Worlds on Fire: Grammy Week Art Exhibition

I have a piece in the upcoming exhibition of portraits of Grammy nominated artists called Worlds on Fire. It was put together by Will.i.am who is nominated for producer of the year. The show opens Monday Feb 2nd. and runs the whole week. The opening night is for invited guests and Gen Art members only (you can join on their site), as soon as I know the days and times that the show is open to the public I'll post them here.

Will.i.am presents Worlds on Fire, a pop music and art collaboration. Worlds on Fire will be the first art exhibition of its kind featuring portraits of 2009 Grammy nominees as drawn by pop surrealism and representational artists. The exhibition’s opening night celebration will take place on Monday, February 2 from 7:00 PM - 1:00 AM at the Pacific Electric Lofts in downtown Los Angeles. Entertainment to be provided by live D.J. sets from Will.i.am and special guests. Worlds on Fire: Grammy-Nominated Artist Exhibition will be the premier event to kick off Grammy week.

Worlds on Fire was conceived by will.i.am, one of pop music’s most creative, socially conscious and influential artists today, in conjunction with his popular social and political networking site, Dipdive.com. Focused on innovation and creativity, Worlds on Fire will be the only event during Grammy Week bridging the gap between the once separate mediums of performing/recording arts and modern art.

List of artists (and musicians they are doing portraits of):
SAS CHRISTIAN – Riverview, FL (Rihanna)
LORI EARLEY – Red Bank, NJ (Madonna)
COLIN CHRISTIAN – Riverview, FL (M.I.A)
JEREMY LIPKING – Los Angeles, CA (Snoop Dogg)
SHEPARD FAIREY – Los Angeles, CA (Paul McCartney)
IAN JOHNSON – San Francisco, CA (Al Green)
DAVID STOUPAKIS – New York, NY (Will.i.am)
PAUL CHATEM – Los Angeles, CA (Rick Rubin)
RON ENGLISH – Jersey City, NJ (Metallica)
GREG GOSSEL – Minneapolis, MN (Jay-Z)
HENRY LEWIS – San Francisco, CA (Nas)
SHAWN BARBER – San Francisco, CA (Shawn Barber)
TRAVIS LOUIE – Red Hook, NY (Nine Inch Nails)
MATT BONE – Los Angeles, CA (Beyonce)
JOSHUA PETKER – Los Angeles, CA (Radiohead)
VAN ARNO – Los Angeles, CA (BB King)
HEIDI TAILLEFER – Montreal, CAN (Coldplay)
KRIS LEWIS - Los Angeles, CA (Beck)
MIKE MAXWELL – San Deigo, CA (Bruce Springsteen)
GARY BASEMAN & NABIL ELDERKIN - Los Angeles, CA (Kanye West)
CHRIS PUGLIESE – Hoboken, NJ (The Eagles)
HELEN GARBER – Los Angeles, CA (Will.i.am)
SAUL ARMAS – Los Angeles, CA (Lil’ Wayne)
TRAE KING – Los Angeles, CA (Duffy)
NATALIA FABIA–Los Angeles, CA (Pink)
R.C. LIPKING –Los Angeles, CA (Alison Krauss & Robert Plant)
JOSEPH TODOROVITCH – Los Angeles, CA (Alicia Keyes)

Isabella Stewart Gardner Zorn painting restored

I found this interesting blog post by an art conservation student about the restoration of an Anders Zorn painting of a nude woman and child at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I've seen this painting pre-restoration and it looked kind of dull and hazy. Apparently the painting was censored a while ago when someone painted over the woman's pubic hair. The varnish was also in bad shape and needed to be removed, it looks much better now with the more brilliant color. There are more pics on the original blog post.

This is the UV light photo showing the Zorn painting as he intended it to look, the over painting on the pubes shows up because it is non-florescent and is on top of the varnish.

This is a detail of the censored version.

Figure Studies

I just realized I haven't posted any paintings in a while. Both of these pieces are 16" x 6" oil on linen.

Colorado Academy of Art Update

An update from this post.
A former workshop attendee just emailed me this info about the Colorado Academy of art and Peter Kennedy.
The school is filing Chap. 7 Bankruptcy, if you dont want him absolved of his dept you need to file a complaint with the court by 2/23/09. There is a "meeting of creditors" on 12/23/08 but it is not necessary to attend.

Address:
US Bankruptcy Court
US Custom House
721 19th Street
Denver, CO 80202-2508
# 720 904-7300
Case# 08-28803-SBB

Classical Underground

I have to mention this, one of the coolest underground art/music events happening in Los Angeles right now are the monthly concerts at my good friend Alexey Steele's studio. Every month some of the top classical musicians in LA get together in Alexey's 7500 sq ft Grand Atelier to perform chamber music, sometimes until early morning. Last night David Chernyavsky and Serge Oskotsky played Martinu, and the very sexy Yana Reznik played alone on piano a very sexy Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue.

The Unfinished Painting

This is the 6x8 painting from the video.

Adventures in Plein Air Painting

This is a video from a painting trip in the Sierra's last July. Tony Pro and I paint outdoors, lighting, hail and mosquitoes get in the way and hilarity ensues.