Richard Lee, Magical Painter of West Tisbury

For 24 years a visit to Martha's Vineyard was not complete without both a visit to the West Tisbury home, and a pilgrimage to the Vineyard Haven gallery of my friend, reverse glass painter Richard Lee. In a magical house tucked into Indian territory, filled with totems and feathers, Buddha's and bracelets, stuffed wolves and wall to wall art, Richard and his family resided.  He was a brilliant, thoughtful and irreverent man who was generous in spirit, adored his family, tended his gardens, and obsessivly worked on his art.

A visiting reporter, Heather Curtis wrote in the Martha's Vineyard Times:

"The studio's door opens wide to reveal his reverse paintings on glass displayed in antique frames on the room's pastel walls.  They are vividly colored neon fantasies conveying a satiric humor. Vibrant green frogs wearing neon-colored boots in 'Java Jive' dance around merrily while balancing oversized cups of coffee above their heads. In 'Fashion Runway' models with human bodies and animal heads strut around in front a crowd of neon blue spectators. Richard Lee paints the details first, then adds background.Richard said that "the mixture of animal and human forms come from his observing the animal characteristics that many people have." 

Ms. Curtis added, "He says the images he paints are zoomorphic, portraying "'the realizations of the inner connectedness of all of life.'" As for the meanings of the paintings, he says that's up to the viewer to figure out. '"People don't know how they're supposed to react, as if they're supposed to,'" Mr. Lee says, taking a long sip from his iced coffee.

"An Islander since the 1970s, he discovered the art form by chance, he explains. It was a friend's birthday, and he didn't have any paper to make a card. So he made do with what he had, painting a card on a piece of glass. The accident became an instant addiction."

Richard discovered antique mirrors with hand carved frames at tag sales and scrapped off the silver backing. He then did a sketch on translucent paper and proceeded to the final painting on the back of the glass. His works were highlighted with gold and silver leaf and once, for an entire year, he painted exclusively in 23 shades of blue. One of the paintings from this period, "Miss Owl Pulls the Cord", is in my personal collection. Richard also undertook massive tasks of painting entire case pieces along with gilding their wood, and an important case piece was recently accepted into the permanent collection of  the Baltimore Museum of Art. The formal title is Sinking and Burning, but the piece is widely referred to as The 13th Cabinet.

He was a very magical man.....a man whose spirit will remain in the hearts of all who were privileged to know him. He made us open our eyes and view the world in an entirely different way. The lesson and the man will not be lost, but they will be dearly missed.

The Baron Paints a Life Remembered

Baron Corso de Palenzuela was only 8 years old when his titled family fled Cuba to avoid Batista's corruption. The trauma of this sudden and unexpected move from their beloved homeland has remained with de Palenzuela and is clearly evident in his art. His memory paintings, depicting the family's luxurious life in Cuba, illustrate both love and loss for Corso the child, and haunting fragments of memory still carried by Corso the adult.

In his paintings, the main figures are always large and in the foreground, flat in perspective, often flanked by both armed soldiers and the lush vegetation of this tropical paradise. White deer, called Dama Dama, almost forced into extinction because of their prized flesh, white peacocks whose feathers are decorated with gold coins from the family's fortune, white dogs both prized for their hunting skills and their devotion as family pets, enormous fields filled with sunflowers, cocoa and tobacco, and mother tending to her gardens, fill de Palenzuela's colorful canvases.

There is a strong folk aesthetic to this unschooled work which has been shown at the American Visionary Art Museum, The Miami Fine Art Museum, The Jewish Museum in NY, The Havana Municipal Museum, and Vassar College. The artist's spiritual side, reflecting his Sephardic heritage, is depicted in powerful biblical paintings with illustrative text. Corso de Palenzuela says, “I’m religious, but I don’t believe in institutional religion. I’m more of a mystic.” These wonderful paintings are mystical indeed! Most of the work is painted in oil on random shaped boards, often surrounded with framing constructed to protect these vivid and cherished memories. There are fascinating stories told in each work and a goodly amount of the vintage pieces are still in the artist's personal collection.

Edward Gomez wrote of de Palenzuela in Raw Vision magazine, these paintings go “…far beyond the Cuban-American dominated zones of Miami and South Florida reflecting both increasing and broader popular interest in Latin-American culture in general, and the ever-widening scope of the Outsider Art world, where interest in styles, techniques or themes associated with particular peoples or places has significantly enriched appreciation of the genre.” De Palenzuela's work has also received glowing write-ups in the New York Times on four occasions.

Vintage and current works by Corso de Palenzuela are now available at the Beverly Kaye Gallery in Woodbridge, CT tel: 203 387 5700

Building Upon Building.....

Eric Rosner's art work has captured New York's architecture in it's earliest days, when no detail was left to chance and buildings were embellished like wedding cakes. He has preserved this elegant past for the last 20 years in both ink drawings and canvas prints, so the history of this beloved city will live on beyond the crumbling facades of today. In Rosner's own words, "I find myself thinking of all the people who have graced this grand Metropolis and these buildings have housed them all. Whether it was epic business transactions, stunning scientific discoveries or grand entertainment showcasing, the city of New York has a unique tale of histories. With my artwork, I hope you can imagine a stunning time period over a century ago when the imagination ran wild and magnificent structures soared to the sky. "

Sometimes, Rosner's work can be seen executed on the outside of the buildings as well as inside them. His work has been shown at the Affordable Art Fair, the Tribeca Lounge and the Argos Tea House in NY and recently at the Chelsea Hotel. This self-taught artist recently decided to sell his original artworks. Pieces range from 6" x 6" to 60" x 60". I cannot imagine living in a New York apartment without one of these very prepossessing works on the wall. Any one of these drawings would have been the perfect cover for Joseph Mitchell's "Up In The Old Hotel", one of my favorite books.

Anyone Can Dine With the Queen

Therese James has a zest for life paired with a sense of humor, which is evident in each of her paintings. Her work would be considered Naive, and since 1993 she has given in to a compulsion to paint full time. She records scenes of everyday life with an unbounded joy which makes the viewer feel like jumping in to join the fun. Therese gets much of her inspiration from the places and literature of her native Wales and the West Country.

According to her bio, "Relying purely on an instinctive approach to her art she has developed her own style with representative characters who inhabit the world of her paintings." A simple seashore scene, double decker red busses in traffic, or even a family sharing their Christmas dinner with the Queen (on TV of course), become fodder for a new painting. Her subjects move at angles and dance across the canvas in a dizzying tango. Her work can be seen in galleries throughout the UK and she is represented in the Affordable Art Fairs by Wren Fine Art, and was selected for the prestigious "Artist of the Year" award.

Beauty from The Earth

Of all Pueblo pottery, the thin walled storage jugs, medicine bowls, seed jars and canteens from Acoma, have reigned supreme. For over 600 years the residents of this pueblo, also known as Sky City, in the western desert of New Mexico, have gathered local clay from secret areas, and shards from old pottery. After traditional and tedious methods, they have turned this gift from Mother Earth into pottery which holds it's head high in the field of hand made art. Special stones are ground with native vegetation to create a paint which is then applied with brushes made from local plants, chewed down to a few long strands. After air drying, the pots are dung fired and with a prayer are pronounced complete.

The earth tone color at the bottom of many of these pots and the thin black and white lines denoting rain and thunderclouds are familiar iconography used by the artisans here. Each Pueblo has their own symbols. Some of the contemporary makers have included designs from their ancestors after having been introduced to these Mimbres symbols at local museums. Both men and woman create pots here on top of and in the three small towns at the foot of Sky City, and they are among the finest in the world. More examples can be seen by clicking on the title.

The interior world bleeds onto a canvas

Ronald Sloan has been obsessively painting his private world for over forty years. An examination of this almost intact, and vast body of work, exposes an alternate reality painted in a masterful and unique style. It has remained so consistent, that only dating next to his signature reveals whether the work is early or recent. The human figure, deconstructed and then reconstructed into skeletal form, often exists in a world of fear, pain, trauma and sexual abuse. Geometric figures-- grids, boxes, far off center lines, and numbers appear hand in hand with quasi human figures struggling to make sense of an unsettling world.
One of his painting was recently chosen to be on the cover of a poetry book published by Alice James Books. The gallery has a large portfolio of these paintings, as well as day book sketches. The paintings above are "The Thought" and 'The Night He Cried".

Dots....eat them, play them, love them

Amy Myers wrote to tell me about a "board and care" residential facility that houses 250 people suffering from debilitating mental illness located in San Pedro, California. In this space there is a Living Museum Art Center, where a handful of dedicated artists spend the major portion of each day. Amy tells me these artists derive great satisfaction out of their work and in some cases discovering their creativity has literally saved their lives by giving them a sense of purpose. Jennifer Flores is one of these talented people and her "Dots Guitar" will certainly bring a smile to your face. If you have any interest in seeing more of her work, please contact
Amy Myers
Living Museum Art Center at Harbor View House
921 S. Beacon Street
San Pedro, CA 90731

Doodles to die for.......Ian Pyper

As it succinctly says on his website," Ian Pyper creates drawings; he induces visions. Pyper uses marker, watercolor and paper, like a caveman used burnt wood, spit and a hard rock wall, to show us clearly what he sees." This entirely self-taught and outsider artist from the UK wows his audience with a cacophony of color and line, dots and doodles, and wins an ever larger audience each time. Paper saturated with watercolor and ink mesmerize the eye and spirit alike. I like!

Outsider Art shown at German Fair

Here's a photo of Alexandra Huber's art on the walls of the famous Artfair in Karlsruhe, Germany. This is a spectacular fair and thankfully it was very successful for all involved. There will be a show of her work called "Alexandra in America" from May through July at the Beverly Kaye Gallery and more of her work can be seen by clicking on the title link. Feel free to join the Galley's facebook page as a Fan.

A Life of Visionary Collage, Ann Irwin

Ann Irwin, by all accounts, was a woman who chose to live, love, and create art, under the most challenging circumstances. She battled chronic lung disease and other health issues, but worked on her art constantly. Even towards the end of her battle, she managed, with a 54 foot long cord to her oxygen supply, to still work in her beloved garden, and create eloquent colleges and quilts in her basement studio. According to her husband, Roy, she utilized old books, fabric, and found objects. "Ann created a large body of art (over 400 pieces) rich in a deep personal mythology of whimsical images of birds, houses, trees, and flowers." She often incorporated the printed word in her works, "not to be read, rather for tonality". "She asked her paper, foil, and twigs to function as a silent prayer, to anchor the dreamy images, to keep them real and material." Ann's work was shown in both museum settings and regional shows. I present here, three wonderful examples of her work. The piece I call "Starry Night with Matzoh" is one of my favorites. I thank Roy Zipris, Ann's husband, for bringing her extraordinary work to my attention. I recently visited the Museum of Modern Art to see collages and constructions. Ann Irwin's work would have been a perfect fit. Click on the title of this blog and you will come to a flickr page of more images. Enjoy!

Ann Harper, food for thought

Ann Harper continues to amaze me with her complex, and spectacularly painted artworks. She is a licensed clinician as well as a courtroom advocate for children, and still finds the time to create haunting and unforgettable canvases. This recent painting called "Harvest" is in response to a poem by Saint Helena, part of which is posted here.
"And I have tilled, indeed,
Much land, where men may say that I have planted
Unsparingly my corn—
For a world harvest-haunted
And for a world unborn."
Another of my Harper favorites is "Knitting Birds".  Strange, for sure, but beautiful non the less! Ann offers this one as a giclee print on eBay.

Pedro Martin DeClet, homage to heros

The collage "Portrait de Genocide", a powerful statement by Pedro Martin DeClet, is typical of his works which often examine his personal struggles and those of society. He first started exploring art while incarcerated, and a liberal prison system encouraged his efforts and allowed him to leave the premisses to attend his first show, beyond prison walls. This monumental work honors fallen heros, Latino as well as American Indian. The red pictograph of the human spirit bleeds for them and their sacrifices. Much of Pedro's work is in diary form, and he excels at painting, collage, sculpture, as well as assemblages.
His prison years and his involvement with the Latin Kings are far behind him, only occasionally resurfacing as fodder for his art. Pedro is exquisitely aware of the art world, and the poetry and prose of the most renowned authors and wordsmiths; however, his work is not at all derivative. It is purely his own vision, his own pain. Although completely self-taught, his frequent use of both Latin and Spanish text within his work gives it a unique sophistication. His self-portraits reveal him as he is, sweet, moody, confrontational, scarred, and hopeful. Pedro has had several museum shows and his work is held in many private collections.