Friday, May 16, 2008

Donated


This 4 part painting is tittled "Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall".
I donated it to a charity auction for the Sophia Academy in Providence, RI. I wasn't informed of the total dollar value the painting raised for the school but I do know, from a bidder in the silent auction, that it fetched more for the school than a lunch with the famous/notorious Buddy Cianci. I'm just proud that appreciation for my art could trump notoriety, and for a good cause.

I also donated another painting, titled MOD to a fund raiser for my children's school; I have to admit there was a higher degree of self interest there.

As usual with this painting it is hard to see all the layers and texture, which is integral to all my paintings. With this set I try to capture the exuberant hues of each season. It's not so much the exact visual tint that I try to reproduce but more of the sum total color experience, something you feel in memory. The wood pieces were clean cut but salvaged from a defunct construction project. Each piece went through several iterations before the final composition came together. I find I am becoming increasingly fastidious about the balance of color. A bit too much white here or not enough red there changes the entire thing for me. I can't tell you how I know when it is done but I know it when I see it.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Art on Amazon.com


You know you've hit the big time when your work is featured in some major media outlet and the groupies start to clamor. So clearly I have yet to hit the big time.

My groupies mainly consist of a core clique that prefers to call me "Daddy" and has yet to emerge from the cohort still concerned with signs that read "you must be this -- tall to enter."

But in terms of "media" (so to speak), there is one venue where my work is featured every day, I mean besides this blog. Millions of art buyers (potentially) can access one of my earliest creations on Amazon.com.

My poly-vinyl painting titled "pour blue" is listed there. So you can search me out; Wincuinas is listed as a brand. The painting is about 6 feet tall and it looks like a rush of water. As with most of my paintings I'm more concerned with the emotion of the thing represented than with the actual representation. When you look at one of my paintings I want to you too feel it as much as observe it.

In high school I spent a lot of time walking though the MFA in Boston and I was always attracted to work that grabbed me at the gut level. Sometimes it was just a matter of color or an exotic subject, a lot of religious art actually grabbed me that way. It was both haunting and vibrant. Most of the time the technical detailing in the pictures was lacking, to say the least. But the way it got under my skin is what intrigued me.

I am trying to communicate on the same level by distilling things down to basic elements. Yet at the same time I am driven by a certain sense of interior design. Color and shapes make a significant impact on a room. Objects set a tone as well as a style. How you feel sitting in a room can be (isn't always) greatly influenced by its layout and contents. The context of it all is what makes the difference between the sublimely stylish and the distinctly dull. A trendy restaurant needs to look and feel trendy as well as offer the latest culinary creations. How you achieve that evasive cool factor is an art in itself. Its been practiced for centuries as feng shui, but even in modern interior design it's still about striking a balance.

If you are decorating for your self or as a professional I hope you will consider incorporating one of my works into the environment you are creating. If you are interested in one of my works please contact reorient, find them on the web, www.shopreorient.com or www.reorient.biz.