The Young Poet Rumi

The painting "The Young Poet Rumi" shows a young Rumi (sans white beard) composing a poem. The painting is a visual narrative of catharsis. Peacock feather in hand, the flow of ink has veered off the paper and knocked over an ink well as the weight of emotion from what he has just written causes him to collapse in creative exhaustion, his heart pumping blood onto the green table. Two young birds fly in through his open window bringing flowers. These feathered muses also bring him inspiration metaphorically through these gifts of flowers.

When I see this painting I can smell the salty air of the sea just outside Rumi's window. The lines of the poem on the paper are from the poem Heroes:

Does any artist paint for the sake of the picture itself,

without the hope of offering some good?

No, but for the sake of the viewers and the young

who will be drawn by it and freed from cares.

Photos from Northlake Art Reception

WeShotJr Interview

Here is an interview I did for a site called weshotjr.com

Giraffes and Seahorses

I will be having a retrospective of my work spanning back the past 15 years at Northlake College in Irving. The exhibition's is titled "Giraffes and Seahorses" and will display will be over 20 pieces of art ranging from the early 1990s till this year. The show runs from June 11th - July 7th, with an opening reception on Wednesday June 17th, 7:30 - 9:00 pm in the gallery.

For those interested in viewing this exhibit the Northlake College is located in Irving, and the college gallery is in building A.

Amalgamation of minutia

I didn't make it to Houston for the reception for the Hunting Art Prize. I was selected by 3 jurors to get into the show; Kate Green an independent curator and former curator of Artpace in San Antonio; Chiyo Ishikawa, deputy director of art, Seattle Art Museum in Seattle; and Suzanne Folds McCullagh, curator-prints and drawings, The Art Institute of Chicago. I didn't win the prize money, but thats ok, I got into the show which I'm happy about.

Im working on a painting around now about the poet Rumi.  It should be completed here in the next couple of weeks.  Im going to include this piece in one of the two shows I have coming up this summer, a solo show at Northlake College and a group show at Dahlia Woods Gallery, both in Dallas. Im looking forward to both.

Ive included a drawing I did a while back of a Buddhist monk realizing the ways of becoming one with all thats around you, i.e., understanding and accepting your role as part of everything.

Photos from Natura Fragilis

I found some great photos online of the Natura Fragilis exhibition at the Bath House Cultural Center.  The photos were taken by another artist at the show, her name is Julie Zarate and you can see her work here. The curator for the show was Enrique Fernández Cervantes.  He is a really great guy and artist if youd like to check out his work.

Lakewood-Now.net article

Here is a great article by Glen Kitto for Lakewood-Now.net on the "Perchance to Dream" show at Dahlia Woods Gallery.

Blogs

I found my name on some blogs and thought Id share.  I think its great that these people used my work on their blogs, thanks!

recogedor.blogspot.com

lali.toutsimplement.be

lletresdelsinore.blogspot.com

Peony

This is a new found objects sculpture Ive recently completed. It will be included in the Natura Fragilis exhibition at the Bath House Cultural Center.

Dallas Morning News- Feb 13th

I was recently featured in the Dallas Morning News Weekend Guide-Arts Section, which you can read by selecting the image below.

Review for "Per Chance To Dream" show

Lydia Regaldo recently reviewed my art show at Dahlia Woods Gallery for THE magazine.  Lydia has an eloquent way with words, and explained my art and my intentions with amazingly keen insight.  After reading this review I couldnt help but have a big smile on my face.  

You can read the review here.  

If you're in Dallas you can also pick up a copy of the February edition of THE magazine at most art galleries.

Darfur

This painting depicts a woman from Darfur, beaten and clinging onto life, looking back at the viewer and wondering why no one is helping her.  Why is she being ignored by the rest of the world? The women and girls in this region are receiving the worst types of violence committed especially against them. This is the image of someone that has hit bottom and is sitting there waiting. However you can see the strength in her eyes, a dim light that is taking refuge in the depths of her pupils, a light that will soon well up and shine bright again.

The image of this painting came to me all at once, in an instant. The surface of the canvas is rough, beaten and worn as is the subject.  To me it’s a painting that is constantly challenging the viewer to solve the answer to an unanswerable question - Why?  Why the violence, the rape, the murder, why against us? Against me? Why is more not being done to help the victims?

This solitary symbol of the victims of Darfur will never relinquish her question of "why". Her gaze digs its questioning stare deep into the viewer looking for answers as do roots dig into dry soil searching for water.

Freud's Subconscious

Sigmund Freud, feeding the materialization of his subconscious (a ring-tailed lemur) a cashew. His own creation and discovery, the subconscious, now a living entity of its own, resting upon his shoulders, needing attention and further nourishment (especially cashews)!

Just a fun painting about the creation of new fundamental ideas and how we incorporate them into our framework of reality. 

Why a lemur? Something Id really like to do one day is to feed wild lemurs in Madagascar.

Midnight Storm Rolling Into Venice

Midnight Storm Rolling Into Venice is an architectural piece depicting the city of Venice at midnight just as a storm is blowing in from the Adriatic Sea.

All the people are inside their homes, the streets are deserted; the winged lion of St Marks is cleaning himself (now that he doesn’t have to sit still pretending to be a statue).  A wooden chair waits the viewer in the lower left side of the canvas, inviting the viewer to have a seat as their eyes wonder through the city streets and breathe in the cool, salty air just before the storm

The Way the Light Dances in Istanbul

I have seen by traveling to different countries that the light seems to have a different hue, a nature all its own in relationship to the geographical elements, the plants, the stones, the dirt and animals (I include people under the animal description). Light seems to have its own unique characteristics based on the angle its hitting the earth, the longitude and latitude you’re standing on at the moment.  This is the light vibrating and dancing through the ancient and modern streets of Istanbul, broken up into cross sections of time, a split second of sensation and time tiled like slides for a microscope.