Creative Partners Art

Ahhh…Key West. Just the mere mention makes my mind wander to the turquoise waters and sandy beaches of the southern most city in America. The sunsets are magnificent and captured by many of the local artist. You can stroll down Duval Street and take refuge from the heat in one of the many art galleries this island has to offer.

The Old Island Days Art Festival is a must for Caribbean art lovers. You’ll see different types of artwork at this festival, but the flavor of the Caribbean definitely comes through. Key West closes off two full blocks so art patrons can leisurely stroll through and discover the stunning watercolors, prints and craftwork displayed. The annual show is sponsored by the Key West Art Center and in 2010 they will be celebrating their 45th year. The show originally featured local artists hanging their artwork with clothes pins along the fences on Front Street. But now, artists from all over the world come to this event to showcase they beautiful work.

I can’t mention Key West without mentioning my favorite local artist, Ray Rolston. I first met Ray while perusing the wares of local artists while watching the most amazing sunset I’d ever seen. If you don’t know, Key West is THE place for perfect sunset viewing. And Ray’s vibrant paintings capture the lively colors of the sea and sensational sunsets. You can find his artwork in most Key West establishments. Inspired by nature, Ray’s paintings are filled with color and tropical scenes, showcasing his love of the sea. I have his work displayed throughout my house and I feel like I’m living in paradise. You can find Ray’s paintings and prints on his site…oh and if you like Jimmy Buffet, you’ll like the music Ray’s website provides. http://www.rayrolston.com/index.html

The most well known art gallery in New York has recently announced that a large collection of contemporary drawings will be available for viewing. Harvey Shipley Miller, the sole trustee to the Judith Rothschild Foundation has successful collected nearly 2,500 pieces of work by over 650 artists. This collection has an estimated value of nearly $60 million and has been donated to the MOMA.
While this collection has certain value and interest, some within the art world have concerns about the true value of the works as it is believe that the entire collection was purchased quickly, possibly with little consideration given to each of the individual pieces. Other criticism about the collection pointed to the possible breach of the fundamental goals of the foundation to purchase and support under-privileged or under-recognized artists.
While some mild controversy surrounds the exhibit and the large donation, the pieces will be on display in the museum from April 22-July 27 of 2009. Over 300 works will be on display from over 200 of the artists, giving a large sampling of this massive collection of art works. Choosing works from this massive, uncoordinated collection took effort from the museum and collection curators, but overall, the exhibition has received positive reviews from visitors.
One certain group of drawings to review is the more ‘childlike’ groupings, one of which is described as a Winnie the Pooh like scribbling- certainly attracting interest as to why it was selected and how it made its way into this world renowned museum for display.
The large collection of new artists added to the MOMA’s collection works to support a stronger connection between the contemporary artists and the museum itself, an important short and long term goal for both collective groups. The focus of the museum to continue collecting work from contemporary artists has largely been increasing ever since the Fund for the 21st Century was established.

For art lovers, a certain excitement has filled the air recently with the opening of the American Wing Galleries at the New York City Metropolitan museum. The MET is recognized around the world as one of the most comprehensive art exhibits, offering pieces that appeal to every art lover’s palate.
After nearly 2 years of extensive renovations, the museum is prepared to exhibit their unparalleled collections of American stained glass, silver, sculpture, architectural elements, pewter, glass, ceramics and jewelry. In addition to the multiple separate exhibits that will now be open to the general public, its early American rooms housing mostly colonial period furniture, art and artifacts will also open their doors.
These nearly opened exhibits mark the completion of a long renovation project, scheduled to complete in 2011.

Some of the features of the MET’s American Wing Galleries include:
• Charles Engelhard Court- When visitors enter the exhibit; they will be greeted by nearly 60 large sculptural and architectural elements. The works have been reinstalled into groupings that will make it easier for visitors to admire, as well as for providing closer viewing access.
• Balcony Galleries- This area of the exhibit showcases ceramics, glass, silver and pewter in chronological sequence of periods, allowing for a bit of a history lesson alongside the display of beautiful artifacts. Popular stained glass pieces will also be showcased throughout this exhibit.
• Period Rooms- 20 period rooms will provide visitors with a view of American architecture and interior design, organized chronologically by century, beginning with the 17th century and working through the 20th century.
• The Erving and Joyce Wolf Gallery- This area is designed to house rotating exhibits throughout the year.

Street artists painting on the streets of Montmartre in Pairs are soon to be a thing of the past with the introduction of very cheap Chinese painting done by artist’s equivalent of a battery hen in a steel cage.

The majority of the 300 officially registered artists working on the streets of Paris now find themselves competing with souvenir shops that sell mass produced Chinese oil paintings for a fraction of the price that Paris street painters can afford to sell theirs for.

In some people’s opinions, it’s a case of survival of the fittest, but not in this case as mass produced oil paintings from China are in most cases anti-art and any lover of art that supports these knock-offs should hang their heads in shame. Go by yourself a poster if you really must, however don’t encourage this abuse of featherless battery hens that churn out a large number of rip=offs year in, year out.

Van Gogh may not mind that his sunflowers are ripped off thousands of times a year but I don’t think emerging and mid-career artists do mind. It’s a sad fact that many contemporary artists have their images stolen by battery artists in China.

Just imagine coming near to the end of your lifelong career as an artist. You’ve enjoyed much success over the years and galleries all over the world regularly put together exhibitions of your work. Famous galleries invite you over and treat you like a king and let you say a few words during the opening. Sounds like a great way to spend old age after a lot of years of hard work.

Now, imagine yourself being at the point described here. You arrive at the exhibition, you’re handed a glass of wine and you’re about to start your speech. Then you realise that the majority of paintings on display are fakes! This is what famous Indian artist, S.H Raza found himself in recently.
The 85 year old artist was invited along to an exhibition of his work at the Dhoomimal Gallery in Connaught Place, New Delhi, India only to find that nearly all of the 35 works that were supposedly his were fakes.

SH Raza told the Times of India “The gallery had my works on display and they invited me to visit the gallery on the opening evening. When I entered the gallery, I felt as if I had entered some other place since none of the works on display was mine. The fake makers should realise that creating fakes of someone’s works is like signing a cheque in someone else’s name.”

As soon as the gallery were informed of the fakes they closed the exhibition immediately.