The Expressionist-Beatnik Connection

My latest drawing is of a sculpture by the Austrian Expressionist artist, Oscar Kokoschka titled, "Self-Portrait as a Warrior". It currently resides in the Boston Museum of Fine Art. I chose to draw this piece for several reasons.

First, I love the shape and power and emotion of this sculpture. Even though it's suppose to be a "Warrior", rather than looking fierce, I think he looks frightened. The second photo is of the original work (Courtesy of a blog called "Tall Tales From the Traveling Thornberries"). The second reason I picked it was it reminded me of the  underground comix artist Mark Marek who did a book called Hercules amongst the North Americans. The third and finally motivation was I think there is more then a passing resemblance to Jack Kerouac's running mate, Neil Cassidy; hence the "Beatnik Connection".

The coincidence is a bit uncanny as Kokoschka's sculpture was done decades before Cassidy was even born. Beat writing certainly have an expressionist feel.

This drawing finally completes a sketchbook that I've been working in for way too long. Here's the full shot of the drawing.

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I'm a Monkey, baby!

I saw this monkey mask at an exhibition at The Charles H. Taylor Art Center in Hampton, Va and took a picture. It's a simple, decorative piece, not a "real", "danced" mask. Even so, I like the clean shape of the face and the hair lines and the button eyes. I forgot to record any information about where this mask came from or who made it, so I did a web search for "African Monkey Masks" and I found that this is likely to be a mass produced mask from Indonesia. That's alright, it's still a cool looking mask and I enjoyed drawing it.

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Fool in the Rain

This weekend has mostly been a wash due to the "Super Monster Storm" also known as Hurricane Sandy. We lost power a couple of times today. I enjoyed the break from being connected. It was relaxing to sit and listen to the wind and rain and work on a drawing.

Today's drawing came from a great old tome that has been in my library for many years called "History of Far Eastern Art" by Sherman Lee. It's a wonderful, thick book full of photos of amazing art stretching back for centuries. My eye landed on a tiny bronze sculpture from the Indus culture, a "Dancing Girl" from the Mohenjo-daro region. I like her attitude and her weird, cyber-punk left arm. Everything ancient is futuristic again. Sometime many years from now, when I look at this drawing again, I'll think about the rain and the wind and the quiet space that Sandy gave me so I had time to dance with this beauty.

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"Edgar Allan Poe Vs. The Brain Eating Microbe"

After too many years, I am finally exhibiting some art again. I was invited by James Warwick Jones, the gallery manager at the Charles H. Taylor Arts Center in Hampton, Va to participate in the "Small Works" show. The piece I am submitting is called, "Edgar Allan Poe vs. The Brain Eating Microbe" and is a new version of a drawing I made for the "Monster Drawing Rally" for the 1708 Gallery in Richmond, Va. Here's the post for the Poe study I did back then. I loved the concept so much that I wanted to spend a lot of time producing a highly polished version in miniature for the "Small Works" show.  I found the frame at a thrift store, which was an amazing accident that completes the work.

If you are a local or in the area on Hampton, Va on November 2, come on out to the opening reception.

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