Baselitz makes baseless claims!

I don't know whether to be angry or sad about this recent article of the German painter George Baselitz making claims that women painters, for the most part aren't capable of being as good as male painters! George Baselitz has been one of my favorite painters for many years, I've studied his work through books and have even been to Germany to see his work in museums, so for me this truly is shocking and disappointing! Hopefully woman who are artists of all kinds will not and cannot get disappointed by these kinds of publicly idiotic statements by such artists! If he feels this way about female painters, I'd be afraid to know what he thinks about black painters!

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/whats-the-biggest-problem-with-women-artists-none-of-them-can-actually-paint-says-georg-baselitz-8484019.html

Portrait of Frederick Douglass - Finished

This is a portrait of a young Frederick Douglass. It will be the first of an experimental series of portraits that will be included in my exhibition in January. Right now I'm planning to do about three of them. The inspiration behind this and the others I'll do is, if not obvious, a take on a very classical look in painting combined with something of a more contemporary look, I guess you could say a little "classical meets contemporary" look, which is not exactly anything new, you could probably make the argument that all art made today is a "classical meets contemporary" look. Anyways, I wanted to create this look while paying homage to great African American figures in history. The writing along the bottom of the painting is distorted copy of Frederick Douglass' actual signature.

Portrait of Frederick Douglass

Started a new series of portraits for my upcoming show in January. They'll be a little different than what I've done in the past, I'm having a lot of fun with them so far. This is one of a young Frederick Douglass, it's still a work in progress!

                                                                     

Artvoices Magazine

It's been an amazing year so far! This is just one of the great things that has happened in my art career so far this year!
http://artvoicesmagazine.com/2013/09/ronald-hall/

Also, great to read, a statement by Terrence Sanders, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief of Artvoices Magazine.
http://artvoicesmagazine.com/2013/09/editors-letter-fall-2013/

4Culture preview

If you've been following my blog, your probably wondering about what happened to the video "Diary of a painting"? Well this painting is the reason I've put that one at a temporary halt! Sometimes I get the urge to stop one painting just cause I have an idea for another painting and I need to really get it out! I've just finished it and it is titled "The Wash Place", it's a preview of all new paintings that will be on view at 4 culture gallery in Seattle in January of 2014.  So now I'm looking forward to continuing on with the "Diary of a painting" piece!

The American Way (update)

The finished painting. It will be on view at Gallery 110, Seattle in May 2013.

Another great German Painter

Another great painter I'm just now hearing about! Why are all the best painters coming out of Germany these days?!! http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/albert-oehlen/

The American Way

This is a sketch of the painting that I will be including in a show in May of this year called "The Gun Show", at Gallery 110 in Seattle. In case it's not obvious, this image is of a baby with a pacifier designed to look like an assault rifle, the same kind of weapon that was used in the recent tragedy of 2012, in which innocent young children were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown connecticut. To me this painting will be symbolic of what I feel is the underlying corrupted believe in our country that is feeding the idea to our children that the use of and availability of high powered assault weapons should be a part of mainstream society. I'm still deciding on a title for this piece, but right now I'm calling it "The American Way", maybe when it's finished another title will resurface, but for now I can't think of a more appropriate title.

A Painting In A Day



Captured radicals of the Nigerian Islamic sect Boku Haram.

http://news.yahoo.com/nigerian-forces-killed-52-islamists-arrested-70-080704795.html

"Boku Haram" 6"x 9" oil on canvas paper

 

 

A Painting In A Day

A recent story about Walmart caught lying to consumers by labeling food as Organic when in fact they are not! http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_3793.cfm

"Organic Not" 6"x 7" oil on canvas paper

A Painting In A Day

I'm going to attempt to do something I've never done before as an artist! I'm going to produce a series of paintings created in a day! The paintings of course will be small in size, mostly around the 6"x7" inch size. They will be very loosely done and painted as quickly as possible! This is not an original concept of course, but I want to put my own spin to it, I want each painting to be based off of an image that's related to a current world news issue. The first painting here is of a middle eastern woman who is about to have a surgical procedure! Plastic surgery is a major boom in the Middle East in the past several years!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/01/iran-plastic-surgery-black-market-regret_n_2790224.html?utm_hp_ref=world

"Under The Knife" 6"x7", oil on canvas paper

Diary of A Painting, Day 2

Good advice for any artist

http://hyperallergic.com/65604/the-biggest-tip-to-succeed-as-an-artist-be-open/#disqus_thread

Diary of A Painting, Day 1

The Art of funny but true.....

Banksy Mural Chiseled Off London Wall, Reappears At US Auction

If this actually goes thru, I guess it'll be a little disappointing for fans of Banksy, cause it will basically mean, to see a Banksy on the streets of London will soon be non existent, cause as soon as he puts it up, someone will take it down to sell it! Same thing happened during the height of Basquiat's popularity in the 80's. Banksy Mural Chiseled Off London Wall, Reappears At US Auction

Wing Luke Museum

Congrats to the Wing Luke Museum for recently being designated as an historical site! I showed my work at the Wing Luke Museum way back in 2004 in an unprecedented exhibition title "Beyond Talk: Redrawing Race". This year the museum is reviving the exhibition and hosting a new exhibit of the same title in May! There's a strong possibility I'll show my recent work in this exhibit as well, and I'm looking forward to it! Here's a review of the exhibit from 2004, and also check out the blog for the upcoming exhibit. http://beyondtalk2.wordpress.com/the-exhibit/
http://wingluke.org/home.htm

Nice work!

I look at art online all the time, so discovering good painters I've never heard of is always exciting for me. I like this artist's work! http://www.marlboroughgallery.com/exhibitions/julio-larraz-0

4 culture

Got the good news a couple weeks ago that I'll be included in 4 culture art gallery's exhibitions schedule for the 2013-2014 season! No exact date of month has been established yet, but I'm hoping for middle of 2014. It will include all new works! I'm looking forward to it, but I'll have to work my ass off to make it good!Special thanks to the selection panel at 4 culture!
http://www.4culture.org/2013/02/gallery4culture-artists-selected/

Interesting Art exhibition offer

Got an email today from a Native American organization here in Seattle for a request to participate in an art exhibition!  My first thought was wow what an honor that would be! But I still haven't quite decided to do it because it's on such short notice. They need the artwork by next week! I think it'd be a fun and interesting thing to do, but we'll see!

 Dear Ronald Hall,

For the 43rd Anniversary of the original Take Over of Fort Lawton and the founding of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation I am Curating a Art show in the Sacred Circle Gallery here at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural center for the Month of March. Artists will receive 60% of the sale price for their work that is sold. The Exhibition opening will be on Friday March 8 2013 in conjunction with UIATFs 43rd Anniversary Gala Fundraiser Dinner. A Art auction will be part of the Gala evenings program as well, participating Artists in the Art Auction will receive 50% of the sale of their Art work, the other 50% will go towards UIATFs Head Start Arts Program.

On the morning of March 8, 1970, Native American Activists scaled the fences surrounding Fort Lawton. The fort was slated to be decommissioned and the city intended to turn it into a park. The Fort Lawton invasion was a response to the declining state of Native reservations and to the challenges faced by Seattle's growing urban Indian population, as well as the government's apparent lack of concern for either. After first trying to persuade the city and federal officials that the land should be returned to Native people, Bernie Whitebear and the UIATF took action. Seven years later, Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center opened.

It would be a honor to include your work in the Exhibition. Installation in the Sacred Circle gallery begins Monday February 25. We will need images of all the work in the exhibition by February 20 to include in the Gala catalogue and for online promotion. If you are interested in participating please e-mail me images and description of pieces you would like to exhibit to: j.montano@unitedindians.org

Thank you for your consideration,

Jose

Jose E. Montano

Gala Event Coordinator
http://www.unitedindians.org/