Solo Show in Baltimore

I have been so terribly busy packing and moving ( in addition to two back to back solo exhibits) that I've not been updating my blog as often as I usually do. I'll get back on track soon. In the interim, here is part of the digital Press Release regarding my show that opens today in Baltimore.

With an opening reception scheduled for Saturday, October 22 from 6 - 9 PM, the Light Street Gallery presents the much anticipated solo exhibit by artist Michael Sprouse entitled "Ex Post Facto". This important show marks Sprouse's first solo exhibition with the Light Street Gallery and already it's being called a "don't miss" exhibit by the Baltimore Sun. Sprouse is renown for his haunting works which he models after the empyrean facial expressions found in the subjects of vintage portrait photography. Sprouse's work can be found in private and public collections across the United States, Europe, Canada, and South America. These neo-romanticism examples of some of Sprouse's work have been called "evocatively beautiful" and "mesmerizing" by art critics and collectors around the globe. Some collector’s of Sprouse’s work include Academy Award winning director Quentin Tarrantino, Best Selling author David Lozelle Martin, Daniel H. Schulman - President of Priceline.com , and César Gaviria Trujillo - former President of Colombia and Secretary General of the Organization of American Sates. The exhibit focuses on the enigmatic imagery Sprouse incorporates into his "contemporary narrative portraits" and features works that date from 1999 - 2005 including examples of his work from "The Ireland Show" as well as from his "Ethereal Visitation" series, of which have currently been brought into reproduction by the famous Fine Art publishing company of Ariel Of France. In this exhibit, Sprouse accents the mystery, drama - as well as playfulness- that enrich and empower the subjects of his works as they peer from underneath the brims of hats or across the room. These figures silently speak volumes about love, desire, loss, lust and more. An opening reception with Sprouse will be held at the Light Street Gallery in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, October 22, from 6:00 - 9:00 The Light Street Gallery is located at 1448 Light Street Baltimore, MD 21230 and can be contacted via phone at 410-234-0047 or via email atinfo@LightStreetGallery.com. For more information visit the gallery online at http://www.lightstreetgallery.com/. For more information on the nationally acclaimed artist Michael Sprouse, visit his website at www.sprouseart.com.

Friday...

It's Friday and it's been raining for days. Pop away....

Ramblin' Road...

We're on the road all day today.

1. Load artwork in huge gas guzzling borrowed from close friend van
2. Drive van 2.5 hours to Washington, DC to take down my exhibit at the Fraser Gallery
3. Load left over works ( I sold 4) to the Light Street Gallery in Baltimore and hang exhibit there for the show that begins on October 19th ( with an opening reception on the 22).
4. Then drive 2.5 hours back to the lovely beach.
5. Relax

Self Portrait Tuesday.

It's Tuesday and I have 1000 things to do today. The major item on the list is to load the van with my artwork which George and I will drive to Washington, DC tomorrow. Then we will un-install my exhibit at the Fraser gallery and then drive to Baltimore to install my exhibit which opens on the 19th at the Light Street Gallery.

However, I was able to get my Self Portrait Tuesday image in and here it is.



That's me, early this morning, about 6:45ish, taken with my cellphone cam, bleary eyed and waiting for the hyper-infused Colombian-expresso mix to kick in.

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming...

I had a very busy yet rewarding weekend working on the house in New Jersey right outside of Philadelphia. George and I accomplished all that we wanted to and on Friday evening our friends Jerry and Paul joined us for dinner at the wonderful Tortilla Press

We drove back Saturday evening in torrential rain that made the car hydroplane on several occasions which was most disconcerting.

On Sunday evening, George and I had dinner with some friends at the home of a very close friend who had just completed her first triathlon that same day. She also managed to prepare an amazing meal complete with two homemade desserts ( Apple Pie and Cheesecake). I think that she is some form of Wonder Woman.


It was a celebratory dinner and we all had a blast.

One of the conversations during dinner however has left my mind filled with questions all day. The age span between the group at the dinner stretched from late 50’s to early 20’s. At one point our conversation turned to the recollection of certain memorable events which then led to an interesting conversation as to which decade we could relate to the most as children - moreso in the mode of “child of the 60’s” or “70’s” etc.



My friend Larry was born in 1948 and his thought was that he was a child of the 50’s though his formative years were in the 60’s. Though some disagreed, that seemed to be the prevailing school of thought, and I myself agreed with the logic as well. Since I was born in 1965, I have always thought of myself as a child of the 70’s, since those are the years that composed my early childhood and teen years. I consider my formative years to have been the 1980’s.

George on the other hand, was born in 1959 and is a child of the 60’s. The other two guests were born in the late 70’s early 80’s and could be considered children of the 80’s - and maybe even the 90’s.

Ot was very interesting listening to everyone’s different take on a variety of issues and I think it may have been the first time where I had had an intimate dinner with such a wide variety of people age wise. At that dinner, there were people that had spent their early childhood to early teen years in each decade from the 50’s through the 90’s - and for some reason, I’ve been thinking about it all day long…

It's time for WTF??!!

I'm going to be away from my blog for a few days until Saturday, but before I begin my journey, I wanted to squeeze in this WTF??!! for this lovely yet rainy Thursday. This one stars the insidious entity of.....



So without further delay here is my famous WTF??!!! image



And here is the story...

Wal-Mart Turns in Student's Anti-Bush Photo, Secret Service Investigates Him
Matthew Rothschild
October 4, 2005

Self-Portrait Tuesday

Alas...the uncontrollable passages of time. Due to the fact that, for a variety of reasons, I was only able to sleep for what seemed like 2.5 hours last night ( with a very special thanks to my overweight cat for using my chest as a springboard off of the bead at around 3:00 AM while at the same time raking her still razor sharp back claws into my side, I have no intention of posting my photo from today here for self-portrait Tuesday.

What I have decided to do then, is to leap back into the way back machine and post a Press photo of a band that I was in 1986. I came across this old photo while packing yesterday. The band's name was "No Nation". I was the lead singer and that's me in the middle with the huge hair.



And here is a close-up of my big hair.



Now, I'm going to the studio where I can paint and then sleep....

"Out of the everywhere into the here"

One of the reasons that I didn’t update this blog for the last 6 days is that George and I have been very busy working to organize ourselves into our two new places that we are moving into, one in New Jersey and the other here at the beach. We expect to have the moves complete by the beginning of November.

That means lots of packing and going through things deciding which to keep and which to do away with. While going through an old box of some of my things, I came across this...

I had forgotten all about this thing so when I opened the little box that it was contained in, it brought me to a stop while a floodgate of emotions and memory opened in my mind.

I picked up the tiny bracelet and swung it around my finger amazed that such a wee delicate thing could have ever been worn around my wrist. Attached to it by an old safety pin, is the ID wristband worn by my mother while she was in the hospital giving birth to me (she died of complications of breast cancer in 1989 when she was in her early 50’s).

I wish I could describe the delicate and beautiful thoughts and sensations that I felt when holding these items in my now large and adult male hands but I'm not sure that I can do them justice. It was almost as if I were holding a tiny fragile baby bird that had fallen from it’s nest, but the bird was actually myself, my past.

It made me wish to be able to travel back in time, now as I am, and watch my mother holding me for the first time. I would take her hand and she would recognize me - she would know that I was the baby in her arms visiting from 40 years in the future. I could tell her how much I love her and that I was going to be just fine - that I could make it, at least this far.

I have only seen this bracelet on a few occasions. Once, obviously, when I wore it as a newborn and was much too young to remember. Then once again, as a child when my mother showed it to me and with wistful eyes she told me the story of my birth. We both laughed at the size of the little thing. And then again, after my father died and I was going through the house for the last time with my siblings trying to process a houseful and a lifetime of memories. That’s when I must have added it to my collection of items to take with me.

And now. It reappears again - “out of the everywhere and into the here”.


David B. Sprouse: 1937- 2001
Maureen Veronica O'Brien Sprouse: 1936 - 1989