a let's-get-to-know-each-other thread
Fiona Webster
no talk about Matisse?" business; and I do apologize for triggering
something which I myself deplore--that is, people complaining about the
content of a newsgroup, instead of writing the kinds of postings they'd
like to see more of. I promise to write about Matisse, and have some
preliminary notes toward a personal essay on the exhibit, but it
hasn't been a week yet since I saw it, so I'm still too visually
boggled to be coherent. I also would like to wait to write a long posting
on the subject until I receive my exhibition catalog (the Elderfield
book)--which I had mailed to myself from MOMA--to help jog my memory
about which paintings had which titles.
In the meantime...what about a thread that would help us get to know
each other better? (This is in direct response to the people asking,
"Is there anyone out there?")
I propose telling each other about what prints/posters (and even, for
the wealthy/talented among us (-:) actual works of art we have on the walls
of our current domiciles. We could expand from there to what prints/
posters we *used* to have up, but got sick of, or outgrew, or whatever.
I'll start. This is what I have in my apartment, starting with the
better-known artists, and then a list of odds and ends:
--Gustav Klimt's "Danae"
--James McNeill Whistler's "The White Girl"
--Georgia O'Keefe's "White Canadian Barn"
--Henri Matisse's "The Winepress"
--Paul Klee's (don't know the title) large dark one with
a clock in the middle, clown in left-hand corner, and
lots of bright-colored fish
--Annie Liebovitz's portraits of John 'n' Yoko, and of Keith
Haring
--Alphonse Mucha: two vertical posters (w/ no writing) of
young women standing, wrapped in _art_nouveau_ fabric
swirls, with the familiar floral borders--one is like
the goddess of springtime, while the other is clearly
a moon goddess (new-moon crescent behind her head)
--Ralph Goings' photo-realist lithograph of a piece of
pie and cup of coffee on white formica in a diner (my
only "famous" signed piece)
--four Maxfield Parrish prints (from undergrad days, of
course)--not the ones you "usually" see, though--but
the Edison Mazda ads and a couple of other less well-known
ones
Odds and ends:
--two B & W photos by a prominent photographer of cathedrals
and other churchy stuff (Frederick Evans? not sure of his
name), titled "Steps at Wells" and "Crypt at Provence"
--a Panamanian mola of what looks like a dancing demi-god
--big piece of African mud-cloth (name of tribe? where's my
mind today?)
--Diane Ferry's altered (with watercolors, I think) color
photo called "Tree Tunnel, Kauai"
--a Mexican bark painting of deer, flowers, other typical
bark-painting imagery
--a wood-inlay panel depicting Indian women washing clothes
in a river ('got it in Madras)
--batik (also from Madras) of Krishna dancing on the snake
--an unknown-artist B & W photo of two knives with eyes
reflected in them ('cut it out of _Rolling_Stone_ and
framed it, believe it or not)
--poster from the Tutankhamen exhibit, of the head of one of
the gold-with-inlaid-lapis sarcophagi, which I've cropped
so that mostly only the face itself is in the frame
Leaving out sculpture, art photos by (and of) family members, botanical
specimens and mounted bones/fossils/fossil replicas, and leaving out
dog-eared postcards and magazine pages, that's it, I think. Sometimes
I'll have a collage of my own up on the wall, but I'm not really an
artist, so I haven't framed or even mounted any of my own work.
So...what art do you have on your walls? :-)
--in the spirit of fellowship,
Fiona Webster
f...@grebyn.com
dx
> I propose telling each other about what prints/posters (and even, for
> the wealthy/talented among us (-:) actual works of art we have on the walls
> of our current domiciles.
Hopper, Hopper and more Hopper. Okay, and a Braque and a few paintings by
some local artists.
Here's a tip for finding prints, by the way. I'd been looking for a few
years for a print of Hopper's "Automat", to no avail. None of the print
stores I'd talked to could ever find it in their catalog. Finally I looked
up who owned the painting, and ended up calling them (the Des Moine Art
Center) directly. Their gift shop had two different prints available.
I suppose this would probably work with a great many paintings that aren't
popular enough to make the commercial print houses.
-dx
--
"You're a total sociopath in your own right!" --David Baggett
Ted B Samsel
In our house we have
Diego Rivera prints, latterday "retratos", Chagall prints,
molas, van Gogh prints (the flower field outside the asylum),
watercolor seascaps from the Pacific Northwest done by my
"arty" aunts who were running buddies with Imogen Cunningham,
satellite imagery, things my wife did whilst getting her MFA,
excellent Hiroshige knock offs from the turn of the century,
the requisite "bluebonnet" painting (ah texas), lithography
from my great-grandfather (the first lithographer in Washington
territory; designed the territorial seal and state seal), photos
of Japanese woodacrvings,"scary monsters" courtesy los ni#os,
(akk! why does framing cost so flipping much??)
We'd have more framed; we have TONS of unframed image worth
seeing....
Next>>
--
Ted....
Franklin O'Donnell
> (akk! why does framing cost so flipping much??)
> We'd have more framed; we have TONS of unframed image worth
> seeing....
It seems to be the frame itself in most cases. My girlfriend
just did a framing job herself; the mat cost $5, the glass
$10, and the wood frame (mail-ordered at purportedly a
pretty good price from Daniel Smith) $50+.
I would contribute to the "what's-on-your-walls" thread,
except that everything is by artists who are not quite
household words yet (i.e. my girlfriend and various artists
she has worked alongside at one time or another). I've
put a few postcards bought during museum visits on the
wall in my study, though.
Gena Ram-Guzik
>In the meantime...what about a thread that would help us get to know
>each other better? (This is in direct response to the people asking,
>"Is there anyone out there?")
>
>I propose telling each other about what prints/posters (and even, for
>the wealthy/talented among us (-:) actual works of art we have on the walls
>of our current domiciles. We could expand from there to what prints/
>posters we *used* to have up, but got sick of, or outgrew, or whatever.
I was the "anyone out there" person, and am deleriously happy to know there
is!
This is an interesting angle. I never considered this before. What I have?
* Bonnard: a table with a couple of chairs and some stuff on it under some
trees
* O'Keefe: a bowl of plums
* Unkown: two small paintings of some italian fisher people in little boats, a
sort of impressionistic sort of thing that I got from a building that was
being torn down *I consider these priceless!*
* A big painting that I did a couple of years ago
* A book plate of a building that I tore out of a book I was throwing out
* Rothko: Yellow background with black, maroon, and green rectangles (I think,
as I am at work)
* Some postcards from some concerts in SFO in the 60's
* A big fish made out of a surfboard
* A styrofoam wig head with wig, haloween mask, and sunglasses (to scare the
neibors)
* vairous and sundry sketches, photos, and painting from friends
I know this is not name-brand stuff, but I guess I've never really bought much
stuff. I have a painting studio in my house and it is a visual circus up
there, so I guess I keep the rest of the place low key. None of these things
resemble in any way my own work, so maybe that says something. I feel like
I've just gone through therapy. This is a good exercise in self analysis. I
hope I haven't bored anyone too much!
Gena
Jason D Corley
for a lot of art. I do have the American Visions (I think that's the
name of it) desk calendar from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in NY),
which is a terrific collection of early 20th century paintings and
photographs about life across America in those days.
As I said before, I am a mathematics student, and you would be hard
pressed to find a mathematics student anywhere who didn't enjoy
looking at M.C. Escher. I have several small prints of his, and
one large one of "Dag en Nacht" hanging over my desk.
I have a Monet hanging beside my desk, that I can't remember the name
of, but I like it a lot. My roomate enjoys landscape photography,
and so his posters cover up a lot of other wall space, which I guess
is artistic, but in a different way than we were talking about earlier.
By the way that's not a real Monet but a reprint. Just so that you
don't forget that I am a worthless wad of a college student. ;-)
And I don't know if this qualifies as "art" as such, but I have a
Mandelbrot set next to my closet. Is a natural mathematical set
once discovered, art? I don't know, but it sure is beautiful.
That's me!
NEEEXXXXXT!
--
"Seriousness of mind was a prerequisite for understanding Newtonian physics.
I am not convinced that it is not a handicap in understanding quantum theory."
------Connie Willis
Jason "cor...@gas.uug.arizona.edu" Corley Southern Arizona Gizmonic Institute
Amanda Baer
>In article <1993Jan14.2...@grebyn.com>, f...@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster) writes...
>>In the meantime...what about a thread that would help us get to know
>>each other better? (This is in direct response to the people asking,
>>"Is there anyone out there?")
>>
>>I propose telling each other about what prints/posters (and even, for
>>the wealthy/talented among us (-:) actual works of art we have on the walls
>>of our current domiciles. We could expand from there to what prints/
>>posters we *used* to have up, but got sick of, or outgrew, or whatever.
Two Degas prints, both of ballet dancers. Three promo posters for
performances by Ballet West (a fantastic company out of Salt Lake
City, believe or not). Several small pictures of dancers from
various sources. [yes there is a trend here, but wait! I am not
that singleminded...] A French version of the promo poster for
"Raiders of the Lost Ark." And a poster from the Louvre of the
Victory of Samothrace.
Incidentally, I have seen a few posts which complain of the high
costs of framing posters, etc. I agree, but happily have found a
great alternative. Some framers will do "shrinkwrapping" which
encloses the poster and a stiff backing in plastic, much like
the shrinkwrapping on a CD box. It's very cheap (about $5 for and
average size poster), preserves the poster quite well, and
actually looks very nice, particularly if a border is included.
...Just an FYI...
Amanda Baer
Marc Kevin Fischer
>>I propose telling each other about what prints/posters (and even, for
>>the wealthy/talented among us (-:) actual works of art we have on the walls
>>of our current domiciles. We could expand from there to what prints/
>>posters we *used* to have up, but got sick of, or outgrew, or whatever.
in my studio painting though. Anyway...I have:
Over my bed I have an Alberto Giaccometti painting of his brother Diego
wearing a red plaid shirt, A small Soutine landscape from Ceret, A Goya
"Capricho" drawing, and a big Leroy Neiman 35 color seriograph of a
woman with large colorfully painted breasts and a tight mini skirt
swinging a golf club and scoring a hole in one at a Las Vegas miniature
golf place which gobs of splashy rainbow colored spectators chearing her
victory.
Just kidding, especially about Leroy. Actually I have:
One of those oversized post cards they sell at the National Gallery in
D.C. of a beautiful painting attributed to Vermeer on the inside of my
front door.
Next to it is a Maria DeMarse original drawing (hot artist to watch for
in the 90's [ie a friend - we traded work]) of a lot of weird made up
childish things dancing in a circle around a dead dismembered person in
a big room. shrunken heads are hanging from the ceiling (the ceiling is
bleeding a little too) and two other weirdos are standing in the doorway
watching the celebration. A morbid gem.
Across from the bathroom, appropriately, is an original poster for a
pretty racist sounding 1960's exploitation film "Mau Mau" which features
loads of unintentionally hilarious ad text promising savage scenes of
actual native violence filmed on location in Africa. In one photo a
hollywood tribesman (I think he has a chicken bone poking through his
septum) agressively grabs a woman's arms, her bare breasts are cleverly
covered up by a drawing of a palm tree.
On my closet door is an oversized print of a painting by Quentin Massys,
also in the National Gallery in D.C., titled "The Ill Matched Couple."
Next to it is one half of a small but striking Marc Fischer original
diptych, (the other half is in my studio somewhere).
On my other closet door is a photocopy of a George Grosz drawing from
Ecce Homo.
I think a magazine reproduction of a painting or detail of a painting by
Grunewald is still hanging there too. Can't remember.
Next to that door is an original Valentines day present and work of art
by the provactive and wonderful artist Nicole Repack. This heart shaped
lace doiley backed piece incorporates a ballpoint pen self-portrait
drawn over barely visible Barbie valentines cards covered by nearly
opaque irridescent gel medium. And best of all, the piece is framed in
those little heart shaped candies with stupid messages on them which
were glued around the edges. Honestly it's a lovely piece, trust me on
this one.
In the kitchen is poster advertising a show of work from the Gugging
Psychiatric Hospital at the Art Brut Museum in Laussane Switzerland. The
poster features a reproduction of one of the nervous, agressive, and
inventive figurative pieces by artist Phillip Schopke who lives at
Gugging.
I live in an effeciency so there's only so much wall space. That's all.
Fascinating huh......zzzzzzzzzzz - Marc
SubGenius
Although I've completely failed to read what anyone else has posted in this
thread (I usually get about three lines into an article, then decide that
there must be something more fascinating to be read elesewhere), I'll
make a tremendous plummet of faith and assume that someone out there will
peruse a similar (or what I am assuming will be similar) post made by me.
Walking in the front door, you'll first meet a Monet landscape (_Bordighera_,
I believe).
In the living room (a couple feet from the front door, actually) are,
proceeding widdershins from above the carniverous coaxial T(hought) V(ampire)
that's never turned on (or, for that matter, functioning): A largish print
of Van Gogh's _Langlois Bridge_, Jackson Pollock's _Convergence_, another
Money (the _Saint Lazare Train Station, Normandy Train_) and another Van
Gogh (_Vase with Irises_).
In my bedroom is the only other bit of `art' in the place: a print of
Picasso's _Guernica_.
As far as `things hanging on the wall that aren't art' go:
Over the computer desk in what should be the dining room are two calendars:
One features twelve Monets and is functionally useless as a calendar;
the squares that consititute the actually calendar part are microscopic.
Which leads to the second calendar, with astronomical photos (this month
is the Lesser Magellanic Cloud) and date spaces large enough to be written
in (`7pm 224 MSC' `9:30 Anna' `R.C.D.W.' 10:30 FAC' u.s.w.).
In the stairwell, cheesy-grinnin' for some unknown photographer is a life-
size poster of Albert Einstein walking towards some destination he reached
decades ago.
In the restrooms and hallways are numerous paintings of trains sitting on
tracks, trains rolling down tracks, trains crossing bridges, trains pulling
into and out of stations, u.s.w. These were gifts, I assume they were
come by cheaply, and the only damn reason I can think of keeping them up
is to spare the feelings of the giver.
[Discussion of titties and beer posters deleted]
..and that's about it.
Yours etc.,
SubGenius
Gordon Fitch
| Although I've completely failed to read what anyone else has posted in this
| thread (I usually get about three lines into an article, then decide that
| there must be something more fascinating to be read elesewhere), I'll
| make a tremendous plummet of faith and assume that someone out there will
| peruse a similar (or what I am assuming will be similar) post made by me.
Well, what I'm reall waiting for is someone to hallucinate,
but it's Sunday night and tomorrow's a working day, so it's
not going to be me. I find in my room: a bunch of papers
tacked to the wall with mostly telephone numbers on them,
a marker drawing by a 7-year-old friend depicting a
free-standing figure, two other figures in a kind of
romantic embrace, a dog or cat, and a mysterious large
refrigerator-like object with a smiling face, possibly
Refrigerator himself; and other stuff. Going to the
right, there's a heart-shaped Indian icon representing
the Divine Vulva, a picture of Jaime de Argullo, a
picture of Walt Whitman in his relative youth, smiling
meltingly at the camera, a postcard from Art in America
with a cup of coffee cut in half, a bunch of business
cards pinned to the wall, three old Chinese coins with
holes in the middle on a huge old-time diaper safety
pin, a picture of Oscar Wilde, a letter from someone,
a watercolor of my mother by her uncle, probably done
around 1930 when she was 16, my ticket to the
Pro-Choice March on Washington, an advertisement for
Diamanda Galas, a couple of opening announcements for
shows by Melanie Hickerson who will someday be a
famous artist I think -- and an anonymous watercolor
of a spooky Adirondack lake, framed and behind glass,
very dirty because I want it that way -- I regard the
dirt and decay of the picture as part of its spirit.
And a small acrylic painting by myself.
Hope you were amused. It's odd to see one's
environment in writing.
--
)*( Gordon Fitch )*( g...@panix.com )*(
( 1238 Blg. Grn. Sta., NY NY 10274 * 718.273.5556 )
RAYMOND L JONES
boardwalk in Atlantic City by Reynolds Beals. Next to it is a seascape,
watercolor, by the contemporary English artist, Jason Partners. Also in
this bedroom: Jerry Kearn's "Hard Rock."
In the house? Much contempory stuff from this region: Leonard Baskin,
Deborah Rubin, Michael Kuch, Scott Prior, Gregory Gillespie, Alfred
Leslie. Mostly oils.
Daniel R. Frey
Anyone else feel dirt poor? Well it is nice to know someone out there
has originals (I am assuming these are originals.) - I was beginning to
think artists should stop making original works and just make posters.
This is a silly thread, and I don't feel I know any of you all that much
better.
I'm curious though - of the people on this board how many of us are
artists, professional or dilletante, and how many of us are just
interested in the arts?
Also if we really want to get to know each other is their a way or a
place we could post "gif"s of our work? Don't ask me - I don't know
much about computers.
P.S. A couple Vermeers, a Motherwell, a Picabia and some of my own work too.
RAYMOND L JONES
instant association of art and wealth, more precisely by the assumption
that collecting necessitates wealth.
I try to buy one or two painting each year. I look at a lot of things by
a large number of artists. I make personal contact with them, sometimes
visiting their studios to discuss the direction of their work, often
offering unsolicited critiques.
I am not wealthy. When I finally decide to buy, I spend a gr%at deal of
time attempting to arrive at fair price (one that's not an insult to the
artist, and one that I can afford. To purchase the last painting
required that I hold a part-time job at a mental health facility for
approximately four months. For the next painting, perhaps I'll find a
third-shift factory job.
I abhor this facile relation between art and wealth and sometimes wonder
if it is a filtering device which sustains the art market and notions of
value by insulating the product from the lower classes. Does anyone
understand what I'm trying to say here?
Joanna Salgado
Why am I doing this? I have a paper to write...
On the wall in front of me, I have prints of "Summertime" by
Hopper (who, incidentally, came from my town) and "Torrent, Creuse" by
Monet. To my left (the side of my cupboard type thing) I have a print
of Van Gogh's "Wheat Field with Cypresses" and a few Disney trading
cards. On my cupboard door is an original Richard Zampolin print, and
on the wall to my right are four more Richard Zampolin originals.
(I'm a big Zampolin fan.) That's it.
Kris Carroll
>
> I abhor this facile relation between art and wealth and sometimes wonder
> if it is a filtering device which sustains the art market and notions of
> value by insulating the product from the lower classes. Does anyone
> understand what I'm trying to say here?
yeah, there's nothing like a death in the family to push up the prices. A
friend of mine used to say something clever along the lines of the only
great artist is a dead artist if you happen to be his dealer.
Shawn Tribe
I understand what you are saying. Where do you go when you decide you wish to
buy a work? I am just curious because I may soon be attempting to sell some of
my own canvases and was considering taking some photographs to a dealer; I am
just wondering how you go about it yourself so that I can get a better idea of
where the general public does indeed go if they wish to purchase.
Right now I am just trying to build up my volume of works so that I have a
fairly large selection to offer. Right now I paint with Oil on Canvas and
sometimes Acrylic on canvas... unfortunately this does get expensive so it is
hard to be able to produce regularily (ie 1 painting per day, which is how I
usually do it). I am probably going to be switching to masonite board soon as
I can get an 8'x 4' sheet for $7.00 which is incredibly cheap; however, I am
currently undertaking a style which hasn't been done before (to my, and others
knowledge) that basically requires the use of canvas.
Anyway, that is getting off topic.
Shawn Tribe
I just noticed your question about who are artists and who are just interested
in the arts.
Well for me the answer is simple: I am both.
Some other artists are exploring the possibility of scanning our own works
into a GIF format so that people may download the gif to see the work
(possibly buy it!). We are currently trying to see how we could do this.. I
know that I would love to be able to scan colour images of my work, a
computerized portfolio so to speak.