Abstract Art

Waking Up from Thanksgiving Dream State

I always think of Thanksgiving as the "sleepy holiday," because all the food has a dulling effect that makes people sit around the dinner table chatting and nibbling for hours after the meal has been served.  This year I left the table to play ping-pong and cards with the children while the rest of the adults kept sitting.  By nine o'clock that night, after all the guests had left, we were ready to hunker down and eat the leftovers.

I can't paint on a full stomach.  Earlier this month I had started painting a commission, but once the houseguests arrived, I had little time in my studio.  Today, thankfully, I was able to get back to it.  And perhaps the nap was good for my creative energies.

I've been photographing this canvas as I worked on it.  The final photo is how it looked at the end of today's painting session.  We'll see what I think about it tomorrow. 

Non-objective Art

Today I am browsing the web for non-objective art, which is a sub-category of abstract art.  Non-objective or non-representational art may still have the feel of a landscape or still-life, but it's focus is on the forms, colors, lines, textures, etc., that make up an image rather than a reference to our natural world.  In any case, this is where I begin my search--who knows where it will lead?

I thought I'd pick a few sites and tell you about them.  www.evaryn.com/ is the site of Eva Ryn Johannissen, a Swedish painter based in Sweden and England.  Her paintings have an inner glow of radiant color, with soft shapes that float on the surface of the canvas.

Shane Garton, a contemporary Australian artist, shows his black and white collection in his main gallery, which can be viewed here: www.shanegarton.com/.  Art critic Kate Taylor says, "These abstract monochromatic works have a teeming, churning movement that at times suggests an urban congestion ready to suffocate everything, at times the explosive chaos of a primeval natural world."

The work of UK artists Nathan and Tony Pendlebury is a lot of fun.  Loose, simple, and deceptively childlike, Nathan's mixed-media paintings on paper, fabric and canvas are bold and striking.  His father Tony's work is more complex and often grid-based, with subtler color schemes.  Both are worth a look at www.erpenstudios.co.uk. 

I could go on and on with this list, but will close with two more sites for you to look at:  The first, www.yvettepeters.com, features the work of Yvette Peters, who is originally from the Netherlands.  Yvette resides now in North Carolina, where she is a professor of neuroscience at Chapel Hill. 

Nature inspired art by Canadian artist Ada Gabriel is at www.ada.gabriel.name.  Her themes are birth, creation and metamorphosis.

It's always insightful and inspiring to see what other artists are up to, whether it is a direction we ourselves want to go in or not.

Art Management and Reps

As artists, I think we would all love to stay in our studios and paint whie an art agent or rep managed our careers for us.  They would find the clients, the galleries, the museum shows.  They would make sure our work was reviewed by critics in the major art magazines, take care of publicity, and arrange media interviews.  Our work would demand higher and higher prices, and all we'd have to think about is making art and cashing the checks.

Is this a dream, or a possible reality?  A couple years ago I was contacted by someone who claimed to be from an art management company in Japan called RAS.  I went through many rounds of talks with him, reviewed contracts, and so forth.  He promised to get me shows in Tokyo, New York, London.  Yet he wanted me to take him at his word, and would not provide the contact information for other artists he represented so that I could talk to them.  There was no concrete evidence that anything he said was true.  And the contract he sent me was full of grammatical errors and legal loopholes, according to two attorneys I asked to review it.

I hated to give up that dream of fame and fortune, and I was almost ready to take a chance.  But finally common sense prevailed.  If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.  An artist I know sho did sign up with RAS ended up quitting the relationship because the fees they charged were much higher than originally represented.

Still another artist I know signed up with a management company in the U.S. and worked with them for a year.  Nothing positive came of this relationship either, and she has since severed it.

I'm sure there must be cases where a legitimate art agent or manager has helped an artist's career.  Perhaps they only become interested after an artist has already proved herself.  I hope any artist reading this who has some experience with agents or management companies will share that knowledge. 

I've just been contacted by another art management firm who seems legitimate and transparent.  They list the names of the artists they represent.  I feel that I should follow up on this one and begin an investigation.  Yet part of me hesitates.

I am doing OK managing my own art career.  I sell directly to clients and through a couple of galleries.  There is no thrill of "fame and fortune" involved, just steady work and effort that builds results slowly.  It's a satisfying life.