Upcoming Show: Stop Traffic – Work by Kurt Cole Eidsvig & Jonathan Stark at Tantric

It’s official everyone: Jonathan Stark and I are collaborating on a show to be held at Tantric in Boston from June 17th to August 2nd.

STOP TRAFFIC: An Exhibition to Benefit MataHari/Eye of the Day: Solutions to Prevent and End Human Trafficking

Paintings by Kurt Cole Eidsvig
Photographs by Jonathan Stark

Opening Night: June 20th from 9PM – 2AM at Tantric, 123 Stuart Street Boston
Cocktails, Appetizers, Silent Auction: $20 Admission

A Passion Lounge – Artists’ Social Action Project event

More information to come, but mark your calendars for June 20th!

Iris in May

As some 617Midway readers know, I do some moonlighting for a blog on Nancy Landon’s garden. Well, I was down there today and she put me to work taking shots of her iris in bloom. What a sight to behold. The images barely do it justice, but I have included a few here.

These are similar photos to the ones as I used as the basis for some watercolors of flowers that were part of the giveaway during FPAC Art Walk a few weekends ago. I keep toying with the idea of doing some more flower paintings and keep getting pulled off to some other writing or art project. But, these turned out pretty well and could be great as the foundation for a painting or two.

Chinatown Windowpanes

I have been walking by this one store in Chinatown for years and basically love it. There has to be a painting series somewhere in existence titled “Chinatown Windowpanes.” If so, that person is welcome to use these photos as a starting point for their next painting. Anyhow, took these on a walk home from Tantric recently and think there have to be a million stories here someplace.

In other news, this past weekend was the Northeast Anime Convention in Boston. If you think it is fun to look at these little critters inside a Chinatown Windowpane, imagine what it was like to see Boston visitors decked-out head to toe in costumes like this.

In honor of my friend Heather: It was like Hello Kitty Heaven.

Maybe there should be a large format photo series titled Chinatown Windowpanes? I actually have a few fun photo series going on recently, more on that soon.

Bad Luck Charm and Wakey Predictions

How did I spend a lovely Memorial Day weekend in Beantown? With sweet Red Sox seats on both Friday and Saturday, incredible weather, and the joy of being in the confines of friendly Fenway Park. The only issue being? The place was overrun with Mets fans and I had great seats to see two incredible Sox losses. Boo. I won’t even go into the WWE-style scrap I had front row seats to post-game on Friday. Kid jumped off a railing onto a guy. Booze + Mets Fans in Fenway + Red Sox Loss = Pretty Good Scraps.

Anyhow, at least Tim Wakefield was able to work his magic on Sunday unencumbered by my bad luck.

And now I would like to offer my early prediction for Red Sox great Time Wakefield as this year’s American League Cy Young award winner. The guy already has 6 wins under his belt and is 42 years of lovely on the mound. Surely 617Midway readers know my love of Wakey, and have read my poem referring to his knuckle ball. But don’t let all this bias fool you: Wakey for Cy Young it is.

There is a great new video on youtube I caught on Barstool Sports last week: The Ballad of Tim Wakefield. Check it out.

“Give me nine players just like Timmy Wakefield.”

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day.

Shots from Fort Point Spring Art Walk

As promised, above find a few pics of 617Midway from last weekend's Art Walk here in Fort Point.

Art Walk Recap: What a Weekend!

What a weekend!

Fort Point Spring Art Walk was a blast. I had well over 250 people come in to 617Midway over Saturday and Sunday, with a lot of great discussion, good feedback, a few sales, and an overall great weekend. From fellow artists to students, collectors and friends the turnout was extraordinary.

And kudos to the Fort Pointers who put it together. The flower giveaway was a stellar success. One of the moms who received one of my flowers (see below) came to my studio and thanked me profusely.

The weather was great and spirits were high. In addition, Wilfredo Chiesa's Capstone Class had their show here in Fort Point over the weekend, so some of the UMASS-ers I met last week came over and stopped by. This show also brought great energy to Fort Point and lots of visitors and people talking about the art. Great stuff.

I know, I know, I haven't even touched on the Exclamation Point! 6 event from Friday night. This was a thrill, and needs more airtime when the pics and video become available, but it was extraordinarly thrilling. Silvia Graziano, who both coordinated the event, and Directed the Past (el) Colors Piece that used a prose poem collaboration of Martin Cockroft and mine, did an amazing job. It is hard to explain the feeling of a poem, of all things, coming to life through all these actors and imagery and direction. John Gayle who provided the visuals for it did a dynamite job and the actors were out of this world. More on this soon, but it was a great kick-off to a great weekend.

Above, see some shots of people in 617Midway over the weekend, as well as one where the sun was playing some great games on top of "Sticker Shock." More photos of the space and the weekend likely to come later.

Hope all the moms out there had a great Mother's Day, and thank you to all those who ventured to 617Midway and made this weekend such a great success.

Pre-Art Walk Catch-up

In honor of procrastinating getting my studio ready for the weekend’s FPAC Art Walk, I am doing a long catch-up blog on all things 617Midway and beyond. Also in honor of this procrastination I found some time to watch the Celtics tonight. Did you see that Rondo dunk? Now THAT is art my friends.

And, no, my studio isn’t ready. It looks as if some giant picked up my studio and shook it like in the beginning of a game of Boggle.

Anyway, here goes:

Mother’s Day Flowers

I dropped off my Mother’s Day Flowers at the FPAC store today for their Mother’s Day giveaway. During this weekend’s Open Studios event, the first 100 moms to stop by their info booth will receive free original works of art. The three I have donated are small paintings of mine from my mother’s garden, so stop by on Sunday and you may walk away with one... or some other original art from a Fort Pointer.

See a few samples of my paintings above.

The Little Man

My friend Robert asked me via email last week something to the effect of: “What’s the deal with your fascination with that little guy on signs?”

Clearly Robert hasn’t been an avid 617Midway reader. That said, I guess I believe one of the aspects of contemporary art, or at least in my work (the catalog paintings, collages, baseball card works, advertisements) is trying to get viewers to re-look at those images they take for granted or don’t notice on a daily basis. In my mind, the little man is a perfect example of this. The more I study his various forms and preposterous situations, the more I wonder at the meaning in these images. So, they are likely fodder for a writing project or a series of paintings, or at the very least blog insanity.

The “Fire Door” representation above I snapped at UMASS last week. This is a Fire Door graphic? Then what is the graphic for "there's a water bed close by, let's get busy?"

Here is the other question: Didn’t Keith Haring already take this little guy and set him free? I’m slow, so this didn’t occur to me until this past week. Image above is from PutnamCollection.org

El Tres of May

I missed my annual shout out to Goya on the Tres of May. So, in honor of the 7th of May, remember Goya. Guy could paint.

And, yes, I know my Spanish is horrible.

Sketches of Frank Gehry

Watched this movie this past week. Thought is was interesting and good and inspired me to include some of my sketchbook in this weekend’s open studios. There was probably too much Sydney Pollack in it for my taste (although there were some great parallels between the two... but he was on camera quite a bit). And maybe even a bit too much on how difficult it was for Gehry to break through. While entirely true in all likelihood, it was a bit hard to take when he is a subject of a movie in his lifetime and there are all these huge buildings with his name on them. I mean, it isn’t like painting. Anyone can paint a crazy painting. I am living proof. But in order to get a building built you need all kinds of financing, permits, engineers, etc. So, the bit about all the opposition was a bit much.

But the movie itself, especially Pollack’s focus on the forms and their interaction with environments was great for me. As were the interviews with Julian Schnabel. Plus, Gehry referenced Jasper Johns: Is there a faster way to win my heart over?

I have long thought that finding this stuff on Netflix is the best part of subscribing for me. Just seeing the sketches, the models, the processes… and the shots of so many buildings I haven’t visited, made it very worthwhile.

Sotheby’s

Anyone catch the results of the Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale this past week (May 5th)? Mondrian for 9 million? Monet for 3.5 million? The art market is alive and well 617Midway readers. And with their Contemporary sale scheduled for May 12 and 13, featuring works by Rauschenberg, Koons, Warhol, etc… there are sure to be additional big numbers posted next week.

What better time to invest in contemporary works than this weekend at Art Walk? Ahem?

Exclamation Point Rehearsal

Attended the rehearsal for the Fort Point Theatre Channel’s production of Past(el) Colors as part of their Exclamation Point! 6 event tonight. I have to say, I was very, very impressed. There are great actors working on this piece under the watchful director’s eye of Silvia Graziano, and seeing Martin Cockroft's and my words come to life through great delivery, timing, etc., is a joy to be part of. Just tonight watching Mary Driscoll, Leora Fox, Marc S. Miller, Steven Rumpler, and Nick Thorkelson deliver the goods has me very excited for Friday.

In another piece of good news, the Fort Point Theatre Channel has invited me to become a member. So, more to come on that. But in the meantime, look forward to seeing you all on Friday at 7pm for the show.

Wait until you see the other pieces and the costumes. Plus, John Gayle is working on visuals to accompany. Great, great stuff.

John Singleton Copley

Took a pic of this statue of Copley this past winter when John here had a palette full of snow. Only fair to catch him today at his best, presiding over the Back Bay. Is Copley the patron saint of Boston painters? Is it Sargent? Ellsworth Kelly? It may just be Copley, which is OK by me. In some ways, he may be the father of American art.

And in some ways I need to go get my studio in some working shape before 300 people come walking in here this weekend.

And did you see that Eddie House tonight? Poetry! Poetry I tell ya!

Sad Days in South Boston

It has been a sad few days here in Southie as a friend, Christian Lynch, passed away last Saturday, May 2nd. Christian was an amazingly funny guy, and a good man. I'd been waiting to say something on it here until the obit came out, which it did today. Of course, nothing can capture his person: Basically, I feel lucky to have known him. If anyone could make you laugh with a look or a quick one, it was him. He will be missed tremendously.

Blessings to his family and friends. The following is the obit from the Herald today:

LYNCH Christian Thomas, 33, lifelong resident of South Boston, May 2, 2009. He will be deeply, deeply missed by his parents Thomas (Ret BPD) and Elizabeth (Kelly) Lynch and his sister Jessica Kelly Lynch all of South Boston. Loving father of two beautiful daughters Cailyn and Ava. Pesty uncle of Tommy, Joey and Nola. Dear nephew of Margaret Moretto, Nancy Kelly and the late James M. Kelly and William Baggs. Grandson of the late Helen “Honey” Kelly. Beloved of Amanda Dickson. Also leaves several cousins and countless friends. Funeral Mass in St. Brigid’s Church at Wednesday at 10:00 A.M. Relatives and friends invited. Interment will be private. Christian was a handsome loving, kind likeable man who enjoyed an extraordinary close relationship with his mother and daughters.

My Favorite de Kooning

I mentioned a few posts ago that during my visit to UMASS / Boston last week I got the chance to wander around the sculpture park, Arts on the Point, and specifically see the de Kooning, which I hadn’t seen before.

As you can see above, I took some shots of this piece, and I was extraordinarily impressed by it.

Most know that I am ridiculously influenced by de Kooning. I chalk this up to my background in drawing prior to picking up paint, and his devotion to the line, as well as to his ability to bridge the gap between the linear and the painterly… not to mention that I agree he was a master. Almost anyone who is applying paint to canvas to this day, I believe, is somehow contending with de Kooning.

That said, I don’t like all of his work. He took chances that became marvelous failures. And the series of sculptures that this UMASS piece came from were born really from experimentation… de Kooning being in Italy (Spain was it?) and not having his studio, but picking up clay and starting to experiment. Later, when someone volunteered to make these small figures into large casts, these bronze sculptures were born.

And while these, as so much of his work, were projects of experimentation… I truly enjoy them. What I love is de Kooning’s thumbprint. Now enlarged, it stands as some reminder of the scale of this art giant, or art god, at this point in his career. Or, the idea of a thumb print, a true signature upon the form, is here. Either way, I love the story of de Kooning trying to grapple with how to explain to people that he was a famous artist… so they wouldn’t get mad he didn’t tell them, while remaining humble.

“I’m kind of a big deal you know.” No kidding.

Anyhow, this UMASS piece, which I think is spectacular, had me thinking of the Laocoon, from one angle, where it seemed like a man’s broad back was wrestling something to the ground. The shot I am talking about is the third one down, where to me it looks like a man wrestling and twisting with something. Even now, I am not 100% sure why I thought of Laocoon… maybe all the ink drawings and sketches I have seen of it from other artists? The blending of sculpture and line? Or just a moment of massive backed Gods engaged in turmoil?

I also was reminded of Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” and the Bokononist idea that we rise from the mud and then return to the mud. This form seems to be wrestling with liquid, pushing and pulling it into something else, or some other place. Maybe like de Kooning bringing forth life from clay for the first time in his career, which is what these sculptures represent.

Regardless of the associations, it was a treat to behold. I think I like it better, in some ways, than the one at the MFA in Boston. It may just be my fav de Kooning in town.

And Copley Today

Just a few more Boston shots- the tulips doing their thing.

Public Garden Yesterday

I'll admit it: I seem to have contracted some addiction to taking photos of Boston this spring. Yesterday in the Public Garden was no exception, and with the different shades of tulips popping, it was a glorious afternoon. I was even able to get some sketching done, which is something I haven't done in a long time.

At least I wasn't alone in these addictions. I spied at least 5 easels and artists set up who were capturing the Pru and Back Bay with the red and orange tulips in the foreground. I was reminded of the Impressionists painting out-of-doors, that is, until one the painters answered his cell phone, brush in hand.

And as far as the photos went: It was one of those days when it was difficult to take a photo without capturing someone else taking a photo in your picture frame. So, the Public Garden was a buzz of people enjoying in capturing the moments.

Who had the most fun? It had to be the kids. I don't know what it is with kids and ducks, but as I sat by the water, drawing, every once in a while I would see a kid bolt for the water's edge just to get closer to a duck. They ran. They stared. They laughed. You want to make a kid happy? Show him a duck.

Looks like I will be including some sketchbook excerpts in open studios next weekend, so come along and check it out.