Two Figure Paintings of Mine Published by Wilde Magazine Issue 2

Last weekend, two figure paintings of mine, Pilgrim and Pond were published by Wilde Magazine, in their Spring 2013 Issue (Issue 2).

Quoting the statement from the official website, "Wilde Magazine was founded in 2012 with the goal of offering a queer perspective on life through art and writing. We are a bi-annual publication, available in both print and digital formats.

We seek to not only offer a high-quality publication of art and literature, but to foster a communal and multimedia experience. Art and writing, culture itself, is not a mere showcase of talent, but rather a discussion.

The nature of queer life, as well as an artistic life, is one centered around community. It's essential in our creative abilities and our rise against adversity. This struggle has been documented by gay artists and writers before us, such as the very one after which this magazine is christened - Oscar Wilde."

It is a honor to have my works included in this magazine.  Below are the screenshots of the online previews.  You may browse the magazine in a reduced format online, and the print and digital versions of the magazine can be purchased through MagCloud.






Pilgrim, Oil on Canvas, 24"x36", 2005




Pond, Oil on Canvas, 36"x48", 2001

This is the third publication of my paintings this year, following by Four Paintings of Mine Published by Superstition Review, April 2013 and Pomona Valley Review, Issue 7 Published with My Paintings and Installation.


Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- New Wilde Magazine Publications

- Unexpected Successes of "Stringed White Dresses - An Installation"
- Pomona Valley Review, Issue 7 Published with My Paintings and Installation
- Three Magazines to Publish My Works in April
- Four Paintings of Mine Published by Superstition Review, April 2013

Free Art at Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland

In a week, you may visit Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland's Free Gallery Exhibit to grab a piece or two artworks offered for free, as part of the Free Utopian Projects.

Pro Arts Gallery stated that

The Free Gallery, by Free Utopian Projects*, is a new exhibition presenting free artwork, found objects and art ephemera to the public.

The Free Gallery is both an interactive experience of an alternative art economy, as well as a study of art as a consumer product. Who makes art? Who exhibits art? Who buys art? The Free Gallery explores the collapse of these distinctions by offering a subverted gallery experience where not only admission is free, the art is too.

Participating artists donate work to the exhibition to be presented salon-style in a continually evolving cycle of giving and taking art. A 'Preview' will be held from Tuesday, February 26 to Friday, March 1 to allow viewers an exclusive preview of items that will be available free to the public from the Artists' Reception onwards. A practice of taking one work per person will be encouraged. The project proprietor Jocelyn Meggait will be onsite most gallery hours to discuss the project with visitors, coordinate artwork, and document the selection experience.

* Free Utopian Projects is an ongoing alternative art project exploring Utopian economic systems by creating free, socially active installations. Curator/proprietor/artist Jocelyn Meggait has installed Free Projects at Kala Art Institute, Mills College Art Museum, and most recently at the alternative art space A Temporary Offering in the Renoir Hotel, San Francisco.

I contributed two pieces portraits to this exhibit:


Mesmerizing, 16"x20", Oil on Canvas, 1997


Bending Nude Profile, 20"x16", Oil on Canvas, 1997 



Quick facts about the gallery and the exhibit:

Pro Arts Gallery

150 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Oakland, CA 94612

Exhibition Dates: February 26 - March 29, 2013
Preview: Tuesday, February 26 - Friday, March 1
Artists' Reception and Free Art Launch: First Friday, March 1, 6-8pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10 - 5pm and Saturday 11 - 4pm
Entry: Free


Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:

- "Scapes: Land, Sea and Urban" Juried Exhibition at Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, California

- My Next Show - Prince Street Gallery, Chelsea, New York

- Art Show in the Gallery of Studio Trilogy, San Francisco

- Opening at Artist Xchange Gallery March "Spring Garden" Exhibit

Naked Audience for Naked Men Exhibit at Leopold Museum, Vienna

Last October, when I visited Leopold Museum in Vienna, I immersed myself with the great Austrian artist Egon Schiele, whose dark paintings covered landscape, abstract, portrait and many nudes of both sexes - intense, twisted, not overtly sensual but elemental (see images below).


Sitzender Männerakt (Selbstdarstellung), 1910, Egon Schiele, Leopold Museum, Wien
 

Drei stehende Frauen (Fragment), 1918, Egon Schiele, Leopold Museum

While resting in the Museumquartier, I, along with many other museum goers watched with great curiosity at the installation of a cutout male nude in front of the museum for the next main special exhibit - Naked Men (Nackte Männer), which was programed for the period from 19 October 2012 to 28 January 2013 but was extended to 04 March 2013.  The program description on Leopold Museum's website stated that: 

Previous exhibitions on the theme of nudity have mostly been limited to female nudes. With the presentation “naked men” in the autumn of 2012 the Leopold Museum will be showing a long overdue exhibition on the diverse and changing depictions of naked men from 1800 to the present.

Thanks to loans from all over Europe, the exhibition “naked men” will offer an unprecedented overview of the depiction of male nudes. Starting with the period of Enlightenment in the 18th century, the presentation will focus mainly on the time around 1800, on tendencies of Salon Art, as well as on art around 1900 and after 1945. At the same time, the exhibition will also feature important reference works from ancient Egypt, examples of Greek vase painting and works from the Renaissance. Spanning two centuries, the presentation will show different artistic approaches to the subject, competing ideas of the ideal male model as well as changes in the concept of beauty, body image and values.

It must be a very interesting exhibit but I do not believe that I share the same spirit as the brave nude visitors below, who were not only unafraid of measuring up their bodies to those on canvases, but also able to brave themselves to the winter days in Vienna.





However, as museum visiting experience goes, these men and women made it utterly unforgettable and made this exhibit a much talked-about event.  All power to them, then and who says that the Austrians are square?






Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele in Wien (Vienna)
- Angelic and Evil - Bunkerei and Palais Augarten in Augarten, Vienna


Label: Austria, Austria and Italy Trip 2012

One More Life Drawing Video from Last Year

My last video presentation of my drawings was a compilation of female nudes done in life drawing session at University of California Berkeley.  Male models were used during the session as well, somewhat less frequently.  Here is a video compilation of some male nude drawings:



>> Video presentations of paintings and drawings, Part XX: Video Presentation of My Abstract Paintings
<< Video presentations of paintings and drawings, Part XVIII: Ready to Go Back to Drawing Sessions

List of Video Presentation of My Artworks

A Wonderful Model's Return

One of my favorite models returned to the Cal's drawing session. He is a former ballet dancer and his poses are often very interesting and challenging to draw. I have used him as model for a commission. His poses are so dynamic that by the end of the session, I was exhausted but exhilarated.





































More of life drawings can be viewed at Flickr site.

Preparation Drawings for a Painting Commission

A collector of mine recently approached me for a commission of nude painting. Naturally, I obliged gladly. Below are a few drawing preparations I made for this commission:

Artists Photo Sharing Online

I have talked about the benefit of using photo sharing sites like Flickr.com for artits. One can find out many useful information regarding how a particular image is received by the public. Flickr categorizes broadly regarding how the viewers come to the image. One can find out if people found the image through one's website, blog, image search engine or from Flickr itself. These can enable artists to adjust the tags or labels used, to align with the most commonly searched terms.

However, high viewership doesn't necessarily mean the success of the artwork. People might come to view the work for the purposes other than art appraisal.

Amongst my public images, the mostly viewed image is a female nude painting, which has just overtaken the top spot from a male nude painting. The third one is a flower painting and followed by more nudes, and flowers. A few days ago, I posted and blogged a photo of 5,000 naked people gathered together in front of Sydney Opera House posing for artist Spencer Tunick. Within minutes of the posting the picture online, it was viewed 12 times. Within an hour, the hit was more than 100. Within a day, it was viewed for more than 500 times. Artists should not be carried away by the high viewership and must try to understand the motives of viewers.

Below is the snap shot of my top ten most viewed images on 3 March, 2010:

Naked Art

Last weekend, more than 5,000 people took off their clothes on the steps of the iconic Sydney Opera House to pose for Spencer Tunick, famous for his snapshots of mass nudity in public spaces. This installation was commissioned by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Tunick claimed: "Gay men and women lay naked next to their straight neighbours and this delivered a very strong message to the world that Australians embrace a free and equal society."

Quit a followup to my previous post - Is it Art?