How to go see Art / Gallery Visit 101
Posted by Roberto Torres-Torres
So you like art, but find the galleries daunting. This is a common problem. Art needs viewers. Art, of any sort, is dead until someone experiences it. This is true for music and literature, but it is very certainly true of the visual arts. For someone who has an eye for art, and who wants to see new works regularly, going to galleries is the best way for you to go. The art world is constantly swimming with new exhibitions and gallery shows, all of which hold opening receptions of some sort. It is these events that I want to talk about.
When an artist or a group of artists shows their work somewhere, and holds a reception/opening/event to bring people there, their hope is for an audience to show up, look at their work, and hopefully appreciate it enough to want to purchase it. For many this process is very intimidating. It should not be. I am here to help.
What should you expect from an art opening?
Let's take, for example, a group show held at a local gallery. Most art openings are free-form events, intended to allow the public to come and go as they please. There is no pressure to be there “on time,” unless it is so specified in the announcement/invitation. There is no cover charge. There may be a cash bar or there may be complimentary refreshments served. The artist(s) and/or a gallery employee are usually there, ready to introduce themselves, as well as discuss any questions you may have about their work. This type of interaction is a welcome thing for most artists, as we rarely have the opportunity to interact with the consumers of art. It is completely cool to go up to the artist and introduce yourself, and comment on their art, or ask any questions.
Think of an art show as a communication format. The artists want to communicate with you through their art and through their words. The viewing public is also given the chance to communicate what the work is or is not to them, and if they love it, to purchase said work. Aside from that, there is a communication that happens between the patrons themselves. Art is intended to move the heart and/or mind. You are there to see if this art does this. At the very least, you will be entertained. Not bad for FREE.
What is expected of you at an art opening?
First of all, your very presence. As stated before, art does not live in a vacuum. It is your eyes and minds (and in many cases, all your senses) that are asked to participate. Of course, your preparation can aid in this, but it is not mandatory. You do not need to know the latest art movements, or any art movements at all, to enjoy an artwork or an art show. That does not mean that preparation will not come in handy, but that is up to you. What you really need is an open mind, uncluttered by the bullshit of the day. This is ideal, but we all know life does not often allow for the ideal. The beauty of art is that it will communicate what it can, to whom it can.
This is the beauty of living with art. You can look at it regularly in different light, in different states of mind, in different emotional situations, and get fresh insight. At a gallery show, this must obviously be limited, but that is part of the process. You cannot just hop into an art gallery, look at everything in a quick overview, and then leave right away. Not if you expect to actually create a mental dialogue with the art being shown. It takes a bit of time. First impressions are only enough for superficial matters. Art is deeper than that, otherwise it is just decoration.
Therefore, go to the gallery, walk in, take a casual stroll through and look at each work of art. Note what impression it makes on you and move on to the next. Keep your ears open for anything you may find interesting, such as who the artist is, and if she happens to be discussing her work. Sometimes the artist will give a small speech/statement discussing their latest work, or the direction they are heading in. Listen to them. See how this applies to the art you have looked at.
Go around again. Take a second look at everything. See how your impressions have changed or remained the same. No one will bother you for staying too long. No one will bother you for only staying 15 minutes. However, you must give the art a chance to speak to you, and this cannot be accomplished with a cursory glance at everything and a quick exit. There is usually some form of literature provided, either by the gallery or by the artist themselves. This is a good place to learn more about the artist and their work. There is likely to be some sort of sign-in sheet where you can provide your email and receive updates from either the artist or the gallery.
How do you find time for art shows?
The beauty of an art show is that you can access it at your own pace. You can use a visit to an art gallery opening as a precursor to a night out, as a great conversation starter among friends. You can swing by an opening after dinner on a Friday or Saturday night, and enjoy a drink while walking off some of dinner and feeding your mind a bit. Some people frequent art shows regularly, and use them as their socializing routine. Like-minded people enjoying art can be a very fun pastime. You can also hit several openings/shows in sequence and explore the full gamut of what is being offered on any given day. Hell, if you need a small break waiting for the traffic to die down after work, go to the art show! Kill an hour looking at art and then head home with a full mind. Even if the art turns out to be horrible, at the least you have something new to grouse about!
So many people are curious about art, and the art world itself. Yet, the very nature of it makes the art world appear to be an elitist situation, where only the informed and worldly and educated snobs of the world are welcome. This is really not the way it is, just the way it is portrayed in mass media. Most art openings are such casual affairs, and your presence means a lot to those showing work. Remember, if you like something, and can afford it, go ahead and buy something. Sometimes prints are available, or smaller works at a reduced price. The goal is for the art to communicate to someone enough that they wish to own it, and live with it. That someone could very well be you. If you have no money, feel free to enjoy the art anyways. Exposure is the goal of every professional artist, and while one person may not purchase something, their favorable comments about the art or artist can provoke others to buy work, or to come to the next art show. Share what you find. Talk about what you like or do not like. That makes you a part of the art world, and just as important a part as the artists and gallery owners. Go forth, and do so with confidence. The art world is waiting for your input and participation.
RXTT2011
Early Stages
Posted by Adam
All of my work has an experimental value to it. I never set precise standards for a finished piece, partly because of my indecisiveness but also because new ideas sprout out of each painting in different stages. Here is a self portrait I started last night, it has already taken off in a new direction and I am sure it will have evolved again and again by the time the show comes around on Nov 5th.
The Never-ending Battle
Posted by Lauren
As an artist not only are you subjected tons of outside competition but at any given time you are competing also against yourself. Personally, my interests lay within equal rights, fair treatment, and identity , and citiscapes. On opposite sides of the spectrum, the two couldn't be further from each other. As a result of my decision to quit my day job and do the artist thing full time, an internal struggle has arrisen. What I want to paint vs. what will sell.
Artists have an innate need to show the public visually what we are thinking and voice our opinions. Many of my works are politically charged because I am interested in identity. My most recent show was entitled, The State of Our (un)Union, where I visually addressed the plight of African-Americans since the Civil Rights. I poured my heart and soul into those paintings, formerly I was a special education teacher to inner city children with emotional disturbances. I had plenty to say about our "popular culture".
Sanitation Workers Strike 1968 by Lauren Luna
However, I also love music and I love to paint what music makes me feel. Fast, uptempo music, you know the type that you have no choice but to tap your foot to? In high school I had a painting teacher that always made us listen to classical music, saying it would help us use our right side of the brain, or was it the left? The correct (creative) side! So now as an all grown up artist, I still do that, however my music is much much faster! And the strokes I leave on my canvas mirror the flow of the music.
Urban Garden by Lauren Luna
Finally there is my love of citiscapes. In college one of the painting classes I took, assigned us to take the elements of a city and put it together. ie. People, Buldings, Movement, Signage. This was my painting below.
The Big Apple by Lauren Luna
Ever since then I've done a lot of collage paintings, and eventually merged the citiscapes into purely abstracted paintings. But the problem still remains. Paint what will sell or paint what I like.
I love to paint abstracts, but most of the general viewing public don't get abstracts. So they glance at it and move on to something they can connect with. The political pieces are thought provoking, but not many people are willing to hang such controversial pieces in their homes.
So alas, I am torn. As a professional artist, it is my income,and if art doesn't sell, bills don't get paid. Do I become strictly commercial and become a cookie cutter artist, who paints like the prints you can find at Walmart? Or do I continue to paint what I like and hope, wish, and pray that someone will buy it?
The Portraiture Show
Posted by Nico Whittaker
HOUSTON - Beginning, Saturday, November 5th, Warhous Visual Studios will host The Portraiture Show, a group exhibition presented by the Montrose Art Society (MAS).
The Portraiture Show, which will feature artist Nico Whittaker, will examine the classical attempt at representing individuals through emotion and history. Each artist will examine themselves, loved ones and strangers through painting, drawing, photography, digital-media, collage and installations.
"If anyone knows about surface beauty as it relates to inner beauty it is an artist. We show people exactly how we see them, albeit filtered by our artistic fiber. We may create images of real people, or maybe of how we imagine or visualize people to be. Some of us are influenced by caricature or comic books, where what matters is to catch certain features that define the subject while others seek to portray the subject by realistic painting or photography and even performance art and installations that explore not just the outer but the inner self." - Nico Whittaker
WHAT: The Portraiture Show
WHEN: Opening Reception on Saturday, November 5, 2011, 6 – 10 p.m.
WHERE: War'hous Visual Studios| 4715 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
COST: Free
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=105491292895607
MASartists@gmail.com
713-594-2735
The Human Face
Posted by Roberto Torres-Torres
One of the things I find most perplexing about ancient, pre-historic art is the lack of portraiture. We take portraits for granted, sometimes relegating them to the Fine Art backwaters, along with genre painting, still-life, etc. Potraits may be commonplace, but it seems that ancient man did not share this with us. The daring artists, probably shamans, who ventured into the secret magic places and left us images of wildlife, hunts, plants, and deities, also left behind images of themselves. Most of these images are not what we would call Portraits.
Did ancient humans not have a need to create images of each other? Once society developed enough to create cultures and permanent settlements humans began to craft individual portraits. Until then, the focus may have been more on a magical aspect of art. Instead of being decoration for beauty's sake, art was maybe the most powerful tool in the shaman's bag of tricks. With sympathetic magic a painting of a succesful hunt would help to bring about an actual succesful hunt. In a world living with these ideas, a specific portrait of someone might indeed be seen as stealing their very soul, much like people who are first exposed to photography have reacted throughout the world. I wonder what changed in humanity to allow for the creation of portraits. The one below is from around 150 BC, and is a portrait created for the funerary rituals of a noblewoman.
It does seem to be that once the switch was made in humanity, the portrait became ubiquitous. To have a portrait of oneself was a sign of opulence, of modernity. The detailed studyof the human face, and the ability to portray that in paint, granted the powerful with a new tool. They could use portraits as propaganda. Whether this meant crafting a relief sculpture of the Ceasar for their coinage, which everyone would see and admire causing them to associate their ruler with their money, or whether it was a painting commissioned to commemorate a coronation, instantly granting it's subject the grandeur of royalty, the portrait was subservient to the whims of man.
Formal portraits have lost their power in an age of quick reproduction. Photography allowed the masses to obtain lasting images of themselves and their loved ones. Portrait paintings became out of fashion, while portrait photography exploded. Ancient man would see our world today and marvel in fear at our reckless use of images. As a species we create and display more portraits every day than could be imagined by our ancestors. We just call it "advertising."
While some may think this would be the death of the art portrait, I find it to be beneficial in a very specific way. By taking the requirement of exact reproduction away, photography leaves space for painters who can use their art to convey something deeper than mere surface. When the Outer is fully examined, it is the Inner which truly informs. Ancient man did not seek to portray an individual human. He sought to portray an idealization of a human for the benefit of all. Modern painters seek to paint the inner truth of their subjects, thereby granting them some semblance of immortality. The focus of portraits has shifted many times in the past and will shift again. That is a given. However, the past history of portraits does not necessarily point to their future. There is still endless room for innovation and creativity. That is the challenge to the modern artist, for the obsession with the human face continues unabated.
Self Portrait – Work in Progress
Posted by Artist Raul Gonzalez
For the past several months I've been working on my Deconstruction Series, which is about destructing the world around us and trying to rebuild it.
The entire series will be shown Saturday, October 15th at John Palmer Gallery & Studio, as part of my completion of the 2011 Escapist Program.
But...one piece from the series will be saved for the next Montrose Art Society group exhibition, which will take place on November 5th at Warhous Visual Studios.
Here's a sneak peak of that piece. I will be spending the next several weeks working on this self-portrait, along with several works on paper.
Please check back for more information on our next exhibit.
Portrait Session – Open to the Public
Posted by Juliana
 This Tuesday October 4, Caroline Collective will be hosting another MAS event. We will drawing/painting/collaging each other as part of a collaborative piece that will be shown at our next group exhibition. The event is open to public. If you're interested in participating, bring some art supplies and get to work! |
Ode To The Group Dynamic
Posted by Roberto Torres-Torres
Most artists have always sought the company of other artists. The human mind does not thrive in isolation. Sure there are periods where one must be alone, to think and/or create, but Art at it's core is communication. This is why, after a long day of work in their studios, many artists find other creative people to socialize with. Picasso and Matisse had their own respective crews of fellow artists. This allows for refinement of ideas, for explorations of thought that one cannot do alone.
While some artists seek others for casual reasons, others gather to support each other in the competitive and fickle art world. Many of the artists now known as the Impressionists originally banded together to show their work, having all been rejected for inclusion by the official Salon in Paris. They fought to be shown. The Dadaists created alternative spaces to show their work, marketed themselves, and engaged their potential audience in a whole new way.
It is wonderful to be a part of the Montrose Art Society for all these reasons and more. It takes a lot of courage to not only create something new, but to open it up and allow new members to join and contribute. The world needs Art. Houston desperately needs Art. We now have a duty to provide it. Let's do it!
RXTT
Art is My Husband
Posted by Lauren
Art is my Husband.
Canvas my lover.
Nightly we engage in the most passionate menage-a-trois.
Cut me.
I bleed paint
and birth masterpieces.
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