Currently on tour through Germany (29.07 – 02.09), Artists For Dalai Lama project will kick off His Holiness initiative with an official exhibition at the Union Halle in Frankfurt Germany.

United Creators will present a small but significant mixed media tryptic of my work, dealing with the underlying fabric of consciousness, weaving together an abstract and ethereal essence to create tangible forms that exist like an artifact appearing as if from another space in time.

Using mixed metal minerals, oxidation techniques and vintage postage stamps, this work is about mediums and messages, time and eternity, spirit and matter. Collected by renowned musicians, actors, activists and fortune 500 CEOs, my work is known for its psycho spiritual presence, hidden messages, essence and beauty, and certainly will be in good company featured among other renowned artists presented by the Krauts Gallery and Thema Communications.  

United Creators have the blessing and pleasure to broadcast the exhibition as a digital light installation on two enormous LED screens in the center of Manhattan thanks to their collaboration with MediaNow at The Times Square Building - the former NY Times headquarters on 43rd street at Times Square.

For many years, i've been interested in the medium of radio. It always seemed to me there was much more potential for a 'theatre of the mind' type listener experience. i was fortunate enough to have such an experience recently, in a interview with a NYC stand up comedienne, poet and auteur, Laura Dinnebeil.

Laura has been hosting a series of interviews of artists, aptly named 'The Unseen Hand', and i had the good fortune of being invited on the show, broadcast by NY talk radio.

You can hear the podcast at 

http://tribecaradio.net/wpradioblog/the-unseen-hand-w/the-unseen-hand-7/

For me, it felt like a small coup. just the opportunity to test my metal and personal comfort zone with this kind of format was great, and i was happy that i rose to the challenge, and left feeling enthused as opposed to a past self who would have been very uncomfortable being questioned in such an improvised manner.

Most of us Artist's have no more understanding of the Art world at large as the general public. it is filled with faux mystery and academic understandings that only keep up the superficial pretense and protective stance of those who justify stolen thrones. Part of my perpetual mission is to demystify the process and industry of Art. Of course it's been a round about route, and i've traveled down the rabbit hole in search of answers, only to come out the other end with a simple understanding and approach to the what, why's and workings of the Art World.

This is just a small expression of that long journey.

Enjoy 

During my week of Yoga at an ashram in the Bahamas, i saw a boat named 'Back Again', and thought that the owner must have another one called 'There'.

This week The Lana Santorelli Gallery  in Chelsea, NYC, opened their group show Abstraction, in which my work is prominently featured. One large piece has a very coral like texture, and the transcendent nature and color have been achieved through an oxidation of the gold pigments within. It reminds me of the super blue of the Caribbean, and i could feel myself floating in those crystal waters once again, as i was able to see the piece  in a new light ( literally) -gallery lighting- which picked up the pristine transitions of azures and aqua turquoise greens and blues, with both clarity and serenity.  once again bringing me back to meditation and yoga in paradise, and proving how Art has the power to transcend physical space and time.

And so it is. 'Being There' and now 'Back Again' in my Brooklyn studio, working away on a new piece...

As any insane artist would, I've pasted over 1000  'Airmail eagle' 6c stamps from 1939 /40 onto the top half and the bottom half is growing in an undulating 'brain like' texture. I think there is something very powerful in repetition. In ritual and spirituality, mindfulness is often born of repetitive acts; and besides the commonly known aspects, that repetition is also the root of a transcendent practice in the East called Tantra. I'm not sure eaxactly how it will form , but definitely a somewhat elemental 'air' inspired piece. In Native American cultures, The Eagle has always represented 'Spirit' or 'higher self'. I can relate to that  spiritual iconography more than patriotic symbolism. Perhaps the 6 cent mark is referring to the relationship between higher self, and ones own innate sixth sense..  or perhaps not :). But that at least is what i'm inferring- and ithink is what i'm beginning to discover about this piece in progress...

Perhaps in a non dualistic world, one where all worlds exist simultaneously and harmoniously in the mind and body, 'There' and 'Back Again' are actually the same place.

In the life of a fulltime time artist, everything becomes work, and alas, it is always a work in progress.

I'm working on a few strands of things at the moment, Including a couple of exciting new projects. The Americana and Postage Stamp series continue, always going deeper- and i will be sharing a new line of large format limited editions- stunning 40 x60 inch 'postage stamps' with irony and a conceptually realised twist at no extra cost, printed on metal. If all goes to plan, this will be unvelied, along with the pieces 'Cultural remnant: my 2 cents' ( aka the us flags) at AD2021 ( Art &Design of the 20th ad 21st centuries) in Boston at the beginning of April.

I've also started to work with a Dealer / consultant who, entrenched in the business of Art for many years now, is beginning to show my work to other galleries and dealers across the US and abroad in order to gain further representation and shows.

In the pipeline is also an exciting TV project, which, now in the hands of a some influential execs. has me twiddling my thumbs a little-- we shall see waht happens with it all... Its like driving at night with one headlight- hard to see far, but i know theres' a long road ahead...

So, at this point, i'm finding it appropriate to make a brief exit-  and take a week on the beach , and do some yoga and meditation-- hard life,i know- but the wheels are turning and i need to freshen my body and mind with clarity and inspiration for the shocking and exciting changes that are rolling towards me on this endless road.

If you are around, i hope to see you at the opening on the 13th!

Thoughts on the 2008 Lever House Commission School : by Damien Hirst- AKA The Silence of the Lambs. Simply one opinion….. by Paul Seftel

This current outing for Hirst, not only is superficially deep, but is deeply superficial. At this point we are aware, that he has the ability to work with carcasses and formaldehyde, and pills in cabinets with far greater virtuosity than his handling of paint. Or at least he is able to instruct minions to organize materials in some predetermined manner. This piece called School; and the faux mysticism represented is just another way that Hirsts’ ability to pull the wool over his audiences’ eyes is celebrated. Perhaps, he sees himself as the Great Teacher, the Artist standing at the front of the classroom, disguised as a reference to Francis Bacon and Rene Magritte, for the purpose of steeping the work in further art historical reference. If I were either of those multi faceted talented painters, and being invoked for this side show, I’d be pissed! Are we, the public and ‘art world’ at large, his sheep, being fed intravenously by his great all seeing wisdom as he reflects naïvely on the nature of life and death, with reinforced glass and gallons of formaldehyde? Is the awe that we are expected to have, and the enigma of supposed religiosity that he is attributed, what makes us truly his silent sheep?

I think this commission for Hirst, like most of his body of work, is yet another exhibition of his ability to print money. There is no transformation, or old age alchemy by the artist, just the ability to debase a good idea. There exists no metaphorical gold for the viewer, just a small idea made huge, backed and given gravitas by his corporate clients. Glasses of water and piles of sand… Anyone who has read an ounce of poetry or philosophy, let alone had a free thought, knows that indeed the desert is an ocean, and the ocean is a desert, and that a glass of water and a pile of sand are no more or no less than what they are. Any imbued wisdom, or further prescription, is simply called ‘bullshit baffling brains’. …Cigarettes and ashtrays – Damien’s trademark throwing together of his working process, assumes relevance beyond worth. References to Infinity and eternity, knowledge and desire are simply absurd, simply making us think of the tale of the emperors’ new clothes. In terms of aesthetics, I’m glad there were buckets at the end of the aisles, for were needed as a result of this sickening display. Walking outside, and seeing the giant sculpture of the pregnant woman half dissected, I thought the ‘Bodies’ exhibitions, which have been circulating for a number of years, say so much more, with such succinct and sincere beauty and artfulness, than Hirst will ever. I’m just sorry that Lever along with other collectors and institutions have allowed themselves to be sucker punched by the Hirst Hype.

Perhaps the problem is social, where mystique is so replaced by commercialism, that it takes an outlandish and naïve artist to promote his ugly obsessions repetitively, for us to wake up and think that there is ‘something else’ ‘out there’. Or maybe he is ‘the teacher’, the school is the ‘art world’ and he illustrates like any good teacher, that we should discount what we are told, and think for ourselves.