My show in Berlin is open until May 23rd. For anyone who might be in Berlin between now and then, the gallery is located at Holzmarkstrasse 15/18 Bogen 48. In additions to the paintings, there are some installation shots on Susanne’s website. I am going to put the paintings up on my page soon. The physical card for the show might be my favorite of all the shows I’ve done. it is really close to the proportions of the painting too.
So i didn’t read the story, but here is the headline.
Polar bear attacks woman at Berlin Zoo
A polar bear attacked a woman at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time, police said Saturday.
…that seems about right.
.jpg)
I finished burning the DVDs for my show in Berlin last night. I’ve posted some (and some other things) videos on vimeo.
So despite being on or just starting to take a break of sorts, I couldn’t help myself from working on this painting. Like a lot of the recent paintings, I am starting with black and white gesso to form the image. In certain respects, it is a sub-underpainting as it is still a ground. This seems like the ideal way to work with images such as this as they’re basically black and white in terms of their “local” color.
Candles from Robert Olsen on Vimeo.
I am getting some videos done for my Berlin exhibition. I still need to shoot one more segment of the cutie video. So far, three of the sections are on vimeo, and I added this one today.
The paintings are done. Now I am just finishing up a few things and dropping the paintings off at the gallery tomorrow.
I am in the process of shooting additional segments for the video. Here is where it stands.
Cutie 2 from Robert Olsen on Vimeo.
Werner Herzog
While painting last night, I watched but mostly listened to The Grand via netflix instant play. Directed by Zak Penn, who also did Incident at Loch Ness (again with Herzog—the director’s et al. commentary is priceless), the film was done in a documentary style is about some fictional poker player during a tournament. In this film Herzog plays “the German.” His lines were almost out of My Best Fiend. I might listen to it again while I work tonight. Overall, not such a good movie despite a good cast. I mean Phil Hellmuth (who was in the movie) on tilt or Mike ‘the Mouth’ Matusow on tilt or a buddy pic of them talking about all the people who have sucked out on the river with a gut shot straight or how many times they have lost with Ace-Ace or Ace-King would be more entertaining—save Herzog’s performance.
Norton Simon
Today amongst my errands, I went to the Norton Simon Museum. They put up some different paintings—I was going to say new, but the most recent one is probably 100 years old. They also moved some painting around. On the good side, they moved an oil on paper still life by Cezanne to the adjacent wall. The light is a little different—seemed like a less lit wall—and it looks so much more intense. On the bad side, they replaced the Pieter Claesz still life with some landscape. The Museum has a Berkeley landscape by Richard Diebenkorn (the image above). I was hoping it would be up, although I like his Bottles painting which is on view very much, the landscape wasn’t.
Me
On my painting efforts, nearly there. I’ll be updating my artist’s homepage next week.
This painting is a study of sorts. It is finished, and is painted only with gesso much like the cherries and orange underpainting painting i posted a long time ago (which is almost done, and in color). This is 11 by 8 inches. I am making a 16 by 9 inches painting which will be in oil and probably in flesh tones.
I received the citizen photography Celebrating Urban Light catalog that LACMA put together via FedEx today. This sticker was on the back of it. It is at once helpful and humorous as the sticker no way impedes opening the book.
writing or drawing on walls is art (the good graffiti); it is apparently vandalism. Here is the Art in America Yoshitomo Nara story. I guess one should stick to what the Starn brothers are doing at another subway stop in NYC as shown on Cool Hunting.
I am wondering about the Art in America story. Mostly how I have not seen it on Artnet or Artforum dot com in comparison to the press Shepard Fairey received, especially as the latter has been arrested numerous times. I guess it is an object lesson in populism and fame and not an art story.