Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to my friends around the world.

Caravaggio

Sretan Božić, Gesëende Kersfees, 聖誕快樂, أجمل التهاني بمناسبة الميلاد و ,حلول السنة الجديدةNadolig Llawen, Priecïgus Ziemassvºtkus, Juullimi Ukiortaassamilu Pilluarit, Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu, 즐거운 성탄절 보내시고 새해 복 많이 받으세요, Boas Festas, સાલ મુબારક , feliz Navidad, ༄༅།།ལོ་གསར་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་ཞུ།, Nollaig Shona Dhuit, Tratra ny Noely, baxtalo Krečuno, Ẹ ku Ayọ Keresimesi ati Ọdun Tuntun, Een Plesierige Kerfees, Bon Natali, めりーくりすます, Crăciun Fericit, Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi, Joyeux Noel, ᖁᕕᐊᓱᒡᕕᒻᒥ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᒋᑦ/ ᖁᕕᐊᓱᕝᕕᓯᐅᑦᓯᐊᕆᑦ ᐊᒻᒪ ᕿᑎᙳᒪᕆᒃ, Cpeћah Бoжић, क्रिसमस की बधाइयाँ, Il-Milied it-Tajjeb, весела коледа, کرسمَس مبارکСчастливого рождества, אַ פֿרײליכע ניטל און אַ גוטער נײַער יאָרMele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou!, メリークリスマス, God Jul, Gëzuar Krishtlindjen, Hyvää Joulua, Веселого Різдва і з Новим Роком, Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!, क्रस्मसको शुभकामना तथा नयाँ वर्षको शुभकामना, Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi, Καλά Χριστούγεννα, Rehus-Beal-Ledeats, Glæd Geol, 圣诞节快乐, Fröhliche Weihnachten, Vrolijk Kerstfeest , Feliz Natal , கிறிஸ்துமஸ் மற்றும் இனிய புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள், Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce, Gledelig Jul, Buone Feste Natalizie, Glædelig Ju, Wesołych Świą, Nadolig Llawen, חג מולד שמח

Ye Olde Classmates: James Jean

Another towering figure in our graduating class was James Jean. I did not really realize the magnitude of his popularity until I started showing his work to my students, and he happened to be a hero of many of them. We shared a few friends and painted together a few times, but I didn't get to know him all that well. Sometimes he would bring a trumpet to class and play, which was good fun. He always, always, always, was sketching everyone and everything.

Although he has found great success as an illustrator, he is the envy of all kinds of draftsmen.

This was always my favorite.



An old student piece. I think this is from one of our classes, but I can't remember.



James posts his sketchbooks on his site, and you can flip through page by page. Pretty fun. He actually sells them, and even publishes books of his sketches that you can buy on his website.





A 9/11 sketch. I tried to do one too from midtown, but didn't get anything.


I need to see James's sketches more often, and they always inspire me to crack open the moleskin. Is there any greater master of the sketchbook? I think he's the reigning champion.





Breathtaking.



What, does he live on an airplane?



Another old one, apparently on paper.

Another one from Steve Assael's class. The light on the female figure is a dead giveaway. Gorgeous, beautiful paintings. Wow.

Living Grand Masters: Odd Nerdrum

So I'm reading "On Kitsch" by Odd Nerdrum. I agree on most aesthetic fronts, such as the principles of skill, passion, universality, and rejection of mass taste. Using the distinctions made by Clement Greenburg and other modernist art critics between art and kitsch, Nerdrum happily falls into the category of kitsch along with many great painters dismissed by the art establishment. I also like the distinctions between high kitsch (Wagner) and low kitsch (bad moose paintings), as well as between camp (my former boss, Jeff Koons, who actually mocks kitsch) and true kitsch, which is completely in earnest.

"The Murder of Andreas Baader" Possibly my favorite, painted in the seventies, and borrowing strongly from Caravaggio.

I like pictures of Odd Nerdrum. Cool looking dude.

I learned in college that "artist" is too loaded a word to place on myself, but my personal problem is that I do not want to sign a manifesto that all of the sudden limits what I can and can't paint. I guess I fall into the kitsh category according to both Greenburg and Nerdrum, at least for now, but I don't really care either way. I just want to make things that I think are great and revel in that which I love about great paintings.

Here's a link to the Nerdrum institute.

Nerdrum was the first contemporary painter to really grab my attention as a freshman in art school, and I still love him. I thank him and my other favorite painters for breaching the time/space barrier and reminding us that painting is not about the here and now, but for all times and all walks of people. He is an individual painting for individuals, which is way more important to me than the kitsch/art debate.

A Lamentation I discovered in an Alien movie

Here's another Christ motif I found in an Alien movie, one of the quadrilogy, but I don't remember which one. I immediately recognized it as a lamentation of the dead Christ. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but the similarities to some of these paintings are striking, even in the direction of the lighting. She is surrounded by doctors in a similar fashion as these Christ figures are by saints and angels. Is it intentional or are they unwittingly retelling the stories?

Movie still from one of the Alien movies

Rosso Fiorentino, 1525. I turned it on it's side.

Maerten Van Heemskerck 1566

Francesco Bassano, 1580's


Rosso Fiorentino 1540

A He-Man Pieta

I often discover classical motifs in movies and tv shows. I found this pieta watching He-Man with my kids today. I've been collecting these for a while so I'll share more with you as I come across them. This is He-Man picking up Teela to put her on Battle Cat to revive her somehow.

Another gorgeous composition from the same scene. I will surely steal this.

Franz Von Stuck

Lately I have been looking for something severe in painting, and I am rediscovering the German symbolist Franz Von Stuck. We were both born in Bavaria on February 24th, but he was born 117 years before me.

His work is horrific, visionary, and considered barbaric by the experts. I find answers in his paintings.

Paradise Lost




Wild Chase



Judith and Holofernes


The Furies

The Inferno

Pieta