Ayin Es Blog

This

May 25, 2013May 25, 2013Ayin EsLeave a comment

I was working in my EyeBook yesterday, the one where I write in on one side and draw on the other side. I talked about this in a previous blog entry here. I haven’t been able to get a good/usable sketch out of it for a while now, but the writing has been very therapeutic.

So yesterday I was writing about how I felt that the series I have been working on is pretty complete – in terms of it being a basic body of satisfying imagery, palette, shapes and forms where I can now continue to communicate from – for a little while at least – even though I’m just at 12 in the series.

A lot of artists like to name their series. I suppose I have too; “Dan,” “Pattern Paintings,” etc. but those are kinda obvious. I think I will just call this new series, This.

The only one painting I may want to spring board from is the pink one. There are still complexities in that one that I still can’t manage to let go of. Whether it’s the narrative, the painterly-ness, or the autobiographical/narcissism, I’m not sure which, but I know that I would miss nixing that sort of painting all together, which is why it is going to stay in the series. It has to be there to mix and mold, and evolve with the rest of these fuckers.

I suppose I should feature the last two pieces that I finished in this series in this blog post, since I don’t remember if I did or not. Let me check first….

Okay, I already featured Survivor, but I never showed Rabbi Says. The one that happened to take the longest for whatever reason. It must have been painting around all those letters. So here it is:

Rabbi Says, 2013. 24 x 24 inches. Oil on birch panel.

Shit, did I talk about this before? The quote is taken from the late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Reb Moshe). And it’s just part of a whole quote. The painting says:

The whole quote is actually a comment on a section of the Torah. It’s hard to explain, but it’s about a troubled rabbi not being able to enter a holy place because of a dark cloud, and this seems to keep happening to him, while his solutions had been: waiting for others to pull him through, waiting for the black cloud to go away, etc. And Reb Moshe’s comments were:

There are many times when a person feels that he cannot move forward because a dark cloud hangs over him. One should know, however, that nothing can stop him! Sometimes one can make a path through the cloud, i.e., he can navigate through his troubles without becoming embroiled in them. This is the preferable course, for who knows how he will emerge if he gets caught up in a struggle?

If one cannot go through the cloud, he should look for a path that has no obstacles (just as Moshe waited for the cloud to depart). However, if he can neither go through the cloud nor find another path, he should push forward anyway with a firm conviction that Hashem will take him by the hand and lead him through.

So, I wanted to honor at least part of this view of Reb Moshe’s comment. I thought it had many important elements that confirmed what it was (for me) in being Jewish – ambition, faith in self as equal as faith in God or the universe, yet it not mattering which, and tenacity to survive (not leaving your life to fate).

And okay, so I wasn’t going to go into this, but I figured if two people already asked me this, two more people might ask me, and so on. And maybe I will stir up shit, I don’t know. It’s only how I feel and I can’t help that!

I was asked why I made the rabbi so silly looking. We all know that I make silly cartoon characters anyway, but twice I received the comment that it looked as if I was making fun of him, and this is correct. But it is not I that is making fun of the Rabbi, or the strange Jews in the black hats, or the Jews in general. It is not me who sees the Jew with the big nose and a scary face, or the orthodox with shards of bad, archaic teeth, or Jews throughout time with their hands out for your money while entertaining you, while balancing on a stick, or making you laugh. Nope. Not me. Maybe it’s me who is tired of that though.

I see those “funny Jews” that study day in and day out coming back to the community that wants to listen to them, give the kind of insight you just can’t get anywhere else.

Anyway, back to the studio.

Oh, speaking of the studio, I added new pics in the studio section of my site. Take a look!

Almost Forgot!

May 23, 2013Ayin EsLeave a comment

One of my paintings is on the Image Blog on the Huffington Post’s Art Section! Go see it!

Crazy, Right?

May 23, 2013May 23, 2013Ayin EsLeave a comment

I had an art consulting session today that was more cathartic than my usual therapy sessions.

I see Ellie Blankfort once a month, who consults me, not only about my art career and creativity, but for so much more – it’s in fact really hard to explain. Today however, I happened to bring a few of my artists books. She had never seen them before, not in real life anyway, and she was rather impressed. And I suppose, I aim to please. It’s actually a life-long problem of mine, like an albatross around my neck that Ellie may have helped me to cut loose today.

She handed me the right kind of scissors anyway.

Look at me, I aim to impress the shit out of you! Yeah, me and a million others.

I am so sick of all that ego-sucking-non-HERE-and-NOW-dishonest-energy-melting-worry-wart-mental-mind-fucking I have done to myself. I am so done with it all. Thank you Ellie.

Bringing those books turned the conversation into story telling, which turned into telling my story, which turned into the fact that I’ve been writing this book, and now…

that’s the last you will hear any mention of this endeavor of mine.

Why?

Just because.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be talking about writing in general, or things I have already written, and maybe even artist’s books I’m working on – like Houses, for God’s sake! How long has it been since you heard me mention anything about that? It’s still something I plan to do! All I have to do with that – next anyway – is carve out the block for the block print. Most of the pages are done.

You know, it’s been almost forever since I have kept notebooks of lists with little empty squares next to them. For a while I thought that was a good thing. I thought that it meant I had recuperated, or combated my stupid little obsessive proclivities. But I think I need to start doing it again, but for the same reasons as I did it before – which was for a sense of accomplishment. I need to because I am forgetting my goals.

I know that sounds absurd. How can someone, particularly ME with relentless ambition, forget their goals?

Crazy, right?

What’s crazier is: I was sitting in the back yard yesterday and I could not remember how I got there. This happens frequently – more frequently than I care to believe or want to believe or than mjp wants to know or hear about. I wound up tracing my day of starting to sweep the floors of the kitchen and hall way, cleaning the bathroom, and following my rag along the top and bottom moldings of the room. I thought about the two sconces, and at that moment, I felt like I split in half.

There I was in the garden sitting next to myself, and now it was harder to remember all that cleaning, so

I figured she must have done it.

Luckily all this lasted but a few moments. Maybe five minutes at the most. But why can’t we forget shit like that instead of all the great, creative things we want to get done in this life before we lose our marbles?

So back to the lists I will go.

How Thouse Thou Blog?

May 17, 2013May 17, 2013Ayin EsLeave a comment

I keep telling myself that I will start writing a new blog post at least twice a week. How do people do that, I wonder? Especially working artists. Especially working artists that are also writing a book, with friends and a life, that go to art shows, that have partners, that like to garden and watch a bit of TV, go to a couple of movies a month and have a dog?

If you have the answer to these questions, please reply, or email me. I’d like to know.

Since I have blogged, or rather, wrote the little review about the Avenue 50 show, Seven Beauties, on the Huffington Post, I have finished a couple of new paintings. Perhaps one of them I finished before that, called In Training. I mentioned it in a previous blog post. I was nearly finished with it then, but I had to allow that yellow to dry before I went back and cleaned up those black outlines. So here it is finished:

This is like the rest of the series: 24 x 24 inches, Oil on birch panel.

Yellow takes forever to dry, as I am learning – so does orange! I am still working on Rabbi Says. So in the meantime, I finished up another piece that I now know is my most favorite in the whole series! It only took two days, but I thought about it for a month. I even want it to be the cover for my book, if that’s possible. It’s called, Survivor: 24 x 24 inches, oil on birch panel:

Still wet, I took these and about 4 others with me to Shulamit Gallery yesterday down at Venice Beach. We had been trying to set up a meeting for a few weeks, actually for a studio visit, but that’s not going to happen until July. So, they asked me if I could come there with a few originals and paper works along with a few of my artists’ books. I would up staying there for nearly three hours. It went very well and we all know each other a little better. What will become of it, I do not know because I’m not absolutely sure I want to be in a gallery again just yet.

But maybe by the time they offer me something, IF they offer me something, I will be.

In the meantime, I just feel so good about painting right now, I’m just going to keep on going on my merry way. I am loving this path.

Speaking of the book, I finally got back to working on it just a bit. I even interviewed a couple people from my past and I think that is going to help me a little in writing this because we don’t always remember things exactly the way they happened. I probably will only use a fraction of these interviews, but I think it’s good to reconnect, let people know they might appear in the manuscript, and in what context – especially if I am going to be making fun of them.

No one gets made fun of more than me, and that I can guarantee all of them!

One of them was an ex-boyfriend. He is significant for a few of reasons. First of all, he pretty much turned me on to oil painting. The relationship was a whirlwind: very unlike me to move in with someone so fast, and then it ended as fast as it flew together, yet I learned a lot about art: the application of it, a little bit about the sales of it, the dichotomy of it, and some of the hard lessons. I think he was the first person I dated outside of my own circles and I learned a lot about sharing, compromise, tolerance, acceptance, all in such a short amount of time. At the time, I am not sure I even knew I was learning this. Ha!

I also am importing in a shit load of data from, get this, on-line forum dialog! I have typed more about my viewpoints on art than I have even talked about to any one person. So now I have to weed through all of that stuff and use it where it’s usable.

I was also lucky enough to make a couple of sales in the past couple weeks so I could get more panels – small ones – so in the next couple months I will have more affordable works on hand, which I think is smart.

That’s all for now.

A Snow White Story Turned on its Head

May 13, 2013Ayin EsLeave a comment

AS SEEN ON THE HUFFINGTON POST:

Once Upon a Time in the land of Highland Park, if you don’t know where that is, it is in Northeast Los Angeles on the west side of the Arroyo Seco. This neighborhood has gone through an abundance of changes over the past 20 years, yet it has kept its original flavor and family history without becoming too gentrified. Perhaps that is because there is still a bit of gang activity, but nothing like it was before the mid 1990s.

Since then, artists of all stripes have made it their homes and low-rent studios. But as the story goes, this is exactly what proceeds gentrification. Whether long term or for a short time, artists inevitably find many of our LA neighborhoods for what they are: gems, before the poor and the artists are squeezed out to make way for Starbucks and Banana Republic. But not just yet in the area around Figueroa and Ave 50.

Enchanted Forest (and golf course) by Kim Abeles.

About 13 years ago, Kathy Gallegos founded Avenue 50 Studio. A social, cultural, and political activist for most of her life, Ms Gallegos has helped Avenue 50 Studio sponsor over 300 events as a source of cultural responsibility. She recently approached award-winning artist, José Lozano, to curate a show at the gallery. In his own words, José’s ideas for the exhibition, Seven Beauties, were:

I had the phrase seven beauties in my mind for a while when I was approached by Avenue 50 Studio to curate a show. I know seven beautiful female artists whose work is spiritually and intelligently beautiful, and whose work I really admire. These are disciplined artists producing very wonderful art. My first choice was Kim Abeles who is my mentor. She was the professor at Cal State Fullerton who directed me toward the artist I am today. It’s an honor to have her in the show. This is not a feminist show. It’s just art done by women. Many different approaches and sensibilities run through this exhibition. It shows where women artists are at today in the making art in Los Angeles.

José Lozano is also exhibiting small portraits of each artist in this show and these are just wonderful. I thought they were truly great additions to the exhibition and brought the whole thing together to make it more meaningful.

Kim Abeles by José Lozano.

The other excellent artists in the exhibit include: Leigh Salgado, Rochelle Botello, Poli Marichal, Stephanie Mercado, Linda Arreola and Lili Bernard.

Daylight Savings by Leigh Salgado.

I went to the opening on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Much fun was had, and I have to say, when most galleries in Culver City, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica are having their own opening nights – of which I have been o’plenty – none of them have ever held a candle to what I saw at Ave 50 Studio’s amount of hors d’oeuvres and wine, and variety, plus mojitos. Spectacular! All of you prestigious galleries: learn yourselves something.

During the course of the show, which runs until June 2nd by the way, the gallery will be screening the film, “Seven Beauties” by Lina Wertmuller. Participating artist, Poli Marichal, will lead a discussion on how the movie relates to feminism paralleling and modifying the present day. More information on this screening will be forthcoming, so you can still see the show and participate in this upcoming event, which should be quite interesting.

Blessed Mother and the Dragon by Lili Bernard.

The opening reception was absolutely packed and it seemed like more than 10 different people were taking photographs with expensive cameras. I have a feeling I’m going to wind up on Facebook with my eyes in a half-blink between a couple of these great looking artists, a few of whom I know very well. Had I known I was going to wake up today and write about this show, I would have brought my own fancy camera so I wouldn’t be hunting down all the artists down today for images.

Agnes by Linda Arreola.

Now, even though I had good friends among the crowd with their original art hanging along the walls, I have to be honest about my very favorites that stood out for me – without playing favorites. You get me?

Rochelle Botello, who usually produces sculptures with colored tape and cardboard, or rather, more like installations, since they really are temporary constructions. Most of them are destroyed after they are exhibited and documented. Here, she has created two dimensional pieces with basically the same media. They are framed as 2D art and hung on the wall, akin to abstract paintings and (hopefully) not temporary at all.

This was something new for her and in some ways, I preferred it. Actually, I can’t make up my mind. I might miss the absurdity of her installations. Those play with my dark sense of humor and I understand them easily, and now, this new work is a challenge. It’s contemplative, and a new side of the artist I have never known. Her 3D is at times contemplative as well, and so I wonder if, like her drawings, if she could accomplish the same balance with only tape and paper.

Kiss Off by Rochelle Botello.

Stephanie Mercado – she took over my old studio in Highland Park – has been outrageously prolific, cranking out seemingly a dozen amazing artworks at a time. Whether they are paintings, etchings, or dry points(?), she’s mastering her crafts quickly and the subject matter, floating on water or not, is beautiful and brilliant! I can easily spot her work from across a 100-foot room and my eye sight sucks ass! She has come into a singular vibration that can not belong to anyone else even if they studied for their Masters in “Mercado.” It’s a kind of Raphael effect.

Untitled silkscreen print by Stephanie Mercado.

Now, just because I had favorites in the show doesn’t mean the rest of you chickies didn’t make me swoon and soar, ooh and ahh. You did. But you always do.

Seven Beauties is a MUST SEE! (Through June 2, 2013.)

Oh, and don’t miss out on the little exhibit in the annex room by Frank Gutierrez called “Explain Yourself.” Very cool, colorful and interesting paintings.

Avenue 50 Studio, Inc.
a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts presentation organization
131 North Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA 90042
Ph/Fax: (323) 258-1435
email: ave50studio@sbcglobal.net