jberryart

Mike's Bad Bird Pics

Nice job Mike! It looks awesome on that wall. Those colors are so killer and unexpected against that neutral backdrop. David Bromstad would be proud. LOL

 

The warm rose and peach tones were so out of my normal color palette and I love them now. The day I painted that one my friend Michelle was visiting my studio and I told her pick out the colors for the next painting, I'm completely bored with my own taste sometimes and that's what she picked. 

I gave her a brush and we both were pulling colors around the canvas till we agreed it looked awesome, then we added the bird and the fence and voila! 

Fair warning to anyone that visits me in my studio, there's a good chance I'll put you to work. What?! Andy Warhol did it! I love outside input. It pushes me to places that I wouldn't have gone otherwise and that's always a good thing ;)

I love Mike's dog in this shot! mmmm, yummy stretcher bars! too funny.  

Room Design with Heart

I've been spending a lot of time lately (since I've been in Florida for the season) with one of my favorite friends from back in the art fair days. Edie's got the most gorgeous home and absolutely nothing particularly matches, nothing is really coordinated by any discernible method but it all looks amazing. 

Her taste in art is probably what's most eclectic not to mention impressive. Her walls are filled with every color and style imaginable and somehow it's tranquil and soothing. 

(sorry, this is a terrible cell phone cam pic) 

I was sitting there tonight just looking around her living room and honestly even the curators at the met wouldn't have thought that these pieces could go together but they do. So I asked her about it. 

"I've never really given it much thought really" she laughed. "I just buy what I love and I figure when I get it all up it'll work." It does, brilliantly. And it's nothing incredibly complicated. She'll swear that she's got no special ability but maybe there's some kind of knack for it.

 

I don't know but I think she's on to something. If I'm going to spend a lot of time in a room I need to feel good in it and I'm more likely to find my bliss as they say in a room filled with pieces that move me in some way than I am in a room where every thing's coordinated to match current style trends and my art pieces are chosen to color coordinate with the sofa or impress visitors rather than move me in some way.

 

We talked about it for a while and came to the conclusion that there's nothing wrong with using color schemes as a basic guide to pull a room together but it really can't be the only common thread. A room could really lack soul in the end without some love thrown in there somewhere. 

Okay, and maybe some lizards.

 

Highlights from Art Basel Miami Beach

I just got back from Art Basel Miami Beach and my mind's a blur with all the amazing work I saw there. 

 

The highlight for me I'd have to say was the chance to meet a big influence of mine, Shepard Fairey (of Obey Giant fame).

 

For anyone unfamiliar with the show it's the art world's premier US international art fair. The new sister show to the famous Art Basel Switzerland. It's the one US event that serious art collectors don't want to miss or as the always sarcastic NY Times calls it... Costco for billionaires. Droll.

Anyway... for me it's just a chance to see current work by the most famous artists alive today. You wanna see the dead guys, go to a museum but what about the people painting right now? 

What about the work they did 6 months ago? 

Most of that will be sold off to private collectors and you'll be lucky if you can even google a decent image. 

For me this is the best way to see what the best of the best are doing right now. The downside is that for days now I feel like the top of my head's been blown off.

This piece was one of the most talked about pieces at the show. Kehinde Wiley's "Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II" in in the Deitch Projects booth. 

The less than thrilled look on my face has not as much to do with my reaction to Wiley's painting as it does to my mother's inability to take a picture in less than ten minutes :) 

I wanted someone to be in the picture so you could have an accurate idea of the size of this piece. It's really breathtaking in person, to say the least. 

Wiley's sense of humor, irony and his talent never need further comment.

Some, no most, I want to say almost all of my favorite artists working today are represented by Deitch Projects, NY so I spent a lot of time in their booth. 

If you've read any of my long, rambling rants of how street art has influenced my work you've heard me go on in detail about Barry McGee (Twist) and Shepard Fairey and you're probably familiar with Keith Haring so I'll spare you... 

Here's some of Barry McGee's latest work. 

Barry McGee "Untitled Bottle Installation" 99 glass bottles various dimensions 

Type Richard Prince or Ai Wei Wei into Google Images and you'll get a load of what most collectors came to the show for this year. 

These artists have done undeniably amazing work but most of it was done in the 70's. I can love it but it's largely irrelevant to what I'm painting now. Today. 

I came to see what the best emerging artists are doing right now. And for me, these guys are it. 

I also loved seeing Lisa Yuskavage's new work, too. Again... Deitch... seeing a theme here?

Lisa Yuskavage "Studio" 2009 70" x 74.5" 

But the highlight for me was undoubtedly the Artist's Talk with Shepard Fairey. As I've said before I'm not usually all that interested in what artists have to say. I just like to look at their work. Although verbose, we're not necessarily an articulate bunch. 

We can go on forever about our work (or someone else's) but it's usually best to just let the work do the talking. I think Shepard Fairey might be the one exception that I know of to this rule. 

If you don't yet really see the importance of street art and it's impact on our culture, this is the man to listen to.

I won't bore you with his bio info, Uncle Wikipedia has all you could ever want to know but you might recognize this image.

 

Shepard Fairey - Obey Giant Sticker Street Art Image

or maybe this one.

 

Shepard Fairey - Obama Campaign Vote Poster

His art has been a major influence in our modern culture and it hasn't even shaken out yet how much of an influence he'll be on modern art. I can say honestly he's been an influence on my style for sure. Here's some of his latest work. He's with Deitch NY also.

His talk at Art Basel was as articulate and intelligent as always. He's talking here about how at a recent show in Boston a couple 40 something women graffitied over one of the legally appropriated walls he had painted as part of his exhibit. 

If you can't read the type it's basically telling him to go home but in not so nice words. I won't even comment. It's just too easy :)

Here he's fielding questions and talking about some of his latest work.

Here's my personal favorite of his latest work. 

He made a very interesting point about street art at one point.

"Street Art is very democratic. Art in a gallery is up on a pedestal and we're afraid to say we don't 'get it'. We think 'I'd better like it cuz I don't want to be the dumb guy'. But with Street Art everybody's free to have their own opinion. People walk right up and tag it - 'this sucks' or 'go home' - there's no Emperor's New Clothes with Street Art."

I for one think he's right. We've never been allowed direct interaction with artists. Gallerists are always there telling us what we must like. 

He likes the feedback. I do too even if I rarely follow it. I need to hear it. 

People email me every day telling me they love or hate something. It's difficult at times but helpful in a way too. You just have to be careful what you listen to or the next thing you know you'll be watching HGTV for current popular color schemes... shoot me.

I had a lady tell me once that I needed to paint more like some woman named Joan "who paints happy things and pretty bright flowers" that she'd seen at a craft show. 

I told her maybe her time would be better spent telling poor Joan that she liked her work before she goes back to teaching 3rd grade because no one ever encourages her painting. I love those people. 

She was upset over a cow skull painting. Just "god awful" she called it. 

I'm sure once someone she trusts tells her she's supposed to like Georgia O'Keefe's cow skulls then she'll love it. That painting is now hanging in a restaurant in Paris. Good thing I didn't listen to her :)

That kind of interaction is important and it's been lacking in the art world. Maybe it's helpful. Maybe it'll choke us to death. Who knows?

So obviously the highlight of the show for me was having the opportunity for a brief conversation with an artist that's really influenced my work a lot. He's a very humble person though and didn't want any props. He focused more on ways that Barry McGee and others have influenced both of us. He's a very talented, kind and rare person.  

Here are some of the other stand outs in the show for me:

 

Albert Ohlen "Jeans"

Pizzi Cannella "Salon de Musique" 

Zeng Fanzhi "Portrait"

  Shepard Fairey "Aung San Suu Kyi"

Shameless Client Plug...

I don't push products or anything as a rule but these bags are really an exception for obvious reasons ;) First, seriously... check out the logo here folks! Is it possible I'm not going to love these?

And the bags speak for themselves.

Okay, so I'm a bit of a bag freak in the first place but a bird too? I'm sold. Plus, they're all hand-made by a long time customer of mine, Marci McDonald in Phoenix. The name of her store is Flipped Bird and here's a link to her online store. 

I love these bags and she's got some amazing hats, too. And no, she didn't even ask me to put this up I just stumbled across them and thought that anyone that likes my bird paintings would probably like these too. I'm thinking perfect Christmas present for a couple of people I know.   

Some New Work

I went to NYC a couple of months ago and spent a lot of time just checking out the street art. Other than music it's probably the biggest influence on my work. I haven't been able to paint much this year, since Mark (my husband) was killed. It'll be a year this Christmas.

I feel lately though like I'm coming through it and in the last couple of weeks I've really come out with some work that I'm happy with for the first time in nearly a year. 

These new paintings are very urban and street art inspired. I've always been fascinated with urban graffiti art and it's been a strong influence in my work.

There's something I find compelling about street art, when it's good. Some kind of vital rawness that shuns the provincial, mainstream aesthetic. Like a dandelion forcing it's way through the concrete mentality of the art world, street art is rebellion. Arguably a necessary component to art itself. 

So now, several decades after Pollock pissed in Guggenheim's fireplace and it's just a contest every year to see which art school enfant can be more terrible. It's all gotten so boring and predictable. And it doesn't have a thing to do with art. Or it shouldn't anyway.

Sometimes I wonder if it's the only audible heartbeat of an art world choking to death on it's own poshlost is the art coming from the so-called criminals like Banksy that would rather remain anonymous and give it away for free than risk being labelled a sell-out hack. It makes you think, don't it? :)

:: About this Series :: The SAV-MOR Series really only has one common link which is that after I lay down the initial textures I do an image transfer of the weekly Sav-Mor circular (think of it as recycling if you want) that these people insist on leaving wedged in my door every Tuesday.

I guess there's probably some common corporate drone imagery in many of them and also some kind of ironic thread that they share as well.

Okay, so sav(e) mor(e) of what, exactly? Money? Not so's you'd notice. Trees? Apparently not that either. But in their defense: They do seem to like to use the letter 'e' sparingly... so there's that.

My Art featured in HGTV designer's home

One of my favorite clients Ulya Jensen (HGTV designer/co-host on Home To Flip) had her home featured in the Ottowa Citizen a few weeks ago (sorry I'm just posting this now). She's awesome (and very patient :) and her home is gorgeous and those birds don't look half bad if I do say so myself :) thanks again Ulya!

Here's a link to the full article.

An Old Picture of Mark & Me

Here's an old picture I found today that my mom had out at our cabin. I remember buying this jacket with him. Always hard to get him in a suit. This was truly a rare moment - both of us dressed up, little or no paint in our hair :)

Mark Weber 01/19/61 - 12/18/08

On December 18th, 2008 my husband Mark S. Weber was violently murdered in a shooting in Embudo, NM. 

Many of you knew him as gallerymark. He's a top selling artist who has been selling his art on eBay longer than I have. 

His paintings are in galleries and art collections around the world. His fiction and poetry have been published in many prestigious magazines. He was a brilliant, kind, sensitive and irreplaceable man. 

Mark and I met in art class at Eastern Michigan University in the fall of 1980. He was 19, I was 17. I always told him the only reason he liked me was because I didn't like him. I liked smart guys and he was too cute to be smart :) he always had a train of cute girls following him wherever he went. He used to laugh that the first thing I ever said to him is 'What a dork'. - I don't remember that :)

He proposed (for the first time) from his second floor dorm room window, yelling out over the parking lot as I pulled away with my friends headed for Florida and spring break. I just laughed but I knew then (we both did) that we'd always be together. Even when we weren't. 

There were a lot of years that we weren't. He was always on a quest for answers and sometimes it took him to the far corners of the continent, sometimes to the far corners of his mind. But he always called to check in on me when he returned. Never with what he was in search of in hand.

Mark loved The Beats, Hemingway, Pollock and Bukowski. He loved their work, he read every word by and about them. He saw himself in there, I know. He understood their darkness. The struggles with their demons. He battled his own demons fiercely until the day he died. Until the moment he died. 

Mark was the real deal as they say. If I hadn't known him as well as I had I might say that I don't even know what that phrase is supposed to mean. 

His lit professors at University of Michigan knew he was a dark horse and tried to put reigns on him. I could have told them what an exercise in futility that would be.

He told me about the time, when he was only 8, in third grade, the class was asked to write a poem for their homework assignment. Mark came in the next day and proudly read his aloud, he knew even then that he'd hit a home run:

spitter spatter

spitter spatter

make them cakes

a bit more fatter

The nun angrily accused him of stealing the poem and got even more furious with him when he denied it. To prove his innocence he said, "but wait, I have another one, too."

woosh weesh

woosh weesh

see those cars

go faster

sheesh

She promptly smacked him across the knuckles with a ruler and sent him to the office. "Thus, my first lesson in what it's like to be a poet in the modern world." he used to say :)

Painting, reading and writing were without a doubt Mark's favorite pass time but swimming with Henry & Lucy would come in a close second I'd have to say. 

 

He would actually put the stick in his mouth and try to wrestle it away from Lucy. Cracked me up. She won every time :) 

Henry is a weird golden, he doesn't really like to get wet. Mark always said it was his 'royal blood' and called him 'Princely Boy' and 'Kitty Scherbatsky' (funny, if you remember your Tolstoy). 

The only time Hen would dive in the water was when Mark threw a stick the size of a small tree or if he challenged Hen to a race. Henry loved racing and don't think they aren't seriously competing here. This was for the Gold folks. Mark loved his dogs more than just about anything.

Here is a link to his most recently published short story, 'Butterfly Mesa' in Jack Magazine. 

And these poems, a couple of my all time favorites, published in Simply Haiku Magazine a couple of years ago.

I can say with certainty that no one who's ever met Mark could honestly say they've ever met anyone else like him. Seeing the world through his eyes is something everyone should try. (but pack a chute and maybe some smelling salts) I know I'll never be the same for it. 

Knowing him changed everything about me. About my art, my writing. And the way I saw the world. It challenged everything I thought I knew. He always said that he and I were like soft shelled turtles, too sensitive sometimes for the world at large. We were both often and easily hurt. So we tried in vain to protect each other.

Mark's mom told me the funniest story once (all right, probably more than once) and I think it offers great insight into the way he saw things. 

I think he was about 3 or 4 (correct me if I'm wrong here, Mary), they were in the supermarket line and he pointed to a bald man in the line next to them and said, 'Look mom, that man has invisible hair!' A true Mark moment, that :)

 

Mark has been sailing with his family on Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula since he was knee high. He taught me to sail on our little 24 foot Tanzer when we lived in Alaska. He was so proud of me when I learned to dock all by myself, with the motor of course, where he usually preferred to dock under sail - the show off :) 

He had an uncanny sense of the wind his father had told him when he was young. He was proud about that. Sailing with his dad and brothers John and Karl was one of many fond childhood memories he often told me about.

I can't help but laugh right now remembering the first time he took me sailing on his dad's boat when we were kids. He keeled the boat so far over I had to sit on the side to keep from falling in. He scared me so badly I never wanted to go sailing with him again. So when he wanted to buy our boat in Alaska I said, 'are you crazy, I'll never go on that thing! You about killed me that time." 

He was forced to admit that he was trying to scare me so I'd sit closer to him and he could kiss me. aw, cute. Of course, I then let him buy the damn boat. Have I mentioned his manipulative side? :)

He loved his family but the apple of his eye was always JoAnnie as he called her. His baby sister who he loved more than anything. He always told me about how the three older boys would compete for her affections when she was a baby. I didn't mention it at the time but from what I always saw the three older boys competed for just about everything :) 

But I think maybe they competed for JoAnne's love the fiercest. They would play different animal characters and act goofy, talk in silly voices and make funny noises, Mark re-enacted it for me many times (trust me it would make you laugh - maybe more at him than with him?) the winner apparently whoever made her laugh the most. 

I remember only a few years ago sitting at the dinner table and the boys, all well into their 30's and 40's at this point still arguing about who made her laugh the hardest. Mark would still say it was him.

 

Mark and I finally got married when I was 34 and we've been married ever since. 12 years in April. Even though we were estranged for the last 4 months of his life. A regret I will never get over. But I know that letting him go to do his thing was part of what we were. Part of what we'd always been. 

Here's a picture of him last Christmas Eve. He had surprised me with tickets to the Santa Fe Symphony. I thought I'd grab a quick picture since it was nearly impossible to ever get the man out of paint clothes :)

His senseless, violent murder is a perfect example of the shoot first, think later mentality that has become all too common in this country. Violence is something that Mark always despised. He was the gentlest soul I have ever known. This should never have happened. 

When Mark was a child he told me that he used to go out into the woods behind his house near Marquette, Michigan and lay on the ground perfectly still until a chipmunk or squirrel would clamber up onto his chest or legs. He said that the first time he did it it took a long time but after they were used to him they would come much quicker. He liked to lay there without moving and see how long he could get them to sit there with him. 

He could lay there happily like that, dreaming away, for hours at a time. That's what I like to think he is doing now. Just laying there dreaming, watching the chippies, as he called them. I like that image of him.

Mark at work, you can see why I wanted to grab a pic of him dressed up! :) Splattered head to toe with orange paint, like he was every day. 

We used to laugh at this picture and call it "the Finnish Man-Whore shot" don't ask - he's from the U.P. remember, he could do a scary Finnish accent - often without even trying :)

But more often this favorite photo of ours was referred to as "the idiot man-child shot" after William Faulkner's vision of the future of America (Mark loved the Cohn Brothers. Barton Fink was an all-time favorite). 

The basic reference to our joke was to the symbolism of Falkner's end scene in Absalom, Absalom and also in The Sound and The Fury of the in-bred family idiot standing on the burning remains of the family estate. 

Culture, knowledge and beauty ravaged by greed, depravity and ignorance who itself has no means to survive without the aid what it's killed off.

I for one find that image particularly apropos to end with, considering... I know he would have enjoyed it ;)

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." —–– William Shakespeare. Macbeth (Act V, Scene V).

Thank you sincerely to all of his many patrons who have purchased his artwork and followed his literary career over the years. He always appreciated your notes of encouragement. 

And thank you to all of my customers who have waited patiently for commissions while I try to put my life back in some semblance of order. It feels like half of me is missing. Nothing in my world is ever going to be the same because he's not coming back from his quest this time. 

I can only hope it's because he finally found what he was looking for. 

We all love and miss you Mark.

 

© 2009 Mark S. Weber & Jenny Berry. All Rights Reserved.

Need to clean the studio

 

Stretching A Canvas:

 

Over the holidays I stretched one of my paintings for my cousin. In the photo above, the painting is stretched tight but the corners aren't finished yet. Take note in the last photo of how the corner is folded it'll be helpful if you're planning to stretch one yourself.

Honestly... if I can do this... anyone can. You just need that little silver stretching tool and a staple gun. A T-Square or triangle won't hurt either to make sure your corners are straight.

No seriously, it's easy. Slightly annoying to line up and get the thing straight. But basically a simple process. Ignore the perturbed look on my face :-)

You've got to pull it tight (I believe it does help to grit your teeth and make a weird face - but technically that's optional) and hold it making sure the corner seams are at the top and the bottom of the painting so the edges appear smooth as shown here. Not too tough. Want more details on how to stretch your own canvas? 

http://www.jberryart.com/stretchinginst.html