Feeling Lucky or Let Down?


A Roundup of Art Critics on Google's New Mega-Museum. As with any kind of new tech application, there are going to be pros and cons. I tried out Google's Art Project and found it good in some ways and way wonky in others. The good includes getting to examine some works in close detail that you wouldn't be able to in real life. The not-so-good, for me, are the somewhat limited selections from each museum that you are able to see. Granted, it's a big undertaking to document the collections of major museums for an online application, not to mention all of the legal wrangling that must be involved. I guess my expectations for more views of the museums' various rooms and collections were a little high at this stage of the game. Hopefully, there will be some tweaking of the program to and more of the collections included at a later time. That said, no matter how good Google's Art Project gets, it is still a far second-best to being able to view the works in person.

Going National


Last month, CNN sent a camera crew down from New York to tag along with my gallery rep, Bridgette Mayer for a day. Bridgette is being featured on a segment of Anderson Cooper's show called On The Rise, which focuses on young entrepeneurs who are recognized as leaders in their respective industries. Anyway, Bridgette brought the crew up to my studio, where we were filmed talking about some of my paintings. I've been told that I'm going to be featured in the piece, how much is up in the air, but 30 seconds or 3 minutes, a lot of people are going to see it regardless, and I hope you can, too. There's also going to be a featured story on CNN's website this week. If you have cable, Tivo, or whatever, check out Anderson Cooper 360 this coming Wednesday, between 10pm and 12 midnight on CNN, you might catch me mumbling something on national tv. 

I don't know exactly when the segment will air, so record it if you can so you don't have to sit through the whole program, if you can't. Here's the press release: Bridgette Mayer of the Bridgette Mayer Gallery is pleased to announce that she will be featured during CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 "On the Rise" airing Wednesday, 10 – 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. A featured story will also be airing on CNN’s website on Thursday. CNN's program "On the Rise" features successful business owners and entrepreneurs who are recognized trendsetters and rising leaders in their respective industries. "It is exciting and an honor for me to be featured on CNN. As I get ready to celebrate my fifth year anniversary in business I am more committed than ever in continuing to provide quality programming & exhibitions for the city of Philadelphia, my clients who support me and the artists I represent", said Mayer.

The gallery was founded in 2001 with the intent to support emerging and mid-career artists and to exhibit original contemporary paintings of the highest quality. Education also plays a vital role in the gallery's programming and last spring the gallery presented "Rock-Solid Finance: Building Your Financial Present & Future as a Creative Professional". This program, held at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, offered financial education to young artists. Most recently, Mayer was a keynote speaker for several events at her alma mater, Bucknell University including "The Business of an Art Gallery and Contemporary Art" at the Samek Gallery, and "Bright Ideas and Putting Them Into Action" at the Student Leadership Institute.

Finally at it Again


Yep, I actually painted today after almost 6 months of little to no studio activity. It's just taken me a while to get back in the swing of things. The thing that was odd about today was that I was having a crappy day mentally. I don't usually like to force myself to paint when I'm not really feeling up to it, but I needed to channel some of that angst somewhere, so painting it was. As usual, I don't know where this stuff is headed, but the only thing to do is, well, to do it. That's all there is. I'll see where I am when I get there. I have two paintings that are in progress. I worked on those today. The lighter one is actually covering over another painting from my last series that wasn't very good. I don't know how I even let it out of the studio when I did. I remember having that nagging feeling that it wasn't quite up to my standards, but I let it go out into the world anyway. I got it back from Bridgette a couple of weeks ago and decided today to do away with it.