Askua Ohsawa Lecture

The work in gouache above is title "Space Invaders (panel #3)," and measures 22 x 30", from this year. It will be part of the exhibition at the Richard Heller Gallery.

I feel as close as I ever do to being a proud parent! One of my former students, Askua Ohsawa is having a solo exhibition of her work at the Richard Heller Gallery, 2525 Michigan Avenue, B-5A, Santa Monica. The opening reception runs from 5 - 7PM on Sat., 10/16, & the show will be up until next month, 11/13. She wrote: " I will be showing one gigantic (approximately 2 feet X 50 feet) gouache-on-paper drawing. It took me 6 months to complete it, and I'm super-excited to see the whole thing put together for the first time." Me too! Asuka received her BFA in Printmaking at CSULB, and while I can't quite exactly recall the year, it seems (as ever) like just a winked moment ago. Where do the days go?

She has let her arm be twisted & has agreed to return to the scene of the crime (CSULB) to speak about her work and career trajectory. This will take place tomorrow, Friday, 10/15/2010, in building FA-4, room 311, at 10:45 AM. I urge you all to come and see her fabulous work (in the form of a slide show/Powerpoint Presentation ), and have the chance to speak to her about it.

A butterfly visits Honey T's monoprint.

Toulouse-Lautrec's Paris

This exhibition runs until 12/12/2010

Artist, aristocrat, and colorful chronicler of the Belle Époque, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) was one of the greatest artists of the late nineteenth century. For the first time in 20 years, more than 100 works by Toulouse-Lautrec will be shown together at The San Diego Museum of Art.

Do take advantage of this rare opportunity to see these spectacular drawings, & lithographs.

The lithograph above is titled: "Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant," & was created in 1892. There is a catalogue ($30.00) that accompanies the exhibition.

The museum itself is located at 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

For further information call: (619) 232-7931

Internet Writing Assignment-Best Paper

Erynn Richardson

INTERNET WRITING ASSIGNMENT

-The Art Institute of Chicago-

After looking through The Art Institute of Chicago’s “Drawing and Prints” collection, I found Georges Seurat’s Seated Women with a Parasol (study for La Grande Jatte), black conte crayon on ivory laid paper, 1884-85 and Antonio Pollaiuolo’s Battle of the Naked Men, engraving, 1470-75, to be my two favorites.

Seurat’s piece is a rough, shadowy depiction of a women sitting, holding a parasol and wearing a hat. The outline of her large skirt fills the bottom of the piece. As suggested in the title, the drawing is a study for Seurat’s famous A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884, and it as rendered in a similar fashion. However, Seated Women with a Parasol is monochromatic and appears rougher and smudged.

There is an eerie ghostly appearance to this piece. The figure’s head is turned away and left blank, leaving her mysterious. Shades of grey behind the women create an atmosphere suggesting a body of water and the smudged stippling throughout the drawing mimics a rough film grain, giving this drawing a slight photographic quality. The torso is built up to a rich velvety black, which stands out against the light background. The figure’s hand is rendered in such a way that is implies motion caught on film. While I don’t necessarily think this was Seurat’s intention I do find that it adds liveliness to his drawing.

Although it is beautiful it is also, simultaneously, unsettling, which is why I am so attracted to it. The image shifts back and forth from being a lovely black and white drawing of a woman by the lake to an ephemeral photograph of some ghostly apparition on a foggy shore.

The Pollaiuolo piece is my other favorite, namely because I find it amusing. (The title alone, Battle of the Naked Men, makes me smirk.) As the title suggests, this engraving depicts ten very naked men fighting. All the men are rendered with light grey hatching against darker grey and black hatching. All the hatching is done in a downward forty-five degree left to right motion.

This piece is also highly homoerotic: the two pairs of men in the foreground appear with one on top of the other. The man in the top most left corned is behind another man, penetrating him with an arrow. All the men are shown to be in their prime and in ideal physical condition. They all wield large swords, which are suggestive and phallic by nature.

Although all the figures are in motion, they appear stiff, as if they have been posed: holding themselves in staged action poses instead of actually fighting. Staggering the figures, one group in front of the other, creates depth. Space is implied, however, it still feels flat and crowded.

Of the two pieces Seurat’s is my favorite. The violence in Pollaiuolo’s piece is so embellished that I find it too frank to be interesting. Seurat’s piece, however, has a subtle ethereal quality that truly entices me. In my own body of work, I strive to create pieces that are beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Seurat’s piece, for me, emulates this duality, which is why I chose it as my favorite.

photo credit: The Art Institute of Chicago

Luminous Line - Contemporary Drawing in Metalpoint

This exhibition in Claremont California brings together the work of eleven contemporary artists (including our own Fran Siegal) who embrace a drawing technique that flourished during the High Renaissance and has recently experienced a rebirth among those who love the immediacy of drawing. Using a metal stylus or a small sliver of copper, brass, silver, platinum or gold, these artists apply metal directly to specially prepared papers. Their drawings are distinctive for the luminous traces of metal that add a telltale glimmer to the surface, due to the oxidation process of the metal. The image reproduced here is by Susan Schwalb, who recently began to introduce color into this medium with a traditionally limited color palette.

The exhibition closes on 10/17/2010, & the gallery is closed on Mon. & Tues. Weds. - Sun., it is open from 1 - 5 PM. Admission is free.

El Carnaval de las Calaveras

This Day of the Dead inspired exhibition will feature a group of artists working in a multitude of media, including printmaking. The honor of representing relief printmaking goes to the redoubtable Artemio Rodriguez, whose print is reproduced below. Work in the show will address themes of life, death, humor, celebration & family ties as a way of observing this rich cultural event. Opening Reception: 10/14 from 5 - 7 PM, with a gallery talk by the artists from 6 - 7 PM. The exhibition runs until 11/3, at the Fullerton College Art Gallery, 321 East Chapman Avenue, Fullerton, CA. For gallery hours & other pertinent info, call 714/992-7131.