Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man

October 29, 2013

Self Portrait by Grier Horner/All Rights Reserved

C'est moi, cherie. But you probably knew that. After all this blog is Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man. Finished this self portrait just in time for Halloween.

October 27, 2013

Photos by Grier Horner/All Rights Reserved

Here are my two latest paintings, October 23 (2013) above and October 22 (2013) below. They grew out of the circles of light on my October 2 post. I used pastel, acrylic and string to make them. This is the first time I have used string in a painting in a long time. It comes from the Rice Silk Mill in Pittsfield, which has been converted recently to housing.

There is something I love about the hanging string - I think it is actually braid. These pieces are about 65" x 40". Rothko is an influence, as is the sun.

October 24, 2013

Photos by Grier Horner/All Rights Reserved

Gallery Yoram Gil, an online gallery run with the personal touch of a bricks and mortar gallery, is back on the internet and ready for business. In its first guize about a year ago, it failed to generate enough traffic. So it was redesigned, simplified and in the process looks and works a lot better.

To my fans, whose numbers are legion, at least in my imagination, this gallery is close to my heart because it represents me.

You could go to the site and buy the painting above, one of my Jeanne d'Arc series. I love having it in the house and would like to keep it. But my wife is staging a mutiny. She wants me to unload some stuff. Our house, she says, is too small to shelter 500 of my paintings.

You can buy this one through Yoram Gil, the force behind the gallery, for $3,800. That would make Babbie very happy, and making her happy would make me happy and you'd have a beautiful painting. It is acrylic over silver mylar laid on a stretched canvas that is 57.5" x 42".

Yoram is a strapping 74-year-old based in California who loves art and loves talking to people who love art. What he's trying to do on the web is extraordinary. He is running a gallery that represents a couple dozen artists, many of them from his native Israel. A stable of that size is what conventional galleries usually handle. Many of them have an on-line presence, too. Some of these are very good. But because they own or rent gallery space and hire people to staff it, their overhead is high and that is reflected in their prices.

Here's one of the best - perhaps the best - of my Cathedral series. The price is $4,800 for this painting which is 55.5" x 49.5".

Then there are the on-line galleries that represent hundreds or even thousands of artists. On these sites, Yoram says, art is treated as a commodity in a click-and-buy atmosphere. Yoram on the other hand wants you to call him, to discuss what you see that you like on his site, to show you through a special process what it would actually look like on your wall. He would like you to meet and talk with the artist on line. To him it's all about creating a site that duplicates the personal relationship established when people walk into a real gallery to consider buying art.

"The others are trying  to go with the commodity approach - just click and buy," he says."I see the need for a relationship instead of expecting customers to be anonymous clickers."

You've probably seen the type of online operation he rails against. Just do a Google search on "online art galleries." Topping the page is Saatchi Online. It offers a staggering 271,604 pieces of art for sale. There's Artspace. It lists its artists alphabetically. There are 61 artists whose name start with an A, 147 artists whose name starts with an S. You get the picture. They all want to become Amazon, he says. Speaking of "getting the picture," here are some more of mine.

Here's an 18" x 14" acrylic of mine for $900. It's from the Scarlet Letter series.

If you want to go big, here's one of my Jeanne d'Arcs that's 80" high and costs $6000.

Here's another of my Cathedral series, 36" x 24" for $1,800

Yoram Gil is proud of his cluster of artists. While  most are painters, he has photographers and sculptors as well. If you have a few minutes take a look at the art in his online gallery. I bet you'll find some work you like. Maybe it will be mine, which sells for from $950 to $6,500 depending on the size.

There must be other  online galleries approaching  the art world as he does. But so far I haven't been able to find them.

Today's post is all about my work. On another day I'll show you pieces by some of the other artists represented by Gallery Yoram Gil.

October 21, 2013

Photos by Grier Horner/All Rights Reserved

I haven't posted for a week. I'm sorry if you looked and found nothing new. I've been away from the computer too long. To compensate, today I'm posting pictures of a woman whose face hasn't graced this screen recently - Nicole Rizzo. whose eyes are focused on you as you read this.

Nicole, the director of the burlesque company Gypsy Layne, did a photo shoot with me last winter. Here are some shots:

In this shot Nicole's on the grand piano at the Lichtenstein Center for the arts in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where all these shots were taken.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Nicole is a great young woman, works hard giving dance lessons, Yoga, and entertaining.

October 15, 2013

Here's another computer-altered photo of the art model Claudia derived from an original photo by Fred Hatt. My apologies Fred. It isn't that I'm stealing from him. It's that  Claudia has selected four photos from the many  he has taken of her and made them the selections for her Museworthy Art Show. Those entering the show have to use one of the four as the basis for their painting, photo, collage or whatever they submit electronically.

"It’s my way of 'modeling' for my readers," she told me in an email after I asked a question on her blog, Museworthy.

I love the way the hot pink makes sections of her right knee and thigh  translucent. And the way the green streaks bring her left arm, the one propping up her head, into view.

It occurs to me this coloring might be something the Army would like to investigate for jungle camouflage.

You can see Hatt's photos as they were meant to be seen by clicking here. She welcomes entries from pros and amateurs, including beginners.

October 12, 2013

I was hard at work yesterday on my entry in the Museworthy Art Show. The piece above is one of my efforts. Museworthy is a blog written by a 40 something New York City artists model named Claudia. She is sponsoring her second art show. Submissions will be based on four photos of her by Fred Hatt. This  is my digital exploration of my favorite of the quartet.

If you're interested in life on the other side of the camera or easel you might enjoy checking out her blog.

Some words and phrases she uses to describe herself: "Girl of the city . struggles. hope. saved. seeking. baring body and soul."

"Read and enjoy this blog," she writes, "if you are a fellow art model, an artist, art model coordinator, art appreciator, New Yorker, or just a person who might find the daily adventures, experiences, and thoughts of a hardworking, free-spirited art model even remotely interesting! Come here for inspiration, discussion, an affirmation of beauty and the transcendent power of art from life."

I just started following her blog. From what I've read and seen so far I think I'm in for the long term.

October 7, 2013

Photo by Grier Horner/All Rights Reserved

Another new painting: September 19, 2013 (Homage to Rothko).  It isn't an attempt to copy any specific painting by Rothko, an artist I greatly admire. And it varies from his approach by offsetting the rectangles and writing on them in my secret language.

This is designed to be hung by inserting grommets in the top and bottom of the black boarder around the picture. I've been trying to outline the piece so you can see the boarder without success so far. The painting could also be stretched if a buyer preferred.

Currently I have two photos in a group show at Unusual Wedding Rings and More located in the Crawford Block on North Street and Depot. It will be up for a month.

Nicholas De Candia, Susan Geller, Ken Green, Alan Hayes, Leo Mazzeo, Lisa Merullo, Susan Sabino, and Karen Schiltz, all good photographers, are in the show.

This was shot by Leo Mazzeo, who curated the show at Unusual Wedding Rings and More, at the opening on First Friday last week. Photographer Susan Geller is at the left. Karen Lee, a Berkshire celebrity, is in the center, at at the right that's me. Two of Susan's photos of Karen are at the left of the photo.I like the way I look in Leo's photo. I usually look like a worn-out mess in pictures. Below is Julianne Faces Time, one of my two pieces in the show. It shows both sides of the cover of the New York Times' T magazine. I call it a "shoot through." The cover photo of Julianne Moore was taken by Inex and Vinooch.

October 2, 2013

Photos by Grier Horner/All Rights Reserved

Do you like black on black? You're in luck. This one's for sale. My wife says its a little gloomy. I've just seen Anselm Kiefer at MASS MoCA. Now that's gloomy, although a million times better. A million times? That's being a little hard on myself.

Anyway I like it. It is called September 23, 2013 - lately I've been naming some paintings after they day they were finished. Believe it or not the artist who influenced me on this was James Turrell, whose work I saw at the Guggenheim recently. (See my September 23 post) Wait a second. I just realized the title of my painting is September 23 and his work was my influence. So the title is wrong.

The question now is this: Will the incorrect date on this painting throw art historians into a tailspin after I become famous? Which is likely to happen any time now - becoming famous, not the tailspin.

I keep telling myself that to keep my spirits up.

Here's another one. It has the equally inspired - and probably equally inaccurate - title of September 24, 2013. Both are about 56" x 40". They are acrylic on canvas and will have grommets inserted top and bottom for hanging.

Then there are the on-line galleries that represent hundreds or even thousands of artists. On these sites, Yoram says, art is treated as a commodity