Speed of Life

by Gregg Chadwick Raising the Red Flag Over the Reichstag, Berlin May 2, 1945 photo by Yevgeny Khaldei Today near the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp world leaders gathered to remember the camp's liberation in 1945 by the Red Army. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia spoke proudly of the Soviet soldiers who gave themselves to free Auschwitz: "They switched off the ovens, they saved Krakow," Vladimir Putin said of the Soviet soldiers. But Putin also said there was still much to be ashamed of in the current situation."We unfortunately still see signs of anti-Semitism in our country." I am reminded of the great Russian war photographer Yevgeny Khaldei. I had the honor of meeting him almost ten years ago when the end of the cold war seemed to mark an era of future peace, Yevgeny's body was starting to fail but his mind was sharp and his descriptions of the struggle against the Nazis were vivid. As a war photographer,Yevgeny a...

White Noise 60"x60" oil on linen 2002 Don DeLillo's first film, "Game 6", is being screened at Sundance tonight. For those in Park City this evening find your way to a ticket. DeLillo is the masterful novelist whose work includes Underworld, Mao II, The Body Artist and White Noise (which inspired my painting of the same title). The film sounds intriguing and like much of DeLillo's work the screenplay is darkly humorous. Michael Keaton stars as a playwright and lifelong Red Sox fan who skips out on his new play's opening night, October 25, 1986, to catch Game 6 of the World Series. While a merciless, gun toting critic, played by Robert Downey Jr. views the play in disguise, Michael Keaton watches in horror as his beloved Red Sox fall to the Mets. In the original draft, discussed in an interview with Don DeLillo by Jennifer Altman in the Los Angeles Times, the playwright and the critic eventually engage in an artist's gunfight (doesn't C...

Gregg Chadwick ciudad de la memoria 38"x38" oil on linen 2005 Private Collection, Beverly Hills At times a work of art from years before still speaks directly to the present moment. I was reading Neruda today miles away from the coronation in D.C. This mix of Neruda's words and my most recent painting, "Ciudad de la Memoria", seemed to spark something new and important while at the same time bringing light to America's dark shadows. "La United Fruit Co." Cuando sonó la trompeta, estuvo todo preparado en la tierra y Jehová repartió el mundo a Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors, y otras entidades: la Compañía Frutera Inc. se reservó lo más jugoso, la costa central de mi tierra, la dulce cintura de América. Bautizó de nuevo sus tierras como "'Repúblicas Bananas", y sobre los muertos dormidos, sobre los héroes inquietos que conquistaron la grandeza, la libertad y las banderas, establec...

-gregg chadwick, buddha's hand 2004 We spoke of the tsunami in an L.A. pub last night. Over the sound system the piano intro to "Let it Be" stopped our conversation. Tentatively, yet without prompting, we sang together the first line,"When I find myself in times of trouble..." It was a brief moment but it cut through the evening. The conversation veered to John Lennon's murder and then on to the small disasters in all our lives. I looked around the room, a collection of friends celebrating life. Smiles in our eyes as the little kids at our table drew their own inner worlds. A ten year old lost in a book, i-pod buds in his ears filtering out our musical memories as he created his own. Across the room an older couple sipped wine and whispered to each other. It was as if we all were in the dining car on a train, heading for separate destinations, yet for a brief moment brought together. This random collection of faces would never be together again. Someday ...

By the Sea Stretching into the distance the sea swallows a hundred rivers for thousands of miles the spray joins the waves to the sky -Muso Soseki (translation: W.S. Merwin) I'm reading the poems of Muso Soseki today, a Japanese poet born in Ise in 1275, ten years after Dante. Ise is on the coast far to the west of what was then Edo and the sea has a real presence. We tend to sentimentalize the ocean now, travel is easier and at times it seems that we have harnessed the massive power of the tides, currents and waves. A sense of ease disappeared on December 26th as a massive shift of tectonic plates off of Java sent a wall of water that swallowed coastlines for thousands of miles, engulfing rich and poor: Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and Christians. - kenro izu, borobudur, java Kenro Izu's palladium photograph of Java is timeless. The landscape stripped of living human presence. Java as a museum - ancient, yet yielding to the forces of wind, rain, and time....

A foreign boy is carried by a Thai rescue worker after being evacuated from a nearby island resort off Krabi, southern Thailand. (Roslan Rahman AFP/Getty Images) tsunami help chiang mai disaster relief info sumankumar.com bbc how to send help red cross disaster relief - via amazon jeff ooi- malaysia unicef  

gregg i should write an official letter of thanks for your blog because (of) the good news! ... I can't thank you enough for your efforts! We won! If it was not for people like you who wrote letters I am sure this change would not have occurred. Thanks Emily

"Everyone has their Vietnam. Everyone has their war. May we embark together on a pilgrimage of ending these wars and truly living peace." -Claude Anshin Thomas, "At Hell's Gate" gregg chadwick the 49th day 38"x38" oil on linen 2004 collection of bill badalato Listening to Bono and Pavarotti sing "Miss Sarajevo" as I stretch new canvases for the upcoming year. The fresh smell of new linen mixes in the room with the fragrance of a just pulled espresso. The light this morning is crisp and warm. My world seems to be at peace until a line from the song slips into my mind :"Is there a time for keeping your head down, for getting on with your day?" I can picture Sarajevo in black snow. One by one, men, women and children race across a broad street. I can hear the crack of a sniper's rifle in my mind... That imagined gunshot haunts me. A taunting reply to my question "How does one paint peace?" I pick up Claude Ans...

"Our task now is to mend our broken world... And what our world needs now is not belief, not certainty, but compassionate action and practically expressed respect for the sacred value of all human beings, even our enemies" -Karen Armstrong, "The Spiral Staircase" gregg chadwick a balance of shadows 72"x96" oil on linen 2004

I wish to provide you with the following official statement regarding the upcoming exhibition by Emily Jacir:       "Wichita State University is aware of the discussion generated by the scheduled exhibition of work by artist Emily Jacir at the Ulrich Museum of Art.  The University is committed to going forward with the exhibition without conditions or limitations that could be considered to compromise the integrity of Ms. Jacir's work as an artist.  The University appreciates the widespread interest in the artist and the exhibition." You are welcome to forward this e-mail as appropriate. Thank you, Elizabeth King Vice President for University Advancement Wichita State University --- more detailed information can be found at: newsgrist from the floor deep appreciation to newsgrist, from the floor, kevin mullins, elizabeth king, david butler and deborah gordon for helping this important exhibition proceed as planned...

emily jacir from "where we come from" At times the subtext of events and images from Palestine to San Francisco to Berlin helps illumine an artwork, its inspiration and possibly its meaning. Emily Jacir's recent project "Where We Come From" is concerned with the ideas of memory and exile. As a Palestinian-American, Emily is able to travel in a comparatively free manner across and through the Palestinian-Israeli borderlands using her US passport as a sort of get out of jail free card. With this ability Emily was able to create an art project in which she asked exiled Palestinians: “If I could do anything for you, anywhere in Palestine, what would it be?” Many of the requests would be considered simple, almost banal, if they were not impossible for the exiles to fulfill: “Go to my mother’s grave in Jerusalem on her birthday and put flowers and pray.” “Drink the water in my parents’ village.” Emily journeyed with US passport and cameras in hand in an attempt...

----- Forwarded message from emily jacir ----- Dear all, I was slated to have a one person show at the Ulrich Museum in Wichita, Kansas in January 26th. The piece was Where We Come From which was included by Dan Cameron on the 8th Istanbul Biennale "Poetic Justice", and a small excerpt of it was also included in this years Whitney Bienniel. This show has been planned for over a year, much to my horror two days ago I was told that the The Jewish Federation of Kansas has put pressure on the University and the Museum so that they have been granted permission to place brochures and a sign in the gallery expressing their views concerning the politics of the Middle East. Actually, the University and Museum have no idea what text is contained in the brochures and what the posters are but have given them permission nonetheless. This is a complete infringement on my right to free speech, not to mention an insult to me as an artist. It is intolerable that I have to go...

"where we come from" at debs & co. ulrich museum newsgrist adbusters contemporary the thing: look for arts intolerence, emily jacir thread in undercurrents

by Gregg Chadwick alan caudillo photo by Gregg Chadwick the witty, important film "a day without a mexican" is now available on dvd. alan caudillo was the director of photography on the film and i recently had the chance to spend an afternoon at the norton simon museum in pasadena with alan. our conversations centered around the place of light in film and painting. alan- " the light one finds in vermeer and other painters of the dutch school is always in my mind when i begin to plan the overall look of a film. on one level the light flooding in from a side window as one finds in vermeer or in this gabriel metsu unifies the scene. everything in the frame looks good. the shadow areas are rich and vibrant and the light is almost spiritual. on a more technical level as the actors move through a scene, when lit in this vermeer-like light, whether they are in shadow or moving in light they are readable through the lens. there are no bad moments in this kind of light...

vincent van gogh postman 21"x15" oil on canvas 1889 the barnes collection Montgomery County Judge Stanley Ott has issued a ruling today that opens the way for the Barnes Collection to move from its hard to access Lower Merion site to downtown Philadelphia. Judge Ott in his statement wrote that there was "no viable alternative" to save the foundation from financial collapse. Albert Barnes in his will instructed that the collection never be moved. His will also limited photographic reproduction of the paintings and forbade artworks to travel on loan. For many years art scholars and artists were forced to rely on black and white photos of the work. These restrictions have been lifted at least partially in recent years. Could this be the end of an era as the Barnes Collection moves into the 21st century? Or is this the start of something new and important for the city of Philadelphia? More to follow...

the world is a lesser place w/o you...

Henry David Thoreau was inspired to write “Civil Disobedience” after a night in a Concord, Massachusetts jail for refusing to pay a tax in support of the Mexican-American War. A new book takes its title from this essay which also inspired Martin Luther King's, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail". "A corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart. They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peacea...

gregg chadwick a theater of time 72"x56" oil on linen 2004 in park city, utah for the opening weekend of the julie nester gallery. nice group show including "a theater of time" and also the work of kirsten stolle and marshall crossman among others. Julie Nester Gallery opens in Park City Park Record Contemporary art finds a home off Main Street By Casey R. Basden Tucked behind Windy Ridge restaurant sits Julie Nester Gallery a former warehouse turned contemporary exhibition space that features the work of emerging Bay Area artists, among others. The walls are crisp white, the track lighting is modern and the concrete floor is stained to perfection. The floor space is bare, but the walls tell the story of artists such as Gary Denmark, Marshall Crossman, Michael Pauker, Kirsten Stolle and Gregg Chadwick. What was once a "mess" has turned into Park City's newest gallery off Main Street. Julie Nester, art consultant and owner of Juli...

"Tucked inside Congress' new blueprint for U.S. intelligence spending is a highly classified and expensive spy program that drew exceptional criticism from leading Democrats. In an unusually public rebuke of a secret government project, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, complained Wednesday that the program was ``totally unjustified and very, very wasteful and dangerous to the national security.'' He called the program ``stunningly expensive.'' Rockefeller and three other Democratic senators -- Richard Durbin of Illinois, Carl Levin of Michigan and Ron Wyden of Oregon -- refused to sign the congressional compromise negotiated by others in the House and Senate that provides for future U.S. intelligence activities." -from an article by ted bridis and the associated press from the new york times, 9 dec 2004 mystery spy project and see update: mystery spy project update seems that t...

phil cousineau's new collection of poems: "the blue museum" is out. thought i would share his cinematic poem on the burning of the library in sarajevo: MEMORICIDE Black snow fell over Sarajevo, darkening the midday sky with ashes from the million and a half books burning in what was once the National library. The old librarian raced through shell-pocked streets, his face reddening from the torrid heat pouring out of the knot of smoking ruins where he had spent a lifetime rescuing words from oblivion. Defying the snipers, he stood on the steps of the smoldering building wanting to save—something, anything—even the single sheet of cindered paper that drifted towards him through the singed air, still holding fire from the inferno. He caught the paper, which glowed in his hand like a black and white negative held up to the red light inside a photographer’s darkroom. He glared at what was once a page from a holy book, an illuminated manuscript, and coul...

Gregg Chadwick new breeze, new hour 30" x 22" monotype 2004 two exhibitions open this friday with work by gregg chadwick ( i will be attending the opening in park city. hope to see you there): the julie nester gallery in park city, utah will have its grand opening on december 3rd, 2004 from 5-8pm. 1755 b bonanza drive, park city, utah for more info: 435 649-7855 julienester@comcast.net (see below) & the lisa coscino gallery oh so proudly presents the original works of more than 30 artists at the amazing price of $99.95. entitled: the $99.95 show. we know what you're thinking: are they mad? are they out of your artsy minds? no, sir. tis the season.yes, tis. tis, tis, tis. for further information, please contact lisa coscino at 831.646.1939.

periodically i will pick an exhibition or an opening to highlight. if you are in new york this thursday or will be traveling there shortly make sure that you visit the foley gallery , a new space with great potential. michael foley, who served as director of the yancey richardson gallery in new york and before that worked with catherine clark in san francisco, has opened his own gallery. michael's new gallery focuses on photography and works on paper.

the transparent life 30"x22" monotype 2004 Moment Clear moments are so short. There is much more darkness. More ocean than terra firma. More shadow than form. -Adam Zagajewski

i've been reading the poetry of adam zagajewski derek walcott in the new republic : "these poems enter and possess you quietly. it is the quiet of a train halted on its lines. the engine throbs like a pulse, and there is always music in these verses, or the echo of music" zagajewski is a polish poet currently dividing his time between paris and houston where he teaches. there is much of czeslaw milosz here and joseph brodsky as well as the american, edward hirsch. but in the end adam zagajewski is his own poet. as i prepare for a new group of paintings i find a world of inspiration in these poems. zagajewski leads us into the shadows but he is not afraid to show us the light.

(Peace) 320˚ NW From where the red-winged blackbirds sing on the cattails of the Schel-Cheb marsh and the blue camas flowers bloom planted by Gale Cool in a prairie genesis the smooth shore of Kitsap’s village the Suquamish called “Bringing-it-home” opens out to the waves of Rich Passage, and beyond Rainier rises sixty miles away, its great gray ridges sharp, its massive glaciers white. At home in this sunlight the strong irony strikes Don Mowatt: on the phone from Pleasant Beach talking to a survivor in Bosnia, knowing he is to go, the call’s been made. Peace spreads by being left behind. - poem by kent chadwick

Kent Chadwick's poem "(Peace) 320˚ NW" is the first in a series of responses to my question, "How do you paint, write, sing peace?" Kent Chadwick is a Seattle based poet. His work is rich in language and moment. "(Peace) 320˚ NW" is from a new, ongoing series of poems modeled on the Japanese ukiyo-e artists Hokusai and Hiroshige's views of Mount Fuji. Mount Rainer is the touchstone in this series. Each poem contains a fleeting view of Rainier that acts as a silent witness to the life unveiling below. I urge you to read the lengthy and important series of comments found below the intial post. Thank you for your thoughts and I encourage you to think seriously about this question. I welcome your responses. Feel free to e-mail images, poems, stories and links to your songs my way.

  Gregg Chadwick Either/Or 36"x29" oil on linen 2004 Private Collection, San Francisco I find I need to look deeply into this painting to provide an antidote to the images flooding my way as I walk down the avenue. rack after newsrack, each with a front page heralding destruction. Years ago I was in Perth, Australia reading an art review concerning an exhibition about peace. Most of the images in in the show were anti-war but few if any were really about the idea of peace. The title of the review was "how do you paint peace". I have been trying to do that ever since. I think this painting is close. I ask you: how would you paint peace? How would you create the idea of peace in your music? In your writing? In your life? Please send thoughts. ideas and images my way- greggchadwick@icloud.com I will post your dreams...

steven, if my ten year old son did not cringe at the expression "shut-up" i might have titled my response to your national review piece "shut-up and write" or possibly "shut-up and look." but since my son skips into the room often to see what i'm up to i thought i would instead "use my words" and then after a "time out" send you my thoughts and the image of a current painting that deals with the situation in iraq. ok i'm ready now... and i have put my color wheels and brushes away. my father was an officer in the marine corps and he served in korea and vietnam. i respect his service and i thank him for the sacrifices that he and his buddies made so that i can disagree with him. that is the nature of america. at our best we are a gargantuan mix of cultures, creeds and credos. at our worst we are a gargantuan beast that without a system of checks and balances could easily slide into fascism. now we get to the part about art...

this morning's harbor , originally uploaded by greggchadwick . the julie nester gallery in park city, utah will have its grand opening on december 3rd, 2004 from 5-8pm. 1755 b bonanza drive, park city, utah for more info: 435 649-7855 julienester@comcast.net i am honored to have a group of paintings and works on paper in the inaugural exhibition. my work will include "une passante" and a series of new monotypes. monotypes are prints made by painting on metal and then transferring the painting to paper by pressure. only one initial print can be run through the press and then a follow-up ghost print. the ghosts are evocative, open ended and encourage further work. "this morning's harbor" is a good example of this process.the resulting work maintains a bit of the ghost and is quite effective in conveying my artistic thoughts. these new monotypes seem to me like small dreams.

"New York has finally become Paris -- a bountiful place to visit to see what great art used to be. The stunning new MoMA is its magnificent shrine." - Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times i currently paint in los angeles, have a grad degree from nyu and consider paris as a constant muse. los angeles is a great city with a richly nuanced cultural climate- such a great mix of traditions. but, especially now, we need new york and paris. the score keeping that christopher knight tacks on to the end of his article on the new moma is embarassing. with jet blue's $99 fares does anyone in l.a. really define themselves as "not" being from new york anymore? l.a is a great city in which to create new work. but without new york we are cut off from incredibly important artistic and social dialogues. great art is not driven by fads or civic boosterism. instead great art is created within an environment that treasures a dialogue between past and present, east and west,...

jt kirkland is running an evocative site at thinking about art. he graciously allowed me to participate in an ongoing project in which artists are asked to write a short essay in response to one word- my response is on the word     responsibility

City of Desires , originally uploaded by greggchadwick . listening to pearl jam resound in a san francisco cafe. a warm fall dusk here - it somehow brings to mind the tropics. thought i would post a painting based on a time in rio. something about the brazilian air and the rich way music flows around the landscape made it into this work. love the way that brazilians realize that they are americans. not as citizens of a country but instead as part of two joined continents - the americas. sometimes, as in this painting and dream of dawn below, i find characters creating themselves in my work. i want to discover more about them as they appear. the story will continue...

黎明夢想(a dream of dawn) 80"x76" oil on linen 2004 i have been reading classical chinese poetry in translation while working on this new painting. a mix of remembered moments, music and poetry often fuels my work. Misted the flowers weep as light dies Moon of white silk sleeplessly cries. Stilled - Phoenix wings. Touched - Mandarin strings. This song tells secrets that no one knows To far Yenjan on Spring breeze it goes. To you it wafts Through the night skies. Sidelong - Eyes. How White tears fill now! Heart's pain? Come see - In this mirror with me. -Li Po

been in the studio all day- feels good to work large and get the whole body into it the light that fills this space in the late afternoon is hypnotic, almost like being under a rainbow thinking about diebenkorn since i'm painting off ocean park he started his ocean park series in 1967 during the viet nam war monet painted waterlilies during ww1 color has never felt more necessary as the world grows darker maybe something there... -gregg

Excerpts from letters to his parents from Pfc. Moisés A. Langhorst of the Marines. Private Langhorst, 19, of Moose Lake, Minn., was killed in Al Anbar Province on April 6 by small-arms fire. March 13 As far as my psychological health, we look out for each other pretty well on that. ... I've been praying a lot and I hope you're praying for the Dirty 3rd Platoon, because there is no doubt that we are in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. March 15 After standing in the guard tower for seven-and-a-half hours this morning, we went on our first platoon-size patrol from about 1200 to 1700. It was exhausting, but it went very well. I had to carry the patrol pack with emergency chow, a poncho and night vision goggles. That's what really wore me out. We toured the mosques and visited the troublesome abandoned train station. The people were friendly, and flocks of children followed us everywhere. When I called you asked me if Iraq is what I expected, and it really is. It looks just li...

i grabbed this moment of a monk taking a break for contemplation last year and found the image while researching new ideas. it seemed so emblematic of the practice of artistic creation that i wanted to dwell on it a bit. a group of tibetan monks were in the process of creating a sand mandala when one got up and carefully moved over to a group of devotional paintings lining the gallery walls. he stood still and seemed to gather the moment and the image in. i carried these thoughts over as i started a new painting last night. i worked late till the streets were empty and the traffic on the airport runways outside had died down and i painted till the image began to seem real and present. then remembering the monk i put my tools down, stopped and listened as the new work began to breathe.

-rotc training before deployment, spring 04: photo by gregg chadwick as the battle rages again in fallujah it prompts us to look at the faces of the combatants and to understand the humanity that is lost on all sides. the acting prime minister of iraq, allawi, has dubbed this new action al-fajr : arabic for the dawn. it is time for all artists, photographers and writers to fight the censorship of the current administration and show the true faces of this dark dawn.

"In this day and age of selling out to the Bushes and being corporate and acting like the industrial, plastic American lifestyle is the greatest thing that ever hit the planet... a movie like I ♥ Huckabees —a 60’s movie, whether it’s Asian, Zen, Tibetan Buddhist, Hindu ... reinforces some sort of hope for life and human integrity." - Columbia Religion Chair Robert Thurman in an interview with the New York Observer,Oct. 4, 2004 In David O Russell's new film I ♥ Huckabees, Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) hires two existential detectives Bernard and Vivian (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) to help discover the significance of three chance meetings with an autograph hunting Sudanese refugee (Ger Duany). Dustin Hoffman's character is loosely based on the director's friend and mentor Robert Thurman who is best known as a colleague of the Dalai Lama and the father of Uma Thurman. Robert Thurman is currently the chair of the religion department at Columbia Univers...

Arlington 48” x 36” oil on linen 2004 From the funeral of Chanawongse Kemaphoom 22, of Waterford, Connecticut. Killed in action during operations on the outskirts of An Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. Chanawongse was assigned to 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

"America, the first real democracy in history, was a product of Enlightenment values - critical intelligence, tolerance, respect for evidence, a regard for the secular sciences. Though the founders differed on many things, they shared these values of what was then modernity. They addressed "a candid world," as they wrote in the Declaration of Independence, out of "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind." Respect for evidence seems not to pertain any more, because a poll taken just before the elections showed that 75 percent of Mr. Bush's supporters believe Iraq either worked closely with Al Qaeda or was directly involved in the attacks of 9/11.  The secular states of modern Europe do not understand the fundamentalism of the American electorate. It is not what they had experienced from this country in the past. In fact, we now resemble those nations less than we do our putative enemies."  -Garry Wills, adjunct professor of history at Northw...

"i think the truth is, that nobody, inside or outside, can accurately portray a country. We can only paint what we see….this land of plenty is a vacuum inside, a land of drought and poverty: mental, spiritual, social, political poverty.” -wim wenders on america

as i'm sure you would agree - never before have we been more aware that every single vote counts. Godspeed as you vote on Tuesday, November 2nd "I don't think it has made America safer . . . How many of our best young people are going to die? Sitting on the sidelines would be a betrayal of the ideas I'd written about for a long time....There is a long tradition of the artist being involved in the life of the nation. For me, it goes back to Woody Guthrie, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Bob Dylan . . . The artist is there to open up discourse, to get people thinking about American identity: Who are we? What do we fight for? What do we stand for? I view these things as a fundamental part of [the artist's] job." -Bruce Springsteen

vermeer in bosnia Originally uploaded by gregg chadwick . while at the metropolitan museum in new york recently i sought out the vermeers and found myself viewing them through the scrim of lawrence weschler's recent collection of essays, "vermeer in bosnia." i hope all of us can take some time before tuesday's election to stop and find stillness and clarity. as weschler so aptly recounts, vermeer had to invent the still and timeless world in his paintings. the europe that vermeer spent his youth in was as scarred as bosnia during the balkan wars or as iraq is today. keeping this in mind we must create our own stillpoint from which to approach the speed of contemporary existence. i suggest a quiet visit and a moment of humility before a timeless work of art. vermeer creates that space for me. take care - gregg

freedom of expression slide and video presentation as part of their 30th anniversary celebration on october 30,california lawyers for the arts presents a curated digital slide and video presentation of visual art addressing the concept of freedom of expression. this includes the broadest possible range of viewpoints on the topic. the slide presentation will be shown during the creative freedom party reception at the cowell theater, fort mason, san francisco 6:30-9pm arlington as well as a few other pieces of mine will be included. the paintings should spark some dialogue.

photo by kenro izu Kenro Izu's pallidium prints are taken with a massive camera that seems to wrestle the sacred onto film. a selection of Kenro's work and his gargantuan camera were recently on view at the Rubin Museum in New York. In an interview conducted on July 31, 2001, with Peabody Essex Museum director of photographic services, Marc Teatum, Kenro Izu described his artistic process," I try to use my basic instincts, like an animal sensing danger. I want to be as pure, as empty as possible and just try to document the spirituality of the place. If I can’t, then I don’t want to make another picture postcard that someone else has already taken under perfect conditions." Kenro Izu is actively creating important contemporary sacred art that defies boundaries and borders. His image (seen above) of a Buddha in a tree at Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya, Thailand is both mysterious and inviting. There is a profound silence in this image and an uncanny presence of breath.

holland cotter in his october 20th piece in the new york times on the rubin museum makes a good point when he calls tibetan art an art of fusion," we're learning how [cultures] intersect, interact, serendipitously echo one another." it is this intersection, interaction and echoing that fuels much of my work and the work of writers, musicians, painters, photographers and sculptors who are interested in inclusion rather than exclusion.

the brand new rubin museum of art in manhattan is a glorious addition to the museums of new york. set in chelsea - the museum provides a needed place of beauty and contemplation. described as the first museum in the world dedicated solely to the art of the himalayas- the rubin museum fills a gap in our understanding of the art and faith of this region.

MSue in Bar Harbor  Spent a wonderful birthday in Bar Harbor, Maine with MS wandering the windy coast and town with numerous sightings of John Malkovich who is currently filming a new bio of the Viennese artist Gustav Klimt.

Opening at Santa Monica Art Studios, Santa Monica Airport - photo by Cassiel Chadwick , originally uploaded by greggchadwick .

Opening at Santa Monica Art Studios, Santa Monica Airport- photo by Gerardo Horischnik , originally uploaded by greggchadwick . thank you to all who braved the huge crowd at saturday's grand opening. i was touched by the enthusiasm for and interest in my work. if you have questions about a particular painting or monotype please e-mail me or leave a comment on this entry. if you would like to view the work again in a calmer fashion please stop by on thursday, october 14th. i will be in the studio from 12pm to 6pm and of course the los angeles art fair will be opening that evening across the street in the barker hangar. if those times do not work please feel free to set up an appointment . i hope you had a chance to view the other artist's work at the santa monica art studios facility. i just call it the hangar. it really brings back my childhood to paint with the roar of jet engines reverberating from the nearby runway. that roar sounds like possibility to me- as artis...

i drive from santa monica to san francisco and back almost weekly. don't know how i would do it without michael mcdermott growling and whispering in my ear. his music is pure passion and the lyrics are the poetry of life's small battles. a rich chord of spirituality runs throughout michael's music. this is neither irony nor dogma but instead the understanding of faith and its importance in modern life. you can sense michael mcdermott's appreciation for joseph campbell in these songs. and in those spare piano graced moments i can almost hear raymond carver. this is music for the soul. give it a listen- take care gregg

une passante ( for czeslaw milosz) , originally uploaded by greggchadwick . every artwork has its audience - sometimes large and sometimes singular. small paintings such as "une passante" seem to be noticed first by other artists or those with a heightened awareness of the world. i recently sent the following description of "une passante" off to an early discoverer of the work- czeslaw milosz' poetry has been a deep inspiration for me. his ability to search for meaning or metaphysics even after the horrors in Poland during the 20th century has always been a source of strength for me artistically and spiritually. when i found out about his recent death i wanted to paint an image pulled from life like a sort of painted poem- a moment that if one is not truly aware will go unseen title: une passante (in french a female passerby) this poem by milosz feels to me like the painting: AN HONEST DESCRIPTION OF MYSELF WITH A GLASS OF WHISKEY AT AN AIRPORT, LET ...

Studio View Of Fire Sermon , originally uploaded by greggchadwick . Hope all of you in los angeles come down to my studio this weekend for the grand opening: When: 6-9 pm on saturday, october 9th and 2-5 pm on sunday, october 10th Where: studio #15 @ the hangar studios santa monica airport 3026 airport avenue, santa monica, ca 90405 View some of the work at: https://www.greggchadwick.com/Gregg_Chadwick/Paintings__2000-2010.html Hope to see you there make sure you come up and say "hi" take care- Gregg