Art Story: It's Not All About You

Linda Sue Price, It's Not All About You, Neon, 20 x 20 x 10"

Linda Sue Price’s current exhibit at TAG features phrases as in ‘Change is the Only Constant.’ The inspiration for the show came from a memorial celebrating the life of a fellow neon artist—Kunio Ohashi. One of the attendees shared a story about their friend and neighbor. Kunio was soft spoken with a wry sense of humor. They had dogs and were neglectful about picking up after their dogs. One day Kunio knocks on their front door. When they answered he handed them a piece of origami. When it was opened, the message inside said, ’Too much shit.’ Everyone in the audience laughed. It was so Kunio. Price thought about doing a piece in his honor with the saying, Kunio says Too Much Shit but decided it would take too much to explain but it did lead her to explore other words of wisdom.

See this and other works by Linda at TAG through December 19th.

Artists' Reception: Saturday, December 5, 5-8pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, December 12th, 1 p.m.

Read an interview with Linda on We Choose Art

Art Story: Camey McGilvray

Camey McGilvray, Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon, Painted Wood Sculpture, 37 x 37 x 3 in

Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon

Picasso has always been my favorite artist. Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon is an homage to him, but it is Picasso my way.

Picasso is noted for projecting both his mood and personality on to his canvasses. When he painted Les Demoiselles, he had just broken up with his mistress and expressed his sadness, anger and his hostility toward women in the painting: The subjects are brothel workers. Some of the figures are unflattering, unfeminine. (In fact, two were originally men, which he only partially converted to women.) Some of the faces are grotesque.

In my rendition, I eliminated the facial features entirely and softened or feminized some of the bodies. What remains is the beauty that attracted me to the piece in the first place: The wonderful symmetry of the placement of the figures and their perfect relationship one to another. The beautiful color and flow of the drapery and the audacious attitude of the women.

I worked on this piece for a good two months. In an attempt to do honor and be true to an artist and piece I held in such high reverence, some parts were done over and over. In producing my own rendition of this work, and becoming intimately involved in its every detail, I came to renew my appreciation and admiration of Picasso’s skill, genius really, in draftsmanship and composition. I also got to spend a good amount of quality time with my favorite artist.

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, oil on canvas,  96 × 92 in, 1907 [source]

Camey will be discussing her art and process at a TAG Artists' Talk on Saturday, July 11, 3pm.

Do you have any questions for Camey? Leave them below in the comments.

Art Story: Anne M Bray

Anne M Bray, P is for Prada Marfa, Valentine, TX, 

Digital painting printed on various substrates in various sizes, ©2015 

An art installation set in the middle of nowhere, Prada Marfa is located 26 miles northwest of Marfa on US90. It was in a bedraggled state in 2014 -- graffiti covered the back exterior wall, bits of glue were slathered on the windows. From what I can tell from Instagram, the awnings have been refurbished and things have been cleaned up. Inside is a mock Prada shop with the coveted bags and shoes (the shoes are left foot singles) displayed.

I used this same image for a piece in my On the Edge: US digital watercolor series:

Anne M Bray, Prada Marfa, 

Digital watercolor printed on various substrates in various sizes, ©2014

[The above is a repost from Anne's travel blog, On the Edge]

See more of Anne's work in her current show, Southwestern Sojourn, at TAG until 5/16.

Art Story: Shelley Lazarus

Shelley Lazarus, "The Mah Jong Ladies of the Catskills circa 1950's" Watercolor and Limited Edition Giclees, 22 x 29 in

"Although I never met these 5 ladies, I know them so very well.

My mother and they played the game every Wednesday afternoon, rotating houses.
When it was my mother's turn, I was in charge of cutting the pineapple (in winter) or the watermelon (in summer) for the fruit plate. It had to be a new design each time. In the summer we all went up to a bungalow colony in the Catskill mountains, where the game continued.
As a teenager I watched them bet, flip the tiles and concentrate on their hand.
And while they played they gave me wise lessons on life, love and the art of growing up.
They were my mother's best friends and my adopted aunts.
Bertha, Helen, Belle, Sylvia and my mother Rose.
This is my tribute to them."

See this and other works by Shelley at TAG through April 18, 2015.

Artists' Reception: TONIGHT, Saturday, March 28, 5-8pm

Artists' Talk: Saturday, April 11, 3pm

Art Story: Carole Garland

King Eddy Saloon, 2013, oil on canvas 40x30"

In my EDGELANDS  series of paintings at TAG Gallery I focused on places that had bad reputations, such as MacArthur Park, Jordan Downs, and Florence & Normandie.  When I read that a former colleague, Dan Fante, was reading his memoir, Fante: A Family”s Legacy of Writing, Drinking and Surviving at the King Eddy Saloon, on the outskirts of Skid Row, I checked it out.

The saloon, on the corner of 5th and Los Angeles, is on the ground floor of the King Edward Hotel, built in 1906.  It was designed and developed by Los Angeles architect John Parkinson, whose work included City Hall and Union Station.  The pre-Prohibition bar is a relic of another time.  John Fante featured the bar in his novel, “Ask the Dust,” later turned into a movie. James M. Cain visited the bar for background on The Postman Always Rings Twice and Charles Bukowski is rumored to have frequented the saloon.
A seedy, fallen angel,  the King Eddy Saloon/King Edward Hotel fit the bill of subjects with a tarnished past and is included in the EDGELANDS series.

Carole's work will be on view at TAG until May 18th