have any spare cash to spend to send myself to EMetrics now as I barely have the money to go to Paris.

Other thoughts that came to me while painting – well…. I was wondering how to show that each clay pot was part of a web analytics structure –  so I sort of scribbled the words “Web Analytics” in the foreground and “Ajax” in the lower left while I put in “pageviews”, “visits” and “uniques” on some of the other pots (but you may not be able to see it that clearly in the picture above).

Since my mind is a little “muddled” about the EMetrics Summit San Francisco trip – it’s not surprising to me that my painting would also reflect my state of mind and emotions. 

Perhaps, there are other ways to get what I want…. and that’s what I’ll explore next week.

So there – the story behind the Web Analytics Still Life Study.