Ernest Crichlow (1914-2005) spent his life painting and drawing the African American experience. He was involved in the 1930’s Harlem Renaissance, worked in the Federal Art Project as part of the Great Depression era Works Progress Administration, and in 1942 was an exhibiting artist in New York City’s very first exhibit of Black American artists – a show that included…
Imagine my shock and disappointment at not being placed on the list of artists to receive the National Medal of Arts from President Bush. I was also excluded from the list of those to receive the National Humanities Medal. I open my heart to the readership of this web log and confess that I’m crushed. Please believe me when I…
As a rational human being, a humanist and an artist, I offer my heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones effected by the terror bombings in Amman, Jordan. It should go without saying that all forms of terrorism are heinous, and that the murder of innocent civilians for political reasons is still simply an act of homicide committed by…
Cheim & Read Gallery is holding an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s photographs of male nudes. In part, the gallery’s press statement reads: “Warhol made bold commentary on commercialism and post-war capitalism through the manipulated representation and recurrent repetition of his subject. By exploiting the plethora of images and advertisements associated with consumer society and the media, Warhol exposed the inevitable…
In the early 1970’s I came under the influence of those artists now known as the New Realists, or Photo-Realists. At the time I was a student in art school, and there was actually very little training in the traditions of drawing, perspective, color theory and painting. My teachers were mostly in the abstract expressionist mold, and they constantly discouraged…
Here in Los Angeles the banners advertising the Jean-Michel Basquiat July-Oct. 2005 exhibit at the Museum Of Contemporary Art (MOCA) have been ubiquitous. That no one knows how to pronounce the name of the deceased artist only adds to the carefully manufactured aura of mystique that surrounds his legacy. I’ve heard “Bäs k-ät”, “Bas-KEE-ah” and several malformed variants – but…
Jack Vettriano. You’ve seen prints of his paintings everywhere, and they outsell reproductions of artworks by Van Gogh, Monet and Picasso. I first saw reproductions of Vettriano’s paintings when I visited a popular store here in Los Angeles that sells home decor items, and my immediate response was a disapproving one. The artworks are saccharine and “romantic” renditions of handsome…
“If I can’t dance I don’t want to be in your revolution“ is a quote long attributed to anarcho-communist activist, Emma Goldman. Taken up by some on the modern US left as a catchphrase against artless bureaucratic organizing, the slogan has also been the organized American left’s feint at indicating concern for cultural matters. In point of fact, the saying…
