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People Have the Power - Forward in Wisconsin on June 5, 2012

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Light On the Wisconsin State Capitol Building photo by Gregg Chadwick Yesterday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, President Bill Clinton brought his gravitas to the bitter struggle for control of the state's soul. Clinton noted that current Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wants to divide and conquer the state for the benefit of the few while Tom Barrett, the Democratic candidate in June 5th's special election, "wants to work together to solve problems" in a spirit of cooperation not conflict. Clinton continued by saying that everywhere he travels - both nationally and globally - “creative cooperation” between political sides brings prosperity. Walker and his cronies do not want to work across the aisle. Clinton said,"You need a budget from the next governor that deals with whatever the realities are but where there is shared responsibility and shared sacrifice, not winner take all. If you believe in a state budget that preserves investments in education and jobs an...

Happy Birthday Walt Whitman

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Gregg Chadwick The Wound-Dresser (Walt Whitman, Washington D.C., US Civil War, 1865) 30” X 24” oil on linen 2011 "The eyes transcend the medium." -R.B. Morris (Poet, Musician, Songwriter)    Walt Whitman's poetry is a continual source of inspiration for me. Whitman's life story is also deeply moving. In December 1862 Walt Whitman saw the name of his brother George, a Union soldier in the 51st New York Infantry, listed among the wounded from the battle of Fredericksburg. Whitman rushed from Brooklyn to the Washington D.C. area to search the hospitals and encampments for his brother. During this time Walt Whitman gave witness to the wounds of warfare by listening gently to the injured soldiers as they told their tales of battle.   Whitman often spent time with soldiers recovering from their injuries in the Patent Office Building (now home to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum), which had been converted into a hospital for...

Notes on the Painting: A Balance of Shadows

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We were not meant to survive. We were meant to live. - W.S. Merwin Gregg Chadwick A Balance of Shadows 72”x96” oil on linen A Balance of Shadows was begun in 2004 as a visual poem reflecting the tensions of our era. Today, May 24, 2012, I laid a thin transparent layer of lapis lazuli across a section of the sky. Sourced in Afghanistan, this precious stone, when ground into pigment, creates a radiant blue that has been considered auspicious in both east and west. The word depicted in Japanese script in the upper left section of the painting is satori .  The word satori is a Japanese Buddhist term for enlightenment or "understanding". In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to the experience of kensho . Kensho when used in Zen traditions refers to "seeing into one's true nature." Ken means "seeing," sho means "nature" or "essence." Satori and kensho are commonly translated as enlightenment, a word...

Seeing Deeply With Art Writer Peter Clothier at Gregg Chadwick's Studio on Thursday, May 24, 2012

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Dear Friends, I am honored to invite you to register for the next  One Hour/One Painting Art Meditation Session  which will be led by the  distinguished art writer Peter Clothier  at 6:30pm on May 24th, 2012 in my studio at the Santa Monica Airport.  Peter has recently hosted One Hour/ One Painting sessions at the Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series exhibit at the Orange County Museum of Art and at the LA Louver Gallery.  When describing Peter Clothier's sessions, I am often asked what to expect. In short, Peter will guide a small group of people through an exercise in 'concentrated looking' over the course of one hour's time. He will do this by taking us, as individuals in a group, on a visual and contemplative tour of my large, six by eight foot, painting  A Balance of Shadows . We will experience color, shape, space and image in a concentrated yet calm and meditative manner using our eyes and minds.  I see this as an 'exercise i...

Never Underestimate Your Opponent: Lori Compas Poised to Make History in Wisconsin Recall Election

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by Gregg Chadwick "Nice people can be strong. And happy people can be smart." Lori Compas in the  Wisconsin State Journal  Lori Compas As the June 5, 2012 recall elections creep closer in Wisconsin, important political realities are becoming evident. Governor Walker, his Wisconsin loves me bluster nevertheless, will most likely be recalled.  And Scott Fitzgerald, one of Governor Walker's key supporters in the Wisconsin State Senate, is scared for his political future and could be on the road to political irrelevance. Shockingly,  in the June 5 recall election race for Wisconsin's 13th District,  Fitzgerald is afraid to debate his opponent Lori Compas. Not only is Fitzgerald scared of Compas, he revealed himself to be an out of touch and misogynist candidate by saying that he is sure that  Lori Compas is a puppet for her svengali husband as well as unions and protest groups. "I don't for one minute believe she is the organizing force behind t...

Mitt Romney vs. a young David Bowie?

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by Gregg Chadwick Must watch video from 1964 of a young David Bowie standing up for the rights of all. The recent news stories about Mitt Romney's extreme bullying and cruelty during his high school years comes to mind.: "A high school classmate of presidential candidate Mitt Romney told ABC News today that he considers a particular prank the two pulled at Michigan’s Cranbrook School to be “assault and battery” and that he witnessed Romney hold the scissors to cut the hair of a student who was being physically pinned to the ground by several others. 'It’s a haunting memory.  I think it was for everybody that spoke up about it …  because when you see somebody who is simply different taken down that way and is terrified and you see that look in their eye you never forget it.  And that was what we all walked away with,' said Phillip Maxwell, who is now an attorney and still considers Romney an old friend." Romney's actions show an almost pathologica...

Happy 18th Birthday to My Wonderful Kid - Cassiel Chadwick!

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The Existentialist (Portrait of Cassiel Chadwick) 30"x22" monotype on paper Happy 18th Birthday to my University of California Berkeley bound Cassiel Chadwick!

Revealing the Unseen: The Provocative Art of Ramiro Gomez

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by Gregg Chadwick “Often these sectors of the labor force become invisible—we’re used to them attending our gardens, taking care of our kids, cleaning our homes and they almost become invisible.”       -Lizette Guerra, archivist and librarian at the  UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center   " Happy Hills is my body of work documenting the predominantly hispanic workforce, who work tirelessly behind the scenes to present the beautiful images of the ideal Hollywood Hills homes." - Ramiro Gomez Ramiro Gomez Outside the Beverly Hills Hotel During an Artistic Intervention from a video by Jorge Rivas The artwork of the young Los Angeles based artist Ramiro Gomez reveals the unseen hands and faces of the often underpaid and under appreciated laborers who keep the more affluent areas of the Los Angeles basin manicured and green. Using the simple materials of cardboard and paint, Gomez creates labor portraits of the hispanic workers that work behind the...

Maurice Sendak: An Artist In Love With the World and the Things That Go Bump in the Night

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by Gregg Chadwick “Dear Mr. Sendak,  How much does it cost to get to where the wild things are? If it is not expensive, my sister and I would like to spend the summer there.”  -From a letter sent by an eight year old reader to Maurice Sendak Maurice Sendak   Where the Wild Things Are Pen and ink and watercolor on paper  1963 Maurice Sendak was an artist in love with the world and with things that go bump in the night. Sendak looked deeply at the world around him. His vision included the visible nature of  our existence and the invisible, but no less real, world of dreams. Sendak's beautifully crafted artworks for his books began with simple pencil sketches that were then enlarged and fleshed out with pen and ink which was then layered with glowing watercolor washes.  The finished paintings on paper reflect what Dave Eggers described in a Vanity Fair article on Sendak as the "unhinged and chiaroscuro subconscious of a child." Sendak's...