Huber redux......better than ever.....

"The Poet's Eye" is the name of the upcoming Winter show of new works on paper by Germany's Alexandra Huber. Be prepared for a new sophistication and elegance. Large works, 25" x 29" are more involved that the usual 6" x 6" treats, and the bigger size gives the artist more room to explore her many layered references. They are highly successful images, chosen from a large portfolio, and the color is saturated and alluring. Human relationships and foibles are at their heart, and they present a fresh story at each telling. Catalogues are available. I know you will be smitten......

Using Both Sides of The Brain

Saturated in color, humorous in theme, the paintings of self-taught artist Thomas Chat are a complete delight. His background is unexpected. In 1997 he attended a university in London where he studied chemistry. He began painting in 2004, and this UK artist, who was raised in Hong Kong, has been heavily influenced by the Colonial melting pot of his youth. He spent his summer holidays often walking around the street and hills alone, absorbing this unique culture.

Thomas continues to travel the world and has returned to Hong Kong often and thrives in it's familiarity. He acknowledges that painting is his first love and his work certainly reflects the joy he finds.

Another View Through the Glass

A dance instructor in a mental institution, a fortune teller, a restaurant owner, a carpenter, all these words describe Richard Lee in various periods of his life. But this 77 year old man is best known world wide, as one of, if not the best artist who works in reverse glass painting.

All of his zoomorphic pieces, done on antique mirrors and cabinets, start with the details and then move forward. After making a black and white draft, and stripping the mirror of all it's old silver coating, he starts creating his intriguing images backwards onto the surface, painting in highlights first. He also strips the wood, covering it with unique silver, copper and/or gold leaf, making wonderful frames for his highly delightful and complex paintings.

Barefooted most of the time, Richard works, when he's not on the beach, in a small gallery hidden behind his wife Claudia's jewelry store. Most of his masterpieces are in the $10,000 to $20,000 dollar range, but the gallery was lucky enough to score a small example, under $1000, which he donated to the once yearly and highly anticipated Chicken Alley Flea Market Tag Sale. Organized by his friend, and well-known art collector and humanitarian, Olga Hirshorn, this sale is a huge draw to those in the know, who live or summer on Martha's Vineyard. Thanks to the cooperation of my entire crew of children and grandchildren, I was able to get a place quite close to the front of the line, and grabbed the Richard Lee, along with an overlooked bakelite bracelet. Oh happy day! This work will be posted on the Beverly Kaye gallery site shortly.

If I were in Chicago November 4th through the 7th, 2010, this is where you could find me! The Chicago-based The Art Fair Company announced it will produce two art fairs under one roof at Chicago’s historic Navy Pier. For the first time, The Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art will share center stage in Festival Hall with Chicago’s much-anticipated art fair mainstay, the 17th Annual International Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair: SOFA CHICAGO 2010. One general admission ticket of $15.00 admits visitors to both fairs and their related lecture series, special exhibits and events. Both fairs kick-off with a joint Opening Night Preview in Festival Hallon Thursday, Nov. 4. The public is cordially invited to attend from 7 - 9 pm for the ticket price of $50.00. Check this website for more information: http://www.sofaexpo.com/ What an exciting combination!

(Image by Minnie Evans)

Artefacting Mumbai

Dharavi... Asia's largest "slum" is known around the world as a place of extreme poverty with 600,000 people living within a square mile... a place so harsh on the eyes from the outside that its been marginalized, alienated and written off from society. It's slated to be destroyed and replaced with high-rise towers, and supposedly nothing is to be lost. These notions couldn't be further from the truth.

In November of 2010 Brooklyn-based painter/urbanist Alex White Mazzarella and videographer Casey Nolan will install themselves in Dharavi to immerse themselves in a bustling industrious economy and deep community to excavate another truth. Paintings, video, photography, and journalism created during the project's three month life will tell a story of a complex society of migrants that has lifted itself out of poverty by coming together through embracing entrepreneurship, collaboration and community. This is a Dharavi from which even the world's most cultured cities, and wealthy communities can learn from as there is nothing hiding the mechanics of the humanity here. Artistic initiatives with the community, productions and exhibitions in Mumbai, New York City, Portland and Boston, will recreate the experience of Dharavi to viewers by engaging their senses, hearts and minds.

The artists will be giving classes (photography and mixed media painting) to the Dharavi children working in the recycling industry through a partnering with ACORN's Dharavi project. Learn more about the project by visiting www.lamazza.com/artefacting-mumbai/ and follow the project on facebook by visiting www.facebook.com/pages/Artefacting-Mumbai/111968478853657?ref=ts.

"Society Under Fire", Alex White Mazzarella

I highly recommend this show and this artist. Don't miss it!

ABOUT THE ARTIST Alex White-Mazzarella, Boston 1979, is trained as an economist, urban planner and artist who moved to New York City in 2008 after living in Hong Kong, Barcelona and Rome. Building upon street art and graffiti as the cave paintings of today, his intense yet whimsical work expresses perspectives on the contemporary human in an urban language derived from his current working city, New York.

ABOUT SOAPBOX GALLERY Soapbox Gallery is dedicated to providing a forum for visual artists to engage in the issues of our time and express themselves publicly without censorship. In the tradition of the humble yet mighty soapbox that encouraged free speech and played a role in the development of our social contract, provocative work can stir public debate, raise consciousness, and even spur social evolution. Too many of us despair at the lack of content in work celebrated by the ART world. Soapbox Gallery challenges artists to speak out and be relevant.

Slotin Masterpiece Auction

If you are anywhere near Buford, Georgia and you love this type of art, you need to attend the Slotin Masterpiece Folk Art Auction, held May 1st and 2nd. The owners are connoisseurs of outsider and folk art and have access to top materials in the field. The stunning and very informative catalogue can be accessed on-line, or delivered to your door, and you can participate at home or in person.
In person is so much more exciting! Collectors from all over the country show up for fun, food and fabulous art, much of which can be bought at affordable prices. And once you get two or three of them focused on the same prize, the real excitement begins. There are over 1000 works of art at this sale, including pieces by Mattie Lou O'Kelley, Bryan McNutt, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Elijah Pierce, and many more. I urge you to go to the link and be sure to let me know how you do!

Birds, fish, houses and of course, folks!

Mike Bailey is a self-taught MA artist , some of whose works definitely remind me in iconography and style of Rene Magritte. Mike's paintings have been shown in various alternative spaces and was recently been featured in two books, "Art in King Size Beds" and "Art of Everyday Joe". He generously takes part in various charity auctions and fundraisers every year, and can be found on eBay. Delightful work with a twist.

Self-taught photographer breaks museum barriers, and that was in the 5o's

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presented a photography show, and one of Daniel Farber's reflection photographs was used as the banner advertisement. This self-taught photographer, in the leather business with his brothers, started making photographs later in his life. The results of this hobby, turned obsession, are held in over 123 museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Yale University Museum, and so on.

He also had his images used in the movie "Tommy", as well as on the covers of multiple classical music albums. Farber was named one of the top ten photographers in the decade from the 1960's through 70's, and his nature photographs are in many private collections. Since he utilized the process called color separation, these vintage images are as brilliant today as they were when they were first printed.

Silhouettes of winter trees, starkly portrayed in black and white, were among his favorite subjects and silkscreens were made of several of these striking images. A small portfolio of them (image size 16" x 16", printed on Arches paper) are now available, each of which is published, and several of which are held in permanent museum collections. Contact the Beverly Kaye Gallery for more information.

Laura N. James, praying out loud

With an Antiguan heritage and a love for detail and storytelling, in the year 2000, Laura N. James made a spectacular group of paintings for a Book of Gospels , for the Roman Catholic Church. There is a diverse cast of characters represented, of all shades and nationalities, and the artwork is gorgeous! But this young New Yorker also paints Jazz figures which seduce the eye with their colors and movement, and her series, "Nannies and Other Mothers" grabs at your heart. Women who leave their own families far behind to come to the United States to care for the children of others is a powerful and often neglected subject. She handles it with a grace and compassion for all involved and the paintings are luscious.

Mary Shelley, adrift in beauty

Folk art at it's best is carved by New York State's, Mary Shelley. She is a self-taught, visionary artist whose work fits into several other catagories.....Naïve, Americana, whimsical, Outsider, primitive and carved craft. If fact the work is simply glorious. She manages to paint a picture story of ordinary events and she brings the wood to life with each cut. Her themes range from waitresses, diners, animals, farms, and regional life, to events on the sea, which are my personal favorites. In the Summer months you can meet her at the Ithaca Farmer's Market, carving her latest masterpiece. She is an American treasure!