78 posts tagged “painting”
11x14" oil on panel, I wish you could see the details in her black hair, but it is very subtle and didn't photograph well. Anyways, finally was able to make up a bio for her...
Lady Eugenia (1480-1544)
Daughter of a little known diplomat and his stage actress mistress; she
had published her first novel at age 15, thus becoming an amusement of
sorts within literary circles at cafes and parties. Her short marriage
to a Lord and travels to their many homes around the Continent provided
the material for what would become her second novel - fortunate for the
Lord he died of consumption before reading the unflattering portrait
she portrayed of him. After many failed affairs with renowned writers
more than half her age, she retired from writing after her 9th book,
and fled to Scotland where she purchased a small cottage. She never
wrote again, and instead collected stray cats
Just another quick update of various exhibitions and shindigs going on...
Saturday, July 11th: 7:00pm - 10:00pm Knitgrrl Studio / Arabella Proffer Studio @ The Screw Factory 13000 Athens Ave. 2nd floor, suite C288 Lakewood, OH 44107 Phone (216) 712-POOP Come out to our official launch party for my new space with Shannon Okey. What's the space all about? I needed a painting studio without cat hair and the distractions of watching daytime court TV. Shannon needed a new space to teach felting, spinning, dyeing and messy stuff. We're both going to be selling things, and you’ll be able to see the stuff I’m working on for my upcoming show in the D.C. area. In short, it's going to be fun with drinks and all, so come check it out.
Friday, August 7th: William Rupnik Gallery in Cleveland presents an exhibition that will be a one-night only event "Oh, That Is Sooooo Last Year". This will be an amazing group show with Derek Hess, Chris Ryniak, Tes One, BASK, Mallorie Freeman and Andrea Heimer and more. There will be a reception at the gallery 7-10 PM.
Saturday,
August 15th:
"Innocence and Arrogance" a dual solo show with painter
Brandi Read @ Art Whino Gallery in National
Harbor MD. I'm doing more surreal work for this show, but be sure to
expect from both of us plenty of punks, goths, muses, models and royalty.
Opening Reception 6pm - midnight with special guests DJ Rick Taylor
(We Fought The Big One) and DJ Sequential (Screen Vinyl Image)
Friday, August 28th: "The Tattoon Show" a group show about tattoos and cartoons @ Eclectix Gallery, El Cerrito CA.
September
15 - Oct. 10th: "Splendor & Safety Pins" a
solo show @ Box Heart Gallery
in Pittsburgh PA.
Opening Reception on Saturday, September 19th from 6-9pm
As always, more info and updates can be found at www.arabellaproffer.com
18x24 inches, oil on panel. Kinda hard to photograph stuff that is larger and have it be "exactly" as you see in real life, but this is close enough I think...
again, the compression on blogs sucks, so click for better views.
Just finished reading this piece of poo from Phil Desind via Steve Doherty's blog about 8 ways to sell art. Okay, I do agree with 6 - 8, but come on now, if people want your work they will buy it. Just because one person doesn't like it, won't mean another won't dig it. If they don't like what you do, then they aren't the right person for your work and you shouldn't feel bad about that at all. If you need to follow any of the steps in 1- 5 then you obviously don't know who your audience is and you are sticking in shiny objects for the mere fact that you are a whore with technical skill. Seriously, the shiny objects bit in number 2 kills me. Oh and number 3 kills me all over again. Heck, 1 - 5 all kill me, go read it, seriously you'll die laughing!
You shouldn't make work a certain way just for the intention of trying to sell it to some idiot who wants it to match their couch! If you do, you aren't an artist, you are making a product. A product for someone who doesn't like to think too hard or is buying art because it makes them feel cultured; these are the people who buy a Thomas Kinkade painting in hopes of being able to sell it on Ebay in 15 years for a profit. Making a piece of art while following a guideline like this is so wrong to me on so many levels. Why constrict yourself like that? That is no different than following a fad or a genre of art that happens to be doing well at the moment, "gee I sure think Tiki themed art is lame, but it is what's hot right now, so maybe I'll go paint some tiki themed crap and hope it sells". Yeah, have fun with that.
I should also point out that number 4 is a big lie as well. I grew up with some really fun heavy subject matter in the art collection of my parents. Angels and devils and surrealist craziness, I used to stare at them and marvel. “People don’t want to hang those kinds of paintings in their homes or offices. The pictures would depress them all day long,” says the article. Um, more like those pictures would freak people out and be full of awesome all day long! You know what depresses me? Pictures of fruit in a shiny bowl!
Again, just because one person doesn like it, doesn't mean all people on the planet will hate it too. I hate Julian Schnabel, I also hate Keith Haring, and I'm pretty sure my dislike of those two artists hasn't effected their sales. By the way, do you know how many people ask me if I have any work laying around with skulls in the subject matter? A LOT. And yes I promise I will get around to finally painting some of skecthes I've made of my fabulous Sabertooth Tiger skull.
Artists make what they make; people like what they like. They find each other in an honest way, not by the artist impressing what they think people will like upon them.
And yes, skulls do sell, just like chicks dig scars.
So the big news this week is I finally got a studio! I will be sharing a studio with Shannon Okey at the Lake Erie Screw Factory...hehe, screw. I figure that this will keep me from bumming around when I need to do actual work, as well as provide me with a cat hair free environment. Larger work to come? Quite possibly since space is no longer an issue. I will also have my studio open to the public, especially for the Open Studio events that my friend, and Screw Factory neighbor, Gina puts on. The building itself is an active warehouse and factory, but at night resembles the movie Mute Witness. At least I conquered the ancient freight elevator, and if I get really drunk, maybe I'll take some of the forklifts for a spin! Hoping to have moved in by late June, still need some dry wall and my "day job" work schedule is going to be crazy the next few weeks or so.
On a totally unrelated topic, did you know the singer from Glass Tiger wrote a motivational book? I'm glad I don't have cable, because yesterday I got sucked into some VH1 Classic and got this damn song stuck in my head. The video is a perfect example of what happens when Canadian musicians do too much cocaine at the peak of bad 80s fashion.
The open studios shindig this weekend turned out so-so. I think many of the artists and galleries are really miffed at the organizers, as they should be, for the fact the hours were not even posted until a week and a half before the event -- nor was the website updated with the dates. Hence why no one really knew about it as much as we tried. In fact, many artists didn't know about the event until they saw a stack of postcards with typos in their building lobby a week or less before. Didn't this exact problem happen last year? If I had paid money to the organization that puts City Artists at Work on, I'd be super pissed. Planning ahead can be handy because that way people know about stuff before it happens. Crazy I know.
Anyways, thanks to Kotori Magazine for this little write up of the recent show.
There are also a a few new prints in my shop.
Other than that, I finished a new painting for the upcoming exhibit at Art Whino in D.C. this August. She gave me a lot of trouble at first, she looked like Brooke Shields at one point which had to be corrected obviously. Boobies! I like painting boobies...
"Carlotta" 11x14 inches
This weekend is your last chance to catch "Poise, Posture and Profanity" and it will also be the last time I show in the Cleveland area for quite a long time. Never fear, City Artists at Work is taking place this Saturday and Sunday with extended gallery and studio hours.
Saturday May 16th, 11AM - 6PM
Sunday May 17th, 12PM - 5PM
I will be hanging around William Rupnik Gallery (formerly Artchitecture) in the late afternoon Saturday, so come say howdy! Lots of my artist friends will be showing work at their studios and such throughout midtown; you can find a full list of artists and buildings open to the public at www.CityArtistsatWork.org
On Saturday, May 2nd if you feel like swinging by, stalking, or chatting, I will be at William Rupnik Gallery to meet with a few collectors and take more photos of the show for my archives. It goes down in the afternoon and the City Artists at Work is doing the whole tour shebang the weekend of the 16th & 17th too.
Speaking of photos, I'm so excited I am getting a new camera, I've had the same one for 9 years! Nothing is that wrong with it (okay it is a bit wonky when you have to take the batteries out and put them back in just to get the power to turn on) but it has become clear I need something really ace, especially if I am doing larger work that can't fit on a flatbed scanner.
There's an interview with me here on CoolCleveland.com which is neat; no one in the area ever reviews my shows because I didn't go to Cleveland Institute of Art (I went to the other CIA), so it is nice to get some write-ups here and there. Thank you Cleveland Bachelor and Hello My Name Is Art, again. Most of all thank you to you people who buy art, in Cleveland, in a recession. I'm still amazed!
Other than that, I finished two commissions in record time, I'm transcribing interviews for the Red Hot Chili Peppers book that will be coming out soon, and have barely had time to wipe my butt while my apartment looks like a Whitney & Bobby crack den -- again. Truthfully this has been an awful week in different ways and I cannot wait until Friday when hubby and I start our 8th Anniversary celebrations. A girl never needed champagne so bad, but, I'm thinking a Lady in White might do the trick.
