Sunday, December 31, 2006

Upcoming Shows in New Jersey

I won an Honorable Mention at the Colorado Show. The works I had ready to submit in requested format that were not already out to other exhibitions, were not that great. But, I felt compelled to enter this particular exhibit because of its title - "Repetitive Gestures." I've found overall, I have better responses in NY and NJ.

I will focus on the upcoming International Show and the National Drawing Show in New Jersey. I need to tweak my artist's statement with a picture of the artist. Perhaps, a foreshortened image of my distant head with a foreground image of my pen large as a sword veering down near the ground.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Phone call of acceptance to the International Juried Show!

The call came on the 14th, but I didn't check the messages. And if you didn't get a call by the 21st, you were not accepted. So, when the call came today from the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, I was surprised. About 130 works were chosen out of 1800 entries. The great news is that this show has been referred to as "...a global cousin to the Whitney Biennial show of American art..." by Dan Bischoff of the Star-Ledger. Both of my submitted slides made the cut.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

That sheet of paper is your field of dreams

Rekindle. Reignite. Reunite. Reawaken that dream. That single sheet of paper is your field of dreams. Launch the 1'000 ships. Go for it. So a few attempts fall short. You need them. You need a reference point, a compass point from which to experience your winnings. Those 7 times down have made that one time merlot sweet.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Drawing Made it to the College of New Jersey

I sent off the selected drawing to the college of New Jersey's National Drawing 2007 juried exhibition opening January 24, 2007. I was happy with this work; it had the dynacism I was seeking. I want my works to elevate me and vice versa. Happiness is something I can always find from a well executed work, even when everything else has me down. How many years in the factory was the dust, the noise, the low wages, the over-all dream-less life rendered mythic when a drawing made it out in spite of the situation. How soft that concrete bed outside a vacant church became when a drawing, its empty space sparkled with a certain human exactitude.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Response from ARTnews: Could it lead to something?

On Monday, November, 20th, it was my Birthday. I got in the mail three rejections to juried shows. But I got one acceptance letter from NJ. Better than that though, was a non-form letter from the publisher and editor of the top art magazine, ARTnews. Milton Esterow had responded to my invite to a group show I had in September. Although, he could not make the show, he passed my information to the editorial department. Could something come from this?

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Work chosen for show in Colorado

I had my first shrink wrapping episode today as I prepared 3 drawings for the bin section in an upcoming exhibition I've been selected to participate in. The bin works are as good as the chosen work receiving the wall space. The bin work must not exceed $250.00 in price. Specifications like this help one in determining the price. But that price limitation has made me re-think the price of the selected piece which was priced much higher. Well, it was the one out of 3 sent that won approval by a jury of 5 artists, so there lies the justification. But, the jury never saw the other 3 bin works. My work has gotten better in the last 2 months.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Drawing Board from the Factory Assembly-line


This is the drawing board that I hinged to a wooden post at my work station in the factory. It was a simple, but bold step to put this symbol of creativity in a factory. It was bolder to actually whip out drawings in between running widgets on the assembly line. But this is what happened. I nurtured my dream in literally seconds-long installments. One mustn't think I was not working, for I worked hard and even won grand prize for cost-saving ideas that were used to restructure the lumber company I worked for. It was those little gaps of time that I used, where others may have taken a sandwich bite, a sip of coffee. This environment became the backdrop of my unfolding personal myth. I became engaged in my own mythic journey.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

National Drawing 2007 @ The College of NJ

I overnighted 2 slides to National Drawing 2007 in NJ. It is hard to hold back my fire on these explosive drawings - but the rips must be controlled - within that control is the greatest freedom and the highest aesthetics achieved in this drawing style. I have to know in a split second where I must end the arpeggioed release. It is no different than baseball, golf, or any other sport where one must practice peripheral vision and see the whole game. It hasn't caught on big time yet, but I'm going for it.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Who is the Target of My Drawing Style?

The sheer dynacism of my drawings have an appeal to a certain collector. Someone wanting that primal, yet sophisticated delivery, dripping with never-drying soul. The homerun hit, the hole in one, the bull's eye. These celebrated moments are just second's long. My drawings have similar aspects. Certainly, this one thing - Sense of Urgency - has a relevance to the common person. Who hasn't experienced tension? Release? Grace under Pressure? The drawings have received honors from jurors from top museums. They have a inspiring Story. All the incredients are there. I need to put them in front of the right set of eyes and ears.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Submitting to National Drawing 2007

Last night I performed a dozen drawings. I'm going to submit 2 slides to the National Drawing Competition 2007 @ the college of New Jersey. Foremost for me entering a competition is the credentials of the juror and that the show emphasizes my medium - drawing. Or works on paper. I need that critical eye to notice the value in my soul drenched work, unfolding from a long journey - I've tried to outline its path on my site - www.drawingmyshipin.com. The juror is Curator & Director of Exhibitions, Hunterdon Museum of Art in Clinton, NJ. Last September, I attended a Long Island group show. My explosive, fast-paced drawings netted an Honorable Mention. That was important for me, as the curator was Colta Ives from the MET. And she was from the department of Drawing and Prints. And she was a well known author. And perhaps, best of all, she had just been awarded Best Exhibition for her Van Gogh Exhibition @ the Met by the Association of Museum Curatotrs, of which she's a founding member.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Drawing Last Night

I performed 14 drawings last night before bed. I selected three of them to make slides/CD's of to send to upcoming competitions. The critique takes but seconds; clearly, the best stick out as I can notice every subtlety because I have watched these drawings from their incubation period in the factory. I'm wanting to give more breadth to the leap for joy of this singing pen.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Zorro with a...Pen

A pen is a potential weapon - how much paper have I trashed because the rip was not intended, the gesture too hard or too soft. I've dedicated my efforts to finding that subtle balance between the delicate surface of paper and the sharp point of the pen - a hairline off can render a potential masterpiece non-existent. The rip that appears in my drawings is a result of the increased dynacism in my work. It all started from the days in the factory when I made that simple motion to personalize my workspace on the assembly line - with a drawing board. In those seconds between running the next widget on the line, I developed my drawing style. The rip appeared out of the adaptation of my drawing style to the demands of the fast-paced setting of the factory. I was so frustrated living on the street, unable to afford a studio, and only enough money to buy the bare necessities. Sometimes when I couldn't afford paper, I drew on the backs of old factory invoices. The whole drama of all these years was put to paper. Mythological contents, archetypes, a running commentary on coffee stained pictorals of my journey. It's a gradual unfolding of something missing in today's quick fix "ascent" to success - namely, STORY, something that goes the distance where STORY has a chance to unfold, where song reaches climaxes, pianissimos, arpeggios, and rears its beautiful head in defiance of the existing situation, invincibly defending the turf where dreams are made, where dragons are defeated, where light is found.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Drawing My Ship In


It's Sunday, 10-22-06, and I just made the deadline to the Third International Drawing Competition in Poland. While I have reservations about sending original drawings anywhere, it is par for the course to get your work out there to be seen. Discussed. Juried. Awarded. And, inevitably rejected. The prospectus has even stated that the winners are nearly all native to the country supporting the competition. But, it scares me not. I believe in my work and at this point it has become ferocious. This pen is a sword. And this vast world of surfaces is the battlefield. I must defeat my own mediocricy and ascend. I must develope my own criticism and most of all, my own voice. Unfolding daily, a dream carpet rolls up to your next step. That next step may be the one that elevates you out of the seemingly, stagnated routine.