Lollies for Dali, an homage

14 x 11 inches, acrylic on gessoed mounted aluminium panel               

 painting #299, 2024 - black floater frame 

While window shopping in Halifax a decade ago, I entered the Freak Lunchbox candy store on Barrington Street. I was aware of the existence of Chupa Chups lollipops, but I think that it was the first time that I actually saw some in person. The sight of them gave me a visceral response, so I bought two. Upon my return home, I did a Google search about this candy on a stick. Chupa Chups is a Spanish brand of lollipops and confectionary founded in 1958 by Enric Bernat.    

In 1969, Salvador Dali was approached to reinvent their logo. He would set the Chupa Chups name inside a daisy shape flower and suggested that the logo be place on top of the lolly instead of its' side. It would soon become one of those iconic commercial logos and help propulse the brand. 

Click to view this entertaining bio of Dali

Upon learning this, I knew I had to paint these while paying an homage to Salvador Dali. I would soon acquire a coffee table book entitled Dali Pop-Ups by Courtney Watson McCarthy. The book features the Persistance of Memory on its cover which seemed fitting to anchor a composition. Since these lollipops were hard to find in New Brunswick, I ordered a dozen from an on-line vendor. When they arrived, they were much smaller than I had anticipating, so I decided to put this painting on hold for the time being. Almost a decade would go by.

While standing inline at a self checkout at Walmart this past summer, I spotted a few open boxes of XXL Chupa Chups in the now so-call candy aisle. These were the size that I had envisioned for a painting, so I bought six. In keeping with the narrative, I changed Ball to Dali on the vintage mason jar. It was quite the challenge to paint.     

                                          _________________

My love affair of visiting art galleries and museums across North America and Europe began soon after I began painting in 1987. Among the firsts, was the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (BAG) in Fredericton, the designated art museum of the province of New Brunswick. It was here that I was introduced to the art of surrealist painter/artist Salvador Dali. The gallery owns no less than five of his paintings, among them is one of his masterworks, Santiago El Grande painted in 1957.

This painting was first exhibited as the centerpiece inside the Spanish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Once the fair closed, the massive painting was acquired by Lady Dunn (Marcia Anastasia Christoforides), wife of the late James Dunn. It was gifted to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery when it opened in 1959. The Dunn's had established a relationship with Dali since that late 1940's, having commissioned three portraits paintings that also hang in the Beaverbrook.

Santiago El Grande, oil on canvas, 1957

Beaverbrook Art Gallery, November 2022.

After many visits to the BAG, it's quite possibly the painting that I've spent the most time admiring inside an art museum during my lifetime.  I was finally able to connect the dots and fully grasp the scope of the imagery with its symbolism and metaphors during the process of preparing my 800 km hike on the Camino de Santiago back in 2009 (Way of Saint James). 

Santiago El Grande translates to Saint James the Great, who's the patron saint of Spain. Legends has it that the apostle James the Great made a miraculous apparition at the Battle of Clavijo during the Reconquista, helping the Christians conquer the Muslim Moors during middle ages. In art, Saint James is often depicted on a white horse while holding a sword and given the name of Moor-slayer. In this Salvador Dali's painting, the sword has been replaced by a crucifix made of light beams with Jesus looking towards heaven. His hands are not nailed to the cross but are facing upwards while forming the shape of cups. Symbolically holding all of the sins of the world.  

Video description of Salvador Dali's paintings

at the BAG, narrated by John Leroux, art historian and 

currently manager of the collections and exhibitions at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

In 2005, we visited the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. It houses a comprehensive collection of more that 2400 works of all kinds, spanning the entire artistic career of Dali. The collection was acquired over a 40 year period by art patron and friends of Dali, Ohio couple Reynolds and Eleanor Reese Morse. The museum is the home to more masterpieces of Dalí than any other museum in the world, including eight large-scale paintings. In 2011, the collection was moved into a new modern day storm secure complex. 

Self in from of the old Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Fla. - 2005

My son Jean-Luc, age 10, napping on a melting clock bench at the Salvador 

Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Fla. 2005.

Over the years, I had a chance to see, The Persistance of Memory up-close on several occasions. Housed in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City, although smallish, it's considered by many to be his most famous painting. I've also had the good fortune to view countless others during my travels and was pleasantly surprise to even discover a few at Musei Vaticani in Vatican City.  

While vacationing in Torremolinos, Spain this spring, we rented a condo-apartment for one week. Less than a km away, along the sea-side promenade are two sculptures of Salvador Dali and his wife Gala who stayed here during the spring of 1930.   

Sculpture of painter Salvador Dali and his muse Gala, 

whom between April and May 1930 resided in the Santa Clara Guesthouse, 

where Dali created the painting "The Invisible Man". 

Avant-garde poets Manuel Altolaguirre and Emilio Prados are the two other figures

who were part of the Generation of '27.

This painting is currently on view at the Fog Forest Gallery in a group exhibition entitled, "Winter Songs" - Nov. 15 to Dec. 31, 2024. (painting will be removed from exhibition if sold). Check website for gallery hours.

To acquire this painting please contact: 

Fog Forest Gallery

14 Bridge Street, Sackville,

New Brunswick, Canada, E4L 3N5

Phone (506) 536-9000

https://fogforestgallery.ca/

e-mail: janet@fogforstgallery.ca

-SOLD

Confiture de Fraises

7 x 5", acrylic on gessobord 

Painting #295, 2024

I've just returned from a solo trip to France where I spent 24 days. My main goal was to walk again on the Camino de Santiago Trail network. This time, my trek began in Périgueux in the rain, on the Vézelay Way GR-654. It’s a much less traveled path. My first three days were spent on the Bergerac variant. I left the Vézelay Way after 9 stages, and transitioned onto the Puy-en-Velay Way GR-65 during my 10th stage (so I was off the grid from Villeneuve-de-Marsan to Aire-sur-l'Adour). My last six stages took me to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and the finish line. Having previously completed 10 stages in 2017 and 14 stages in 2018, by walking these last six stages, I've completed the Puy-en-Velay Way (752 km). After five treks on the Camino de Santiago network (2009, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2024), I have now accumulated 78 stages in France, Spain and Portugal totaling over 2000 km. I hope that there will be more in my future.

Saint James Gate and the finish line!

Before departing on my Camino, I had an opportunity to visit some friends, Chantal and Thierry who happen to live 5 km from Périgueux in France. The Dordogne region of France is known for its vineyards and the land of 1001 castles. After I was done hiking on the Puy Way, I spent three days in the Basque country in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Bayonne and Biarritz. As luck would have it, the Olympic Flame of the Paris Summer Olympiads would be making its way to Bordeaux during my last day in France. I had the opportunity to take part in the festivities surrounding the Olympic Torch Relay. Having been a torch bearer twice, it meant the world to me to just bask it all in.

This small painting was gifted to my friends who picked me up at the Bordeaux airport, hosted me in their beautiful home for two days and share with me some the local culture, cuisine and wines.

-Private collection - FRANCE

 

Perfect Seal Jar

 

Title - Perfect Seal Jar

10 x 8", acrylic on mounted gessoed aluminium panel

painting #289, 2021 

I acquired this antique canning jar in 2016 at an estate sale in Summerside, PEI. After I did the photo study for this painting the following year, I dropped a handful of marbles inside the jar, the jar cracked and the bottom fell out.  The same thing later happened with an antique Ball mason jar, except the jar didn't shatter but has a major crack that I was able to secure with a piece of scotch tape. Lesson learned with jars and marbles. Glass hitting glass can either break a jar or even chip a marble. 

It's impressive the amount of different brands of antique canning jars that were produced in Canada more than half a century ago. It's always a thrill when I spot a new-to-me jar in an antique shop. It was a time when a lot more people had gardens and did all kinds of preserves for winter. While canning still remains a must for many, what has changed however, almost all fruits and vegetables are now available year-round in grocery stores. Before world-wide importation or green house farming, most fresh produce in grocery stores were seasonal. 

This painting will be part of a small solo show entitled "Art-ifacts", hosted by the Fog Forest Gallery in Sackville, NB from October 14 to November 5, 2021. Unfortunately, in order for the gallery to remain open during the pandemic while keeping everybody safe, the gallery director and I came to the decision that it was safer not to hold an opening reception. The public however will be able to visit the gallery at their leisure during the run of the exhibition. The gallery will be open on Thursday and Friday from 10 am to 5 pm or by appointment. 

Fog Forest Gallery

14 Bridge Street, Sackville,

New Brunswick, Canada, E4L 3N5

Phone (506) 536-9000

e-mail: janet@fogforstgallery.ca

-SOLD  

Improved Corona Jar

 

Title - "Improved Corona Jar"

12 x 14", acrylic on mounted gessoed aluminium panel

painting #288, 2021

This painting might look fun and whimsical at first glance, but it is a allegorical piece that is also meant to pose as a form of social commentary. 

When the Covid-19 pandemic started in early January 2020, the main concern was to try to contain the virus and stop it from spreading. With no vaccine existing, it wasn't long before there were clusters of outbreaks with this virus being so highly contagious. The only way to stop the spread was to put sanitary measures and for many countries to go in lock down, resulting in the massive disruption of our daily lives. As cases multiplied, the healthcare system was soon overwhelmed with lack of PPE and patients going in severe respiratory distress, having to be sedated and intubated while trying to ride off the storm on a ventilator. It was the beginning of a very stressful time for frontline and healthcare workers. Even if all of this was happening, it kind of brought the world together. There were often rallies in front of hospitals in support of healthcare workers, households displaying rainbow signs in their windows that everything was going to be alright, the Zoom platform exploding in popularity, people in cities opening their windows to sing and play music as a form of solidarity.  

Then all of a sudden, it became political, especially when mask mandates were implemented, which for some was a breach of the civil liberties. Science deniers and conspiracy theories would soon follow suite on social media and right-wing channels. Then the virus gradually became an instrument that caused division within the population.

In late 2020, there was hope on the horizon when several pharmaceutical research companies announcing that vaccines had been developed and were being approved for emergency use after their trials were completed.  These were found to have a very high efficacy rate in warding off the disease, hospitalization or deaths. 

When the vaccine rollout started, the response for vaccines was overwhelming. Finally, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. While some remained vaccine hesitant, the anti-mask / anti-vaccine militants started rallies in protest. Still hope remained as the general population continued to roll up their sleeves to get shots into arm. There was a possibility that herd immunity might be achievable if 70-75% or more of the population would become fully immunized. 

That theory seemed sound until the variants started to appear. The vaccines still remain highly effective with high efficacy rate among the general population with no underlying or auto-immune conditions in warding off, complications such as long Covid, hospitalization or death. When the Delta variant started to spread during the summer in the United States, it was a evident, that a pending storm was about to hit us with a 4th wave.  Especially when mask mandates were temporary lifted, our province opened its borders to the rest of Canada and later to the US. It was then referred to as  the pandemic of the unvaccinated, now affecting a much younger slice of the population as this variant is more than 2x as contagious as the previous variants according to the CDC (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention). 

When the federal and provincial governments started to gradually impose vaccination mandates for many public workers and students, followed by vaccine passports to access non essential services, this would incite and fuel the anti-vaxxers to start protesting in front of  hospitals against health care workers. You just can't make this stuff up. Within a year, rallies in front of hospitals went from cheers to jeers.

Our province of New Brunswick had fared rather well since the beginning of the pandemic with all of the precautionary measures in place and were regularly revised depending on the state of contagion. The tide has since turned as we are currently experiencing an unprecedent influx with record high daily number of new cases infected with the Delta variant, hospitalisation and patients requiring ICU care. And this is with 90,1% of the eligible population having received one vaccine and 81,1% that are fully immunized. The fact remains that even if there are breakthrough infections, 80% of those requiring hospitalization are the unvaccinated, proving the the vaccines do work. Our provincial government announced this week that it would be imposing a circuit-breaker system in specific regions in order to contain the transmission of the virus since our hospital system is currently overwhelmed with Covid-19 infections. 

________   

As some of you may or may not know, I was a registered nurse for 35 years before retiring in 2017. On my birthday in late January, my wife offered me a scrumptious cloud cake. Three hours after making a wish and blowing the candles, I received a telephone call from my former employer. They weren't birthday wishes.  It was to join the vaccination taskforce for the vaccine rollout with public health. My response was, "Be careful for what you wish for" since my wish was for an end of the pandemic by year's end. After I received my first vaccine in March, I came out of retirement and started working at vaccination clinics, putting shots into arm. 

As a still life painter, I've been collecting small props for many years. Whenever I get a visceral response or I feel an attraction or a connection for a particular object, I will often buy it on impulse. It can be the first element that can immediately  ignite an idea or concept for a painting. Other times, it can take many years before an event might trigger a response when these stored objects come out of hibernation to be used to create the narrative.

Back in 2006, I was watching the Scotiabank Giller Prize on CBC. The Giller Prize, is a top literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English the previous year. The winner that year was "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures" by Vincent Lam. Dr Lam is a medical doctor and was working as an emergency physician in Toronto at the time of his win. The book is a collection of short stories connected through the relationship that develop among a group of young doctors as they move from the challenges of med school to the intense world of emergency rooms, evac mission and terrifying new viruses. I bought the book shortly thereafter. The title alone intrigued me and thought, it would be a great prop for a painting, but under what circumstances? 

After I had started working at the vaccination clinic, I can across this Corona mason jar which was stored on a back of a shelf in my studio. When I bought it back in 2016, it dawn on me that it was the Spanish word for crown. Also, that I had previously acquired some Crown jars for a commission painting. In the context of the pandemic, the moment I saw the word Corona on the jar, it took a whole different meaning. It was then that the whole narrative for the painting came to me. Later that week , while working at the clinic, a pharmacist who pre-loads the syringes with the vaccine for the nurses kindly gave me an empty vial of the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine. I often refer to marbles as the mind, in the context of, "I'm losing my marbles". I won't go any further with the narrative and let you draw your own interpretation. Just know that the jar is flooded in light and hope. 

While I was painting away, I listened to "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures" on audio book.  One of the short stories is entitled "Contact Tracing".  It deals with the SARS-CoV-1 that occurred in Toronto during the outbreak between 2002-2004. The initials stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-1. The narrator send chills down my spine as the unfolding drama was exactly the same as with our current pandemic. Lack of PPE, medical personnel getting infected and issues that arises while working in a hospital setting during a pandemic.

During that pandemic, 8110 cases with a 10% mortality rate were reported worldwide from 31 countries. The United States reported 27 cases with no deaths, while Canada reported 251 cases, 44 deaths including one doctor and two nurses who worked at a Toronto hospital. SARS-CoV-1 is one of seven known coronaviruses to infect humans. This current pandemic is SARS-CoV-2. When many claim that the vaccine was rushed and developed too quickly, what many don't realize is that the science and research in developing a vaccine for a coronavirus had been in the works in vaccine research labs for years. It's quite impossible to test a specific vaccine for a 3-phase human clinical trial if there is no outbreak within an infected population. 

But if we all coming together, follow sanitary mesures, do our citizen duty by getting vaccinated to protect ourselves and all those around us; maybe, just maybe, we'll put an end to this pandemic. 

   

Buy the book through these links-

Amazon -Canada

Chapters/Indigo- Canada

This painting will be part of a small solo show entitled "Art-ifacts", hosted by the Fog Forest Gallery in Sackville, NB from October 14 to November 5, 2021. Unfortunately, in order for the gallery to remain open during the pandemic while keeping everybody safe, the gallery director and I came to the decision that it was safer not to hold an opening reception. The public however will be able to visit the gallery at their leisure during the run of the exhibition. 

The gallery will be open on Thursday and Friday from 10 am to 5 pm or by appointment. 

Fog Forest Gallery

14 Bridge Street, Sackville,

New Brunswick, Canada, E4L 3N5

Phone (506) 536-9000

e-mail: janet@fogforstgallery.ca

-SOLD

Lose One's Marbles

 

Acrylic on mounted gessoed aluminum panel

11 x 14", painting #279, 2020

I've done several still life paintings using vintage mason jars with marbles. My last one goes back about a decade now. It's always interesting to revisit past subject matter to see how one's fare as my craft continues to evolve. In recent years, I've been using a lot more opacity while painting with transparent glazing on top. I am pleased with the outcome.

For this study, I purchased a 12 x 18 in. white glossy ceramic floor tile from Home Depot which I laid on the windowsill to serve as the base. Its glossiness provided a mirror like effect that I was hoping for. 

The lampwork hand crafted marble on the glass lid was done by an American artisan. I acquired it from the artist a few years ago. This one even has a gold dust ribbon swirl. 

Currently exhibited in a group show entitled "Apart Together, a Weary World Rejoices" at the Forest Fog Gallery, Nov. 20- Dec. 31, 2020

To acquire this painting please contact:

Fog Forest Gallery

14 Bridge Street, Sackville,

New Brunswick, Canada, E4L 3N5

Phone (506) 536-9000

e-mail: janet@fogforstgallery.ca

-SOLD

Cosmos & Coke

12 x 10'', acrylic on gessoed mounted aluminium panel

painting#271, 2019

The windowsill photo study used for this painting was taken in our kitchen about 8-10 years ago. In the background was an enormous cherry tree that has since been removed because of illness. The crop of cherries was always bountiful. Black birds and robins always enjoyed the fruits on the top branches.

When I spotted this green tinted drinking glass on a store shelf, its shape alone reminded me of a flower vase. Growing up in Cap-Lumière, NB, my mother and grand-mother always planted Cosmos flowers every spring. After the blooms were gone, they would collect the seeds for the following year.

To acquire this painting please contact:
To be exhibited in a summer group show starting later next week.

Fog Forest Gallery

14 Bridge Street, Sackville,

New Brunswick, Canada, E4L 3N5

Phone (506) 536-9000

e-mail: janet@fogforstgallery.ca

-SOLD 

Murano Glass Decanter on a Windowsill

Acrylic on gessoed aluminium panel mounted on birch cradle panel

16 x 12", painting #268, 2018

This past September, my wife Suzanne and I flew to Winnipeg, rented a car and embarked on a two-week road trip of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. These were the last two remaining provinces we had yet to visit of our amazing country. We did a ginormous 2465 km loop stopping in Portage-la-Prairie, Brandon, Whitewood, Regina, Moose Jaw, the Great Sand Hills, Leader, Saskatoon, Manitou Beach, Riding Mountain National Park, Wasagaming and our last four days were spent in Winnipeg. The flat terrain of the prairies with sight lines at the horizon that seems endless creates the sensation of vastness, wide-open spaces and big sky country. Almost all of the fields had been cut and harvested. All that remained were the odd bails of hay. While driving, my eyes were always scanning the landscape in a state of awe and wonderment. We did a lot of walking and sightseeing and got to see some amazing art from prominent prairie artists such as Leo Mol, William Kurelek, Joe Fafard, Victor Cicansky, Wilf Perreault, Dorothy Knowles, Ivan Eyre, Marsha Kennedy, Belinda Kriek and Andrew Valko. The only artist that eluded us was Karel Funk. 

In Saskatoon we visited the Remai Modern, a new public art museum on the Canadian landscape that opened in 2017. In a New York Times travel feature it was listed at #18 of the "52 Places to Go in the World in 2018". The museum replaced the Mendel Art Gallery that closed in 2015 and now houses the Mendel's art collection. Main patron, Ellen Remai has gifted the museum with an extensive collection of Picasso wood-cut prints evaluated at 20 million dollars. 

bottom- myself, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The photographic studies for this painting was taken in the gift shop of the Remai Modern. It was a technically complex imagery to undertake. I had to make several adjustments, edit and improvise many sections in order to achieve a composition to my liking. The art glass is a Gage Murano glass decanter. Also on display from this collection were drinking glasses and an open face bowl. 

Part of a group exhibition at the Fog Forest Gallery
THE WORLD IN SOLEMN STILLNESS LAY
NOVEMBER 20, 2018 – DECEMBER 31, 2018

To acquire this painting please contact:

Fog Forest Gallery

14 Bridge Street, Sackville,

New Brunswick, Canada, E4L 3N5

Phone (506) 536-9000

e-mail: janet@fogforstgallery.ca

Clementines over Autumn Algoma

Acrylic on gessoed birch panel, 12 x 12''

Painting #232, 2015

I was introduced to the book, The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson during a visit to the Moncton Public Library during the fall of 2014. Not long after I returned it on loan, I had to purchase a copy for my own.  Although the book was first published in 2005 by Firefly books, it somehow flew under my radar during the past decade. It was written by art historian, David P. Wilcox (b. 1937). It is one of those quintessential books that no art library should be without. The massive 441 page volume encompasses different aspects of the life, spirit and physical environment of the Canadian landscape as seen through the eyes of the celebrated Group of Seven and affiliated luminaries.  

The front cover is graced with Autumn, Algoma (1920) by Lawren Harris. The Group of Seven also known as the Algonquin School was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933.  Tom Thomson is often associated with them, but in reality in died at age 39 under mysterious circumstances on Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, Ontario in 1917, before the group was even formed. Thomson's artwork is often considered as a main source that inspired the group to explore the landscape in a post-impressionism manner.    

While the Group of Seven may not be widely known outside Canada, things may be about to change. Actor Steve Martin, a serious art collector has just curated an art exhibition that will feature Lawren Harris in is first solo exhibition to travel south of the border. It was done co-jointly with the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Hammer Museum. The travelling exhibition will see stops on both U.S. coasts. ''The Idea of North'' just opened at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and runs through January 24 before heading to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from March 12- June 12, 2016. The collection will later be shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario on it's final stop from July 2 to September 11, 2016. You can read all about it on this LINK and on this LINK.

I did the photo study for this painting during the dead of winter, while outside, the deck and backyard were completely covered in a blanket of snow. It was quite a challenge to paint in details, the partially abstract rendering of the book's cover with refracted light.

-SOLD

Kool-Aid Days

Acrylic on gessobord, 12 x 16"

2013, painting #214

This is a gallery commission piece. The client is a collector of both Crown and Ball Mason jars, so this was the main requirement. I was pretty given much given carte blanche as far as the composition goes. As a still-life painter, objects often present themselves in daily life. If I have a visceral response to them, I will just buy them on impulse because one day these will serve as my muses to inspire an imagery worth considering. I have been holding on to these Kool-Aid packs since 2007. The teal tinted Ball Mason jar on the left and the hand- made paper drinking straws were both purchased on Etsy in 2011 from different vendors from Florida, the sunshine state. Last fall, I was lucky enough to acquire these Crown Mason jars from a local seller on Kijiji. These are in mint condition, so I was truly surprise to see the year 1948 on the bottom.

Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins. All of his experiments took place in his mother's kitchen. Its predecessor was a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack.To reduce shipping costs, in 1927, Perkins discovered a way to remove the liquid from Fruit Smack, leaving only a powder. Perkins moved his production to Chicago in 1931 and Kool-Aid was sold to General Foods in 1953. Hasting, Nebraska, the town where the fruity thirst quencher was invented still celebrates a yearly summer festival called "Kool-Aid Days" on the second weekend in August. The title is in homage of it's inventor.

I remember as a child that we use to buy individual packages like these at 6¢ each from a nearby corner store. On hot summer days, we'd go swimming at the beach and upon returning a pitcher was soon empty with three kids going for refills. Check out this classic 1970's commercial - HERE.

-Gallery commission 

  

One fish, two fish....gold fish

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 2012

8 x 10'', painting # 208

It has been a while since I've completed a painting. I've been busy taking care of other aspects of my life while trying to keep everything in balance. With this said, I hope to devote more time to my artwork in the coming months.

This painting is of sort, a companion piece to ''A Cat and Fish Tale'' created more than two years ago. It is also a piece about celebrating life. In this case, the life of Maurice the fish. Maurice, our pet gold fish was purchased in April of 2010, specifically as a painting prop. Much to my surprise and delight, Maurice is still alive and well and has probably grown about an inch since his first modelling assignment.I did the photo study for the painting in early March on his two year anniversary with us, which would account for the snow outside the window.

''A Cat and Fish Tale''

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 8 x 10'', #180, 2010

After spotting Dr. Suess' ''One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish'' 50th anniversary edition book with the gold cover in a few stores around town, the concept came to me. However, I decided to use a regular edition book with the yellow cover to anchor the composition. It was purchased as a set along with ''Green Eggs and Ham'' on eBay. These books are Dr. Suess' three best selling titles. In 2000, they were ranked in the top 15 best selling children books of all-time. 

With the most recent box office success of the computer-animated film ''The Lorax'', the spirit of Dr. Suess  (Theodor Suess Geisel) remains alive and well. Life often has a funny way of letting you know what is important if you are awake enough to see the signs. This past Easter while walking in front of the White House in Washington D.C. during the Easter Egg Roll, this young mother and child were leaving the grounds and she was sporting a very familiar tote bag, which reminded me the importance of pursuing the imagery.

   

   Easter in Washington, DC.

Update- February 24, 2014 

Today, Maurice the fish journeyed to the largest of all fish bowl, one without glass. We will miss you little buddy, it was a great 4 years.

-SOLD

Held over Klimt

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 2011

12 x 9'', painting  #199

Last year, my painting- Held over Monet was a result of discovering the fabulous art glass of Robert Held. This new painting is a result of history repeating itself. Of life imitating art and vice versa. Fast forward one year, our son Jean-Luc's soccer team was taking part in another tournament on Prince Edward Island in late July. Different town, different art galleries visited during down time, but same outcome. They win gold in the finals and I acquire another piece of his wonderful art glass. This painting pays tribute to two amazing artists.

Robert Held was born in Santa Ana California. He studied painting at Whittier College until ceramics artist  F.Carleton Ball crossed his path. Pursuing a Master's Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Southern California, Robert was awarded the graduate assistantship. At this time, he won the prestigious "Glen Lukins Award" for new work in ceramics. Upon graduating, Robert was offered a position as Head of Ceramics at a college being built in Ontario. He accepted the position becoming the youngest department head at the Sheridan College - School of Design.

In 1968, after a visit to the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Robert Held discovered a new love: the art of glassblowing. He returned to Sheridan College inspired and succeeded in launching Canada's first college level hot glass program in 1969. This program allowed many Canadian artists to become skilled in this medium, and crowned Robert Held as the pioneer of art glass in Canada.

Eventually, Mr. Held left the teaching world, and in 1978 he began his own glass studio known as Skookum Art Glass Inc based out of Calgary, AB and operated there until 1987. At this time, he moved to Vancouver, BC, and continues to enjoy much success there today at his studio: Robert Held Art Glass, and also through the many fine galleries and gift shops that carry his work throughout North America, Europe and Japan.

Some works are inspired by the paintings of famous artists such as Monet and Klimt, while others take inspiration from photographers and even interior designers. This vase is from the California Poppy collection. This line was inspired by the famous impressionist painting ''The Poppy fields'' by Claude Monet. In keeping with the color scheme of the vase, in lieu of Monet I was inspired to use an art book of Gustav Klimt featuring ''The Kiss'' on the front cover to ground the composition.  



Born in 1862, Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and the founding father and a leading member of the Vienna Secession movement, a group of artist who consciously rejected the academic style of the late nineteenth century. Even though he had formally studied art at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. He received training as an architectural painter and was classified as an academic painter who could paint hyperrealist portraits. He became celebrated for his rich, complex, gold-dazzling friezes and portraits of powerful, chic woman from Vienna's turn of the century society. His artistic vocabulary incorporated esoteric design and eroticism, which was not always well received, including some commissions which were never revealed.  His work was greatly influenced by the Byzantine movement and he also was associated with Art Nouveau when the movement was at it's peak.

''The Kiss'' (1907-08) is a celebration of his deeply held belief in the transforming power of idealized love. Klimt himself is the male figure embracing his life companion Emilie Flöge. The art book's author Gilles Néret notes,  ''Klimt's otherwise dominating woman becomes submissive. She yields to the man, abandons herself to him, and sexuality shimmers through her clinging gown''. I read this passage during the time I was doing the preliminary drawing on paper. By the time I started to paint, it dawn on me that the position of the vase and window frame in relation with the image, casted a shadow on the woman side. The positioning of the heads creating polar opposites like a ying-yang and it's attributes. Ying is seen as dark, passive and feminine while yang as light, active and masculine. And of course the only red flowers from the woman's gown are cast in the shadow of the vase, which itself boosts flowers in the same color palette. It becomes easy to over analyse imagery and create a narrative when you have a connection the goes beyond the surface.

The Kiss was done during his ''Golden Phase''. During this period he used gold leaf prominently on the artwork, which brought him both success and critical approval. Many of those Golden Phase paintings were confiscated by the Nazi regime during WWII. The image below entitled Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1(1907) once belong to the Bloch-Bauer couple until it was seized by the Nazis and bought by the Moderne Galerie (now Österreichische Galerie) in Vienna in 1941. (The Kiss is also housed here). In 2006, after a lengthy battle, a court decision attributed the ownership of that painting and four other Klimt paintings to Maria Altmann, a former Jewish refugee and niece of the Bloch-Bauers. On June 18, 2006, on her behalf and the family's heirs, the painting was sold at auction by Christie's to Ronald Lauder (cosmetic mogul of Estée Lauder Co.) for a reported 135 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting in history. Later that fall, Jackson Pollock (No. 5, 1948) and William de Kooning (Woman III, 1953) would both eclipse that figure. The remaining four paintings owned by Maria Altmann were sold at auction for a reported sum totaling 192 million.

On November 2001, Ronald Lauder opened the Neue Galerie in New York City, an art museum a few blocks away from the Metropolitan Museum, dedicated to art from Germany and Austria. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I is the centerpiece of the museum's collection.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1- 1907

Oil, silver and gold on canvas, 138 x 138 cm

 Neue Galerie, New York City

Next year in 2012, the city of Vienna Austria, will mark the 150th Birthday of Gustav Klimt with special exhibitions all over the city. We were born exactly 100 years apart, so I too will be celebrating a milestone, but under much less fanfare. 

''Anyone who wants to find out about me- as an artist,

which is all that's of interest - should look

attentively at my pictures.''

GUSTAV KLIMT

Book: Klimt, author- Gilles Néret, published 2007, TASCHEN

This is my third entry for The Still Life, an invitational group show to be held at the Elliott Fouts Gallery from October 1 - November 2, 2011            

-SOLD