Tuesday, July 21, 2009

more & more art





















My friend Clark Whittington did this very large painting/ assemblage at the start of the first Gulf War. It's called, You Sank My Fucking Battleship. Matt was wild for it the first time we saw it. And we love it resting on top of a large cabinet where our TV lives, sort of in the middle of the loft.

This acrylic painting not only resembles some map of some planet, (Clark added a pale green chalk grid pattern over it all) but has attached Keebler elf crackers, comic book pages and little plastic model ships. Clark has a thing for board games.



















I first meet Clark in the late 1990s as he had started the Art-o-Mat project - it has since become a full time job for he and staff that assist him. There are Art-o-Mat machines around the country and over seas. I did artomat art for 5 years or so. I even got nicely reviewed in the LA Times for my contributions. Clark is member of our Seed Coop, and like all of us, has strong anti-republican political views and very pro-socially liberal views.

Here is a additional perspective, just the lower corner, of Clark's Battleship. This photo includes my fabulous War of The Worlds tree lamp beside a painting of mine, i throw in just for fun. The painting is called night time far away, and the pure blue of both paintings, near each other, is appealing.


































Here is one stylish guy that we do not have yet because it is still on exhibit. This summer's painting, by Laura Lashley, is called Native. He will come live at the loft in August, along with his 6-pack, tree, star and all that great hair. BTW, Laura is long time Seed Coop member too.

This final work of art today is by Armand de Navarre, who passed away a few years ago. Armand was from New England but lived for many years in Winston. This crucifix was a gift from a friend (a former boy friend actually) who wanted me to have it. Besides being taken by the drama, he loved the fact that i posed for it.






So yes, that's me bleeding like Jesus. Around mid 1990s, Armand told me said he needed a Christ figure model and i didn't hesitate to volunteer. Of course the drama rests mostly with the artist, and not my modeling. All i did was stand around in his studio in a jock strap, with arms out stretched. Armand added the above lighting, extreme flying blood, legs pinned behind and torn paper edges to get what he was after.




2 comments: