Sunday Pick: Alberto Morrocco

Alberto Morrocco (1917-1998) was a wonderful painter of color and poetry.  He was from Scotland, but spent a lot of time near the Mediterranean which may contribute to the vibrancy of his work.  He painted from drawings and memory and the paired down direct experience of place is palpable to me in these works.

I feel like a kindred spirit to him, the way he cares about the shape of a bottle and the edge of a leaf.  Anyone who paints as many watermelons and bananas as Morrocco is my painting ally.  

He was incredibly prolific, painting seriously for over 60 years.  Just putting his name into google pulls up a ton more paintings to enjoy.

Student Work: Simple Shapes

Isn't this an exquisite painting?  It is by a five year old and reminds me how simplifying shape and color can be everything in expressing the character of a thing.  I want to walk through a sea of 'rassbery' bushes that looks just like this.

Sunday Pick: Gérard Gasiorowski's Flowers

                

 

 I saw a poster print of Gérard Gasiorowski flowers hanging in a medical researcher's office (weirdly enough) and quickly texted the spelling of his name to myself to look into later.  Turns out there isn't much to find out online, biographies and images are in short order.  I did manage to find out he lived from 1930-1986 in France and that his work spanned a spectrum of paintings, drawings, photographs and sculpture of all sorts.  However, none was as captivating and rich to me as his simple paintings of flowers in pots and so today they are my pick.

Summer Greens Make Me Feel Fine...

Okay, so what do you do when your dog has surgery rendering your living room (2/3 of your space) unlivable and you an indentured servant and your meat-loving gluten-free husband goes on a work trip for three days (you are neither of those things)?

I actually don't know what you would do.  I first had about six pity parties for myself.  Then I watched a seriously disturbing and depressing documentary and started to feel myself spiraling down into the abyss -- you may know it-- "I have no purpose, life is so mundane etc etc...".

Then I had a brief moment of clarity (probably brought on by too many hours online accidentally coming across those god awful tumblr inspirational sayings)  in which I said, snap out of this.  Use your creativity.  Things you have: an empty house that you must stay in, a relatively empty pantry and an empty stomach.

Yes, I had this much time to photograph these products.

BUT, you do not have to eat the things pictured above for one glorious weekend.  

Because I have the ability (which Alex doesn't have) to occasionally taste non-gluten free brownies, pasta, pizza and cereal, I remember that they in fact taste way more amazing in their true form (counter to his insistence that they are the same if not better gf).  And on top of that, I can eat all the vegetables and meat-free ingredients I want.  (I don't mean to sound resentful or insensitive but its the little things at this point.)

So I thought of the last really delicious meal that I had.  And it happened to be in New York at a little restaurant called Exchange Alley and the dish was called lasagna edges, which was the edge of this noodle in a delicious mushroom broth.

Being that I didn't have mushrooms and can't leave to get them, the dish totally deviated but the initial inspiration was there.

I came up with this dish that I am calling Summer Greens Pappardelle. 

In which I cooked lasagna noodles and cut them in strips to form a pappardelle type pasta -- my favorite.

Then, simmer together these...

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup peas

1 cup edamame, shelled

1/2 cup green beans

1 tbsp mint (from my back 'garden')

1 scallion, chopped

1 hearty portion of parmesan

cracked black pepper

 ...and toss with pasta.

I was so damn proud of myself for pulling this meal together and pulling myself out of the pathetic pity fiesta I was involved in that I decided to celebrate with a dirty martini.  I even redownloaded netflix so I could watch Orange is the New Black which I keep hearing about.  And now I want to be done with this post so I can go watch episode 4.  

Only 3 more weeks until Nugget can leave the living room.

Sunday Pick: James Lambert

Here is some work by James Lambert, a painter I discovered just this week.  I came across a little painting of his on the Curating Contemporary blog and was really pleased when I got to his website.

I am particularly taken with the first and last works presented here, they push and pull and flirt with imagery/representation in a way that I just keep looking.  

The show referenced by CC was a group show Lambert was in at the Contemporary Arts Center in Las Vegas.  Unfortunately, the show closed a few weeks ago and there aren't many installation shots but there is a great little blurb about the show: 

"This group of painters make work that falls somewhere between representation and abstraction. They push boundaries that make you question what you are looking at. These mysterious qualities can make the familiar unknown and the unfamiliar known."

Took the words right out of my mouth.

P.S. This is my 300th post, feeling pretty good that I've kept it going for over three years, thanks for sticking with me!

In the Studio: Pablo Picasso

Came across this great picture of Picasso.  Love his iconic striped shirt cast aside and those leather sandals!

Sunday Pick: Romare Bearden

One of my all time favorite artists is Romare Bearden (1911-1988).  He is one of the few greats that I can constantly come back to and learn from regardless of what work I am making.  And I find he is a great artist for students to look at too, regardless of their age.  His ability to manipulate a visual world we are all familiar with through color, composition and scale to portray content is masterful.  It is something that most people even unfamiliar with art or its terms can feel on an intuitive level.  The scale, particularly of people and their limbs, are something I am very interested in at the present moment.

 I also so admire his ability to mix printed papers and clippings with painted materials.  The blending of high resolution/graphic forms and freedom of spaces and painted areas is wonderful.  He achieves a vision that is all his own, his work is immediately recognizable as his, but it is also simultaneously recognizable as a world I can relate to as my own, and that is art at its best.