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Paintings are amazing

Whenever Big Bird's gig on Sesame Street ends, I bet he could become an excellent Art History professor.

Aboriginal Art on the rise

This month's ARTnews features "The Rise of Aboriginal Art". Carly Berwick writes a nice article highlighting the inspirations behind the genre and the genesis and growth of the contemporary movement.

In Ms. Berwick's article, there is a one-line mention of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection owned by the University of Virginia. Only one line… deep in the story.

For those of you who don't know... Influenced by the Dreamings exhibition in New York, businessman John W. Kluge began collecting Aboriginal art in 1988. Over the next decade he compiled one of the finest private collections of Australian Aboriginal art in the world. In 1997, Mr. Kluge gifted his collection to the University of Virginia and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia was born. Today, the Collection stands (in its own building many miles from the main campus) as the largest and finest collection of Aboriginal art in the United States.

Pretty impressive. But, why the University of Virginia doesn't loudly trumpet the existence of this gem is beyond me.

Recently, the University of Virginia Art Museum has made efforts and spent a lot of money in refreshing its image and facility (as part of the "Campaign for the new UVaM"). Why the University hasn't taken this opportunity to brand itself as having the top rated permanent collection of Aboriginal art outside of Australia is, again, beyond me. This should be the identity of the art museum! If ARTnews can identify the importance of this art movement, why can't the scholars at UVa? It's contemporary. It's fresh. It's unique. It's rare in this hemisphere. It's important. It's marketable. It's beautiful. Simple, right?.

Artist interviews

I have read (and conducted) hundreds of interviews of artists. The common theme from each is that, more often than not, artists are terrible at talking about themselves and their art. (Sub-theme: interviewers ask some ridiculous questions.) Naturally, artists express themselves visually and not verbally, but there has to be some balance. Occasionally, however, I have read q&a sessions that stand out as insightful, entertaining, educational and sincere. In an interview of painter Randall David Tipton, Maureen Doallas has done just that: good questions by Maureen and flawless answers from Randall.

Maureen posted the interview in two parts on her blog Writing Without Paper. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Some of my favorite bits include Randall trying to characterize his style:

RDT: I still haven't figured out how [to describe my style]. I've used these at times: painterly realism, expressionist naturalism, abstract realism.

And what Randall hopes a critic would say about his work:

RDT: That [my paintings] were sincere, painted with conviction, complex in sensation, and an expression of human regard for nature.

Knowing Randall's work and him personally, I find the interview gives an extremely accurate picture of the painter and the paintings.

So... for all artists out there... practice your interviewing skills. Be able to talk about yourself in clear and concise terms. And, please please please never say that you paint "intuitively". Give a real answer. Or, at least make up a good one, memorize it, and regurgitate it with some sense of sincerity when asked about your creative process.

[Image: December Slough, oil on unstretched canvas, 12"x9". © Randall David Tipton. Image courtesy of artist. All rights reserved.]

First Friday

An ever increasing local art tradition spreading throughout towns across the country is the "First Friday Gallery Walk." In a word: on the first Friday evening of each month, art galleries hold opening receptions of their newest exhibits (or just keep their doors open later into the evening). With a number of galleries collectively doing this, it increases the general public turnout as people get to take in a number of exhibits in one fell swoop. Migration was a regular participant and always got sizeable crowds at its First Friday receptions.

Without actually exhibiting, I thought I would bring to you a First Friday reception here at artPark a la the web.

Recently, Arturo Mallmann (a Migration and personal favorite artist) opened a show of his newest paintings at Art Cube Gallery in Laguna Beach, California. The show is called "Contemplation" (those familiar with Arturo's meditative work can appreciate the title). Luckily for us, the opening reception was beautifully videoed by Andrew J. Whittaker. I hope you enjoy it.

Arturo also has an opening tomorrow night in New Orleans at Gallery Bienvenu. Here is a nicely done promo for it.

More recognition for artPark

artPark has received another "top Art blog" award and is now listed by The Daily Reviewer as one of the top art blogs in the world. Yowza! I'm honored.

The Daily Reviewer selects only the world's top blogs (and RSS feeds). We sift through thousands of blogs daily to present you the world's best writers. The blogs that we include are authoritative on their respective niche topics and are widely read. To be included in The Daily Reviewer is a mark of excellence.

Thank you Daily Reviewer.

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