by Marty Coleman | Apr 20, 2012 | Art, Artists I Love, Breasts - 2012-2013, Coco Larrain |
Coco
Are you wondering why I am combining two series, ‘Artists I Love’ and the current ‘Breast Week’? Coco is the reason. She was the inspiration for Breast Week because she just recently had a mastectomy as a result of her second bout with breast cancer. Her first was 15 years ago. She also happens to be a life-long artist.
Coco – 1972 High School Yearbook
A Long Time Ago
Coco went to school with me starting when I was about 13 until high school graduation 6 + years later. She was one of a handful of people in school who were designated, like I was, as ‘the artist’. Turns out, now that so many of us are reconnected via social media, we realize our school (Darien High School in Darien, Connecticut) produced a prodigious amount of amazing artists, but back then some already had shown such talent that there was no doubt they were and always would be an artist. Coco was at the top of that list.
Alas, as often happens after high school, I lost track of most everyone, including Coco. I moved back to California where I was born and it made keeping connected pretty hard. It was long before social media and unless you called or wrote a letter it wasn’t going to happen.
Cape Cod
Fast forward many decades and my family is going on vacation to Cape Cod and Boston. I post a note on Facebook letting my friends on the east coast know that I am coming their way and ask them who I may know on the Cape. Coco’s name comes up. I connect with her after 30+ years and find, no surprise, that she is still a practicing artist.
Linda, Caitlin and I made it to Cape Cod and I was able to visit Coco in the summer of ’09. It was the first time I had seen her since we graduated from high school. She was busy with some commissioned paintings and contemplating a kitchen demolition and remodel. It was great to see her and her fantastic place.
Coco’s backyard
Coco – 2009
Coco’s Art
I also found that she had breast cancer more than a decade earlier and that she painted a series of self-portraits during that time.
Inner Child Prays – Self-portrait
Coco’s self-portraits – displayed in her home
The paintings are powerful in color and emotion, but diverse in feeling and depth. It’s like seeing someone they way they see themselves, a rare gift we don’t often get to experience. She does what the best artist’s do: she exposes herself with emotional courage.
Coco at Her Opening – Photo by Steven Specht
She also has done amazing work in landscapes, portraits, and collages. Here is a selection.
Landscapes
Above All Else – 2007
Kehoe’s Dune – 2007
Kehoe’s Dune – close up – note the hint of a home behind the dunes
The Painted Whale
Coco Larrain – Painted Whale – 2005
Painted Whale – in progress
Drawings and Paintings
Coco Larrain – Ishmael’s Wisdom
Woman with Red Gloves
Collages
Cat and Bird Games – collage
Moth and Apple – collage
Cancer
When I visited Coco found out she had breast cancer again. She faced it with the same incredible endurance and creativity she faced it last time. She embarked on a portrait series of her self once again. This time she is enlisting the help of a very talented photographer, Julia Cumes, to document her journey.
Coco Before Surgery – Photograph by Julia Cumes
Coco fought bravely but eventually succumb to the disease in July of 2021.
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 2, 2012 | Art, Artists I Love, Nina Levy |
Hello Napkin Kin!
This is an unexpected addition to my ‘Artists I Love’ series. I want to introduce you to a very special woman. Nina Levy contacted me a few months ago to express her appreciation for The Napkin Dad Daily blog. She explained that she also draws on napkins for her sons but she downplayed their value compared to mine. I went to look at her work and, of course, they were magnificent! Incredibly beautiful renditions of popular culture and personal images that are wonderful expressions of love for her children.
Screen capture from the New York Time blog article
I got a call from a reporter, Liz Robbins, at the New York Times this past week. She said she was doing an article about Nina and her napkin artwork and had been referred to me by Nina. Liz wanted a bit of background about me and my napkin drawings and I was included in the article towards the end as another example of someone working in Nina’s genre. What an exciting surprise to get the call and be included.
Here is the link to her Daily Napkin blog.
Screen capture of Nina’ blog.
As is the case with me, Nina leads a double life. She is a napkin artist for her sons at night, but a world class sculptor and photographer during the day. I went out to investigate that side of her and found she isn’t just a kindred napkin soul with me but a kindred artist as well. Check out the video below to hear her talk about her 2011 exhibition and you will be amazed.
Still from a gallery discussion of her exhibition
Not knowing of any napkin connection, I had seen her work from a distance earlier in the 2000s and was mightily impressed. She is the type of artist I just love. Visually compelling, emotionally courageous and intellectually deep. She is an artist of the very highest caliber, one of the great portrait artists working today.
Here is her website as well.
Screen capture of Nina’s website home page
If you google ‘Nina Levy artist’ you’ll be able to see a huge array of her work over the years.
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 11, 2012 | Andy Goldsworthy, Art, Artists I Love |
We are getting into contemporary artists now and we also are moving away from painting and drawing. Here is one of the artists that most inspire me and keep me looking for joy and wonder in the world, Andy Goldsworthy.
Andy Goldsworthy – Dandelions and Hole
Goldsworthy is a British artist who works exclusively with nature and natural elements. He explores his environment and takes from it, creating all his pieces using only what the environment provides. That includes the binding elements that keep the pieces together. Usually those binding elements consist of stems, ice, grass, or just gravity.
Andy Goldsworthy – Boulder Covered in Green and Yellow leaves
Here is what it’s all about for me: One of my favorite joys in the world is turning the corner in life and discovering the unexpected before me. It might be a woman with a cool hat, it might be a funny looking stick on the ground, it doesn’t really matter. I just love the joy I feel at that moment. Can you imagine taking a walk in the forest and seeing this at the edge of a creek without knowing it was there? Not knowing how it could exist? Goldsworthy takes me to that place artistically more than any other artist. His pieces can be happened upon by unsuspecting folk. It’s the most elemental of artmaking and I love that.
Andy Goldsworthy – Gold Banded Tree
Andy Goldsworthy – Stone Circle Gray
Goldsworthy – Rocks and Sticks
Andy Goldsworthy – Green to Yellow Leaves
Andy Goldsworthy – Stone and Tree
Andy Goldsworthy – Winding Wall in Winter
Andy Goldsworthy – Pink Wall
His output is extraordinary. I have only seen one of his pieces in person and that was with my daughter Rebekah at the National Museum of Art in Washington D.C.
Andy Goldsworthy – Roof
His work is ephemeral in that none of it is built to last. The pieces either float away, melt, disintegrate, fall down or otherwise go away. His museum installations aren’t permanent either. If you would like to see more of his work the best way is to get his books, he has published many. I have the book called ‘Stone’ and it’s beautiful. He has a movie you can find online or on Netflix called ‘Rivers and Tides’ that is well worth watching.
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 3, 2012 | Art, Artists I Love, Wayne Thiebaud |
I skipped last week because I was on the road visiting our daughter at Baylor in Texas. This week we resume with another great California painter, Wayne Theibaud.
Wayne Thiebaud – Lipstick – 1964
You probably know Thiebaud’s work as a west coast variant of Pop art. And indeed, it is all about the Pop. But funny enough, his inspiration to become a master of the rich, sensuous application of paint came from one of his best friends, Willem De Kooning, the premier Abstract Expressionist of the 50s and beyond.
Thiebaud – Ice Cream
It might appear to be about the subject, Ice Cream. But look close and it’s just as much about the thick lusciousness of the paint. the brilliant saturation of color and the beautiful richness in the shadows. I learned all about color and shading by studying Thiebaud’s drawings and paintings. Do you see any gray or black in the shadows? No, and you won’t ever see those colors. His shadowed areas are the most brilliantly colored of his paintings.
Thiebaud – Nude Woman in Purple Hat
Thiebaud didn’t do many nudes that have made it into the public sphere, but I love the few that have. This one in particular is exquisite. I love the brilliant, rich orange shaded area on the right of her breast and the periwinkle blue squiggle that is both shadow and reflection on her arm. Best of all is how he anchors her to the edge of the canvas by using the perfect ellipse of the hat shadow on the right.
Thiebaud – Bird
Thiebaud – City – Drawing
And of course, since I am primarily a draftsman more than a painter you know I would likely find that his drawings are incredible as well, and so they are. The texture and richness are just out of this world.
Thiebaud – Landscape
Thiebaud – Steep City
Thiebaud – Ocean City – 2007
Most of America, if they know of Thiebaud at all, know of his cakes, ice cream and other luscious dessert paintings. But it wasn’t until I saw his cityscapes and landscapes that I understood what a brilliant artist he was. Just as we saw with Diebenkorn (a friend of his), Thiebaud kept growing as an artist. he became a professor at UC Davis in the Sacramento River Delta area. The landscape of rivers and farms and small towns became a focus of his work. He was also not far from San Francisco with it’s incredible hills and city scenes. Both enthralled him.
Thiebaud – New Yorker cover – 2011
If you ever want to see his work, it’s usually on the cover of the New Yorker magazine a number of times a year. It’s one of the reasons I subscribe.
Woman in a Wayne Thiebaud Painting
You might be wondering, who is this woman and why am I putting her in this post? We visited Cape Cod in 2009 and as the sun set we had dinner at a harbor restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard. The sun was hitting the hostess just right and I considered asking her if I could take her picture. Then I saw the Wayne Thiebaud painting in the background and that sealed the deal. I asked and she said yes. What you say? They had a Thiebaud painting in the restaurant? No, the world had BECOME a Thiebaud painting right before my eyes. The rich, bright, beautiful color of sunlight with the cool deep blues and green shadows all perfectly combined in geometric and curvilinear glory took my breath away.
One of the best, most precious benefits of loving and studying art is that it will forever allow you to see art in the real world. It is never not there, you only have to look for it. Where do you find art?
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 18, 2012 | Art, Artists I Love, Richard Diebenkorn |
Diebenkorn
I fell in love with Diebenkorn’s work very early on, when I was still an undergraduate. His work has kept with me and influenced me for many decades, for the color, the depth of layering (that you can only really see in its complexity when you see them in person, as is true of Pollack and Picasso as well). It also has stayed with me because it is warm and joyful and beautiful. His work makes my eyes happy.
Berkeley Series #39 – 1955
Diebenkorn is one of many California artists that share a love of color, often reflective of the california landscape. He first made his mark in the art world in the 1950s as a west coast practitioner of the reigning east coast ‘Abstract Expressionist’ school of painting. You can very easily see the influence of Willem de Kooning in color and brushstroke. You can see the hints of a landscape in the horizontal elements, something that will never leave his work for his entire career.
Woman on a Porch – 1959
Santa Cruz 1 – 1962
Interior with View of Buildings – 1962
Just about the time Abstract Expressionism really got big, Diebenkorn abandoned it and moved back into representational work. He still has the great color and brushwork, but he is now allowing recognition of landscape and figures to come through. This is the work that I saw first and it was a revelation to me because it was so profoundly, perfectly composed. It had such inherent beauty in the color and brushstrokes that you didn’t even need to see a landscape or figure in the work. the paint itself was enough. But add in the references to the world around him and I felt like I was experiencing what a visual poet would say.
Seated Nude – 1966
And, as is most often the case, the best painters turn out to be the best draftsmen too. Even though this is a recognizable and not all that unique pose of a female nude, it has Diebenkorn all over it. From the erased but still visible marks, to the filling up of the space with the figure it is obvious his concerns are the same as if he was doing a landscape painting. It’s about shape and form and beautifully precise composition. Take a look at the edges of the drawing. That is where you can really see the similarity to his paintings. There are always shapes and forms that combine straight and curved lines that hug the edge of the image. That is where a lot of the action is, and will continue to be in his work.
Ocean Park series #21
Ocean Park series #24 – 1968
Turns out Diebenkorn was quite contrarian. When the abstract movement faded and pop and other art movements became popular Diebenkorn abandoned his figurative and landscape imagery and once again returned to abstraction. He never left the hints and feeling of landscape behind but there were no longer direct references to it. This time, his foray into abstraction wasn’t reminiscent of anyone. It was all uniquely his. His Ocean Park series took up almost the entire rest of his life from the late 60s until his death in 1993.
I loved his representational work but when I saw his later abstract work I was even more moved. I fell in love with him as the ‘Matisse’ of my era, refining and reducing beauty to it’s essence and then pouring in a healthy dose of joy and happiness.
Ocean Park Series – Museum exhibition
And finally, an image that is one of my personal favorite of his. It’s my favorite because the paint is wonderful and the place is wonderful.
Cityscape – 1963
If you ever are wondering what a person mean when they say, “That artist has a very unique style, you can always tell it’s his or her work, no matter the subject or the medium.” Take a look at Diebenkorn’s work and you will know what they are talking about.
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 11, 2012 | Art, Artists I Love, Roy Lichtenstein |
I am showing an artist today who I deeply admire. Roy Lichtenstein, one of the preeminent pop artists in America, has a very graphic and bold style, accessing popular and art culture for many of his ideas and references.
Woman in Bath – 1963
He got his start using comics as his inspiration but I didn’t really pay much attention to him early in my career. I knew of him but he was just one of many pop artists and I wasn’t paying all that much attention to any of them while in college and graduate school (70s & 80s).
Baked Potato -1962
Alka Seltzer – 1966
He didn’t just do comics, that just happened to be what he got famous for. What he did was use a very graphic, very bold comic book style no matter the subject. As he developed as an artist he expanded into using prior art styles as his references. That is when I started to notice and enjoy his work.
Coast Village – 1987
He played off the Expressionist and Fauvist styles here. He combined his strict linear style with a much more fluid brushstroke to make it happen. It is uniquely his work even with the references.
Woman with Hat
Portrait of a Woman – Pablo Picasso
The Red Horseman – 1974
Cyclist – Natalia Goncharova
He then played off of a Cubist and Futurist themes for a while. Yes, they obviously reference the imagery of other artists but you wouldn’t mistake it for one of theirs. It’s is pretty much instantly recognized as a Lichtenstein.
The Artist’s Studio – The Dance – 1974
And here we see him referencing another favorite artist of mine who I highlighted a few weeks ago. Anyone know who?
What I love about Lichtenstein is he never stopped exploring what he could do with what he could do. That sounds funny but it is true that we all have things we can do. But do we do all we can with our abilities and our sensibilities? I think Lichtenstein did and I have always been inspired by his willingness to stay true to his style and still push into new and compelling realms.
Ohhh…Alright…
And to finish it off, let’s end with a painting from his classic comic book era. Are you wondering why I chose this piece instead of a couple of his more famous ones from back them? Here’s why. It sold at auction in 2010 for 42.6 million dollars. Was it worth it? I say yes it was. Why do I say that? Because the person buying it is NOT buying a painting. They are buying AND possessing a seminal moment in the history of art. They buy it, everyone that matters to them knows they bought it and they now believe they have the same value in the world as that art moment had and continues to have. Is that true? Yes, but just like the stock market, the value of those art moments can rise and fall very fast and along with it goes their own value. Not all that great for the ego long term but just in case you wonder why people put out the big bucks, that’s why in my opinion.
I found a nice selection of his work (and others) at WikiPainting. You can view by genre, style, media, etc.
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 4, 2012 | Art, Artists I Love, Thomas Hart Benton |
Week #4 in my Winter Weekend series on artist’s I love – This week it’s Thomas Hart Benton, 1889-1975.
The Music Lesson
Benton started out in Missouri as the son of a US Senator. As a result he was well-educated, world-wise and somewhat wealthy. He spent time in New York and Paris learning his craft as an artist, trying on different styles. Eventually he moved back to Missouri and embraced what became known as Regionalism. His images depict farmers, families, workers and environments that show an everyday America.
Wreck of the Old 97
He often showed a tension between the new and old, in particular how that tension affected the growth of America into the west. You will see again and again a stylistic ‘bump’ in the middle of many of his paintings. This swell, as if the world was fluid like an ocean, is one of my favorite things about his work.
Persephone
As did many artists, Benton loved to reinterpret ancient myths. This image is a midwestern play on the myth of Persephone. Through a series of calamities she was condemned to Hades. A bargain was struck with the Gods by which she could spend half her time above ground, on the earth, and then return to Hades for the other half. Thus was born the reason behind our spring and summer seasons of bounty and growth and our autumn and winter seasons of death and desolation.
Benton Murals – Missouri State House
Benton painted many murals, including a number in the Missouri State House. One of the items on my bucket list is to visit Kansas City and surrounding areas to tour all the amazing murals he created.
Sources of Country Music
‘The Sources of Country Music’ was his final painting. It was still on his easel when he died in 1975.
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 29, 2012 | Art, Artists I Love, Edward Hopper |
Weekend 3 of my remembrance and sharing of the artists who have influenced me over the decades. This week, Edward Hopper.
Edward Hopper – Woman in the Sun
Edward Hopper got my attention while I was still in High School. What grabbed me was first and foremost his incredible compositional skills. If you have ever heard me talk on my own work you know that in spite of me always having some emotional or psychological content in my work, while I am actually doing it I am overwhelmingly concerned with the visual composition of the piece. Without composition, content is diminished in my eyes.
Edward Hopper – Woman in the Sun – sketchbook record
I found this while looking for images for this post. I love the idea that he made a drawn and written record of his paintings, including who he sold the piece to. I wish I could get $15,000 for one of mine! Any takers?
Edward Hopper – Western Motel
Check out my napkins and often times you will see people inside with simple windows showing a distant landscape. Hopper frequently did the same thing and I always loved the emotional and psychological power it had in his images. Speaking of composition, note how every single item and element in this painting has its compositional as well as its story telling purpose.
Edward Hopper – New York Office
Another visual idea Hopper plays with often is the street or path disappearing into and behind the main subject of the piece. The juxtaposition of the brightly lit woman in the office, elegant and colorful, with the dark foreboding side street going who knows where is a powerful symbolic idea. Its the hint of a secret, the hint of all not being exactly as it seems, that there is something darker, scarier, going on, that I find so powerful. And once again, this idea would never have the power it does if Hopper didn’t know how to compose the image to perfection.
Edward Hopper – Chop Suey
I will admit, my main fascination with this image, besides the incredible composition, is the woman in green. Whenever I have looked at this painting over the years I am taken to that moment in time, wondering who she is and what she is all about. By the way, note the woman with the red hat and brightly lit profile on the far left. Why do you think he included her?
Edward Hopper – Night Shadows – Etching
Of course, with his focus on the power of composition you know he would find a way to use black and white. His etchings are as amazing as his paintings.
Edward Hopper – Room by the Sea
And finally, one usually does not see Hopper categorized as a metaphysical or spiritual artist. But I think of him that way, with his sparse lonely individuals lost in thought and his isolated buildings and homes placed in unlikely environments. This one is probably my favorite when it comes to that idea. It is not about a room by the sea, it’s about you taking a step into the unknown. I love this piece because, for me, it’s about courage – the single most important characteristic one needs to lead a creative life.
To see more of the ‘Artists I Love’ series use the drop down menu at the top of the page.
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 22, 2012 | Art, Artists I Love, Henri Matisse |
I am continuing on with a series about the artists I love and who have influenced me in some way. Last week it was Rembrandt, this week it’s Henri Matisse.
Henri Matisse, 1869-1954, has been one of my main influences among modern artists in the use of color and in line drawing.
Le Danse with Nasturtiums – Oil on canvas – Matisse
I first saw Matisse’s work in NYC at the Museum of Modern Art when I was a young teenager, probably around 13 or 14. I loved the color and compositions. I bought a poster of this image above and had it in my room for the rest of my teen years.
Harmony in Red – Oil on canvas – Matisse
This is another painting that affected me greatly. I absolutely fell in love with the idea that the patterns could be equal in importance to the spatial depiction. yes, it’s a room, but it is flat and beautifully patterned as well. The composition is so perfect, I can’t imagine anything being changed in it. I love this piece.
The Piano Lesson – Oil on canvas – Matisse
Yet another fantastic image that combines the idea of space with the flatness of pattern, color, composition and contrast. You can see he is slowly moving away from a realistic depiction of space.
Pink Nude – Oil on canvas – Matisse
As Matisse aged he moved into a period where his emphasis was almost purely on color, shape and composition. He always had joy and brightness in his work but as he simplified he let those elements come out to an even greater extent.
from ‘Themes et variations’ – Henri Matisse
from ‘Themes et variations’ – Henri Matisse
Portrait – Line Drawing – Matisse
In my opinion, there is no greater minimalist draftsman then Matisse. His ability to express form and feeling in the fewest of lines is unequaled. I have spent most of my life as an artist drawing in sketchbooks. I have more than 30 of them now. If you look up ‘sketchbook history tour’ in the series drop down menu on the right you will be able to see a selection of that work over many years. My best drawings in those sketchbooks are the ones that are closest to the ideal of simplicity of line that Matisse taught me.
Matisse drawing while confined to his bed.
As Matisse neared the end of his life he was confined to both a wheelchair and to a bed at various times. In spite of that he continued to work, creating some of his greatest masterpieces by using the long extension for his drawing tool and with the use of cut outs. His simplification of beauty was complete and he left us as powerfully creative as when he started almost 70 years before.
Matisse working on a Cut Out while confined to a wheelchair
Tristel – Matisse Cut Out
I took my daughters to Europe in 2003 and made a stop at the Matisse Museum in Nice, France. I picked out this piece along with 2 others from that era and bought reproductions of them. When I got home I had them framed and they are great reminders of both his genius and a fantastic family adventure.
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 14, 2012 | Artists I Love, Rembrandt |
I thought you might like to see some of the artists who have influenced me over the course of my career. We will go from oldest to youngest over the next few weeks.
First up is Rembrandt, 1606-1669. Rembrandt was actually his first name. His full name was Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. A Dutch master of oil painting, drawing and intaglio (etching) Rembrandt focused primarily on the powerful emotional effect of light on form.
Bathing Bathsheba – Oil on Canvas – 1654
Bathsheba has a letter demanding that she go see King David. Her husband, Uriah, at David’s direction, is about to be sent to the front lines of war, where he will be killed. The resignation and depression in her face and body is perfect. All the sensual nudity in the world could not overcome that, and Rembrandt illustrates it perfectly.
Saskia Sleeping – Ink on paper – 1655
In this ink wash image Rembrandt uses the ink to let us know her hair is dark, but the rest of the image he is simply depicting shadows. The deep shadows in her eyes, the simple rounded strokes over her shoulders and hip and the wider, darker strokes below her all contribute to you feeling her weight pressing down, making the title completely believable.
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) version 1 – Etching – 1655
Ecce Homo – version 2 – Etching – 1655
Rembrandt was a master printmaker. His etchings were very influential on me pursuing printmaking as an undergraduate and graduate student. My Grandfather had 4 prints of his (copies, not originals) that I saw in his home from an early age.
The scene above is the moment when Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd and asks whether he should be let go or condemned. We know the answer obviously. The etching actually went through more than 2 versions, more like 8, but these two are the defining images of the print because they represent 2 very different approaches to the story. The first is a scene you are witnessing. The second is a scene you are participating in. There is no barrier preventin you being in the crowd, preventing you being the one Pilate is expecting an answer from. Combine that immediacy with the two dark, foreboding tunnels into the underworld below Pilate and Jesus and you have a choice to make which direction you will take.
I once took a semester long seminar at the Boston Museum of Art through the school I was going to at the time, Brandeis University. We were able to study the prints of Rembrandt, including these, close up, with magnifying glasses. We also got to study Durer and Goya in the same glass. It was a profound experience for me as a young artist.
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