Well… this is an art blog, after all.   Being a painter myself, it’s important.  If I just wrote about other art, other artists, I don’t think my blog writing would be as good.  All my work, including my work in Web Analytics, starts as Art.

 

 

I did a studio view (above) - feel like I’m lazy about this - not sure where to go next with my paintings.  Feel like I need to be more deliberate and maybe, more ambitious but I’m not sure I’m ready.

 

 

I came in to BAG halfway into the Saturday Nude Model Session but was able to spend the last hour of it doing the sketch above.

The new space is fantastic - it’s a lot more enjoyable to spend time in the new studio and I love the smell of oil paints.

Tomorrow I was planning to see the Brice Marden talk that I bought tickets too - I probably won’t be able to go, need to take care of my son.  I tried to buy another ticket but it was sold out.  I’m thinking I may try to bring him along anyway and see if there’s a way I can bring him in anyway.  We’ll see. 

If I can go to Brice Marden’s talk - I’ll write about it here.  I actually wanted to interview him personally for ArtNewYorkCity.com but Brice is not an easy guy to get a hold of.  Then again, I wanted to interview Peter Saul, but nothing happened there either.

I love this headline from TalkLeft - Neocons Turn on Bush.  Time to pull out the Peter Saul painting of George Bush at Abu Ghraib which sums up what the Neocons are now saying about their “great leader”.

Yep….even the Neocons are saying it ….. dump George overboard.

I guess Bush and Rove can make up some excuses and try to deflect blame - what else do they have left?  I’m just wondering …. who can they blame…don’t they control everything already?

Went over to David Nolan Gallery on Broadway, in Soho, to see the other show of Peter Saul’s work that opened last Thursday.  I would much rather write about paintings I see personally - I need the personal contact to do my best work.  I covered the Leo Koenig opening last Friday in part 1, part 2 and part 3 last week.

I really wanted to see the painting “Hitler’s Bunker” (see below).  In a way, the Nazi Lapdogs remind me of a situation in my life ……I don’t want to be a “lapdog” for anyone.  There’s so much going on in this painting - I like Saul’s technique which has a lot of layering of colors.

I wonder if the coins in Hitler’s shirt is money he got from Stalin, or not.   the action is remarkable.  Eisenhower’s fist knocks Hitler in the face and his eyeballs fly out of this eye sockets.   That’s some painting - it seems to be in a moment - a moment in between seconds - like split second photography at the Olympics.

Peter Saul writes about Hitler’s Bunker in his “To the Viewer” introduction to his work:

“Previously, I painted “Hitler’s Bathroom” in 1960, but the best part of that one was the title, so I ought ot paint it again.  Also, I remember seeing the Bunker scene by a Russian artist, in Life Magazine, about 1950.  In that realistic version, Hitler is listening fearfully, presumably to  bombs exploding up above.  For this picture I wanted to return in my imagination to 1946, when I had just begun to paint, and approach the scene in the hot bast of post ware propaganda (concentration camps, war crimes).  I was quite a bit influenced by “Crimeboy versus the Iron Jaw” a swll comic book I owned then.  Hopefully,if I’ve done it right, this picture  will zooom forward 60 years and be interesting right now.”

The painting is interesting now - not familar with “Crimeboy versus the Iron Jaw” but it seems to me that Peter Saul is connecting back to his youth in this painting.

 

The Neptunes (above) is possibly the most realized of Saul’s work that I’ve seen at either show.  Tho color of the ocean reflects Neptunes domain, showing many variations of color  - this painting “sings”, every part of it.

Here’s what Peter had to say about The Neptunes.

“The Neptunes” is supposed to make the ancient god of the sea and his family resemble the kind of humorously sysfunctional characters found on a modern T.V. sitcome like “Raymond” or “The Sopranos.”  That’s why Neptune is smoking a cigar and does not look very smart.  His wife looks a little crabby with that vicious shark mouth; junior cotopus is cute, and Uncle Octopus wisely moves the ocean liners out of the way so people won’t get hurt.  I don’t have time to watch T.V. sitcoms, just once or twice to get the idea”.

It helps me to envision the feels behind this painting - Peter Saul is transforming a scary situation into something humorous - I think that’s what he’s working out here - something in his own life that he wanted to be in control of.

Chinese Businessman Lands on Wall Street - really tells the story of the Chinese “owning” America and calling in the “chips”.

I took this shot with my own camara as I did not see a better copy online.  I am very interested in what Peter Saul has to say about this painting:

 ”The purpose of “Chinese Businessman Lands on Wall Street” is to take an average, dull sentence out of the business section of the N.Y. Times (actually, I made it up) and see if I can make it come alive in a cartoony sort of way, leap off a back page into your brain.  It’s an artistic challenge.”

Makes sense, taking something, a sentence and creating a painting around it.

The Still Life in a Bathroom reminded me of a dream where everything is “mixed up”.  I love the burnt Turkey and the cat that appears not to have a head.

I look at this painting in terms of symbolism - kinda like Freud’s symbols.

I was also talking with one of the woman that worked at Nolan’s gallery - we talked about the great passages and sections in Peter Saul’s paintings.

There were a couple of other works in the show, I’ll write about the another time.