Archetypal Angels

2010-04-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

I have a new blog, Donegal Chronicles, I hope you'll join me there.

2010-01-27T18:03:00.000-08:00

Here's the piece on the exhibition announcement for the Ventura show.

2010-01-26T17:17:00.000-08:00

Another photo by Paolo Ventura, the gallery is Hasted Hunt Kraeutler by the way, and they commented on my post yesterday - interesting!

2010-01-25T20:29:00.000-08:00

This piece by Ventura is a photograph although I couldn't tell if it is of one of his models or a person wearing a bird head, but it was beautiful.

2010-01-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

Some of Ventura's work were gouache sketches of scenes he created as 3D models and then shot and made into fairly large photos than also seemed to be painted as well. This would be one of the painted photos.

2010-01-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Yeah yeah, been a while, since I no longer work in Chelsea I don't see as much art. But I was over there yesterday and really like this exhibition. The artist is Paolo Ventura, I will show you some of his work this week.

2010-01-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder to come by and see my other blog for the time being.

2009-12-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

Another angel posting from Maureen Donegal, the last one for a while.

2009-12-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

Here's the creche angel over at my Maureen Donegal blog for tonight.

2009-12-14T19:46:00.001-08:00

Same angel as yesterday but now from the side, still beautiful, I think.

2009-12-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

I'm doing a story about the creche at a church around the corner at my other blog Maureen Donegal, here's the first of the angels. Come on by!

2009-12-05T17:59:00.000-08:00

Wanted to post this with her paintings before I got sidetracked by the tombstone photographs. The first piece I sold in NY was a drawing of it.

2009-12-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

One last tombstone photo, what I find most interesting is they are right in the heart of the New York City Financial District, just a few blocks from Wall Street, not some quiet out of the way church in the country.

2009-11-28T17:43:00.000-08:00

Another Trinity Church mob scene, more ghosts than angels, which are really the same thing if you think about it. At least they are in my mind.

2009-11-25T16:44:00.000-08:00

A bit of a mob scene going on here - all sorts of different styles though.

2009-11-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

Two more Trinity Church tombstones, I'm loving the skull with wings.

2009-11-23T17:59:00.000-08:00

More Trinity Church tombstones, odd how ghostish the white ones are.

2009-11-22T18:18:00.000-08:00

This is from a series I shot in the Trinity Church cemetery for my other blog, Maureen Donegal. But I decided the angels in them belong here.

2009-11-20T17:44:00.000-08:00

Like this of the red hills better, reminds me of the Provincetown dunes.

2009-11-19T17:49:00.000-08:00

What's a blog about Georgia O'Keefe without red hills and some bones?

2009-11-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Have always loved this, had a poster of it somewhere, fabulous colors.

2009-11-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

Shall we look at some Georgia? This image is everywhere since there's a big exhibit of what is being called her abstract work up at the moment. I don't know about abstracts though, looks pretty representational to me.

2009-11-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

One last Gorey, I really related to this, that monster lived under my bed.

2009-11-13T17:52:00.000-08:00

I know this devil guy, reminds me of my ex-husband. How about you?

2009-11-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

As promised, George. I admit, these are funnier when the collection is seen together. A is for Amy, etc. Somebody got eaten by mice, as I recall.

2009-11-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

This is for Maria because of her comments, I had planned to do George who smothered under a rug for Alex, but I'll post him tomorrow instead.

2009-11-10T17:33:00.000-08:00

I own this etching - A Boy Holding A Hat, Standing On An Aspic Mold.

2009-11-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

Come on, this is funny. Look at her face and the skeleton pulling back the curtain. Whose feet are on the chaise, and why is she holding a T?

2009-11-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

I like that a thug was once a baby too, it can apply to any ne'er-do-well.

2009-11-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

Enough with the Highbrow art, let's look at some Edward Gorey . Love him, so get over it. Waited on him once, he had on that famous fur coat.

2009-11-05T18:02:00.000-08:00

This body of work is perhaps the most famous of Lee Bontecou's; the large, colorful, less creepy sculptures reflecting an interest in sailboats.

2009-11-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

A problem with Ms. Bontecou's work is it doesn't photograph well. This sculpture rocked my world when I saw it and led to the ones I do myself.

2009-11-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

Another Lee Bontecou color piece. I saw an exhibit uptown of these in conjunction with her MOMA show and and they were all quite small.

2009-11-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

More Bontecou, this time with bright colors on black, and still creepy.

2009-10-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

I bid on this Bontecou etching on Ebay once. Alas, I didn't get to have it.

2009-10-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

A little later in Ms. Bontecou's career and just as creepy as it was before.

2009-10-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Lee Bontecou made a name for herself in the 1950s by doing these big scary mixed media wall sculptures from canvas and found metal pieces.

2009-10-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, Lee Bontecou, I've shown you some of her artwork a while ago in reference to how it affected my own pieces. It's interesting how many different styles she's had as she's been a serious artist since the 1950's.

2009-10-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

One last Spencer Tunick, reminds me of the first one I saw with people lying in an alley near Pearl Paint when I worked there in the glory days.

2009-10-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

More personal involvement than most of Spencer Tunick's group shots. Certainly more eye contact. In his second film Naked World, he travels the globe to take shots on every continent including Anartica, and it is worth renting the DVD to watch those nudes posing with the penguins.

2009-10-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

Grand Central Station by Spencer Tunick. I have friend who's in there somewhere. I'd have been in there too if I had known about it in time.

2009-10-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

More Spencer Tunick, taken some place in Ireland, same as yesterday. Love the harsh angles and rocks with the soft pink flesh of the humans.

2009-10-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

The first of Spencer Tunick's films is Naked States. He travels the US to take a photo in each state, with very moving commentaries. My favorite image is of a very overweight woman with long curly hair posing on the rocks of the New Jersey side of the Hudson with the river and the World Trade towers in the background. She gets to feel pretty for the first time.

2009-10-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

Love this, if I had a better printer, this is the Tunick I'd print for myself.

2009-10-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

A more typical Tunick group image, shot in Ireland, using the human form abstractly. And if you go to his website, you can print any of these.

2009-10-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

More Spencer Tunick, another Greenpeace glacier, amazingly cold feet.

2009-10-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

This is from a series Mr. Tunick shot on a glacier for Greenpeace. Next I'll show you one of its companions that is the main page of his website, although I prefer this one. Imagine posing for this, laid out on that ice!

2009-10-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

Originally I was going to start a series of posts about Lee Bontecou, but Jim Linderman mentioned Spencer Tunick in his blog and reminded me how much I like his work so I thought I'd show you why. He also made two really moving films about his process and people's ideas on nudity.

2009-10-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, I take that back, Sparky falls under the corpulent category. But he is one of my favorite angels. Definitely my favorite of all my sculptures.

2009-10-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is a rather bad image of the painting I did immediately after seeing the Jenny Saville exhibit at the Chelsea Gagosian gallery (which, if you are not familiar with it, is a monstrously huge space in a neighborhood of enormous old warehouse buildings). My first, and last, obese angel.

2009-10-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

Alright, I get it, I've totally creeped you all out. Must be the mood I'm in, although I've been posting peaceful and serene images on my other blog site. So adieu to Ms. Saville, tomorrow I will show you something else.

2009-10-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

Jenny Saville became famous about 10 years ago for doing these enormous self-portrait nudes. They were quite shocking because she depicted herself as grotesquely obese and her flesh would be pressed up against glass or seen from weird angles. Here is a photo of her, and she's not fat at all, at least not now. But neither is the nude I've selected here, really.

2009-10-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

Grossed out yet? Really? I'm sorry. But once you get passed the subject matter, this is an amazing painting. Again, it's huge, and if you look a section of it, say between her lower eye and eyebrow, it's quite beautiful.

2009-10-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

This painting, when I stood in front of it a few years ago made me cry. It was at least 10 feet high. The show was about brutality towards women. Some were figures, but most of it was heads that were morgue portraits.

2009-10-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Before I show you any more of my scary paintings, I want to show you my favorite artist who is alive today. Jenny Saville, brilliant, the girl can PAINT! Not only does she work this incredible images, they are beyond huge. Like ten or twenty feet. Prepare to have your socks knocked off.

2009-10-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Cosmo, one of my hand made paper pulp paintings. Post 9/11, done the winter after that event. Reminds me of the plume that rose that morning against the bluest sky when those towers fell. Sorry, I can't help myself.

2009-10-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

Mad, mad, really mad, can you tell? This piece is titled Lucky, and when I did a Powerpoint presentation about the Angels for a web design class I was in, he sang opera. I should post it, anybody know how I can do it?

2009-10-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

I was laid off today, in spite of closing $40,000 in sales in the last few weeks and taking deposits on $30,000 more. So, no need to continue posting about the art I was selling, let's go back my own work. I may do some repeats from very early posts for those who have yet to see them.

2009-10-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

One last Hadjiganev post, but let's hope I continue to sell his work this week. He paints the same scene at different times of the day, or the year, and I think this is the same field in autumn and summer. Do you agree?

2009-10-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

More Hadjiganev, this is the one we used for the exhibit postcard. Nice, reminds me of Cape Cod. My co-worker, sold the one I posted on Friday, my favorite, at the opening last night. But I trumped him by selling the one of the woman getting into the red bathtub which I posted last week.

2009-10-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite of the new Hadjiganevs, again, not a great image of it. Met him today, nice enough man, but when he came into the kitchen while I was eating lunch looking for some wine, he got cranky because he had to drink it out of plastic because there were no glasses to be had.

2009-10-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry, been out of the loop on this blog this last week, was too busy to do both of them. I sold this painting yesterday at the gallery, from the Hadjiganev work that just came in. Love it, but not a good image of it. Something very Zen about it. They also got a nice still life to go with it.

2009-09-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

More Hadjiganev, this one is huge. Haven't sold any of his new work yet, but I do have one on reserve for a client in LA who's discussing it with her husband tonight. Fingers crossed, it would be a great sale.

2009-09-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hadjiganev also does interiors, this is one of my favorites. I have a tub like this, in my kitchen no less, this is New York City and I live in an old tenement, and it once was red. The painting itself is large, I believe it is a bit taller than I am, having had to carry it around to show it to clients.

2009-09-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

Another Albert Hadjiganev (Ha-Je-Ga-Nev or Ha-Jig-A-Nev, if you say either fast enough, it sounds the same) Normandy landscape. This was sold by a co-worker yesterday. Then he sold two more that haven't even been photographed yet this afternoon. Clearly this will be a good show.

2009-09-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

We are gearing up for our first big exhibition for the season. The artist's Albert Hadjiganev who is Bulgarian but has lived in France for 30 years now. He spends his time painting in Normandy; jealous, anyone? I am.

2009-09-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

This is Hugo, the owner's dog at the gallery, we jokingly call him our ferocious guard dog, but he is in fact a big old love sponge. There were two pugs at the Warhol Foundation too, who I have mentioned before. Love a pug, don't want one of my own I but like having them around.

2009-09-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

One last matador post, now that we've seen some Caravaggio. A male and a female in similar suits. I imagine yesterday's crone sewing on the details. As a side note, Tristan and Crikey's blog mom commented that the beheaded Goliath in Wednesday's post is Caravaggio's self-portrait.

2009-09-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

And here's the crone, peering, for lack of any better word, over Judith's shoulder. Look at that face, those eyes and lips. Her fuzzy hairline. That is fantastic painting, Caravaggio was brilliant. He died way too young.

2009-09-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so yesterday's post was pushing the envelope I guess, but here's Judith again, concentrating at the task at hand. Dig that groovy pearl drop earring with the velvet bow. Such intensity in her furrowed brow.

2009-09-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah, gross, I know. But I did warn you. Personally, I love this because, well, look at her face! You go Girl. That Judith is my hero. And that old crone beside her with her apron at the ready, amazing. And Opla Plaza, I dedicate this one to you because I am sure you are laughing right now.

2009-09-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

Can't say I didn't warn you. Wait until tomorrow. Here's a Wikipedia quote about Caravaggio. "An early published notice on him, dating from 1604 and describing his lifestyle three years previously, tells how after a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument, so that it is most awkward to get along with him. In 1606 he killed a young man in a brawl and fled from Rome with a price on his head. In Malta in 1608 he was involved in another brawl, and yet another in Naples in 1609, possibly a deliberate attempt on his life by unidentified enemies. By the next year, after a relatively brief career, he was dead."

2009-09-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

Caravaggio had a thing about beheadings, which you will see more of tomorrow. These are two different versions of the story of Abraham and his son Isaac. The model for the father appears to be the same, as does the son's, and maybe even the ram's, but the angel completely changed.

2009-09-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so let's go there. Caravaggio. One of the original arts bad boys. Please don't be offended by the putti's peepee. At least he has wings, which will justify his being here at Archetypal Angels. He actually is Amor, or Eros, hence his playful attitude with the arrows he's holding.

2009-09-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Can't stop, this is as bad as those robots. Pretty soon someone will be sending me matadors websites I haven't seen yet. But these are just so very beautiful. Caravaggio meets Photo Realism. In a bullfighting ring.

2009-09-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

Can't get enough matadors, and can't tell if it's a man or a woman. Clearly Gaillard can't get enough of their derrieres. God bless him.

2009-09-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

Is this not awesomeness on canvas, I wish I could paint like it. One of the images Gaillard had with him when he came in was a horizontal piece of a bullfighter who had been gored and was being laid down on gorgeous fabric as the brilliant blood stained his costume. Oh My God.

2009-09-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

Some of Gaillard's bullfighters are women, I'm sure there's a term for them but I don't know it. Pedro Almodovar's beautiful film Talk To Her was about one. I just read an obituary for Conchita Cintron, the first major female bullfighter, who killed 750 bulls in her career. Not a path I'd choose, but she opened a few doors, I suppose. She was also known as Diosa de Oro, because of her blonde hair, which she inherited from her Irish-American mother. Half Irish, the plot thickens.

2009-09-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

This is Christian Gaillard, who we don't carry at the gallery, but he did come by looking for representation and left a package that pretty much blew my mind. The pieces I saw aren't on his website, so I just Googled him and dragged a few things from there to show you. Better get ready.

2009-09-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

One of the Keith Harings that didn't make the cut last time around, feels appropriate for some reason now. Perhaps this reminds me of the lovely robot girl from yesterday. They would make an interesting couple, no?

2009-09-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

Bored with ze French, time for a break from the gallery artistes. Here is my favorite robot sent by my friend Barry in Florida, in response to my Eric Joyner blogging. I love her! And it has to be a female, look at that lipstick! And her curly hairdo! I almost want to use this as my ID image.

2009-09-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Kinda creepy, Philippe Vasseur, although he is a great painter. We have one piece by him that we wouldn't let the owner hang that has a female nude model posing on a stool and this freaky man in a raincoat lurking in the background. Too scary, that one, it makes my hair stand on end.

2009-09-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Another of my favorite paintings at the gallery, it's by Philippe Vasseur. When I first started working there, this hung across the office from the desk I'd eat lunch at. Loved to just stare at it. I like to ask clients what they think is going on in it. My favorite version is that the man who's pointing, it is a man actually, is very upset because the dog ate his shoe.

2009-09-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

More magnificent brushwork by Francois Bard, this painting is taller than I am. Amazing. I didn't sell this, one of my co-workers did, but I had a couple by the skin of their teeth near misses. Been a lot of those lately, those near misses. I just can't get used to it, hurts my feelings.

2009-09-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

This is the next painting I sold by Francois Bard, it's also magnificent. These jpegs don't even begin to show what the paintings look like, you will just have to take my word for it. I was totally conflicted when I sold it because I so wanted to have it around for a while to keep looking at it.

2009-09-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, back to the artists at the gallery where I work. This magnificent painting is by Francois Bard. In a few years you'll remember seeing this here because by then he'll be famous. This was the first painting I sold of his, we didn't even have it on the wall yet. It was fresh out of the crate and these people on their way to the Venice Biennial fell in love with it. Can't explain it; but it's huge, it's really beautiful, and it's complicated.

2009-08-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

Time out for an Andy Warhol moment, this was emailed to me by Maria over at Gardening with Turtles, but ShoeboxBlog.com appears to be the source - given the timeline, when were those 15 minutes up, last week?

2009-08-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

One more piece by Patrick Pietropoli, now that he lives here, he's been painting New York. You can compare it to the one of Paris to see what being here has done to his work, check out the nod to his Classical Era ladies. I sold this a few weeks ago to a Swedish couple here on vacation.

2009-08-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Patrick's work confuses a lot of people because, like Laurent Dauptain, he does cityscapes as well as figurative work too. This one is Paris, click on it, you really should see the details. Well, what you really need to see is the painting in person, all of the work I'm showing you of his has a remarkable surface quality that doesn't come through in jpegs.

2009-08-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Another of Patrick Pietropoli's faded fresco ladies. Gorgeous girl. Can not fathom why she hasn't sold yet. Patrick, who moved to Brooklyn last year, is the only one of our French artists that I've met. He is both smart (taught, I believe, political science, while honing his craft) and charming. Unlike some Frenchmen (my ex-husband?) I have known.

2009-08-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

I love this painting, really, I love her. It's by another of the Frenchmen we represent, name Patrick Pietropoli. I've sold 3 of his paintings so far, and when this one goes, I'll be heartbroken. It's small, 15x15, and his goal is to make his paintings, or at least this series, look like aged and faded frescos. She's almost holographic, and my favorite painting there.

2009-08-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

Two paintings of two trees, perhaps even the same ones from different angles, by Brian Keith Stephens. The top image has a canvas rectangle overlay under the paint, you can see the edge it on the left side. The one below's decoupaged effect is easier to see, it's a heavily textured band of fabric and paper that runs across the midsection in two distinct pieces.

2009-08-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

So, no comments on Laurent Dauptain's paintings, I'm surprised, I like his work. No problem, we'll move on to Brian Keith Stephens, who lives in Connecticut and is another artist who I've sold a number of pieces of. It's hard to tell in this image above, but what is most striking about him is what he does to the canvas before he starts applying the paint. If you look closely at the horizon, you can see circles embedded into the paint. Sometimes he'll glue paper or canvas shapes down, or press them into the gesso with jars and such, or stencil or rubber stamp odd images in.

2009-08-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Two more self-portraits by Laurent Dauptain, the color is off in both of them, when hung sid by side, they read as a pair. There is a third one they were on the wall with for awhile that, at first glance, looked like it was part of the set. Similar steel grey palette, same size face and canvas, but it didn't have the shadows and highlights that these two do. Look at the foreheads and the tips of his nose. Identical light source, very nice.

2009-08-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Love this, Laurent Dauptain is best known for his self-portraits, he has done hundreds of them. This is one of my favorites, it's enormous and the colors are magnificent. Because of the size, whole sections, the eyes, the forehead, become these gorgeous abstracts. Wish I had a wall for it.

2009-08-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

I thought it'd be interesting to show you some of the artists whose work I've sold at the gallery I'm now working at. This is by Laurent Daptain, and I sold a similar painting the first day on the job. This is the corner of Ninth Avenue at 21st Street. You'd totally recognize it if you are from that neighborhood. The one I sold was a block over on Tenth, and the man who bought it lives in a building in the painting. Great brushwork.

2009-08-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

One last Eric Joyner robot, in honor of the weather NYC is having. No space ships yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see one. Okay, I lie, I'd be all WTF in the middle of a throng of on-lookers pushing each other out of the way. So, tomorrow, back to the serious artwork, maybe. Ho hum.

2009-08-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I just had to do it. That Andy, he's everywhere. Can't find any donuts in these two, I believe they may be be older than the others. The red robot below is the same one as a child in yesterday's post, only in grey. I especially like the cockeyed ear things. What, I wonder, does the big S on Warhol's belt buckle stand for? Something about Soup, or Super Stars, or Space Oddities, I'm sure.

2009-08-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm still not done with the robots and donuts, I'm gonna make you love them. They do have that kitchy Andrew Wyeth thing going on. There's Hopper element sometimes too; my favorite piece at the art fair was a lonely robot surrounded by conveyor belts going in all directions at a gloomy donut factory while he dusted the frosting with shiny sprinkles. Totally identified, wanted it for my dreary kitchen. Danger, Will Rogers.

2009-08-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Hope you're not sick of the robots and donuts yet, because I'm not done showing them to you yet. Maybe I think if you see enough of them, you'll learn to love them too. As a side note, I'd like to point out the blue robot offering a donut to the space monster is also in the bottom image having his back repaired while he repairs tinkers with the head of the tiny green robot who's frosting the donuts.