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MIERCOLES, EL TRES DE NOVEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZIn keeping with the Guston theme, I also bought these two (out of a series of three) catalogues of Guston's lithographs, produced my Gemini GEL based in Los Angeles. When opening the first catalogue, this note (on the right) fell out. A touching tribute to Guston just after his death on July the 7th, 1980.
The catalogues are ex libris, originally from the Philadelphia Museum of Art library, a museum we hope to visit in the not too distant future.
MARTES, EL DOS DE NOVEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
I recently purchased a second-hand copy of the new Philip Guston 'Roma' catalogue, that's been produced for the current touring exhibition in Rome and Washington DC. It is another stunning Hatje Cantz publication, again, hardback and a little bit bigger than 8" x 10" (following their Guston Works on Paper catalogue from 2007).
I was pleasantly surprised to find, when opening the book, that it was signed by the editor, Peter Benson Miller.
I have yet to delve into the essays, but have read the poetic diary entries of the Guston's trip to Rome by Musa Guston, which are stunning, all the small details that triggered off memories of our Rome trips.
I can't wait to see the show in DC in Feb.
LUNES, EL UNO DE NOVEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZI was saddened to hear that Phill England passed away on Saturday. Phill was the amazing director and cameraman of The Gravy (amongst other things) and we met when he was filming the Whanganui episode of the series. I painted this ex-voto for the episode, for Ross Liew to fill in, which features Phill holding an excessively large camera with added ephemera attached it it.RIP Phill.
EL CRUZ DE LA DIA, DOMINGO, EL TRIENTE Y UNO DE OCTUBRE, VIENTE-DIEZToday we visited the huge Swap Meet in North Las Vegas. We'd been there in 2004 and 2008, so this was our first visit back there since moving. I picked up a lovely, almost complete crucifix with wooden inlay. It's had a new halo and skull and bones added.
SABATO, EL TRIENTE DE OCUTBRE, VEINTE-DIEZI posted the image on the left a while back, here on this blog. The image on the right, a reverse-glass painting, is from our collection. I did a copy of this work, in the same technique, for an exhibition at the gallery I exhibit at in Wellington, 2009. I don't think many people looked at it, understood the complexity of the technique, nor the symbolism of the imagery. I've been collecting examples of this particular Momento Mori image since 2006. They're easy to find in reproduction, but hard to find originals. Both works below are dated mid 18th century. The title of the etching on the left is translated as 'An Aspect Of The Story Of The Legend'. The text under the skull is more direct, stating 'The Wages Of Sin Is Death'. I've decided to exhibit the reverse-glass painted work with my work, Reloj de Recesion at Blackbird Studios in Las Vegas for their Dia De Los Muertos exhibition opening on the 4th, as I want to show my influences, not pass off the work I do as 'original', which is such a silly Modernist notion anyway. The devotional work I do always has to have a source to be able to pinpoint the dedication. Good artists and good work just doesn't fall out of the sky. Everything has a lineage.
I also want to write more about the reverse-glass painting technique as it's such an interesting process, mostly of the mind because everything in the process of painting is reversed, which really reinforces Leonardo Da Vinci's statement on how painting is an activity of the mind. I think it would also be good to discuss in regards to New Zealand painting, as an artist who borrows this technique, recently won the Wallace Art Award.
VIERNES, EL VEINTINUEVE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Today is Nevada Day, so everyone here is on holiday. Quite a nice feeling.
Last night Jo and I got a sneak preview of 'The Radiant Child', at Centerpiece Gallery. It's a new documentary on Jean-Michel Basquiat that is to be released in cinemas soon. It's an interesting documentary in that it has interviews with him, candid as they're taken by close friends of his, while he escaped to LA later in his short career. It's some what eulogized though, only touching briefly on his drug habit and his secondary-market presence. I think what found most interesting was that I thought about the movie in regards to "Manuel Ocampo: God Is My Co-Pilot", a similar kind of documentry, with a lot of the same players: Aninna Nosei, Fred Hoffman et al. and how Basquait, despite his plight, has become a template for 'minority' artists who can be bartered and manipulated for their ethnicity rather than their work.
Here's my drawing of J-M Basquiat as part of the the '27 Club':
JUEVES, EL VIENTIOCHO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
The ex-voto below, dated Nov 1st - 2nd, 2010, was painted for Dia De Los Muertos and will be exhibited at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, from the 29 Oct - 2 Nov, 2010.
Please click on the image to enlarge it.
This ex-voto is number 201 in the series of ex-votos started in Whanganui, New Zealand, 2006.
MIERCOLES, EL VEINTISIETE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZAnother invitation to an exhibition, this time it's Sanjay Theodore in Wellington. The exhibition is titled 'M-13, an installation'. I'm not sure if the title is also a play on the film ratings system or not (Sanjay's a big B-grade movie buff), but here's the write-up about the exhibition:
"Like the group of stars in the milky way, from which the exhibition derives its title, the paintings, photographs and objects in the this show, M-13, are installed to be seen and experienced as a cluster – with the whole something more than the individual components. Within a framework Dadasim, the early 20th century art movement which challenged the conventions of what art could be and do, Theodore brings together disparate elements, from east and western traditions, to create an environment which draws attention to the rituals of looking both in the gallery and out.
Sanjay Theodore was born in India and came to New Zealand as a child. He studied art at Canterbury University, the West Texas State University and the New York Studio School. In the mid 1990s, before leaving New Zealand for almost a decade, he was included in several significant public gallery group exhibitions. Theodore is now based in Christchurch and exhibiting in New Zealand and the United Kingdom."
His exhibition opens at Bartley+Co Art, Wellington, on the 2nd of November
.
MARTES, EL VEINTISEIS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Here's an invitation I received via email. It's for a 2-person exhibition, ceramics by Mark Rayner and paintings by Anthony Behrens. Mark co-runs Rayner Bros Gallery in Whanganui, NZ and I believe he's putting images of this work up on the Rayner Bros website as Thermostat Gallery doesn't have an active website.
LUNES, EL VEINTICINCO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
If you have a spare two million, a good art purchase would be this large Philip Guston painting that has recently come up in the Sothebys Contemporary Art Auction.
DOMINGO, EL VEINTICUATRO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Kid Meets Cougar's Courtney Carroll vs. TVNZ 3's news presenter, Carolyn Robinson
SABATO, EL VEINTITRES DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZYesterday, JK and I went on a big evening outing, The Erotic Heritage Museum had free entry from 5-7pm, so we checked out that (the photo below is of the Larry Flint section, including his purple velvet wheelchair). After that, we headed to the Barrack Museum at UNLV for two art openings; one on local comic artists and a group exhibition of past and present students. We then met up with M & T at Jimmy Smalls at the Hard Rock Hotel and then onto see Interpol at the Joint. The gig was excellent, especially after not really enjoying Interpol in Wellington. Paul Banks, the lead singer was quite chatty and was very good about the persons running onto the stage and hugging him. It seemed the security were more keen on kicking out smokers at the gig. The band played for over an hour and then did a 3 song encore, finishing with Obstacle 1, probably my favourite song. 
VIERNES, EL VEINTIDOS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
I'm heading to Interpol tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. I saw them first in Wellington in 2005 (I think). Here's a link to the new Charlie White video for 'Lights'
JUEVES, EL VEINTIUNO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Exhibition invitation to Blackbird Studios Day of the Dead art exhibition in Las Vegas, NV, USA.
MIERCOLES, EL VEINTE DE OCTUBRE, VIENTE-DIEZ
Just got this in the mail, an Invitation to the opening of the 2010 Wallace Art Awards at The New Dowse in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. My painting, Half and Half is in the exhibition. I w0n't be there (obviously) but my agent Mark Hutchins of Mark Hutchins Gallery, Wellington will be heading out to the opening.
DOMINGO, EL DIECISIETE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
We headed out to the Arts Factory last night to catch some of the performances that's part of the 'Off The Strip' exhibition, there was a lot of stuff on, including the weekly painters on the patio, combined (perhaps dangerously) with a beer-tasting festival and free concert, including Kid Meets Cougar's last gig for a few months. Was really impressed with musicianship and multi-tasking. Probably the best use of visuals I've seen a band use ever.
Then to the Huntridge for beers and chats...
Sorry no pics (I need to get a phone with a camera) so here's a picture of a dog having a champagne breakfast.
SABATO, EL DIECISEIS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
working.
VIERNES, EL QUINCE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
There's a heck of a busy weekend ahead here in Las Vegas. A couple of exhibition openings tonight, Hitchcock's Psycho is playing at the Arts Factory, then there's the "Off The Strip" art exhibition weekend and happenings at CAC (got an email from an online friend from LA saying that his friend from New York is exhibiting) and all around Fremont Street and the downtown area. Diane Bush's Smear and Loathing Campaign looks interesting- Images of senators and political figures will be attacked with bleach, can't wait to get photos!
JUEVES, EL CATORCE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Here's a detail of a new painting, a mound of human flesh, still in progress. The painting will probably be called 'La Colera de la Persona Zurda' or 'The Wrath of the Left-handed' and borrows from Bosch's Seven Deadly Sins, a table top painting in the Prado, Spain.I'll post the painting in it's entirety once it's complete.
MIERCOLES, EL TRECE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Not much has been happening of late, just in the studio working away.
SABATO, EL NUEVE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZYesterday afternoon, we met up with the crew and went to the Renaissance Fair at Sunset Park, just South East of the airport. The fair goes for 3 days and has stalls, fair rides and lots of 'medieval' eats. Here's me with turkey leg. Two of those and your blood turns to gravy.
VIERNES, EL OCHO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
I've been thinking about this whole 'left-handed' thing that I've been blessed/cursed with. Of course one of the most important texts on the subject, is in storage in New Zealand, so I'll have to make do with the internet, but will have to cross-reference everything as the internet is notorious for factual error, well, not the internet, but the people able to upload to it.
I've decided to start curating an exhibition about the subject. A mix of extant works I know of and works I'd like to commission by artists who I think will tackle the subject interestingly.
When it comes to being left-handed, I usually think of the negative things that annoy me, such as smudging ink while writing, sports equipment and, as you can see in the last post, guitars.
I'm painting a larger painting at the moment based on the theme of 'wrath of the left-hander'
(below) an ex-voto celebrating Left-Handed day in 2007. 
JUEVES, EL SIETE DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZSpeaking of left-handed retardedness, my new guitar arrived yesterday - a cheap Silvertone that I picked up for a very cheap price. I found a 40 watt Fender amp at a thrift store a couple of weeks back so it made sense to buy a guitar for it. I like the guitar, it's got the faintest twist in the neck, but the intonation is good and the tuners are solid, the humbucker pickups are grunty, especially through the amp, so it'll do me fine for noodling around. In the picture on the right, you can see a couple of retablos with left hands in them. It's a theme I've been looking at for a while now. I'll elaborate on that a bit later on. (photos by JK Russ)
MIERCOLES, EL SEIS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
A photo by Jo, looking through my studio window a couple of weeks ago. The wall behind is now full of half-completed retablos. Danger, Left-hander operating stick with hairs attached.
MARTES, EL CINCO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
I received the image below from Stephen via Facebook, who had visited the Wallace Art Awards in the new location at the old Pah homestead in Auckland. He had this to say about the placement: Matt, I found the hanging of this exhibition very odd. In your work, for example, your signature was at my eye-line. I'm 6 feet tall. Go figure.
LUNES
EL CUATRO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZJuan Muniz painting in reverse-glass technique on Gina Quaranto's office window at Blackbird Studios.
(photo: JK Russ)
DOMINGO, EL TRES DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Here's two artist's work I'm interested in here in Las Vegas. Enrique Nevarez (left, who also runs La Gloria Clothing label) and Tod Mitchell. Nevarez uses screen-printing and stencil techniques to render assassination victims with their killers emblazened on a standard underneath the portraits. I met Tod at a screening of Car Wash a couple of Friday's ago. The work behind him is from when he was younger and had a Pettibon feel to it, except it elaborates on his personal experiences. Tod's obsessed with Surrealism, so we get on well! 
SABATO, EL DOS DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Last night was the Zombie Apocalypse / First Friday exhibition openings in Downtown Las Vegas. We started of at Blackbird Studios where Jo and I both had work in the exhibition then we walked around all the other exhibitions at the Arts Factory and on Casino Center. First Friday is getting so big now that it's near impossible to see everyone and every show in the night.
(all photos by JK Russ)
JUEVES, EL TRIENTE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZBelow is an image that was remembered in the comments section referring to the recent painting, 'The Good Son' (yesterday's post). I painted this painting in 1997/8 while at art school. I was interested in the personification of objects, which was of interest in art, both in NZ (with Peter Robinson and Tony de Lautour) and internationally. I had forgotten about this work until yesterday. It's amazing how things hang around in the back of your mind and then present themselves years later. Thanks David!
MIERCOLES, EL VEINTINUEVE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
The Good Son
2010
oil on metal
200mm x 270mm
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
MARTES, EL VEINTIOCHO DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
The Nexus Era
2010
oil on metal
295mm x 215mm
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
LUNES, EL VEINTISIETE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
Renewed Commonsense
2010
oil on metal
295mm x 215mm
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
DOMINGO, EL VEINTISEIS DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
Neo Self-Portrait
2010
oil on metal
295mm x 215mm
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
SABATO, EL VEINTICINCO DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
New painting:
Planchette Snake
2010
oil on metal
295mm x 215mm
(a planchette is a small wooden board, usually heart-shaped with a hole in it, that you use in conjunction with an ouija board during seances)
*if you click on the image below, it will take you to a slightly larger image of the painting, then if you click on the image again, it will enlarge it to the full scale of the original painting.
VIERNES, EL VEINTICUATRO DE SEPTIEMBRE. VEINTE-DIEZ
Last week it was La Dolce Vita, this week it's Carwash. Brilliant!
(photos by JK Russ)
JUEVES, EL VEINTITRES DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZTook a day off yesterday to explore the local surrounding areas of where we live, especially Lake Mead Blvd, Tenaya, Buffalo and Smoke Ranch. It was good to have a bit of head-clearing time, as I've been 'angsted' up about my painting - that I don't feel like I'm getting enough work done. I looked at the architecture (all new) and all the junk caught in the rock gardens lining the streets. I picked up items such as a small green foam frog and some playing cards, got home and painted an ex-voto of them. This is the first ex-voto I've painted in months, so it's a good feeling that this could lead to more.
MIERCOLES, EL VEINTIDOS DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZYesterday, JK and I went into to drop off our works at Blackbird Studios for the Zombie exhibition opening on First Friday. Gina invited us to do some impromptu art, so JK painted a frame and I painted a toilet saint on an old 100-year-old manuscript.
While in the art mood, we also made our way down to UNLV to the Donna Beam Gallery to check out Able-Bodied - work from LA Louver Gallery at Venice Beach, CA. The show had some good painting in it, although it seemed to be using old buzz-words from the late 80's /early 90's such as multicultural artistic exploration and the like. Maybe multiculturalism has cycled back around into fashion again. Time for another Helter Skelter?Gajin Fujita - The Saints.
MARTES, EL VEINTIUNO DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZAnother studio photo - I'm working away trying to get a set of backdrops finished and dried (not too much of an issue in this heat) so I can concentrate on constructing the paintings - deciding what imagery to paint on each retablo. Often, it changes halfway through the painting. You just got to let it do what it needs to do without forcing it. That's happened with the backdrops too. I was using images from my Thirty-Three exhibition from mid 2009 to base the backdrops on, but once I got into a rhythm, I was making up mew types of cloud-forms, new colour combinations and even decided to do an upside down saint for NZ. The red retablos will be painted in monochrome and will be paired with the colour ones so there wil be a colour one and a black and white one (just it keep it clear). I've been enjoying painting the monochrome ones, so I thought I'd do some more. I'ts a different kind of focus when you're not dealing with colour.
LUNES, EL VEINTE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
A photo of the framed-up 'Broken-hearted Zombie Dream' (which will be shown in Zombie Apocalypse at Blackbird Studios, Las Vegas in October). I've hung it below a wooden carved polychromed sculpture of St. John of Nepomuk's tongue - a wonderful gift given to me by a wonderful friend!
You can click on the image below to enlarge it.
DOMINGO, EL DIECINUEVE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VIENTE-DIEZJo founds this crucifix while rummaging through some frames at the local thrift store. It's one of the more odd modern crucifixes I seen - the cross is cut in perspective and the corpus is made out of cut out pieces of aluminium. It's missing a couple of pieces, but that just adds to its quirkiness. I see it as my modern 'St John of the Cross' crucifix, because of the strangely-angled crucifix.
SABATO, EL DIECIOCHO DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
A smaller retablo I'm hopnig to have framed up by the end of today for the Zombie Show at Blackbird Studios, Commerce St, Las Vegas
VIERNES, EL DIECISIETE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZAfter a week of setting-up, a power of $$$ spent at Blicks and buying tools of the trade (printer, scanner, pins etc), I almost have a fully-functioning studio. It's a bit smaller than I've had in NZ, but this room will just be for painting. There's another big table outside the studio for framing and clean work and a large garage for working with tools. There's also a large courtyard out the back of the house too.
JUEVES, EL DIECISEIS DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Some installation pics of JK Russ's collages at the Rayner Brothers Gallery in Whanganui, NZ
(photos courtesy of Mark Rayner)
MIERCOLES, EL QUINCE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
All About Eve opens at the Rayner Brothers Gallery, Whanganui, this Fri night (Thurs at 11.30pm in the USA).
Collages from JK, 3-D photos from Erin McNamara and sculptures from Lauren Lysaght!
MARTES, EL CATORCE DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
After a bout of food poisoning last weekend, we've finally shifted to our new place in Las Vegas. It's taken a bit to get up and running, getting internet sorted, getting the studio set up etc. I'll post pics of the new place soon.
VIERNES, EL DIEZ DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE-DIEZ
Three more new paintings. I've just ordered a power of oil paint, so I'll be back into the colour soon. Also, we're shifting today and Saturday, so we'll be pretty busy setting up shop. We won't haven any internet until Monday either, so things will be sparse here until we're back up and running cyberally.
