Speed of Life

Henri Matisse "La violiniste a la fenêtre" (The Violinist at the Window) charcoal on paper 1924 photo courtesy of the Palace of the Legion of Honor "Judging by Appearances" at the Legion of Honor is a rich exhibit of works on paper from the private collection of Joseph and Deborah Goldyne. The artworks have been arranged under broad themes by curator Robert Flynn Johnson, which leads to chance correspondences between disparate artists. Matisse's luminous charcoal drawing, "La violiniste a la fenêtre", with its silvery light seems apt for the fog shrouded skies above Baker Beach on a typical summer morning in San Francisco. (I imagine a similar view from Robin William's open window as I drive back from the museum through Seacliff towards North Beach.) Hanging nearby is a tiny Rembrandt study, which carries a similar force with the simplest of means. In one of my earliest drawing classes, the Los Angeles artist Tom Wudl looked at my work and said,...

Icon with Saint Theodosia. (detail) Byzantine (Constantinople), first half of the 13th century. The Holy Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt In today's Los Angeles Times, Suzanne Muchnic reports on the upcoming exhibition at the Getty Museum: "Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons From Sinai" In 2004, the Metropolitan Museum in New York presented an exhibition on Byzantium which included works from St. Catherine's in the Sinai. Opening at the Getty Museum on November 14th will be the first exhibition in the United States to focus exclusively on treasures from the Greek Orthodox monastery beneath Mount Sinai in Egypt. Founded by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the in the 6th century, The Holy Monastery of St. Catherine, lays claim as the the world's oldest continuously operating Christian monastery. The Holy Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt photo - Bruce M. White Father Justin Sinaites, librarian at St. Catherine's, in an interview with the L...

RB Morris at the Edinburgh Castle, San Francisco photo by Gregg Chadwick Lucinda Williams has called him the "greatest unknown songwriter in the country." Recently at the Edinburgh Castle in San Francisco, I heard RB Morris play the greatest unreleased song in the country - his post September 11th lament - "Empire Falls". "Empire Falls" is a heartbreaking look at America today. It would fit right in on Neil Young's "Living With War", Pearl Jam's new album, The Dixie Chicks' new collection, Springsteen's current tour and Michael McDermott's glorious upcoming album. Come to the Getty Museum on June 9th and hear it for yourself. Money back guarantee if the song doesn't move you. Well the event is free so no worries there. The Getty describes RB Morris as a "hillbilly beatnik hailing from Knoxville, Tennessee, and a celebrated poet, playwright, and singer-songwriter. His songs reflect a range of musical styles from blue...

Gregg Chadwick "The Crossing" 72"x48" oil on linen 2004 Thinking About Art has my "Artists Interview Artists" piece up. I respond to a series of questions on the process of my work: Artists Interview Artists: Gregg Chadwick Thanks JT. And thanks to Sky Pape at Artists Unite for linking to my interview and my site: Artists Unite

Gerhard Richter "Breath" (detail) oil on canvas 1989 Milwaukee Art Museum Tyler Green's recent piece on the correspondence between Courbet's paint quality and Gerhard Richter's paint technique, echoes my own recent thoughts. The landscape motifs in many of the works at the recent Courbet exhibition at the Getty in Los Angeles were almost a framework to enable Courbet's paint pyrotechnics. Gustave Courbet "The Gust of Wind" (detail) oil on canvas c. 1865 The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Courbet's paint is dragged, scumbled, rubbed, scraped, ladled on with a palette knife, smeared with rags, and fingers. Richter's work is also manipulated on the surface of the canvas while the paint is still wet. Richter's blurred, squeegeed marks create a new reality and for me evoke thoughts of grottoes, mists and Wagnerian myths. Gerhard Richter "Breath" oil on canvas 1989 Milwaukee Art Museum Nagasawa Rosetsu "Herdboy Playing a Flute...

Robert Heinecken Photo work from a guerilla special edition Christopher Knight reports in todays Los Angeles Times that the artist Robert Heinecken has died. Robert Heinecken's photo works took his photography directly into the world. In one of his most memorable artistic actions Robert Heinecken bought numerous copies of a current edition of Time magazine in 1969 and then, after adding his own ani-war images adapted from horrific news photos from the conflict, put them back on the newstand shelves for unsuspecting customers. Christopher Knight explains: "The pages of Heinecken's guerrilla "special edition" included superimposed lithographic prints of a recently published photograph showing a smiling soldier holding the decapitated heads of two anonymous Vietnamese youths. The shocking image was repeated indiscriminately over fashion advertisements and editorial news copy throughout the magazines. Between 1969 and 1994, he made 37 editions of variously collaged...

Gregg Chadwick October Off Ocean Park 72"x72" oil on linen 2006 My painting, "October Off Ocean Park" was painted in a series of starts, stops and absences. Major compositional elements were scraped down or painted over. I worked on the painting over a series of months then years. My artistic engagement with the work of Richard Diebenkorn helped me finish the piece. I knew I wanted to get the light of a Santa Monica evening into the work. But I wasn't quite sure how to pull it off. Not long ago I moved into a studio at the Santa Monica Airport, literally off Ocean Park Boulevard. I could walk out the door and see that evening light filtered through my memories of Diebenkorn's Ocean Park series. Richard Diebenkorn Ocean Park No.27 100" x 81" oil on canvas 1970 Brooklyn Museum Arthur C. Danto , in "Encounters and Reflections", writes at length on Diebenkorn's Ocean Park paintings: "Ocean Park itself is a community in Santa Moni...

Photo by: KB Projects Konstantin Bojanov, an art fabricator, at work on Richard Jackson's "The Pink Empire" . "As art with high production values has become increasingly common, the role of the artist has evolved into something closer to that of a film director who supervises a large crew of specialists to realize his or her vision." - Mia Fineman in The New York Times Mia Fineman's New York Times article on contemporary art fabrication is well worth the read: "Looks Brilliant on Paper. But Who, Exactly, Is Going to Make It?"

Lee Sevilla in her car with Sandy Photo by Richard Hartog In today's Los Angeles Times, Steve Lopez describes the predicament of Lee Sevilla . An emerging artist at 71, Lee Sevilla spends the nights overlooking the Pacific Ocean, sleeping in her car with her dog Sandy. The hours after work are spent at a local public library, where Ms. Sevilla works on her drawings hoping to scrape together a few more dollars to aid her living situation. Steve Lopez writes, "About 10 years ago, Lee Sevilla answered a lifelong dream, got a student loan and took a few art classes at UCLA. I discovered I've got a gift," she said, proudly showing me her pencil sketches of wildlife and domestic animals. "If only I could figure out how to make something happen with it now. I seem to be in a rut there too." Lee Sevilla Photo by Richard Hartog "She's an amazing woman, and so talented," said Roz Templin, a library assistant who, along with her colleague Kimberlee Carter...

Gregg Chadwick 关于金山 (On Gold Mountain) 68"x68" oil on linen 2006 For the immigrant Chinese community, San Francisco was known as Gum Saan - "Gold Mountain" - a place of freedom and prosperity. This new painting, is in part a visual poem on new Chinese immigrants coming to America. Many of these new immigrants are young girls adopted from China into American families. What will their stories be?