For the Love of God: Damien Hirst Threatens Young Artist with Legal Action

A collage by Cartrain involving Damien Hirst's 'For the Love of God'

There has been some buzz about a situation involving a young British graffiti artist and Damien Hirst. Apparently the young artist, known as Cartrain, took a lesson from Banksy’s playbook-- he displayed one of his collages in the National Portrait Gallery under the nose of security and staff. So where does Damien Hirst come into play you ask? The collages by Cartrain, which the artist has sold as prints, involve a parody of Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’. It seems that Hirst was not thrilled to discover that a young graffiti artist had profited from prints involving his copyright protected works.

The Design and Artists Copyright Society, of which Damien Hirst is a member, contacted Cartrain after receiving direct instructions from Hirst. The society informed the young artist that he had broken the law by infringing upon Hirst’s copyright. Hirst’s demands were clear-- he demanded the original works and the halt of sales with the threat of legal action. Hirst also demanded the profit that Cartrain had made from selling his collages and prints. Four works were confiscated by DACS from Cartrain’s gallery on November 12th. Reports state that Cartrain only earned about £200 from sales of the work.

People are defending the work of Cartrain by stating that appropriation is not theft. However, appropriation can be considered theft if the work is protected by copyright. It really boils down to a fine line decided by judge or jury. True, art schools and law have very different opinions about the implications of appropriation. In the case of Hirst’s work-- which is known worldwide-- one could make a case for parody within the protections of appropriation.

Damien Hirst is not the only internationally renowned artist waving the legal stick around these days. Shepard Fairey, the visual spearhead behind Barack Obama’s campaign, recently stated that he will take legal action against “bootleggers” who have “hijacked” his “style”. That said, I find it ironic that Damien Hirst would be upset over someone infringing upon his copyright considering that he has infringed upon the copyright of others. Damien Hirst and Shepard Fairey have two things in common-- they have both settled out of court due to infringing on the copyright of others and they have both threatened legal action against artists who have violated their protected works. The saying, “you reap what you sow”, comes to mind. Did I mention that Cartrain is 16 years old? ‘For the Love of God’-- Indeed.

Links of Interest:

‘Appropriation’ isn’t theft, Mr. Hirst

Damien Hirst 'threatened to sue teenager over alleged copyright theft'

How Damien disappointed us

With Barack Obama Posters Comes Fame

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

Art Space Talk: Belinda Eaton

Belinda Eaton’s magic realism paintings and portraits evoke a world of colour, vivid characters, swirling spaces, uncontained energy that can’t be trapped by the limits of the canvas, images constantly on the move, living life, dancing, drinking, and eating. Within the canvas there are no boundaries of subject, perspective or reality, just the borrowings from all that she has been exposed to. Belinda Eaton graduated with a B.A. Fine Art from St.Martins School of Art, London, in 1983.

Face I by Belinda Eaton

Brian Sherwin: Belinda, you studied at St. Martin's School of Art in London. Can you discuss your academic years? Did you have any influential art instructors?

Belinda Eaton: I was very lucky to be at Art school in England at a time when all the colleges were Government funded. There were unlimited supplies of free art materials and fantastic courses. I was even luckier to have been selected by St Martins School of Art for both its amazing Foundation Course and then the Degree course, 4 years in total. The foundation course covered everything from sculpture, photography, fashion, painting and printmaking etc. You were given the opportunity to try everything and then you were able to make your choice as to which direction you would like to go. It was an absolutely great experience.

Two of my contemporaries were John Galliano and Peter Doig. This interaction between all the departments carried on into the degree course. The famous fashion department was influenced by the painting department, etc. it allowed a freedom of exploration and creativity to constantly grow and be explored rather than a narrowing down of discipline.

I decided to take my degree in Film making, which was a passion of mine, but found the course was focused on the minimalism of film, the abstraction and deconstruction of the medium rather than the content and imagery. So I transferred over to Fine Art and was drawn to the Printmaking department.

I did no painting at all at college, instead I immersed myself in acids and inks and metal plates, the world of etching. It absolutely fascinated me. Starting with a blackened metal plate covered in ground. Creating lines or areas that would be bitten into by acid, so many factors affecting the quality of line, so many serendipities and unpredictability's. To this day I prepare all my canvases with a blackened gesso. For me it's the experience of allowing the light and form to emerge from the dark. I actually cannot paint on a white ground. It freaks me out.

As for remembering my art instructors, St. Martins was very well known for the fact that all the tutors were well known artists. But at the time as a female, I found it a very sexist environment to be in and also very boozy and as I can't remember any of the tutors names l don't think they had a lasting impact on me. But that was my experience, not necessarily that of others.

Face II by Belinda Eaton

BS: You have stated that your paintings are your world, your fascination for people, plants, animals and color. You went on to say that they are how you perceive the energy of things. Can you go into further detail about this? Tell us more about the philosophy behind your art.

BE: Oh!... To try and identify my philosophy about my art would be like trying to contain energy. I try not to be too mind-full or intellectual about what I do. I have practiced mediation for over 20 years and feel the influences of that more and more in my work. Not so much in the content, but more in the approach, especially recently.

I start with a black canvas and I stand and start to paint. Always a face comes first and this informs the rest of the painting. The story unfolds. But more recently each brush stroke has got its own life. I am beginning to paint just looking at the colour rather than the form. It is being in the moment with the paint rather than projecting the finished painting. Very much like meditation.

The artist's block always come when one begins to think about what one is projecting, where is it going? Is it any good? What on earth am I doing? etc etc. To just be in the paint forgetting everything and really, the old cliché, letting the painting take over, it's so very true.

Face VI by Belinda Eaton

BS: I understand that you have traveled often. How have those travels shaped your artistic direction?

BE: This is a really interesting question. I think by constantly moving you can never really attach yourself (on a subconscious level) to anything. By being secure in one place it's very easy and comfortable to begin to identify with a group or culture and find your comfort zone within that. As a sort of nomad you take something from here and there, an impression, a sound, a smell. You collect references that become jumbled and mixed and lose their original context, to emerge in a new context.

Its just been a circumstance of my life that I have moved from country to country never staying longer than seven years and occasionally only a few years. I am currently on my longest stay which is here in Spain, nearly 9 years. Moving around, arriving finally in Barcelona with its sophistication and amazing architecture and then Almeria. In the middle of the desert where all the Spaghetti westerns were made with Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone along with many other films. It's a scarred landscape almost like a blank canvas, exposed and raw. And its here that I have built my studio and hopefully will end up staying a while.

But how has all this traveling shaped my work. It's the richness and newness of each culture. Always having to look with a new uninformed eye. From Pakistan , the amazing painted lorries, where every surface even the engines are painted and decorated. Old men with their flaming hennaed red hair and beards. India with all its colours with no restrictions. Africa where as a child everything was larger than life and colour again and amazing creatures and improbabilities like an elephant eating the roof where you were sleeping. Spain and its magic and superstitions, Easter processions of religious statues being walked through the village at night with thousands of candles and masked bearers in their sinister pointed hoods. Terrifying until they reach beneath their robes and throw out handfuls of sweets. The tomato throwing festival. New York with its thousands of different faces from every background. Its all layers and layers of colour, pattern, no rules, surprises and light. And I think this is how I paint.

Also, I think quite importantly, realizing each country has its own relationship with art. What Art is for them? What is good? etc. How the trends in art are so strong, especially in the West. Personally as a painter this period in time when up until recently painting has had very little value. That successful art has come from a very mindful intellectual space. To go to countries and have ones work received from a heart place has been quite amazing.

Gamblers by Belinda Eaton

BS: Can you discuss any symbolism in your paintings that reflect those experiences?

BE: No, I can't really. There is no conscious symbolism, but I am aware that I do use symbolism, I just haven't worked out how its symbolic to me. In my drawings and etchings there are always fishes in the sky. Certain patterns emerge again and again especially pomegranates, tattoos, eggs. I don't want to think about it really. And in 10 years I might have a deeper understanding of why l have used them, but it is not important now, as they are not conscious but subconscious.

BS: Can you go into further detail about some of your methods as far as your painting is concerned?

BE: As I have already mentioned, I prepare the canvas with a black ground and just begin to paint. If it's a more narrative painting, the face comes first and the story after. I paint in acrylics, which really suit me as I like to work fast and need to repaint an area over and over. I sometimes think if someone x-rayed one of my paintings they would be amazed at the layers and layers of colour and change of figure, composition etc. These layers are fantastic because an element of the lower colour always comes through somewhere and adds so much dimension. If the painting were planned out you would lose all this.


Also by painting in acrylic and liking to work wet on wet, you really have to work fast and then the painting becomes purely instinctive. I can spend weeks painting and then an hour painting over the whole painting and reworking it with completely fresh paint and it's finished. You lose all the agony and caution of those weeks and what's there is dynamic and fresh. This approach is really happening in my new large Faces. I add a dimension to this of turning the painting on its side or upside down whilst I am working. So I lose the image and really just focus on colour.

I use a large painter & decorators brush and just get very physical and dynamic. There is so much energy with each brush stroke, it's magic. It's also quite abstract and liberating. But then my obsession with layers and patterns comes in, and these begin to play with each other. So in a way there is an element of total freedom and then complete control. Hmm, interesting.

BS: What about other influences? Do you adhere to any specific art tradition, so to speak? Are you inspired directly by any specific artist from the past?

BE: No not really. If anything I think I am quite traditional and probably most influenced by the early Renaissance. I don't think I am inspired by any artists, but I find some artists truly inspiring. For example, I went to see Ron Mueck's exhibition at the National Gallery, London where he was the artist in residence. He creates these people who are so realistic but their proportions are different to real life. Take his 'Man in a Boat ', a roughly metre high naked old man sitting in a rowing boat. You could see every pore on his skin. The hair on his arms, the pink of the skin of his elbows, his small penis etc. etc. is quite amazing. They are alive. You expect them to breath, you are waiting to see their chests rise and fall, a pulse.

I find Rothko's work for me borders on the religious. They are possessed and quite spiritual and leave me in wonder. Paula Rego is an artist I really identify with. She paints her world, which has that magic realism and dreamlike quality, and at times a harsh brutality. She is so true to her self. Originally l went to live in New York in the early eighties because of Rap, Graffiti and Jean- Michel Basquiat. At the time his language was so new and refreshing as was rap and graffiti. I went to see Peter Doig,s exhibition at the Tate Britain and found it magical. You stand in front of his large snowscapes and the texture and colour are so charged and move into the realm of possessing their own life. There is a common theme through out the artists above, of work, which breathes a creative force of its own. I am really inspired by life around, people, nature, the layers and layers that make up life.
Tattoo Girl by Belinda Eaton


BS: What are you working on at this time? Can you give our readers some insight into your most current work?


BE: I am currently working on much larger canvases and am really involved in the larger faces with the focus on colour, paint and the brush stroke. This is what's consuming me right now. Tomorrow I could be lead somewhere else. Again as I mentioned before, my work is purely instinctive and l try not to intellectualize too much about it which in turn would inhibit the freedom I search for within painting.


We all have our own relationships and motivations of why we create Art. I guess mine is to try and experience liberation with in the medium. I can get totally agonized by thinking of what to paint, where is it going etc, and months can pass by in this self-inflicted questioning and also criticism. A lot of artists I speak to all have this horrendous inner critic.

BS: Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

BE: Yes, I have a solo exhibition coming up in two weeks in Karachi, at the V.M. Gallery which is a great space. I had quite a few shows in Pakistan over 10 years ago and have wanted to go back. It is very, very, rewarding to show in the East. I think l have already mentioned how ones work is really received from the heart. I am also about to start a whole new body of work for a show I am hoping will come off in Paris.

Woman with Pomegranates II by Belinda Eaton

BS: Speaking of exhibiting… what do enjoy about displaying your art in public view? Do you see it as part of the process, so to speak?

BE: Yes it is apart of the process. As a painter you spend so much time on your own, isolated in your own little world, or lost in your own world. The process of showing is your emergence. somewhat terrifying and very vulnerable. I don't let anyone in my studio whilst I work. But hanging for a show is the first time you see all the work together, hanging and breathing. Then you can let go of it, really let go of it. The paintings are no longer a part of me and can start their own journeys.

I have had paintings in shows that are then taken on exhibition all around a country with out my knowing. They have their own lives. When I appeared on television on BBC 1, the response was amazing from all over the world. From the isolation of the studio to a conversation with the world via the internet. In the same way I love to see what happens to my images on the Internet, what people do and say about them, it's brilliant.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art or the goals that you have?

BE: About my Art? I actually think I have said too much, but thank you for giving me the opportunity. A dream would be to be involved in a project that would have some beneficial impact on the planet. Some project that would enable artists to use their creativity to help solve some of the environmental and social problems that exist.

You can learn more about Belinda Eaton by visiting her website-- www.belindaeaton.com. Belinda is also currently a member of the myartspace community--www.myartspace.com/belindaeaton. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.


Take care, Stay true,


Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

Myartspace Announces London Calling Competition

Myartspace Announces London Calling

Myartspace is sponsoring a competition juried by a world class panel from The Tate Modern, The Hayward Gallery, and the Barbican Gallery all in London. Fifty finalists will be selected and three winners will have their work represented at SCREAM London in June 2009.

Inspired by Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood’s own career as an internationally recognized artist, SCREAM touches shoulders with some of London’s most established art galleries in the traditional hub of the capital’s art market. SCREAM London is run by Tyrone Wood as curator. Notable guests and patrons have included Tracey Emin, Claire Danes, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Beverly Knight, Meg Mathews, and many others.

Competition Snapshot:

-Deadline for registration and submission is May 15, 2009.
-Competition is open to myartspace members. Membership is free.
-Registration fee is $50, but for early registration by March 31, 2009 the fee is $25.
-Those who register before December 31, 2008 will receive a free 3-month trial subscription to Premium Services.
-Very qualified jury panel to review your work.
-Fifty finalists will be selected and announced by the jury panel.
-Three winners will have their art represented at SCREAM London, in June 2009. Winners to be announced on May 31, 2009.

Summary:

myartspace, the premier online venue for the contemporary art world, is sponsoring a Juried competition. We want to represent three contemporary artists at a venue in London, England during June 2009. The competition, like others from myartspace, will have world-class jurors reviewing the work of the submissions. Fifty finalists will be selected and three winners will have their work represented at the show.

With over 50,000 members, and more than two years of history, myartspace has been a key force in the art industry at availing opportunity for its rapidly growing community. The myartspace community consists of artists, collectors, gallerists, art appreciators, educators, curators, art critics and many others. Membership to myartspace is free, and members can upload an unlimited amount of art work, music, video and audio narration.

For more information about London Calling visit,
www.myartspace.com/londoncalling

For more information about SCREAM London visit,
www.screamlondon.co.uk

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

Frequently Asked Questions About the New York Art Exchange (NYAXE)

Below are some frequently asked question about the New York Art Exchange (NYAXE). The New York Art Exchange is an online marketplace for buying and selling contemporary fine art. NYAXE was officially launched on December 2nd at the Bridge Art Fair in Miami. The New York Art Exchange (NYAXE) enables the art community to capitalize on new digital mediums through technology by connecting artists, gallerists and collectors via the World Wide Web. NYAXE can be used in association with www.myartspace.com. NYAXE and myartspace are owned by the Catmacart Corporation.

Why the two sites - myartspace and nyaxe?

"We debated this issue quite a bit. We decided that we wanted to see the social network, myartspace, continue to flourish as a great place for free expression, unlimited uploading or work, and a healthy balance of artists, collectors, gallerists, educators, students and art appreciators. Artists can upload their studies as well as their best work, and gain valuable feedback and support. It's almost like a museum exhibit for the artists. The New York Art Exchange is highly focused on providing a market for selling and buying art, and so the items for sale are likely to be amongst the best people have to offer, and the buyers are there not only to look and appreciate, but to purchase. We see this nyaxe personal store more like a Chelsea Gallery. People can wander in to admire, but many will be on a mission to buy. We think the overwhelming majority of members will co-exist between the two sites as there are ways the sites are tightly linked."

Can I use my art on myartspace for nyaxe?

"Yes. When you go to create a listing, you can either upload a fresh new piece of work directly into your online store OR you can import work from your image library in myartspace. If you feel the images you uploaded in myartspace are perhaps not high enough resolution or don't capture you work well, you can always upload new images. You can access your NYAXE store by logging into your www.myartspace.com account. Simply visit your account page and click on Manage Store."

What resolution images should I upload for nyaxe.com?

"You should try to upload the highest resolution images possible onto nyaxe as buyers will want to use the zoom feature to scour your work for details and because on-demand printing is always better with a higher digital image to print from. We would recommend a minimum of a 5 megapixel camera, and today if you are buying a new camera, the lowest resolution should be 10 megapixel. A Digital SLR camera will generally take much better photos than a non-SLR even with the same megapixel rating."

How many photos of my piece of work should I upload?

"For each listing, you can have one primary image, and 4 secondary images. You may want to show different perspectives on the work, or perhaps some images more zoomed in that others. You don't need to provide additional images, but the capability is there."

How many listings (items for sale) can my store have?

"There is no practical limit to how many items can be listed on your site. But realistically, you will need to use Categories in order to keep them in smaller groups so that the buyer doesn't get lost. Each store plan has a limit to the number of free item listings you can have that year, and after that there is a cost with each listing. You probably would like to balance the incremental listing costs against the traffic you see going to your store before committing too many listings."

Do I get my own web address with my store?

"Yes you do. It will be something like www.nyaxe.com/lois.foley. You get to choose that address when you sign up to create your store."

How does the representation work?

"Gallerist have more advanced stores and have the option to "represent" other artists work found in a nyaxe store by making a formal request. The gallerist would propose a representation to an artist through the nyaxe messaging system. He would propose a price that the artist would receive upon sale of the work, and a shipping arrangement. In some cases they may leave the work with the artist and simply represent them online. Either way, the art listing is immediately transferred from the artists store to the gallery store. We expect more galleries to develop an physical and online presence."

What is the commission I pay to sell my work?

"The commission varies from 5% to 15% depending on your store program. You can choose a free store, and you would have a limited number of free listings and a 15% commission when your work is sold. Or you can choose a professional store, list up to 100 pieces of work for free, and pay a 10% commission. For galleries, they have substantially more advanced capabilities and pay a 5% commission. So the actual figure depends on how active your store is."

How does the escrow program work?

"nyaxe is based on an escrow model for selling original work. The program is designed to protect both the buyer and seller. The money is put safely aside when the artist sells some work is held by us until both parties are satisfied. The way it works is pretty straight forward. The buyer purchases a painting and pays for the item and the shipping. Our escrow system dispenses the shipping money to the artist and the artist then safely ships the work to the buyer. Once the buyer receives it, he acknowledges it and the rest of the money due is released."

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com

Edward Winkleman: How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery

Edward Winkleman, an art dealer from New York, has written a book dealing with the many aspects of running a commercial art gallery. Winkleman announced his book, titled How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery, on his popular art blog. The book is designed for individuals who have considered opening their first gallery. However, it appears that there will be useful information within the book for artists and others. How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery by Edward Winkleman will be released in July of 2009 and will be published by Allworth Press.

On his blog Winkleman stated that he did have some hesitation about the announcement, stating, “as the world economic situation crumbled all around us, I thought it a particularly cruel joke by God that this would be the backdrop against which I announced a book titled How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery.”. However, based on the comments he has received so far it would seem that people view the book in a positive light. I look forward to reading it.

Winkleman commented on his blog, “The marketing copy and the copious caveats throughout the book do take pains to stress that not only is a gallery a very organically grown and individualized enterprise but that although it's possible to summarize the advice and best practices of the dealers I've interviewed and known over the years, outside of legal and business regulations, there are no hard and fast rules for running a commercial gallery, and the most successful new dealers are the ones who re-invent the business. In short, it's a book for beginners. I wouldn't dream to suggest it contains anything that established dealers would need to know.”

Links of Interest:
www.edwardwinkleman.blogspot.com/
http://badatsports.com/2008/episode-169-edward-winkleman/

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

Finalists of myartspace / Bridge Art Fair Miami competition

Finalists of myartspace / Bridge Art Fair Miami competition

Myartspace, along with Bridge Art Fair sponsored a competition juried by a world class panel from Bridge Art Fair, SF MOMA, San Jose Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of Art. The registration and submission period ran from September 1 through November 15, 2008. Fifty finalists were selected along with three top winners.

The three winners were Jonathan Brilliant, Beatrix Reinhardt and Douglas Ljungkvist. The four-person jury panel consisted of Elisabeth Sussman, senior Curator of the Whitney Museum, Janet Bishop, Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, JoAnne Northrop, senior curator of the San Jose Museum of Art, and Michael Workman, Founder of the Bridge Art Fair.

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the founder of myartspace and CEO, noted, "We continue to marvel at the quality of work that the community puts up for consideration, and the challenge the jury confronts with such breadth and depth of material. Our goal continues to be to provide great opportunities for artists to have their work recognized by leading curators and the art public. We continue to see a global audience of artists and art appreciators in our community."

Michael Workman, Founder and Director of the Bridge Art Fair, said, "We have always believed the art industry will thrive with new entries, new models and new venues. myartspace.com brings to the table a dramatically new and contemporary way to address the art market. We welcome such innovation from the Internet in the Bridge Art Fair."

This will be a short series of entries acknowledging the fifty finalists. I shall post five at a time:

Paul Hickey -- www.myartspace.com/paulhickey
"My work explores space and colour interaction as central sensuous elements. Attempting a balance between control and chance I use bold industrial colours to achieve a democratic approach towards hue. Focusing on the correlation of the whole to its individual component pieces, I want my work to have a direct dialogue with the architecture and not to be confined by the picture plane but to fully discover architectural limits."

Milee Tibbs -- www.myartspace.com/milleetibbs
"I am drawn to photography because of its ubiquitous presence in our culture and because of the tension between the truth-value photographs infer and their inherent manipulation of reality. Despite our awareness of the mutability of photographic images, we approach them thinking we know what to expect: something that-has-been, a fixed subject inside a frame. If the fundamental nature of photography is the fixing of an image, then it is my goal to create an image whose subject is illusive. I develop my work out of my desire to scratch off the surface of the image and expose its construction.

My recent work is a response to our relationship with mediated images, specifically those of women. I use the transgressive space of self-portraiture to upend the canonical power relationship between photographer and subject. This is a picture of me is an attempt to locate the self in an image. This series both evokes the impossibility of going back to childhood and questions the desire to do so. The act of reenacting these photographs is a gesture meant to question how a woman is expected to present herself.

In present American culture, women are asked to have the body of fourteen year olds, and fourteen year olds are presented as desirable women. There is an obsession with youth and sex, and not coincidentally, there is also an obsession with pedophilia. By reenacting these childhood poses I am asking the viewer to reinterpret them through what I see as our culturally confused and confusing relationship to sexuality."

Mari Richards -- www.myartspace.com/maririchards
"Our culture is hell-bent on consuming everything around us. In every area of life – from food, to information, to our choice of identity and beyond – we create a concept of self by asking our bodies and minds to incorporate and assimilate our surroundings. This habitual filling assumes that individual bodies can take it all in, and continue in the same oblivious state as they began. But, what is our personalized bodily response to this excess and overfilling? How do we cope – subconsciously and corporeally – with too much input, and no end in sight"

James Robert Ford -- www.myartspace.com/jamesrobertford
James Robert Ford is a contemporary British mixed media and installation artist. James attended Goldsmiths College, London. His artwork is often based around social interaction and include elements of game play, participation, communication and humor, and is recognizable in form by its heavy use of the Internet as a means of creating, displaying and promoting artworks.

Yeni Mao -- www.myartspace.com/yenimao

"My work investigates nationalism, in its broadest sense, and the slippery navigation of belonging. The most current work deals with absence and fullness, the imbuing of a template with desired characteristics, and the potential blankness of identity. Personality is hollow, an amalgamation of characteristics plucked from your heroes and shaped by your chosen environment. This is accomplished through series of works that circulate around this central subject.

The images I choose to work with are either the assembly of smaller wholes to make one larger body and movement, or are a single body that addresses the interior space of the silhouette. The fascination with mutable identity is really a reaction towards the American dream, being anything you want to be- especially relevant to immigrant societies, but widely applicable."

About myartspace:
myartspace, the premier online venue for contemporary art, is one of the fastest growing and diverse communities on the internet. Its members include more than 50,000 artists, collectors, gallerists and other art world professionals from across the globe, and it currently has on display hundreds of thousands of pieces of fine art.

Membership on myartspace is free and artists can upload an unlimited amount of work including images, music and video. Myartspace is created and run by CatMacArt Corporation. CatMacArt Corporation is located in Palo Alto, California. CatMacArt Corporation also is the company behind The New York Art Exchange (www.nyaxe.com) the premier online marketplace for contemporary art.

For more information visit, www.myartspace.com/miamibasel/winners/winners.html

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

Nothing's Shocking?

Between Nothingness and Paradise (detail) by Gregory de la Haba

When writing I follow two paths. The first involves complete silence and the other involves loud music. My taste in music ranges from Bach to Megadeth. Tonight, since I’m working away from home, was an ear shattering night. I listened to my usual-- Into the Lungs of Hell off of Megadeth’s So Far, So Good… So What! album is always a favorite for setting the mood when that extra edge is needed. However, tonight I felt like something else-- something less audibly shocking, so to speak.

Eventually I stumbled upon my copy of the album Nothing’s Shocking by Jane’s Addiction. The album, which was released in 1988, made me think-- just what is shocking--with social commentary in mind-- today as far as the art world is concerned? The art world is a reflection of our collective culture, true? So what is shocking? What shocks us visually when we visit a gallery, art museum, or art fair? What hits us in the gut? What wakes us up? Does that type of work exist in mass today or has the concept been so watered down that it is only whored out by attention seeking art-star hopefuls?

For me, shock art-- or just art that is shocking if you like-- must have a strong message in order to remain valid. Viewers must leave with an idea that goes beyond the absurdity, beyond the bizarre. Sadly, a true sense of social commentary is rarely achieved with shocking works today. That is my opinion. I have seen very few works to convince me otherwise in recent years.

A perfect example of this shocking failure could be found at Bridge Art Fair (Wynwood) during Art Basel Miami. An artist at Bridge Wynwood strived to shock curious onlookers as they passed by his installation titled Between Nothingness and Paradise-- which was conveniently located near the center of the exhibit space. The installation-- involving three horses in the throws of exaggerated sexual gratification with a child-sized doll standing nearby-- was the work of Gregory de la Haba. Needless to say, the spectacle-- I mean installation-- attracted a steady flow of viewers. However, the interest did not appear to be strictly about the work. In fact, people tended to focus more on the man behind the work.

Throughout the length of the fair onlookers whispered amongst themselves while passing by the large installation (large compared to the other exhibited work at Bridge Wynwood)-- questions about the artists sanity and sexuality could be overheard. It seemed that people were more shocked by the fact that de la Haba created the installation than by the artwork itself. In that sense, the only social commentary that de la Haba achieved was an exposition of assumptions questioning his stability as an individual and as a father-- since it was made clear from word of mouth that de la Haba created the piece in the presence of his young sons.

With that in mind, there was nothing truly shocking about de la Haba‘s actions. In fact, it appeared as if he were following a blueprint for attempting controversy-- a path that has been followed by many hopeful provocateurs in recent years. However, de la Haba did make a few unorthodox twists and turns in his game plan. For example, one report states that the artist chartered a truck that displayed an image of the installation as a form of promotion-- as if being positioned as a centerpiece at Bridge Wynwood was not enough.

Apparently the artist drove around Wynwood displaying the graphic image until Miami police threatened to arrest him. Censorship or common sense? You be the judge. In other words, a shocking work of art with meaning does not need to be forced upon viewers in order to be valid. Unfortunately, it seems that is exactly what de la Haba was attempting to do. This example of the 'look at me, look at me' attitude is becoming all too common. The story is always the same-- no matter how badly the game is played. Fumble.

I’m certain that dreams of instant art-stardom tickled de la Haba’s brain upon resting his head each night throughout the length of the fair. The only problem is that this provocateur, as so many before him, failed to provoke anything other than a few fleeting moments of curiosity, concern, and ridicule from viewers. Nothing lasting. No meaningful kicks to the gut. Nothing truly shocking. If there was social commentary behind his ‘shocking’ installation it was lost after a few beers and a trip to Art Basel Miami.

This brings me back to the questions at hand: What is shocking today in the art world? What is purposefully shocking, so to speak? Has social commentary been exchanged for a petty display of arrogance and the desire for fame? Is de la Haba more important than the message his work conveys? In thinking about these questions-- while listening to Jane’s Addiction-- I recalled the past.

The album Nothing’s Shocking by Jane’s Addiction was released a year before the Andres Serrano Piss Christ scandal. However, there is a long history of ‘shocking’ art to consider when thinking about the span of art history-- works that were both shocking and meaningful-- works that offered commentary that has stood the test of time. That said, what exactly is shocking-- with meaning-- today considering the art world we know? Why does it seem that social commentary in these works has been lost to art-star delusions?

There is much to comment on today... issues and concerns that could be delivered with a visual bang-- a clever form of shock art. After all, we live in the ‘age of terror’-- there is enough war to go around, we watch movies involving mass destruction followed by movies involving talking animals, children butcher thousands of characters on the tv screen each day in the form of a Playstation 3 game (or is Xbox 360 all the rage?) followed by taking care of a virtual pet so that it does not get 'sick'.

So what is shocking today? How can our way of life be expressed in both a shocking and meaningful manner? Is there still room for social commentary just under the surface? Or would we be better off searching for Wild Horses.

Links of Interest:

Art Basel: It's 'horses gone wild' at Bridge fair

Wacked-Out Weirdness at Art Basel

Horse Porn, Kids, and Basel

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

Finalists of myartspace / Bridge Art Fair Miami competition

Finalists of myartspace / Bridge Art Fair Miami competition

Myartspace, along with Bridge Art Fair sponsored a competition juried by a world class panel from Bridge Art Fair, SF MOMA, San Jose Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of Art. The registration and submission period ran from September 1 through November 15, 2008. Fifty finalists were selected along with three top winners.

The three winners were Jonathan Brilliant, Beatrix Reinhardt and Douglas Ljungkvist. The four-person jury panel consisted of Elisabeth Sussman, senior Curator of the Whitney Museum, Janet Bishop, Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, JoAnne Northrop, senior curator of the San Jose Museum of Art, and Michael Workman, Founder of the Bridge Art Fair.

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the founder of myartspace and CEO, noted, "We continue to marvel at the quality of work that the community puts up for consideration, and the challenge the jury confronts with such breadth and depth of material. Our goal continues to be to provide great opportunities for artists to have their work recognized by leading curators and the art public. We continue to see a global audience of artists and art appreciators in our community."

Michael Workman, Founder and Director of the Bridge Art Fair, said, "We have always believed the art industry will thrive with new entries, new models and new venues. myartspace.com brings to the table a dramatically new and contemporary way to address the art market. We welcome such innovation from the Internet in the Bridge Art Fair."

This will be a short series of entries acknowledging the fifty finalists. I shall post five at a time:

Julie Davidow -- www.myartspace.com/juliedavidow

Julie Davidow was born in Miami and attended New World School of the Arts in Miami from 1996-1999 on scholarship. Her work has been exhibited at The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC; The Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art; The Tampa Museum of Art; the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C., and numerous local and national galleries.

Davidow's work is included in the permanent collection of the Miami Art Museum, the Girl’s Club Collection in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and many private collections nationwide. She is recipient of a Florida Artist Enhancement Grant, Dade Community Foundation’s Leo and Raye Chestler Contemporary Visual Arts Award, and was a four year juried artist-in-residence at the ArtCenter / South Florida on Miami Beach. In addition, Julie is the coauthor of the book MIAMI Contemporary Artists.

Nicola Evans -- www.myartspace.com/nicolaevans



Maureen Keaveny -- www.myartspace.com/maureenkeaveny
Born St. Louis, MO; 1980. Living and working in Providence, RI. Photographer, installation and new media artist Maureen Keaveny utilizes outdated machines, electronics, photography, and a variety of found and recycled materials to construct large-scale, impermanent landscapes. She constructs reproductions of a nature-based reality that explores the disintegrating layers of what is natural through the formation of cultural objects and imagery.

Keaveny has won honors for her work at the St. Louis Artists' Guild in Missouri and has received the Albert P. Weisman Memorial Scholarship Fund from Columbia College Chicago. She has exhibited her work in Chicago, New York City, St. Louis, Providence, and in the Museum at Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville, GA.


Joyce Siegel --www.myartspace.com/joycesiegel
Joyce Siegel is a working artist with a studio in Long Island City. She recently had a solo show at the Shag Gallery in Chelsea, NY. She also has work at the Pierogi gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While living in London, Joyce became fascinated with paintings, sculpture and especially drawings. She scoured the galleries and museums in London and New York.

Joyce is primarily a self taught artist and much of what she has learned has come from her interaction and observation of great art. She developed her techniques by taking several art classes at the The New York Studio School, The School of Visual Arts and Anderson Ranch. She has also worked with Jerry Salz, Suzanne Joelson, and more recently with Shazia Sikander and Joan Snyder. Joyce was invited and resided at the artist colony Yaddo, the summer of 2006.

Joyce primarily works with water based products on paper. She is very intrigued by the surface and edges of paper. Joyce has always been fascinated by the creative process; one mark leading to the next mark, as well as one drawing developing into the next drawing. Besides producing her own work, Joyce has also worked with children from The Dalton School, P.S. 6 and the 92nd Street Y Nursery School creating large scale grid drawings. The drawings incorporate sentences, letters, marks and words generated by the children. The entire student body is involved in the drawings which have raised significant funds for these institutions.

Joyce Siegel was born in New York City where she currently resides. She received a B.S. in Economics in 1982 from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and worked on Wall Street for 10 years.

Megan Bisbee-Durlam -- www.myartspace.com/meganbisbeedurlam
Megan Bisbee-Durlam was born in Minneapolis in 1983 and grew up in Vermont. She received her Bachelor of Fine Art from Alfred University in 2005. She has exhibited at such venues as Lohin Geduld Gallery in New York City, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo, Tampa Museum of Art, Bleu Acier Gallery and Covivant Gallery in Tampa, FL, and Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, CT, and was a finalist for the 2005, "Albright Knox: Western New York and Beyond."

Megan's work was published in the Northeastern edition #56 of New American Paintings and will be included in the upcoming publication RiseUp: Vol. III. Reviews and announcements of shows she participated in have appeared in such publications as Art in America, Buffalo News, The Gay City News, The Tampa Tribune, and Tampa Creative Loafing. Megan was invited to give an in-class presentation of her work as a visiting artist at the University of South Florida. She has studied art abroad while living in Paris and Florence. Megan currently lives and works in Anan-cho, Japan, learning Japanese and indulging in Japan's truly unique visual landscape.

About myartspace:
myartspace, the premier online venue for contemporary art, is one of the fastest growing and diverse communities on the internet. Its members include more than 50,000 artists, collectors, gallerists and other art world professionals from across the globe, and it currently has on display hundreds of thousands of pieces of fine art.

Membership on myartspace is free and artists can upload an unlimited amount of work including images, music and video. Myartspace is created and run by CatMacArt Corporation. CatMacArt Corporation is located in Palo Alto, California. CatMacArt Corporation also is the company behind The New York Art Exchange (nyaxe.com), the premier online marketplace for contemporary art.

For more information visit,
www.myartspace.com/miamibasel/winners/winners.html

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

TOUGH CALL by Charlie Spear

TOUGH CALL by Charlie Spear

This is going to be a tough call. I have three cans of spray paint, a jar of acrylic gel, four tile spacers and a canvas panel 18x24. I am thinking of an abstraction. Shadows from coat hangers on the back wall of my lighted closet have caught my attention the last few days. The voices start the minute I reach for the canvas panel and prop it in front of me on the paint covered 1950’s Formica gray kitchen table.

The whole four years in art school diatribe comes back to me…What is art? What about composition? Who do you think you are to have something worth saying? I know. Still, I have been in love with the process of making art since I started drawing in the first or second grade. It was more fun then. The teacher would give us a few simple instructions about whatever we were doing in class in English and the rest was pure ZONE. When I was done I liked ‘What’ I saw. That was it.

Now, I am an artist and still an art teacher and most of the joy has been squelched from the process of expression by The Art World. Marketing is the focus and Money the goal. I pick up the spray can of Krylon Safety yellow and start letting the paint run down the canvas from staying in one place too long. I like the smell and the liquidity of the yellow street crossing color.

This is what I remember. That feeling of experiment and what now takes me away from the sound of voices. Something of an ethereal feeling fills my mind. Industrial Blue enamel jets out of the nozzle causing a rich green to appear at the edges of the spray thrust. Again the liquid runs like rain on the canvas onto the table and puddles. Quickly before it dries I am scooping out the gel and pushing it onto the surface.

The two mediums can’t mix but still stay on the panel like unyielding neighbors over a driveway easement. The gel peaks from the pull away from my palm. The smell is memorial. I have liked the smell of acrylic from the first can of paint my dad bought for the bedroom, Lucite brand. Smells are the most primeval sensory memories.

The four tile spacers need to be included. I have the last can of Farmall red from Rural King. I point and soak the four spacers in that Garden of Eden red. I sling them onto the canvas in a random but perfect placement. More gel coats over them while they float listlessly in the clear viscous goo. The idea of the coat hanger shadows comes out of nowhere. Yes, the shadows. There are a slew of them hanging from a gas pipe by the washer. Five or six should be enough. I lay them on the canvas allowing for an accidental placement to occur by hitting the stretcher.

More red flows from the wire shapes and drips into crevices of gel. With one hand I wipe the red away from the surface holding the hangers down with the other hand. Several swipes pull the red into a gradual softening mottled pattern. One last offering of Safety yellow softens the red into a Crayola orange-red. Done.

The piece is hanging in my living room over a library table. I look at it now and then. Some new ideas are forming like small wisps of cloud. I might just pick up a few more canvases. And some different colors. Recently I found a DVD copy of an interview of Frank Gehry by Sidney Pollack called the DRAWINGS OF FRANK GEHRY. Frank makes a comment in the beginning of the interview to Sydney about his work for clients. “I’m terrified I won’t be able to come up with anything good for them. So I start drawing and cutting pieces of paper placing them into something that looks good to me.” Hey, that sounds a lot like second grade.


Charlie Spear is a member of the www.myartspace.com community. You can view his work at, www.myartspace.com/CHARLIEARTS/. If you would like to write an article for the Myartspace Blog feel free to contact us at info at catmacart.com.

Portfolio Submission and Review is Now Online

Portfolio Submission and Review is Now Online

For decades, mailing 35mm slides served as the only option for sharing/reviewing portfolios. This was expensive and time consuming, but nobody had a problem with it because there were no other options. That is, until the digital camera came out. Then the art world when through an awkward period where many photo documentation was being taken digitally, and output as 35mm slides. This never really caught on due to expense, and was quickly replaced by photo-services automatically saving everything to a CD. This was very cheap and convenient for the artist.

However, CDs caused new problems. The first problem with CDs was compatibility. Organizations often could not open files because of software differences. And artists were scared because they were not sure if their portfolios were viewable. This gave rise to pages and pages of instructions, for exactly how files should be prepared. But not all artists are Photoshop geniuses, so this was frustrating as well. The second problem that arose was the inefficiency of of receiving hundreds (or thousands) of CDs. Slides were at least easy to preview and review, you just hold the sheet up to the light. But CDs have to be inserted, opened, navigated and clicked through one at a time ... very time consuming. But many organizations "upgraded" to this because digital photography was the new standard, and they want to be fair to applicants.

With the explosion of online usage, the web is the new standard for communication, including portfolio submission & review. Even the word "digital" has become synonymous with "online." Some institutions build their own system, while others buy professionally made systems. For example, Since 2006 over 50 major art schools in the US moved to an online system powered by SlideRoom, and this number is growing everyday. Some of the schools using SlideRoom include CalArts, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Hunter, MICA and Pratt.

The benefits of doing everything online almost needs no explanation. Applicants can easily upload, label,arrange and submit their portfolio (along with any application forms). And organizations can easily aggregate, view and assess the submitted portfolios in one private online setting. This has several beneficial consequences for the organization. First, with the proliferation of media types, it is extremely helpful to have all media converted to one consistent format. There is no more fear about whether a file can be opened. Secondly, reviewers can participate remotely, leaving ratings and comments from anywhere in the world. And finally, everything is automatically organized and archived, saving weeks (sometimes months) of administrative work!

Now I can hear you saying: "Wait a minute, I know lots of places that ask for portfolios to be sent via postal service." I can guarantee you they are presently looking into online options. Some organizations have been slow to switch for a variety of reasons. Some are worn out from having just switched to CDs, and the idea of making another major switch to their process is scary. Another reason may be a fear of expense. Online systems are not free, they can cost anywhere between $50K - $100K to build from scratch. Luckily, companies like SlideRoom provide affordable alternatives in the form of ready made systems.

So, I wanted to end this post with three tips for artists:

1) Don't let the convenience of the digital camera lure you into being lazy about demanding great photo documentation. While most point and shoot digital cameras take great pictures, you may still want to hire a professional for formal documentation ... particularly if you want print the images in invitations or catalogs. Even if you are not printing the image, because the web makes it possible for everyone the entire world to see your work, and you need to be looking good.

2) Maintain two inventories of your work: one for print (300dpi) and one for web (72ppi). Your main inventory should be for print, because these are huge images, and you can always make them smaller. However, they are too large for the web. You will face trouble emailing, using online submission systems, or posting anything to web because the files are way too huge. If you don't know how to re-size images yourself, invest in a 30 min lesson from a friend. Since the web is now our universal medium for sharing media with each other, it is critical you understand this digital material.

3) If you make videos, keep the original file and the software you created it on. This is the only way you will be able to alter it to meet future submission guidelines. I have seen countless artists save their movie to a DVD, only to find they cannot post it to the web. Or, they have it saved to a CD, but not in the format an institution is asking for. The easiest/best way to meet specifications is to take your video into the original software and re-export to meet guidelines.

About the author: Christopher Jagers is the Founder & CEO of SlideRoom: www.slideroom.com. His company provides online systems to universities, art groups and others to receive and review visual media from applicants.

Art Space Talk: Suzanne Unrein

Pastoral, oil on canvas, 62.25 x 53

Brian Sherwin: Suzanne, I observed that you take three directions with your work. You have an ongoing series of paintings, drawings, and portraits. Does each series of works feed off the other? In other words, do your drawings inform your paintings… and your paintings inform your portraits, so to speak? Also, do you prefer one body of work over the other?

Suzanne Unrein: The paintings originated out of the drawings. I had been living in Mexico and was working on a series of drawings that were oil on clay paper. They worked like daily visual diaries that started out as gestures and then became very sculptural in form as the applying and erasing evolved.

Shortly after I moved back to the States, I took a trip to London and saw Rubens’ Massacre of the Innocents. I was excited and began thinking about the sculptural forms in my drawings. I decided to try a painting inspired by that Rubens work, using the technique I had developed through the drawings. That was the start of a body of work reconstructing the old masters as abstract paintings.

I have been interested in portraits throughout my life. I like the forced discipline of the genre, and they provide a yin to the yang of my more abstract work. All three ongoing bodies of work inform each other. On a given day, one may seem more important to work on than another, depending on where I am creatively.

BS: Suzanne, when I view your paintings I’m reminded of classic works, such as The Rape of the Sabine. You are obviously influenced by the Old Masters and other artists from the past. You drawings contain some of the same movements, so to speak. Can you discuss that influence? Perhaps you can go into detail about specific influences?

SU: I find great joy in the Old Masters and am very much inspired by the dramatic impact created by the composition and colors. When I first turned to them after making the drawings, I was having an artistic crisis with my works on canvas. I was blocked and not sure how to proceed. The Old Masters seemed so alive compared to what I was working on at the time, and I felt that I could learn something from going back to that source. While Rubens is a particular favorite, I’m also a big fan of Poussin, Raphael, Correggio, and Bougereau.
Antic Hay, oil on canvas, 80 x 68

BS: Tell us more about the thoughts behind your work. For example, is there a specific message that you strive to convey to viewers of your work?

SU: My interest in the Old Masters came from a desire to get back to the joy of why I started painting in the first place. By playing with the compositions – mixing Bougereau’s nymphs with Poussin’s – I’m both taking weight off of the work as well as bowing to these great icons.

BS: Tell us more about your creative process and the methods and techniques that you utilize…

SU: The drawings are oil on clay paper, and they are painted gestures that I then erase with turpentine and a rag to create sculptural forms. The works on canvas begin with creating collages. I take old master figures and reconfigure them into new compositions. I use these as inspirations for the paintings. My painting technique is similar to the drawings, although they involve quite a few more layers.
F-86, oil on canvas, 59 x 69

BS: Can you discuss some of your current work? What are you working on at this time?

SU: Right now I am interested in combining the still life genre with portraiture. My current canvas is inspired by Rubens’ Portrait of a Man as the God Mars, with a van Huysum flower arrangement on his head.

BS: Let us step back and discuss the role of art history within the context of your work. It often seems that people dismiss the past when striving to create a ‘new’ art. Everyone wants to be the ’first’ even though art history informs us that they are walking on the shoes of many other artists who came before--- everyone wants to be ‘remembered’ while not taking the time to remember those who came before. That said, would you say that a connection to the art of the past is needed in the art world of today more than ever--- especially on the academic level?

SU: A connection to the art of the past is extremely important to me. I couldn’t say what is needed in the art world.
The World Inside the Wrist, oil on canvas, 65 x 87

BS: Do you have any other thoughts or observations concerning the art world of today?

SU: With the technology of today, we are able to see so much more work on a global level, that it’s very exciting. Through art websites I’ve seen amazing paintings that I would not have had the chance to see otherwise. I’m optimistic that the internet will open the art world up to lesser recognized artists and their work.

BS: Finally, where can our readers see your work in person? Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

SU: My main focus at the moment is producing this next body of work. I have a studio residency at PS 122 and will be doing a month residency this winter at the Jentel Foundation. I hope by late spring to have a body of work together to show in New York.

You can learn more about Suzanne Unrein by visiting her website-- www.suzanneunrein.com. Suzanne is currently a member of the myartspace community-- www.myartspace.com/suzanneunrein. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com

New York Art Exchange (NYAXE)

The New York Art Exchange media lounge and digital gallery at Bridge Miami Wynwood. Catherine McCormack-Skiba, CEO and founder of myartspace & NYAXE, mingles with press

The New York Art Exchange, an online marketplace for buying and selling contemporary fine art, was officially launched on December 2nd at the Bridge Art Fair in Miami. The New York Art Exchange (NYAXE) enables the art community to capitalize on new digital mediums through technology by connecting artists, gallerists and collectors via the World Wide Web. NYAXE can be used alongside www.myartspace.com. NYAXE and myartspace are owned by the Catmacart Corporation.

NYAXE will connect collectors, artists and gallerists together, allowing buyers to quickly search through thousands of works of fine art on the site and navigate through numerous curated pieces of works. Gallerists and artists can create a personal and customized branded online gallery storefront to begin selling on the NYAXE marketplace. The storefront gallery allows artists and gallerists to sell the following: an original piece of artwork, a digital version of the work (e.g. jpeg), or an on-demand version of the print on merchandise (e.g., posters, note cards, Giclees for example). Storefronts can be organized into categories such as watercolors, original works, sculptures, to make it easy for art collectors to find what they are looking for.

Brian Skiba demonstrates the capabilities of the New York Art Exchange

There are five different levels to choose from in building a NYAXE gallery storefront. A basic storefront is free for the first five listings, and each level provides more advanced features and marketing capabilities and cost effective pricing structures. The various tiers of service are designed to enable artists and gallerists to try their hand at ecommerce to build a basic store at a low cost. Artists and gallerists subsequently can upgrade to higher tiers if they wish to expand their offerings. NYAXE is a an affordable solution for exploring what eCommerce has to offer.

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, CEO and founder of NYAXE, stated, "It's been my vision for years to make great art accessible to a broader audience through technology and the internet. I'm excited that we can empower gallerists and artists to expand the awareness of their fine art and help them connect with a new audience of buyers on a global level."

Links of Interest:

www.catmacart.com

www.myartspace.com

www.nyaxe.com

www.nyaxe.com/storeSellerSignUp.do

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com

Was There a Dark Cloud Looming Over Miami? Or Was it All in Our Minds?

Was There a Dark Cloud Looming Over Miami? Or Was it All in Our Minds?

Gallerists, collectors, and art appreciators were fully aware of the dark cloud-- psychologically speaking-- looming over Miami during the recent art fairs. The ‘rain’ fell on Scope, Pulse, Bridge and other art fairs-- they fell on Art Basel Miami Beach as well. It was a psychological rain and with it came great concern and fear surrounding the stability of the current art market. The streets and busses were filled with rumors and dark predictions-- this collective voice of dissatisfaction blared throughout the length of the Miami fairs.

The ‘rain’ fell early on. Individuals fueled by optimism turned utterly pessimistic as the doubts of gallerists and their assistants became overly visible-- you could see the concern in their faces… in their eyes. While roaming the fairs I experienced several instances of gallery assistants looking at my collection of press passes as if I were some form of hope in an otherwise dismal situation. In their eyes I could see open questions, such as-- “Who does he write for?”, “Will he stop here?”, “Was this trip worth the cost?”. There was a foreboding sense of despair-- even at Art Basel Miami Beach. I don’t think any dealer or assistant was exempt from the realization of the cold market the art market has found itself in due to the struggles of the economy as a whole.

As the days went on it seemed that gallerists and their assistants were more focused on their next smoke break or social outing than the possibility of selling art. In fact, some seemed to have a great deal of struggle herding their help back to stable, so to speak. The question I found myself asking was-- “is it really that bad or has the aura of pessimism got the better of some individuals?”. Ironically, I did chance into a few conversations with buyers who were annoyed that upon finding a piece of interest there was no assistant/dealer on hand to negotiate with. One buyer confused my status and thought that I was an exhibitor--- upon telling her that my pass was a press pass she stormed away saying aloud, “How do they expect to sell if there is no one here to do it”. I smiled and continued on.

Based on my observations I would not say that Miami was a complete disappointment, but it could have certainly been a better experience for all involved. Each fair had similar problems--- marred by lack of traffic and studded by lackluster examples of poor work-- when compared to previous efforts. There was certainly a negative sense of energy taunting overhead. As you can tell my imagination rescued me from some of the boredom and helped me to fend off some of the drama.

Honestly, I felt as if I had walked into a collective performance piece exploring the failure of the current art market. My guess is that many had wished they were just a player in such a spectacle. However, the hard grasp of reality was ever present-- it could be heard in the words upon the street and seen in the eyes of those trying to push their wares. Miami was not a journey into the surreal-- it was a map of the situation the current art market is facing as a whole. Bitter truth for bitter times. When the final days came to a close it was all for the better.

So was there a dark cloud looming over Miami? Not really. It was simply a case of high hopes being drowned by hard facts. They say to always expect the unexpected--- that said, sometimes we must accept the expected for what it is. There will be brighter days ahead.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

Art Space Talk: Craig Hawkins

Craig Hawkins is a graduate with a B.F.A in Fine Art from Valdosta State University(2001). Drawing since the age of two, Hawkins grew up in multiple cities including Laurinburg, NC, Greer, SC, Roanoke Rapids, NC and Warner Robins, GA before attending college in Valdosta, GA where he currently lives. Hawkins describes his work as, “the evidence of taking truth and imagining it”. His background includes oil and acrylic painting and charcoal drawing. In his 2D work, Hawkins uses canvas or collage of various papers and masking tape to develop a composition of line and texture in addition to applying his media. Creating a piece that explores depths of truth, mark making, and the love of contrast becomes the foundation of his work.

Stand, charcoal and tape on paper, 42” x 42”, 2008

Brian Sherwin: Craig, you studied at Valdosta State University. Can you discuss your academic background? For example, did you have any influential instructors?

Craig Hawkins: I'm thankful for the education and experience I received at Valdosta State University. VSU gives their students storage space and, when they become juniors and seniors, their own work space in the painting studio. 24 hr access and the encouragement of the professors helped me to develop dedicated studio habits that have continued to sustain my independent studio practice to the present.

Two instructors, Keith McIntyre and Harry Ally, were very influential to my work and work habits. Keith McIntyre was an artist in residence at VSU while I was an undergrad who was instrumental in my ability to study abroad at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, England. His work illustrates stories and personal experiences in a language that surpasses my own ideas of illustrative work. Harry Ally taught me the elements and principles of design which have become an invaluable toolbox that every artist should be familiar with. In addition, the significance of a mark and the exposure to modern and contemporary artists like Jim Dine and Jenny Saville were to the credit of Harry Ally.

In Christ, charcoal and acrylic on paper, 72” x 54”, 2008

BS: You have described your work as “the evidence of taking truth and imagining it”. Can you go into further detail about that? Would you say that you adhere to a strong personal philosophy as far as your work is concerned?

CH: I would have to start by stating what is truth. Truth is the adherence to reality and fact. In relation to my life and art I believe the Bible to be real and true, Jesus' words to be true and Jesus to be truth beyond just a metaphor but as a person. Imagining Jesus as truth changes my relation to truth from an argument I can agree or disagree with to having confidence in a person.

In practice, I've imagined some of the parables Jesus taught and visualized them with an image that marries the story told and the truth taught. For example, the parable of the Sower, found in the eighth chapter of the book of Luke, tells a story about four different types of soil and their acceptance to seed. The types of soil represent the state of a person's heart and their acceptance to the word of God. When I imagined this parable I saw the four soils as portraits of people and to represent each soil I used the described state of the soil literally applied the face of each model.

As for a personal philosophy regarding my work, I believe my work may vary in style or content but I desire it to have integrity and excellent craftsmanship. I believe seeking to understand a work should be the prerequisite to having an opinion of it's success or value as a piece of art.

Light of the World, oil on canvas, 2006

BS: Craig, tell us about your process. For example, I understand that you admire a strong relationship between marks on a canvas… you see the use of materials as a form of conversation, correct? Can you go into detail about that?

CH: I do see the materials as a form of conversation. On occasion I have used vellum or some translucent material to mute the information I have on the paper and potentially redirect the focus of a piece of art. The power of a line to suggest form and space seems to me to be a very primal function that I just can't get enough of. Freshness in mark making is thrilling to me. It seems more truthful. It's hard to lie with a drawing as opposed to a painting. Mark making leaves a history of process where as it's easier to edit unwanted strokes of paint with more paint in a painting.

My marks become journal-like on a personal level. So my goal in my process is to be as honest as possible with the creation of a work and try to embrace every attempt to render or express something with a mark. Even if a mark isn't successful I enjoy the history left behind from the attempt to erase it because it never truly goes away.
Adam and Eve, mixed media, 2003

BS: Craig, I understand that you are heavily influenced by the bible, both in your personal life and as far as your art is concerned. Can you discuss that influence at length? Perhaps you can discuss a few examples of your work in order to convey that connection?

CH: Yes, the bible is a significant influence in my life. As a Christian it is my source material to discovering God's attributes, his character, his likes and his dislikes. As stated earlier I believe it to be true. It's such a significant influence that it shapes my world view. I see people as intrinsically valuable because they are God's creation. In seemingly unforgivable circumstances I believe I can forgive someone because I have been forgiven for my own sin, independence, and rebellion from God. I believe that love can change anyone and that a relationship with God is vital to discovering one's own sense of purpose and meaning in life. I see my art as a journal of my relationship with God. What I learn about God, the nature of mankind, and the application of God's truths to my own life becomes the inspiration for the majority of my art.

Some of my work, like "Adam and Eve" exhibits this influence more directly and traditionally. Adam and Eve are both drawn on vellum stretched over canvas. They face each other with their heads downcast in shame. They are divided physically from a larger face painted on the canvas below representing God the Father. The division of the media represents man's broken relationship with God. Adam and Eve are also separated by a half eaten apple and a crack dividing the composition representing how sin not only broke the relationship between God and man but also contributes to broken relationships within mankind's interaction with itself.

Another example, Rebellion, less directly exhibits the rebellion of mankind. This drawing illustrates two girls embraced in a hug. However, both girls are holding hand mirrors and staring at their own reflections exposing their own selfish nature during what should be a mutually shared exchange of care for each other. Both "Adam and Eve" and "Rebellion", in my opinion, are successful examples of my work influenced by the bible and my faith. Someone's personal knowledge of the bible may determine which work of art illustrates the broken world we live in best.
Rebellion, charcoal on paper, 2007

BS: As an artist do you ever face conflict with your work as far as your faith is concerned? Or conflict with how others who share your faith view your work?

CH: If I was very strict about the interpretation of my work I think I would encounter a lot of conflict, but I'm aware that every viewer brings their own interpretations based on their own history and experience with religious subject matter. That kind of variable is out of my control. I do like to write about the inspiration for each piece and I make it available on my website if viewers are interested but I enjoy the applicability others find in my artwork as well as the message I try to communicate.

I've had others who do not share my beliefs challenge me on matters of creating a graven image or even my own knowledge of the history of religious art. I do not believe I create works of art that are graven images. At the core of it's inspiration my art is an attempt to share or direct attention towards God and glorify God; not to become a substitute for God. The potential to abuse something should not become reason in and of itself to make a blanket ban on anything. It sounds absurd to destroy the sun and the moon because people may worship it.

As for art history, probably every artist I know, including myself, could always benefit from a greater knowledge of art history. It is an admittedly weak area in my studies that I intend to improve. Most who share my faith have been very encouraging and a few have even decided to support my work financially while others have been critical of the nudity that I have used. Nudity is more distracting to some audiences than others. While I hold nudity as an excellent way to represent timelessness, the vulnerability of man, beauty, universal applicability, as well as sexuality I understand that not everyone will acknowledge these uses and limit the use of nudity to sexuality. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree.

Denial, acrylic and charcoal on mylar, 30” x 24”, 2008

BS: A friend of mine has stated that he feels that there is a need to focus on God within the art that is created today. Not necessarily in the spiritual sense, but in how works can convey something other than who we are as individuals. My position is that God can be seen in all works no matter who has created the work in question. What are your thoughts on this?

CH: I agree with your position that God can be seen in all works no matter the creator. I think it's innate for all creation to naturally point to the creator. The "work of our hands" as artists is hard to ignore and in many cases something that inspires awe.

BS: What about other influences? For example, do you draw inspiration from any specific artists?

CH: Some of my favorites due to skill, contrast, mark making, the use of the figure, and their wrestle with spiritual themes are Jim Dine, Alex Kanevsky, Harry Ally, Gerhardt Richter, Tony Scherman, Eric Fischl, Jenny Saville, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Makoto Fujimura, Ann Gale, and Chuck Close

Meditation, charcoal and acrylic on paper, 81” x 60”, 2008

BS: Craig, what are you working on at this time? Can you give our readers some insight into your current work?

CH: Currently, I'm playing around with a color alphabet. I've used colored blocks spread across drawings to represent individual letters. The colored blocks spell out words and sentences that relate to the content of the piece. It's forcing color into my drawings in an abstract way. I'm also working larger. I'm finding the larger scale to free up my hand as I mark make while still allowing a concentration of marks to render representationally amidst the soundtrack of marks I'm playing with.

BS: What about exhibitions? Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

CH: I will be in a group show in February 2009 at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, Marietta, GA

Firstborn, oil on board, 48” x 42”, 2008

BS: Speaking of exhibitions I noticed that you have focused on exhibiting in Georgia. I often advise emerging artists to focus on regional attention before setting out for national or international attention. I think regional exposure is very important because it gives an artist something to fall back on if the other routes are difficult. I assume you would agree with my views on this? Can you discuss that? For example, in your opinion why is important to exhibit in the state in which you live? In your opinion, why is it important to seek as many opportunities as you can regionally?

CH: I think it's important to exhibit in the state in which you live because your peers and the general public may have better access to the you not just the art. It just makes since that there's a better opportunity to develop professional and social relationships within the community that you spend the majority of your time living in. I would also think it helps to have a name for yourself before exhibiting nationally or internationally because that name can then bring a history or credit with it. It seems logical to think having regional support would naturally lead to national or international opportunities. People who live in your region may not be native to your region and may be the contact or link that creates greater opportunities for a national or international audience.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art or the goals that you have?

CH: I think I have similar goals to most artists. My goals are to have my work impact as many people as possible, to find a wide variety of places to call home, to be shared and enjoyed and be understood. My work is a personal made public endeavor.

You can learn more about Craig Hawkins by visiting his website-- www.craighawkinsart.com. Craig is also a member of the myartspace community-- www.myartspace.com/craighawkins. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com

New York Art Exchange: myartspace launches e-commerce platform

Myartspace.com, the premier online social network for the art world has announced the implementation of e-commerce capabilities. The announcement of the New York Art Exchange occurred during the Bridge Art Fair in Miami. Members of the myartspace community will have several options for the type of store they wish to manage. Artists, gallerists, collectors, and buyers can benefit from what NYaxe.com has to offer. More to come...

Links of Interest:

www.myartspace.com
www.nyaxe.com

myartspace Scholarship Program / Competition

MYARTSPACE, the premier online venue for the contemporary art world is now offering a series of art scholarships for both undergraduate and graduate students. Participation in the scholarship competition and membership to myartspace.com are both free.

The program is for students to continue their education in an approved MFA, BFA or higher level degree program for the arts-- including BA and BS in Art. The scholarship is intended for students who exhibit exceptional artistic excellence in their chosen medium. The scholarship arises from a commitment to support emerging artists so that they can develop their skills and careers. There are plans to expand the program each year.

For two years myartspace has been a key figure in availing opportunity in the arts on the web and in global events. Myartspace has a track record of providing competitions involving prestigious juror panels with professional backgrounds from institutions such as the Tate Modern, Whitney Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Myartspace has also been a sponsor and exhibitor with the Bridge Art Fair.

The 2008 scholarship amount of $16,000 will be divided equally for an undergraduate and graduate competition as follows:

Undergraduate Competition

1st prize: $5000

2nd prize: $2000

3rd prize: $1000

Graduate Competition
1st prize: $5000
2nd prize: $2000
3rd prize: $1000

The final deadline for registration and online submission of work is December 16, 2008. The Early Submission deadline has already passed. Interested students must upload JPEGS/videos into a myartspace online gallery. Up to 20 images can be submitted for consideration. Scholarship winners will be notified by December 23, 2008. Scholarship winners will be publicly announced on January 7, 2009.

For further information, www.myartspace.com/scholarships

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com