A CUBAN-AMERICAN MANUEL PARDO ART EXHIBIT AT THE EMERSON

Pictured to the right Exhibit Card.

This past Saturday my wife and I had the pleasure of attending the Manuel Pardo art exhibit at the Emerson in Mt Tremper New York. I enjoyed all the paintings and drawings on view. Manuel Pardo passed away a few months ago. He was an excellent artist and his art is full of life & Joy. I have admired his work for many years and was glad to see so many works in one place. The Exhibit will be up from May 4 to September 3, 2013 this is a must see exhibit if you are in the area.

More info at: http://www.emersonresort.com/events-and-hapenings/manuel-pardo-exhibit

I'm going to go back 100 years or so to an artist I passed over: Goya. In the spectrum of artists from those of structure to those of feeling, Goya is definitely the latter. But what is remarkable is the way he anticipated the romantics and 20th century expressionists, working at the height of the Enlightenment.

The Enlightment thinkers of the 18th century believed in the ultimate and inevitable perfectability of man through reason. They largely ignored the existence and power of the bestial side of man, a fatal mistake. The Greeks were wiser: thouogh they elevated reason as man's great gift, they never forgat the other side of his nature. Their image was of the horse and rider - today the Id and Ego - and understood the need to respect and control the bestial side.

Goya saw the cracks in the Enlightenment facade, and saw the bestiality hidden beneath. He has two works which address the issue directly. The "Sleep of Reason produces Monsters", the frontispiece to his etching series on the Disasters of War, shows an awareness of the irrational which is unique at that time. The later painting "Saturn Devouring his Children" (above) is much more visceral but equally farreaching in its philosophical message. Saturn, who rules Olympus before he was slain by his son Zeus, represents everything that is bestial and always ready to overwhelm the forces of reason.

Goya began his career very much in the great tradition of Velazquez, as official painter to the Court of Spain. I show you his portrait of the Royal Family which demonstrates his mastery of the ideom, while showing a marked unwillingness to flatter the subjects in any way. In Goya's prtraits, men always seem to be weak and ineffectual, while women are strong; we see this again in a portrait of Dona Isabella de Porcel.

But early on Goya turned his attention to the irrational, partucularly in his etchings, but also in a work like "Majas on the Balcony". This seemingly innocent scene is fraught with menace, as the figures of the "secorts" loom out of a sinister darkness. This has been interpretated psychologically as the menace of the irrational, and also politically, as innocent Spain menaced by the Napoleonic armies. For me the two interpretations have become inseparable in Goya's thinking.

Reality for Goya Became Spain under the heel of Napoleon, and the bestiality which is the inevitable result of war. Where his earlier etching series were aimed at uncovering the irrational suspertitions of the people and the venality of their masters, the "Disasters of War" are like the work of a photojournalist, a witness to horror. Throughout he uses black and white as a vehicle for terror and panic with a power matched at that time only by the prison fantasies of Piranesi, and not seen again until Munch at the end of the next century.

Cuban Cultural Center Mega Art Auction in NYC

May 3, 2013 6 PM

Spanish Benevolent Society
239 W 14th Street
NYC

Pictured to the right Wave Flower painting by Jose Acosta

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Jose Acosta, Susan Bank, Jose Bedia, Guido Betancourt, Humberto Calzada, Chari Castro-Marin, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Enrique Cubillas, Liliam Cuenca, Aurora De Armendi, Pablo Diaz, Ofill Echevarria, Felix Esquivel, Pedro Esteban, Galindo Landeira, Florencio Gelabert, Frank Guiller, Gisela Hernandez, Eliana Iturbe, Juan Lopetegui, Luis Mallo, David Martinez, Mysora, Jay Palacio, Manuel Pardo, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, Rene Portocarrero,
Rolando Pulido, Jesus Rivera, Gilberto Ruiz, Baruj Salinas, Mario Torroella, Gladys Triana, Raul Villareal

Mojitos at a unique art auction, featuring works by some of the most sought-after Cuban and Cuban-American artists today, as well as outstanding new talent, many of whom will be present at the event!

Given the fundraising nature of the auction, these highly coveted works will be offered at a starting bid well below their value, an extraordinary opportunity for all serious collectors.

To encourage attendance of only interested parties, there is a pre-registration tax-deductible fee, applicable to any art purchase.

Given the limited space and the anticipated response to this event, we encourage everyone to register early.

SPANISH BENEVOLENT SOCIETY 239 West 14th Street, NYC

Admission fee:* $50 CCCNY Members: $30 *Counts toward art purchase
PLEASE NOTE: Since this is a catered event, with limited space, pre-registration is highly recommended to guarantee your attendance.

TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/365417

My most recent post in this series was on Claude Monet, who so completely redefined the artistic enterprise that he set a new benchmark against which future artists had to define themselves. By limiting his focus to the facts of perception he created an unusually direct interaction between the artist and the visual world, but in doing so he effectively excluded the interests of most artists preceeding him, whether "classical" or "romantic".

There was, predictably, an almost immediate attempt to blend his new vision with the traditional concerns of artists. I have already discussed Cezanne, who in this context must be seen as a "classicist": concerned with the structure and order behind our perceptual world, what we KNOW as opposed to what we SEE. The second great "objection" comes from Van Gogh, representing , broadly speaking, the romantic thread in art: the projection of the artists feelings about what he sees onto the canvas.

I can't help but compare self-portraits by these two great post-impressionists. Both are dealing with the new palette set by the impressionists, and reinterpreting the impressionist technique of dabs of color that mimic the dicrete impulses of light and color on the eye. Cezanne has turned them into directional strokes which sculpt the surface and heighten our sense of the solid reality of the subject; Van Gogh has transformed them into restless acts of brush meeting canvas, transfering to the painting the intensity of the artist's feelings. With cezanne, we end up knowing almost nothing about the man; with Van Gogh, we know more than we can be comfortable with..

Van Gogh's intensity and passion go beyond volition to compulsion. In many of his works, it is clear that his intended message of peace and health is overwhelmed by the strength and hopelessness of his longing for it. "Starry Night" is a wonderful example of this: a scene which in its intentions is utterly peaceful - "Oh little town of Bethlehem..." - but in its ultimate effect, is the epitome of turmoil. So violent is the application of the paint that we can barely recognize that it is NOT a storm in the scene, but a storm in the artist's breast. This is matched by everything we know about his relationship with the world: he sought for friendship and love with an intensity which drove almost everyone away.

His many works of sunflowers are another example. Sunflowers for Van Gogh were a symbol of health and hope, an expression of his desperate belief that he had conquered his demons and emerged whole. But when we look at many of these works, we are able to see what he is trying to deny: the lurking presence of decay beneath the outward appearance of health.

One of my favorite works by Van Gogh is his "Bedroom at Arles". The journey to Arles was intended to free him from the poisonous influence of Paris; joined by Gauguin, he would at last be able to enjoy painting, friendship and lasting health. The "Bedroom" is again remarkable for the disjunction between what is represented, and what he projects through the work. It is a simple room with a few commonplace objects, ordinary to the point of boredom...until he filters it through his feelings. The room becomes incredibly claustrophobic, unable to contain the intensity of feeling with which he invests each object, so that one has the irresistible impulse to flee into open space. We have to imagine that some part of him was also prey to that impulse.

Lastly, a late work (ten years after his "early" work!), the olive grove. In the end he knew that he would never be well, and here the agony is more direct. Olive trees are tortured forms in themselves, and are made moreso by the violence and agony of his treatment, as pure an expression as we will ever see of a man's inner turmoil.

As a serious art collector, you're likely quite aware that if your most prized piece of art is ever damaged or stolen, no amount of money or insurance will ever be able to truly replace it. However, you've likely invested a considerable amount of money in your collection, which you should be able to recover. Compare these methods for insuring your art collection, and make sure your investments are protected with the coverage that's right for you.

Option 1: Your standard home insurance policy.

A standard home insurance policy typically includes personal property coverage to help protect the valuable possessions in your home. An art collection would likely fit into this category, however, it's important to keep in mind that your coverage limits for this type of collection are very limited under this type of policy. Typically a standard homeowners policy would only pay out about $200 for a collection that was damaged or stolen in a covered peril regardless of the value of your collection. This means that in the event of a burglary or home fire, you would only be eligible for $200 towards the value of your collection. If the value of your art collection exceeds your contents coverage limit on a standard home insurance policy, you may consider purchasing additional protection.

Option 2: A scheduled endorsement.

An endorsement is an extension of coverage added to your existing homeowners policy for an item or items such as an art collection. It offers more comprehensive coverage and is able to protect your collection up to its full value. You will want to have a complete inventory of your collection, including an appraisal, as your homeowners insurance agent will likely ask for these things when scheduling an endorsement on your policy. One advantage of this option is that you'll be continuing your relationship with your existing carrier. That means in the event of a peril that affects your collection and other parts of your home, you will work with only one company to settle your claim. However, it's important to double check exactly what you'll be covered against. For example, does the endorsement cover your collection to its full value in the event of all perils? Or does it exclude theft? These are all important questions for your insurance agent. You also should check to see whether your coverage will increase as pieces in your collection appreciate in value. If not, you'll need to revisit your limits on a regular basis to make sure you're still fully covered.

Option 3: A personal articles floater.

Another insurance option for your art collection is to purchase a personal articles floater a standalone policy from a separate provider that specializes in insuring fine art. An established art insurer will be best qualified to help you appraise your collection and determine the proper limits and coverages for each piece that you own. Depending on the value of your personal collection and the level of protection you're looking for, consulting an art insurance expert may be the smartest option for you. This also gives you the option of insuring each piece separately. Again, check to determine exactly what you're insured against and to see whether coverage will appreciate as the value of a piece increases over time. Typically a personal articles floater will provide the most extensive coverage available against all perils. Your collection may not include a Picasso or Monet, but it's still extremely important to take smart precautions in order to help protect yourself from financial loss. Work with an expert licensed agent to determine the best type of insurance coverage for your most prized pieces of art.

This article was contributed by Carrie Van Brunt-Wiley, Editor of the HomeInsurance.com blog. Carrie has been writing insurance news and consumer information for HomeInsurance.com since 2008. She graduated from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington in 2005 with a B.A. in Professional Writing and Journalism.

Going through a person__™s things after a death can bring up powerful universal emotions: loss, love, nostalgia, remembered hurts and joys, guilt, and occasionally bewilderment. Why was this important to her? Why did he save this? Who were these people? There will be things to keep, things to send to other family members or friends of the deceased, things to toss out, things to donate, and in time you might find inspiration to the artist within you. For those things which bring out powerful emotions most often are those from which art emerges.
The mixed media painting developed from my thoughts in looking through unidentified photos going back at least to the early 1920s which had been among my mother-in-laws possessions. With the sorrow of seeing once precious mementos now detached from their original means and reflecting upon Emily Dickinson__™s poem ___The bustle in a house/the morning after death/Is solemnest of industries/Enacted upon earth,--/The sweeping up the heart,/And putting love away______, I began to put together ideas with some of the clues that had come down in family lore, especially my husband__™s grandmother__™s long ago tales of Wisconsin. There were place names that helped me choose which part of the map to include in this work. There were stories of her girlhood, when wolves could still be seen running in the woods as evenings came down early during winter. There were stories of giddy young girls crazy about fashion, of the devastation that disease could play in that time before antibiotics, and of good times and bad within family and within community. I wanted to capture both a sense of a specific era and place as well as a connection to the universal. The torn papers and broken lines are meant to help along with the sense of seeing only a fragment of certain lives. The photo corners symbolize the often futile effort of capturing the event and tying it down.
There are other ways to go back into those family archives to create art. Take a black and white photo and create a larger work in color, perhaps as an oil, pastel, or watercolor painting. Letters or journals can inspire. Use transfer media to capture images from old photos and make them part of a work, rather than using the actual photo in a collage. Your imagination can take you from this point as you salvage meaning from the past.

I turn now from Degas and Manet to Claude Monet - THE Impressionist. This is another of those artists, like Leonardo, whom I would not really call a "favorite", but whom I recognize as a towering figure in the development of artistic vision in his time. I respond more to the works of Degas and Manet. But as with Leonardo, no artist in the period following Monet could work without coming to terms with his redefinition of painting. You could follow him or reject him, but you had to deal with the terms which he had established.

Monet redefined painting on several levels: the enterprise, artistic vision, palette and technique. First, he finally stated that the work done directly on the scene was an end in itself. This had been coming, no doubt, but Monet and his fellow impressionists at last turned decisively away from the studio piece, developed form preparatory sketches. The "Bathing at Grenouillere" above is a good early example.

It is also an excellent example of Monet's new vision, as is the "Beach at Trouville". For me this is by far his most important contribution. Monet defined his enterprise as recording the play of light and color on the eye, perception as opposed to conception, what we see before we interpret it through experience. Darks are darks, lights are lights, and these can as easily destroy form as describe form. He has totally undermined the assumption that we are painting a known world, and using light and color to reveal it.

In the 1870's, Monet took another giant step, introducing the rainbow palette, and effectively banning blacks and browns from his work. The "Regatta at Argenteuil" is generally thought of as the work which first states this new palette clearly. It is certainly true that just at this time a whole new set of colors were becoming available to artists, without which the rainbow palette would not have been possible. But Monet's real discovery was that all the browns of the world were really made up of pure colors working together. His great gift was not the USE color, but to SEE color.

His final great invention was to translate the notion of perceived reality as a field of fragments of light and color, into the logically appropriate technique: broken flecks of color. If art is perception, then there are no forms or edges yet, since these are the result of interpretation in the mind. The "pointillist" technique is probably the most obvious trademark of the impressionist style in its maturity.

Monet went on to break new ground in another way: the series done of the same theme at different times. The haystacks series is archetypal, showing a subject with little inherent meaning as an object, but endless fascination as a foil for light. As Monet studies them at different times of day and of year, it is almost as if the reality of the haystack can only be the sum of all the discrete moments of its existence in light.

Two of his other series deserve special mention: Rouen Cathedral and the Waterlilies. In the series done at Rouen, most from the vantage point of a single window overlooking the facade, we see substance totally dissolved by light. He had begun this is his series on "Rocks at Etretat", but it is carried much further at Rouen. It is as if he wishes to take on the most difficult opponent: the solidity of stone.

The "Waterlilies" go even farther, but with a subject which is much more naturally susceptible to his vision. Water is less a reality than a reflector of reality, by nature. In these works Monet deals marvellously with the inteplay of lilypads an the surface with reflected trees and clouds, intermingling with an equal claim to "truth". In the later examples in this series, it is only with the greatest difficulty that we separate what is "real" from what is reflected.

I am turning from Degas to Manet, the other "older" Impressionist, though - unlike Degas - he never accepted the term as applied to his work. Like Degas, he had a strong traditional background in form and composition which he used to great advantage. Paradoxically, Manet is in many ways the most radical of the group, certainly the most confrontational.

It is fascinating to compare Manet to Courbet, the great revolutionary of the previous generation. It was Courbet who broke with the Academie, setting up his own competing exhibition, thus blazing the trail which the Impressionists then followed. But while Courbet's revolution was all about class warfare and social justice, Manet's is all about art itself. Manet uses confrontation to force the viewer to look at art in a new way.

One neon sign to his intentions is his obvious reference to earlier works of art; in a very direct way, his paintings are about art. The "Olympia" which we see at the top of the page is a prime example: it is a clear reworking of Titian's famous "Venus of Urbino" which would have been known to all his viewers. The Titian itself is radical in making eye contact with the viewer, breaking the long tradition of "voyeuristic" nudes where the subject is unaware of the viewer. Titian softens the pill by adding a dog (faithfulness) and the marriage chest.

Manet strips away those softening touches, and makes the viewer more than a voyeur: he is a visitor to a Parisian courtesan. The dog has been replaced by a black cat hissing directly at you, the intruder, while the maid delivers your bouquet of flowers. All of which tells you to stop looking for titillation and look instead at the paint. The buttery richness of the paint in the nude is only matched by the marvellous paintwork in the bouquet - fantastic! In other words, don't get mad, enjoy the painting.

A very instructive comparison is Manet's "Fifer" to the figure of "Gilles" by Watteau. Again Manet has found a significant predecessor in earlier art. The way the Watteau figure presents himself to the viewer, unleavened by story or action, is unheard of, and must have fascinated Manet. This unvarnished presentation is at the core of most of his works. Both figures seem to say "I'm just here; deal with it".

I'll include one further artistic reference, to Goya's impassioned "Executions of the Third of May". It is one of many Manet salutes to Spanish art, which he admired greatly. Manet uses the Goya as the basis for his "Execution of Maximillian" a similarly emotional and controversial moment...until Manet defuses it. He replaces Goya's menacing firing squad with a line of "toy soldiers", eliminates Maximilian as a hero by erasing his face in smoke...leaving only the play of lights and darks and the paint.

I turn now to what I see as the most interesting aspect of manet's later work: the psychological isolation of his figures. I see him as the first "urban" artist; that is, the first artist to notice how the city brings us into accidental conjunction with strangers in meaningless patterns. The "Barmaid", a subject which Manet did several times, brings two heads into "cosmic alignment", one directly above the other, neither aware of each other, in a conjunction which is meaningless and will disappear in a flash.

But it isn't just strangers. One of my favorite Manets is "The Train Station" showing a mother and daughter bound together not only by blood ties but also by color harmonies. The symphony of blues and whites is delightful! But when we look again we see that neither is aware of the other, both lost in their own thoughts; they could be miles apart. You think at first that the mother is looking at you, the viewer, but a closer look shows that she is looking into space. And knowing Manet, you must see this in the long tradition of mother and child paintings, and be struck by the lack of a psychological bond.

The Most Incredible Campus Art Collections from around the World.

To the right Staying Alive painting by Jose Acosta that is part of the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection.

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South Street Seaport Museum will Exhibit Mario Sanchez Art.

On November 8, 2012, the South Street Seaport Museum in NYC will open a new exhibition called A Fisherman's Dream: Folk Art by Mario Sanchez, highlighting Sanchez's depictions of early 20th century Key West harbor, its watermen, and seafaring culture. The exhibition features 35 of Sanchez's brightly painted intaglios, a type of carving where wood is removed to form a bas-relief.

The exhibition is co-presented with the Key West Art & Historical Society and the American Folk Art Museum, whose exhibition Compass: Folk Art in Four Directions is also on view at the South Street Seaport Museum. The Seaport Museum sees A Fisherman's Dream as a fitting companion to Compass.

As a painter of memories Sanchez (1908-2005) recreated the Key West that he recalled from his youth in the years between World War I and the end of the Great Depression. His work captures the spirit of old Key West with humor and expressiveness, eidetic memory and whimsy through depictions of people and places of a seaport town that was accessible only by boat and where fish were sold to customers directly out of the ocean. Sanchez's work is sometimes fantastical with clouds that become birds or fish, and anthropomorphized cats that become characters in the everyday life of the town.

Susan Henshaw Jones, Ronay Menchel Director of the Museum of the City of New York and President of the South Street Seaport Museum said: "The Seaport Museum is thrilled to be the first New York museum to devote an exhibition to the magnificent works of Mario Sanchez, who is one of the most important folk artists of the 20th century. We Are grateful to our partners at Key West Art & Historical Society and the American Folk Art Museum for helping us to bring this unprecedented exhibition to New Yorkers.

Many of the works in A Fisherman's Dream represent Key West fishermen and their business, an already vanishing way of life when Sanchez lovingly recreated it from memories of his youth. Among the pieces of fishermen at work is the masterful El Galano a tribute to Key West resident Ernest Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea; the works previous owners included Dina Merrill, Spencer Tracey, and Katharine Hepburn. Also on display will be relief carvings of iconic locations in Key West's fishing trade, such as Cleare's sponge auction and Demerrita's fish markets, as well as scenes of fishmongers selling the catch-of-the-day to local residents. Among these is Sanchez's humorous take on the trade, entitled Protein for the Hot Women. In addition to the business of the fishermen, the scenes capture the venues
where they congregated, such as the Fishermen's Cafe. Other
large-scale works depict the Key West harbor, including the train that once took passengers from New York to Key West. (Washed away in a hurricane in 1935, the train track was replaced by a highway that allowed access by car to the
island for the first time.)

A highlight of the exhibition will be a wall of Sanchez's marvelously expressive fish carvings, depicting the species that were caught by Key West fishermen during the first half of the 20th century. The title piece, A Fisherman's Dream, has been loaned by the Key West Art and Historical Society and depicts a glistening basket of Key West Mutton surrounded by an ornately fish-carved frame, a rarity among Sanchez's works.

Sanchez's works were often autobiographical and a final section will feature the artist's life in Gato's Village, Key West. These works depict the artist's boyhood shoeshine stand, his father's shop, Waterloo Cafe, and his uncle's corner grocery. The Gato's Village community in which Sanchez was raised combined American, Cuban, and Key West traditions and cultures, and the artist's work captures the spirit and texture of daily life there. Lucky Fish Rhumba, for example, depicts Nanego musicians and costumed dancers celebrating together under a tropical sky.

About Mario Sanchez

Self-taught artist Mario Sanchez was born in Key West in 1908, the grandson of Cuban immigrants who were among the more than 50,000 Cubans who became the majority of the population by the 1860s. His father was an entrepreneur and also worked in cigar-making shops. Lending his theatrical skills to read aloud to the workers from literature and news of the day. Mario went to school in Key West, in the town's first free and integrated bilingual school, and he graduated from the Otto L. Schultz Business Institute in 1925. He went on to hold a variety of jobs, including as a clerk, stenographer, and janitor at the Key West Art & Historical Society.

He had enjoyed carving as a child, and as young man began carving fish out of pieces of driftwood, which he sold for $1.50. In the 1940s, at the urging of his mother-in-law, he began creating more complicated scenes of life in Key West as he remembered them from his childhood. His work eventually drew the attention of a member of the Key West Art & Historical Society, who eventually donated and endowed the museum with many works of his works. Other collectors included Spencer Tracey, Katharine Hepburn, and Cary Grant, who purchased four carvings while in Key West to film Operation Petticoat (the pieces later appeared on the wall in a hotel scene in the movie A Touch of Mink.)

During his more than 70-year career, Sanchez developed his own style while mastering more traditional skills such as bas-relief carving and perspective. Working in cedar wood and white pine, the artist first sketched the scene onto a paper bag, and then used carbon paper to transfer the image to the wooden canvas. He then removed the wood to create a low bas-relief, leaving the original sketch behind. He then applied materials such as house paint, clean kitty litter (to provide texture for the streets), and egg yolks and Elmer's glue (to make the windows shiny) in early years and fine European oils later on.

In November 1996, Mario Sanchez was named the most important Cuban-American Folk Artist of the 20th Century by the national magazine Folk Art. Sanchez's works are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Museum of Modern Art and are avidly collected by Key West residents as well as art connoisseurs around the world.

About the South Street Seaport Museum

Since 1967, the South Street Seaport Museum has presented exhibitions that tell the stories of the Seaport's past, present, and future. Reopened in January 2012 under the management of the Museum of the City of New York, the Seaport Museum presents a lively interweaving of the city and the sea through photography, video, historic artifacts, and contemporary design displayed throughout three floors of historic Schermerhorn Row galleries. The Museum is open seven days a week from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Admission is $10 and free for children under 9.

I'm coming back around to where I started, which was with Cezanne...and more generally with late 19th century European painting. I find more to excite me in that period than in any other.

As I think about the Impressionists, and the generations that followed, I definitely learn something about myself and what satisfies my artistic soul. I like structure. I am more excited by Degas and Manet, the two artists who had an "academic" training, than I am by most of Monet, and I like Monet better than Renoir. I can feel the lightness and joy of Renoir's work, its wonderful softness, but ultimately it leaves me wanting more.

In Degas' work, the feeling of carelessness in framing belies the artfulness behind it. Degas great genius was to develop an entirely new kind of framing (new at least in European art of the period) built on asymetry and arbitrary cutting off of the scene at its edges. The effect is of candid photography as opposed to composed photography, with its incompleteness and strange intrudion of neighboring elements. The "Absinthe Drinker" is an excellent example: the woman is in fact centered within the uprights of the frame, but this results in her companion being shoved rudely against the side, while on her right is emptiness, with tables running aggressively into the foreground. It seems dramatically imbalanced, yet holds the frame beautifully.

We can see the same thing in two earlier works, not yet affected by the color of his younger impressionist contemporaries. The "Cotton Exchange" begins the radical compositional experimentation of the "Absinthe Drinker"; it is remarkably informal in its organization. There seems to be no real subject, just the collage of life and movement in a space where everyone is doing their own thing. This was unheard of in painting before Degas. In "Carriage at the Races" the experimentation is definitely being carried further. At the exact center is a woman displaying her baby, clearly the "subject", while everything around her seems to fall accidentally in place. The horse and carriage on the right is "balanced" by near emptiness on the left, yet all held in place by the psychological focus on the center.

Degas is perhaps best know for his ballet dancers, explored in a hundred moments, from rest to rehearsal to performance. In these work he develops his compositional innovation in dozens of variations. In these works he seems to combine his strong semse of structure and framing with the insubstantiality and color of his impressionist comrades.

I'm gong to end with a work which is similarly experimental, but in which another element seems to emerge: a "psychological negation" created when the compositional elements seem to negate the human meaning of the figures. In "The Milliners" we see what is presumably two women arranging hats in the display window of a Milliner's shop. The hats - which are after all the intended center of interest for the shop - compete with the human figures to the point where they become "also rans", devoid of any psychological focus. This is probably an influence from Manet...my next subject!

PAST, PRESENT, PA'LANTE Exhibition in PUERTO RICO

Group Art exhibit at the Museum La Casona in Puerto Rico. From November 1, 2012 to January 19, 2013.
Opening Reception November 1, 2012 from 6 to 8 pm.

Pictured to the right Dancing & Two Friends paintings by Jose Acosta

Participating Artists - Jose Acosta - Maria Aguiar - Gerardo Castro - Pablo Caviedes - Carlos Chavez - Jose Manuel Cruz - Christine Devereaux - Irelys Martinez Tejeda - Arazay Molina - Salvatore Tagliarino - Isabell Villacis.

Address: La Casona
Calle Cruz Ortiz #104
Humacao, P.R. 00791
Tel. 787-285-2533

SEPTEMBER 9 - OCTOBER 4, 2012 Opening Reception: Sunday, September 9, 1:00 - 4:00 PM
ARTS GUILD NEW JERSEY
1670 Irving Street, Rahway, NJ 07065
P: 732-381-7511 / www.agnj.org
Gallery hours: Sat. Sun.: 1 - 4PM, Mon through Fri: between 10AM and 4PM.
Please use the rear lot entrance during weekday hours.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

RAHWAY, NEW JERSEY: As part of fall National Hispanic Heritage Celebration, Arts Guild New Jersey will present an inspiring exhibition of contemporary Latino art entitled: WE ARE YOU PROJECT INTERNATIONAL from September 9 to October 4, 2012. The opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Sunday, September 9 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM and is open to all. Admission is Free and light refreshments will be served. The exhibit will take place at Arts Guild New Jersey galleries at 1670 Irving Street Rahway, NJ.

This insightful thought-provoking exhibition, developed by We Are You Project, represents the first comprehensive, coast-to-coast, artistic overview of the current state of Latino socio-cultural, political, and economic conditions in the 21st Century. The show sheds light on both alarming and promising conditions that presently
surround and confront Ibero-Americans throughout the United States as well as Latin America.

This exhibit reveals both prescient Latino concerns as well as achievements, which are reflected in paintings, prints, and mixed-media works by thirty-five prominent, contemporary Hispanic artists, whose extensive transcultural and pan-Latino-heritage(s)
can be traced to diverse Latin American nationalities, including Mexico, Puerto-Rico, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican
Republic, Costa Rica, Spain and Portugal. Most importantly, each artist in the exhibit have attained professional success by expressing in their visual art both their vision
and unique personal story.

The thirty-five exhibiting We Are You Project artists, which are celebrating their Hispanic Heritage through their art, include: Jose Acosta, Efren Alvarez, Nelson Alvarez, Willie Baez, Josephine Barreiro, Hugo X. Bastidas, Monica S. Camin, Priscila De Carvalho, Jacqui Casale, Gerardo Castro, Pablo Caviedes, Carlos Chavez, Williams Coronado, Maritza Davila, Rosario D'Rivera, Ricardo Fonseca, Fernando Goldoni, Elizabeth Jimenez Montelongo, Roberto Marquez, Raphael Montanez Ortiz, Hugo Morales, Lisette Morel, Patricio Moreno Toro, Gabriel Navar, Julio Nazario, Jimmy Pena, Joe Pena, Duda Penteado, Mel Ramos, Rolando Reyna, Jesus Rivera, Jose Rodeiro, Marta Sanchez, Sergio Villamizar and Raul Villarreal. The We Are You Project Website is http://www.weareyouproject.org/6201.html .

At the opening reception. Sunday, September 9 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, Dr. Carlos Hernandez, as well as Mr. Mario Tapia, two of the founders and leaders of the We Are You Project will speak about the Project's future and its ground-breaking socio-cultural significance for all Latinos. In additionally, Hiram Colon, the composer of the "We Are You" theme-song, will perform in collaboration with singer Sophia Angelica, of the Dora the Explorer television show.

About Arts Guild New Jersey Arts Guild New Jersey is a non-profit center for the arts located in the downtown Arts District of Rahway. Each year, the Guild presents a series of fine art exhibitions and an art education program that includes studio art classes for adults, teens and children, an on-going series of intensive one-day workshops for adults, and a series of summer art workshops for teens and children. Other programs have included film screenings, lectures and seminars on arts and cultural topics, artist networking opportunities, a jazz series and small scale concerts of other musical forms. Arts Guild New Jersey is easily accessible from the Garden State Parkway, NJ Turnpike, Routes 1 & 9, Saint Georges Avenue (Route 27/35), and by train, via NJ Transit Northeast Corridor and Jersey Shore Lines. The exhibit program at Arts Guild New Jersey is made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by a grant from the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, which promotes health, well-being and quality of life in New Jersey's communities, including the arts. Sponsors of this program are RSI Bank, Rahway, NJ, and ConocoPhillips.

For further information about the show and the related events please contact Lawrence Cappiello, Executive Director (732) 381-7511 Arts Guild New Jersey info@agnj.org or www.agnj.org

I seem to be moving from artist to artist in a natural progression, and I will continue that with this post. I looked last at Dutch 17th century work, including still life, with its strong sense of organization and selection, and most recently at Vermeer, where every element in the frame is meaningful and carefully chosen. That leads me naturally to the 18th century Still Life master, Chardin.

Chardin seems to me to have the same sense of careful selection and organization, with another element which makes him special: being "of the earth". His still lives seem to grow out of the earth and to be made of the same substance. The compositions are always rock solid and immovable, seemingly built on a slab of living rock. The colors a earthen and close-toned, creating not only an internal harmony, but a harmony with the basic stuff of life. The works are like natural formations.

They are, of course, also evocative of a peasant life, with its simplicity and solid values. In this way, they seem to have brought together the dutch genre painters like de Hooch, with the Dutch still life artists, who seem to aim at a more elegant and well-to-do life, the life of their patrons. Chardin's stiff lives are reflective not of the buying class, but of the peasant class which was being increasingly romanticized in his time.

And Chardin did interiors as well, with very much the same feeling. What seems to separate him from his contemporary genre painters is the sense of monumentality and lack of anecdote; his subjects are timeless rather than momentary. In this he is the clear precursor to Millet and Daumier in the next century. Like them, his figures have a solid immutability than gives them stature, and puts tham in the context of traditional renderings of kings and heroes. Even a figure as unassuming as the "Girl with a Shuttlecock" is somehow monumental.

RAHWAY, NEW JERSEY: As part of fall 2012 National Hispanic Heritage Celebration, Arts Guild New Jersey will present an inspiring exhibition of contemporary Latino art entitled: WE ARE YOU PROJECT INTERNATIONAL

Pictured to the right "Hispanic Pride" painting by Jose Acosta.

From September 9 to October 4, 2012. The opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Sunday, September 9 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM and is open to all. Admission is Free and light refreshments will be served. The exhibit will take place at Arts Guild New Jersey galleries at 1670 Irving Street Rahway, NJ.

This insightful thought-provoking exhibition, developed by We Are You Project, represents the first comprehensive, coast-to-coast, artistic overview of the current
state of Latino socio-cultural, political, and economic conditions in the 21st Century. The show sheds light on both alarming and promising conditions that presently
surround and confront Ibero-Americans throughout the United States as well as Latin America.

This exhibit reveals both prescient Latino concerns as well as achievements, which are reflected in paintings, prints, and mixed-media works by thirty-five prominent,
contemporary Hispanic artists, whose extensive transcultural and pan-Latino-heritage(s)
can be traced to diverse Latin American nationalities, including Mexico, Puerto-Rico, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican
Republic, Costa Rica, Spain and Portugal. Most importantly, each artist in the exhibit have attained professional success by expressing in their visual art both their vision
and unique personal story.

The thirty-five exhibiting We Are You Project artists, which are celebrating their Hispanic Heritage through their art, include: Jose Acosta, Efren Alvarez, Nelson
Alvarez, Willie Baez, Josephine Barreiro, Hugo X. Bastidas, Monica S. Camin, Priscila De Carvalho, Jacqui Casale, Gerardo Castro, Pablo Caviedes, Carlos Chavez, Williams Coronado, Maritza Davila, Rosario D'Rivera, Ricardo Fonseca, Fernando Goldoni, Elizabeth Jimanez Montelongo, Roberto Marquez, Raphael Montanez Orti____z, Hugo
Morales, Lisette Morel, Patricio Moreno Toro, Gabriel Navar, Julio Nazario, Jimmy Pena, Joe Pena, Duda Penteado, Mel Ramos, Rolando Reyna, Jesus Rivera, Jose Rodeiro,
Marta Sanchez, Sergio Villamizar and Raul Villarreal. The We Are You Project Website is http://www.weareyouproject.org/6201.html

At the opening reception. Sunday, September 9 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, Dr. Carlos Hernandez, as well as Mr. Mario Tapia, two of the founders and leaders of the We Are You Project will speak about the Projects future and its ground-breaking socio-cultural significance for all Latinos. In additionally, Hiram Colon, the composer of the We Are You theme-song, will perform in collaboration with singer Sophia Angelica, of the Dora the Explorer television show.

About Arts Guild New Jersey
1670 Irving Street
Rahway, NJ 07065
(732) 381-7511
Arts Guild New Jersey is a non-profit center for the arts located in the downtown Arts District of Rahway. Each year, the Guild presents a series of fine art exhibitions and an art education program that includes studio art classes for adults, teens and children, an on-going series of intensive one-day workshops for adults, and a series of summer art workshops for teens and children. Other programs have included film screenings, lectures and seminars on arts and cultural topics, artist networking opportunities, a jazz series and small scale concerts of other musical forms. Arts Guild New Jersey is easily accessible from the Garden State Parkway, NJ Turnpike, Routes 1 & 9, Saint Georges Avenue (Route 27/35), and by train, via NJ Transit Northeast Corridor and Jersey Shore Lines. The exhibit program at Arts Guild New Jersey is made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by a grant from the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, which promotes health, well-being and quality of life in New Jersey's communities, including the arts. Sponsors of this program are RSI Bank, Rahway, NJ, and ConocoPhillips.

ARTS GUILD NJ ART EXHIBIT: CALENDAR LISTING:

WE ARE YOU PROJECT INTERNATIONAL
Opening Reception: Sunday, September 9 , From 1:00 to 4:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Saturdays, Sundays: 1:00-4:00 PM
Monday through Thursday: 10:00 AM-3:30 PM
Gallery Location: Arts Guild New Jersey

1670 Irving Street
Rahway, New Jersey 07065
Telephone: 732-381-7511

For further information about the show and the related events please contact
Lawrence Cappiello, Executive Director (732) 381-7511
Arts Guild New Jersey artsguild1670@verizon.net or www.agnj.org