Paintings on the Ribbon Series

As some of you know, back in 1999 I started creating large scale paintings based on my medals and ribbons earned while I served in the US Navy. The story of how I got into that is here.

Then late last year I started "inventing" imaginary and future ribbons and medals to be awarded for imagined military and naval campaigns and wars and peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts.

I'm working on some new ones for an exhibition that I will have later this year in Richmond, Virginia (more on that later), but meanwhile here's what I've got so far (click on any of them for more individual info on that particular painting):

Wanna go to a Reston, VA opening tomorrow?

I'm a big fan of art shows in alternative art venues and one of the best is the Market Street Bar & Grill in the Reston Town Center in Reston, VA.

And on Monday October 6, from 5-7pm they'll be hosting an opening reception of dynamic new works by my good friend Marsha Staiger.

Aimé Maeght, master manipulator of the art market

If you thought that Charles Saatchi was the master inventor of artistic reputations, think again. Aimé Maeght (1906-81), the subject of a forthcoming exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, could show Saatchi a thing or two. While Saatchi tends to promote "discoveries" and then drop them, Aimé Maeght's empire was built upon enduring partnerships with artists including Joan Miró, Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard - but naturally enough, both dealers, past and present, have a keen interest in profits.

Read the New Statesman article by Robin Simon here.

"The response has been slow"

Joel Sternfeld's panoramic photos of Manhattan's High Line railway and Yellowstone National Park have been acquired by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and ING Belgium SA.

His new large-scale color prints capturing the seasonal changes of a field in central Massachusetts are having a tougher time finding buyers. The turmoil in the financial markets appears to be keeping clients from doling out $50,000 for Sternfeld's 5-foot-by-7-foot (1.5-by-2.1-meter) works exhibited at Luhring Augustine gallery in Chelsea, New York's hub for contemporary art.

"The response has been slow," says Natalia Sacasa, the gallery's senior director. Six out of 13 works have sold since the show opened on Sept. 6. "There isn't the frenzy we all have become accustomed to."

What? At $50K a pop, most gallerists would give their left nut for having a show that sells half the exhibition at those prices.

Perhaps a little insight into the differences between a power NYC gallery's expectations and view of the art world, and (ahem) the rest of the art world. Read the Bloomberg article here.

Philadelphia Open Studio tours this weekend

The 9th Annual Philadelphia Open Studios Tour (POST) is what I call a well organized, city-wide oppen studio tour!

Opens art studios is not only one of the best ways to spend a full artsy weekend and at the same time see a lot of artwork at all levels of the economic scale, but also a key way to acquire original artwork and finally replace those nasty posters on your walls and this tour is a good one with more than 290 professional visual artists in 16 neighborhoods opening their studios to the public to show and sell artwork.

The tours are spread over two weekends and they start this weekend (Oct. 4-5) with studios West of Broad Street and continue next weekend (Oct. 11-12) with studios East of Broad Street. The artists will have their studios open from 12-6PM each of those weekends.

You can plan your studio tour here, and all events are open and free to the public. Go buy some artwork!

MPAartfest

MPAartfest is Sunday, October 5, from 10 am - 5 pm at the McLean Project for the Arts' Central Park, (McLean Community Center in case of soggy park) 1234 Ingleside Avenue in McLean, Virginia. Work by 40 artists and craftspeople will be available for purchase.

Buy art!

Wanna go to a Maryland opening tomorrow?

The Crossing of the Creatures is the title of Marta Pérez García's new color woodcuts and paintings opening at H & F Fine Arts in Mount Rainier, MD tomorrow. Curated by Marvette Pérez & Tonya Jordan the exhibition goes through November 1, 2008 with an opening reception on Saturday, October 4, 2008.

Master woodcut artist and painter Marta Pėrez García will exhibit her latest prints, paintings and drawings exploring space, performance, movement and the translocations and transformations of creatures.

This is a blue chip artist as Marta Pérez García is winner of the 2001 Grand Prix Latin American & Caribbean Biennale of Engraving and has exhibited at the Grand Palais, in Paris, France.