Ward Schumaker and the Painter's Radio

April 22, 2019

When I do my walks, I sometimes TedTalk to myself, explaining universal truths etc. One of my favorites subjects is that we painters are tuned to a transparent radio and we do our best to broadcast it to the public who cant hear it otherwise, the talk goes on and on about the structure of the old art world and how it shifts now, but to stay on point, some of us are tuned to the exact same radio station, hence explaining why the natives in the Australian desert and the 60’s in New York have so much in common.

Today I have this great example to share, with you.

When I shared my latest series Yellow pages, my dear San-Fransisco friend Ward replayed he was working on a book with the same title and similar colors, here, have a look :

Isn’t that great ?

you can learn more of Ward’s work here

fine art portfolio: https://ward-schumaker.squarespace.com
tumblr images: http://wardschumaker.tumblr.com
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schumakerward/

WeDraw

April 21, 2019

Imagine someone telling you, Listen, I found this crazy app, It connects you to yourself, the universe and other people, all at the same time, and it costs nothing !

Hmmmmm what ??

But I’snt drawing just that?

Hasn’t it been doing just that since the dawn of humanity? After eating, taking a s**t, and having sex, humans practiced leaving a mark pretty early on. Think prehistoric cave walls and all.

Drawing is a free intimate tool, that requires no WiFi, no battery and no 1000€ devices.

Who ever you are, where ever you are, you can log in, explore and connect.

kids knows it, if you ever raised one, you know it takes forever to make a kid stop drawing on everything all the time.

Henry David Thoreau said 'All good things are wild and free.'

Thought of the day

April 17, 2019

This trio is my personal conclusion after three days of listening to Seth Godin.

he gives permission to respect the work, to be generous, and to redefine your audience.

Liberating and motivating.

The war of art

April 16, 2019

The War of Art is a 2002 non-fiction book written by the American author Steven Pressfield.

The book highlights the forms of resistance faced by artists, entrepreneurs, athletes, and others who are trying to break through creative barriers.

This is how you overcome it

Listen here:

https://stevenpressfield.com/

Seth Godin

April 15, 2019

“Do work that matters for people who cares” – Seth Godin

Connecting the dots between Art, education and entrepreneurship.

A true teacher, with a truly transformative body of work.

If you are stuck in the loop of not accepting the system as is but not knowing what to do this guy is the key to moving on…

Notice the 1:34 minute - kids education manifesto here in the Tim Feriss show, this is pure Unschooling values, and why I’m realizing more and more that unschooling is the future…

“Work that matters for people who care”

Seth books are generelly about modern marketing, and the way we spread ideas when we care enough to do it with respect, empathy and humility.

The pleasure of listening to his podcast

https://www.akimbo.me/

Go over his site

https://www.sethgodin.com/

When in doubt

April 15, 2019

How do you know when it's time to call it quits on trying to be an artist?

The Gap

Show up to do your job

PHILIP GUSTON AND THE POETS, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venezia.

February 20, 2018

I visited the Venice bi-annual twice before only to be disappointed by the little amount of good painting to feed my eyes and soul. This year I went because I heard about the PG exhibition.

I was not disappointed.
I spent the entire day at the ‘Accademia’, leaving and returning, three times, till the gallery was closed. its a rare event for me, since I never saw a full retrospective of his work before. even in the last round, it all looked new to me, and I hadn't stopped discovering new details.

I am posting first his details separately since I think the quality of the details asks for it, the line/surfaces, the dry/wet strokes, the thin/thick layers, the colors, the scale variation, the up/down/left/right games in his crystal clear compositions. i wasn’t familiar with his red/light blue duotone, and since i use it often, i was excited to find it there.

Every question I ever asked my self as a painter he has answered in those details.

The second part here is about his wife. i loved the work called 'night' with their two heads floating in the big black sea. its roughly 400x300m, so mostly waves and b&w. it resembles another composition in the room, same size but with a sun up on the left above were their heads are. He also illustrated some of her poems. A beautiful series of Four squares around 60x60 panels of a hand nudging a book or a pink clock. one item at the time, not big stagings like the big works, but so clear, its shocking.

The third part is about the case of his vocabulary evolution, the change of style, in which he answers to simply, it is beyond the point, my only concern is to stay alive, in a state of painting, the rest is not my concern.

De Kooning joined in and said, this is not about politics or anything like it, its simply about freedom.

the second video explains just that, what is that freedom and how to go there. first when you enter the studio everyone is there with you, critics, dealers, other artists etc, than they leave one by one, than you leave. thats were painting happen.

Around "Seasons : Etel Adnan", Espace despalles Paris.

October 5, 2017

Opening 19.10, my second collaboration with at Espace Despalles, Paris. Last year I curated there the exhibition #BringSomethingPink. this year I was looking to create a more intimate ensemble.

When I first visited Johannes Strugalla's exposition, I fall in love with the book he created. 'Seasons' is a collection of poems by the great Etel Adnan, with woodcuts by him.

I asked three painters to join me in responding to this beautiful book, the expo will feature works by Gabriele Herzog, Marion Piper, Jordan Madlon, and my own.