Wonder

My thoughts are a troop of monkeys swingin’ through the trees most days — not always panicked, sometimes just having some fun. This day I thought all was lost, that this drawing was a disaster, and I was a failure. It was only through some fluke that a photograph was made.

Not everybody responds to it, and the most surprising people are intrigued. I feel joy and a certain awe every time that happens.

Blue Reference

I’ve had these images in a folder since 2011. May they imbue my work with blueness. May I live to see them all in person.

The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise, Giovanni di Paolo, 1445, tempera and gold on wood, 18 1/4 x 20 1/2 in. (46.4 x 52.1 cm)

The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise, Giovanni di Paolo, 1445, tempera and gold on wood, 18 1/4 x 20 1/2 in. (46.4 x 52.1 cm)

This little panel is part of a larger altarpiece presumably commissioned by Holy Mother Church as my dad and uncle would say. My friend Tom cracked, “I told you kids not to use that plate,” when he saw it. A poem by Dante inspired the image. It lives at the Met, and there is a lot of cool information about it on the website, linked below.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/458971

 
The Ceiling, Cy Twombly, fresco, 3,767 square feet (350 square meters)

The Ceiling, Cy Twombly, fresco, 3,767 square feet (350 square meters)

It’s a big deal that the Louvre commissioned a living artist to create this fresco for the ceiling of the Salle des Bronzes. You will appreciate the article linked below if you are curious about what it all means. Greek sculpture and modernist painting, a sky of spheres and ancient Greek. Very romantic.

http://www.diptyqueparis-memento.com/en/the-antic-sky-of-cy-twombly/

 
Mark Rothko, No. 61 (Rust and Blue) [Brown Blue, Brown on Blue], 1953, oil on canvas, 115 1/4 x 92 x 1 3/4 in. (292.74 x 233.68 x 4.45 cm)

Mark Rothko, No. 61 (Rust and Blue) [Brown Blue, Brown on Blue], 1953, oil on canvas, 115 1/4 x 92 x 1 3/4 in. (292.74 x 233.68 x 4.45 cm)

Painted the year I was born. A holy sight, cathedral bars of light. At MOCA Los Angeles.

https://www.moca.org/collection/work/no-61-rust-and-blue-brown-blue-brown-on-blue

 
Edvard Munch, Starry Night, oil on canvas, 135.9 × 140.3 cm (53 1/2 × 55 1/4 in.)

Edvard Munch, Starry Night, oil on canvas, 135.9 × 140.3 cm (53 1/2 × 55 1/4 in.)

So erotic I can hardly bear it. Ecstasy! At the Getty Center in Los Angeles most of the time.

https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/750/edvard-munch-starry-night-norwegian-1893/

 
When the Morning Stars Sang Together, William Blake, 1820, watercolor, 11 x 7 1/16 inches (280 x 179 mm)

When the Morning Stars Sang Together, William Blake, 1820, watercolor, 11 x 7 1/16 inches (280 x 179 mm)

And William Blake, bringing it all back home with the Old Testament at the Morgan Library in New York City. An illustration for the Book of Job.

https://www.themorgan.org/collection/drawings/84883

Virtual Lo-Fi

The tasting room in Los Alamos where my work can be seen in person, Lo-Fi Wines, opened for two weekends. It was sweet, and short. We had just enough time to refresh everything and make a sale. Now they hang in solitude once more, waiting for a time when one need not risk one’s health to hang out with interesting strangers, listen to records, and rest one’s eyes on something beautiful while wine tasting.

Here is a virtual peek for the time being. Prices are available upon request. Shipping to the US and Canada is available. Thank you!

Large Painting 12-5, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 96 inches

Large Painting 12-5, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 96 inches

Walnut Grove, 2019, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 43 x 43 inches

Walnut Grove, 2019, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 43 x 43 inches

South Rock (Right), archival inkjet print, basswood frame, plexiglas, 14 x 15-3/8 inches

South Rock (Right), archival inkjet print, basswood frame, plexiglas, 14 x 15-3/8 inches

Headlands 3, archival inkjet print, basswood frame, plexiglas, 13-3/4 x 15-5/8 inches

Headlands 3, archival inkjet print, basswood frame, plexiglas, 13-3/4 x 15-5/8 inches

South Rock (Left), archival inkjet print, basswood frame, plexiglas, 14 x 15-3/8 inches

South Rock (Left), archival inkjet print, basswood frame, plexiglas, 14 x 15-3/8 inches

Branching 2019, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 24 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches

Branching 2019, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 24 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches

Surf with Space Launch Complex, 2018-9, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 36 x 73 inches

Surf with Space Launch Complex, 2018-9, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 36 x 73 inches

First Moon, 2018, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 32 3/4 x 32 3/4 inches

First Moon, 2018, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 32 3/4 x 32 3/4 inches

Shoreline 1-2020, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 43 x 43 inches

Shoreline 1-2020, graphite on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 43 x 43 inches

Tree Branches 4-2020, watercolor and color pencil on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 23 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches

Tree Branches 4-2020, watercolor and color pencil on Rives BFK, basswood frame, plexiglas, 23 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches

An online store is under construction. We’ll be starting with the prints, which are small inexpensive to ship. To inquire about these or original artwork, please contact me by clicking HERE or using the CONTACT tab in the navigation menu above.

But Enough About Me

Rohini Devasher. http://project88.in/art-fair-details/3676064 is an amateur astronomer, photographer and printmaker who also makes exquisite drawings. Her work awakens a familiar sense of wonder about being so little in a such a big world.

rohini_devasher.png

Agnes Denes. This is a video about her project Tree Mountain, a good place to start. This is about the recent retrospective exhibition, Absolutes and Intermediates, which just closed in March 2020 at https://theshed.org. She is a conceptual artist whose projects include architectural monuments and the world’s first manmade virgin forest (see below).

tree_mountain_1.png

I bow down.