by Gregg Chadwick
Tuesday, January 03, 2023
Happy Birthday Anna May Wong!
Monday, January 02, 2023
Ad Astra
by Gregg Chadwick
Beyond Light
30”x22” monotype on paper 2004
Private Collection, San Francisco, California
Sunday, January 01, 2023
First Dream, First Sale 2023
by Gregg Chadwick
Gregg Chadwick
Ponte del Castelvecchio (Verona)
48"x36"oil on linen
In Japan the first dreams of the New Year, hatsu-yume 初夢, traditionally provide markers for the dreamer's upcoming year. In that spirit, perhaps the first artwork sold in a new year provides inspiration for the months to come. My painting Ponte del Castelvecchio (Verona) is the first sale of 2023. On this first day of the new year, I am busy packing up my Verona painting for shipment to its new home.
I think back to the genesis of the painting. I was perched above a Renaissance era bridge in Verona watching a light rainfall and the swollen river rushing by. The smell of rain filled the air. Swifts darted across the milky sky. Like gauze stretched across a stage set, the mix of rain, bus exhaust, and a distant sun breaking through the mist cloaked the moment in a spell of timelessness. I thought of the late Russian emigre writer Joseph Brodsky and his idea that water is the image of time. Often on trips to Europe, I will carry a battered copy of Brodsky’s verse to help inspire my ramblings. Here in the Veneto, I am reminded of Brodsky’s love of Italy and Venice in particular. I turn the pages of Brodsky’s Watermark and find the passage I am looking for:
“I always adhered to the idea that God is time, or at least that His spirit is. Perhaps this idea was even of my own manufacture, but now I don’t remember. In any case, I always thought that if the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water, the water was bound to reflect it. Hence my sentiment for water, for its folds, wrinkles, and ripples, and — as I am a Northerner — for its grayness. I simply think that water is the image of time, and every New Year’s Eve, in somewhat pagan fashion, I try to find myself near water, preferably near a sea or an ocean, to watch the emergence of a new helping, a new cupful of time from it. I am not looking for a naked maiden riding on a shell; I am looking for either a cloud or the crest of a wave hitting the shore at midnight. That, to me, is time coming out of water, and I stare at the lace-like pattern it puts on the shore, not with a gypsy-like knowing, but with tenderness and with gratitude.”
I look up from by book and peer down at the river’s edge. In the reeds and shallows small fish chasing food dart where the current eddies. In this reverie, my mind creates stories — If Brodsky is right these pools hold time in stasis. If I had a long net, maybe I could dip into the water and pull out living memories.
I rush back to my studio on Via Filippini and lay in with liquid oil paints the initial layers of my first study for Ponte di Castelvecchio.
On the canvas, I brush in greens, milky blues, and brick reds. The structure of the bridge begins to emerge as I cut into the wet paint with a loaded brush of lighter color. It is a large canvas in my small 16th-century space and it quickly becomes a presence in the room. After the initial surface is complete, I lean the wet painting against the plaster wall.
Gregg Chadwick’s Via Filippini Studio, Verona, Italy
I stand across the room and gaze at the painting. Even at this stage, the artwork has taken on a life of its own and I need to respect that. I see hints of Corot, maybe Degas? Perhaps I was thinking of Giorgione’s The Tempest now housed at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, Italy?
Giorgione Banner with Detail of The Tempest
I spend time with the painting, then out into the vibrant Veronese streets for dinner. Tomorrow, I will look at the painting again and maybe, if the paint is dry enough in the humid summer air, add more layers of color. In the morning light with an espresso in hand, I will see more clearly.
A few weeks later upon its completion, I left the study with a new collector in Verona and started on a much larger final version in my Santa Monica studio upon my return from Italy.
As a painting progresses, I will often find hints of its future shape in historical artworks as mentioned above, or in films, or books. When I was in graduate school at NYU, I studied not far from Verona in Venice. I often think of my instructor Giovanni Soccol who provided the art direction for Nicolas Roeg’s eerie Venice-based film Don’t Look Now. The film is based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier and stars Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. Soccol’s artistic vision is evident throughout the film and I remember traveling to sites in Venice with Giovanni where the film was shot. As a Venetian, water is an important subject for Soccol and is often poetically referenced in his film work and his paintings.
Another striking element from Don’t Look Now has found an echo in my painting Ponte di Castelvecchio (Verona). The color red is a character in Don’t Look Now as much as Christie and Sutherland. That pop of color against the green-blue water, blue and grey skies, and tawny stone of Venice finds an echo in my painting. In my painting, the splashes of red and orange that mark the umbrellas swiftly carried across the bridge find their antecedent in Soccol and Roeg’s film. Water and time.
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Happy New Year! On to 2023
It’s raining this New Year’s Eve in Santa Monica. I’m listening to a recording of a 10,000-member choir in Japan singing “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Enthusiasm for Beethoven is particularly strong in Japan. Every year in December, singers gather in a concert hall in Osaka to sing the final chorus from Beethoven's Ninth.
Again, my thoughts trace a circuit from this moment back to an earlier New Year in Japan as 1989 rolled into 1990. I was in Tokyo following the spirit and artworks of Ando Hiroshige. That winter in Japan, I clutched a large volume by Henry D. Smith II and Amy G. Poster on Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo and trekked on rail, foot and car across the historic core of what was Edo era Tokyo. Sponsored by the Nippon Seiyu-Kai's 30th Anniversary Award, I endeavored to create a series of new paintings inspired by Hiroshige’s woodcuts. Time, place, memory, mystery and lore all mixed in my artworks.
Today @nortonsimon posted a photo of one of the most mysterious images from Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. Alison Baldassano from the Brooklyn Museum wrote about this artwork, "People aren’t the only beings who gather together for special celebrations on the night before a new year dawns. In this woodblock print by Hiroshige, foxes come together on New Year’s Eve to receive directions for the upcoming year and emit ghostly flames, the size of which helps predict the next year’s crop…. And, as the foxes could say in the morning, 明けましておめでとうございます (akemashite omedetou gozaimasu) or #HappyNewYear!"
#art #NewYear #NYC #japan
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Thursday, December 22, 2022
Happy Birthday Puccini!
Today we celebrate the birthday of opera composer Giacomo Puccini, born #onthisday in 1858. Known for "La Boheme", "Tosca", "Madama Butterfly", and "Turandot", Puccini's operas continue to inspire. I painted this small oil on panel painting of Puccini for a solo exhibition of opera inspired artworks at the Central City Opera in the summer of 2019. That year and also in 2007, I created a series of paintings that were commissioned by the @ccityopera to be used as keynote images for each of their productions during the summer season. It was a marvelous project to work on and I loved spending time in Colorado with the entire Central City team. Great music and great camaraderie! Thank you Central City Opera!
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Watch President Zelenskyy of Ukraine as he delivers inspiring remarks to a Joint Meeting of Congress
Watch Live: President Zelenskyy of Ukraine delivers remarks to a Joint Meeting of Congress: https://t.co/A7o1XmV2xu
— Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) December 22, 2022
Join President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Biden as they hold a joint press conference
Join President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and me as we hold a joint press conference. https://t.co/O0Rk76qwpd
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 21, 2022
Monday, December 19, 2022
Final Jan. 6 Committee Hearing
The final Jan. 6 committee hearing is today at 1 p.m. EST and will include a vote on criminal recommendations from the Capitol attack.
Jan 6 committee unanimously agrees to adopt final report including criminal referrals of former President Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/xfhzg9ITxK
— Gregg Chadwick (@greggchadwick) December 19, 2022
"To cast a vote in the United States is an act of faith and hope... That faith in our system is the foundation of American democracy. If the faith is broken, so is our democracy. Donald Trump broke that faith. He lost the 2020 election and knew it."
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) December 19, 2022
-Chair @BennieGThompson
Numerous state and federal courts evaluated and rejected the Trump campaign’s claims of voter fraud, including judges appointed by Trump himself.
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) December 19, 2022
Many of these courts issued scathing opinions criticizing the lack of evidence that President Trump and his allies advanced. pic.twitter.com/WhCl16Vh83
still one of the most chilling moments. Hutchinson: the crowd is calling for Pence to be effing hung. Meadows: "You heard [Trump]. He doesn't want to do anything. He thinks Pence deserves it."
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) December 19, 2022
.@RepLizCheney: “No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. [Trump] is unfit for any office." pic.twitter.com/Qw2j7mcz5s
— COURIER (@CourierNewsroom) December 19, 2022
— Harry A Dunn 🖤 (@libradunn) December 19, 2022
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Patti Smith: I Want My Book To Be Something Positive For The People
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
President Biden Hosts a Ceremony on the South Lawn to Sign the Respect for Marriage Act!
What a sweet moment! 🥹@POTUS gave @VP Harris the pen he used to sign the Respect for Marriage Act into law.
— best of kamala harris (@archivekamala) December 13, 2022
📸: Kent Nishimura pic.twitter.com/L5mgzDjYR2
It was great to be at the White House to celebrate the Respect for Marriage Act being signed into law by @POTUS! I’m happy that the hard work and long hours of bipartisan negotiation have finally paid off for the millions of loving same-sex & interracial couples across America. pic.twitter.com/BrnxtnYAxw
— Sen. Tammy Baldwin (@SenatorBaldwin) December 13, 2022
Who woulda thought the gayest party I’ve ever been to was at the White House? Thank you @POTUS for signing the Respect for Marriage Act! #LoveIsLove 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/EA1rdoAxXt
— Jeremy Moss (@JeremyAllenMoss) December 13, 2022
A beautiful day to witness and celebrate @POTUS signing the Respect for Marriage Act into law! 🏳️🌈
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) December 13, 2022
A special shout-out to my friend @SenatorBaldwin and all of the advocates who worked so hard to make this happen. pic.twitter.com/UXxNrUAZNV
The Respect for Marriage Act is now the law of the land. I was honored to watch as @POTUS honored the fundamental right of Americans to marry the person they love. It means people like my child will have the same rights as everyone else.💖 pic.twitter.com/4HNclCg2DZ
— Secretary Deb Haaland (@SecDebHaaland) December 13, 2022
Joe Biden got ahead of Barack Obama on marriage equality. After signing the Respect for Marriage Act into law, he passed his pen to VP Kamala Harris.
— HawaiiDelilah™ (@HawaiiDelilah) December 13, 2022
Never say both parties are the same. Only Democrats are committed to protecting LGBTQ people & other vulnerable communities. https://t.co/JFXxZenYfu
As attorney general of California, I had the honor of giving the order to allow same-sex marriages to take place across the state in 2013.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 13, 2022
Now, we continue our progress with the Respect for Marriage Act becoming law. pic.twitter.com/w6eDBri6e0
Could not be happier to have @ageofjavs, @ProudTwinkie, and @Victorshi2020 representing the @VotersTomorrow team at the White House today. #LoveAndEqualityWin pic.twitter.com/8V2DrIdnfF
— Santiago Mayer (@santiagomayer_) December 14, 2022
Love, forever more. 💕 pic.twitter.com/sg8DGGCRlw
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) December 14, 2022
Monday, December 12, 2022
Angel's Flight, Bunker Hill District, Los Angeles, 1964
Friday, December 09, 2022
A Love Supreme
OTD in 1964, John Coltrane and his band recorded "A Love Supreme" in a single session at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs NJ. Here with producer Bob Thiele, saxophonist Archie Shepp (who played on an alternate take that day), and pianist McCoy Tyner. #jazz pic.twitter.com/3DofCDGaxY
— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) December 9, 2022
Join Me Tomorrow - Art at the Airport
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Art At The Airport is made possible by Art of Recovery, an initiative of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs, santamonica.gov/arts/artofrecovery. To learn about upcoming Art At The Airport events, visit: https://www.artattheairport.org/. Free to all, please register in advance: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/holiday-open-studios-tickets-454587231647
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#ArtofRecovery #ArtAtTheAirport #CityOfSantaMonica #SantaMonicaArtsCommunity #SantaMonicaArtScene #BuyArtFromArtists #SupportLocalArtists #SantaMonicaArtCollective #SantaMonicaCulturalAffairs #ArtistsSupportingArtists #ArtSaMo #SantaMonica #greggchadwick