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

Self-Portrait Tuesday

Here I am on this lovely morning, Tuesday, September 27, 2005 on Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

All of us locals here at the beach know that the best time to actually come to the beach is post-season. The weather is usually lovely without all of the chaos and overcrowding that occurs during high Summer season.

The morning today is glorious, so George and I jumped in the bug, dropped the top and took the 5 minute drive to the beach to stroll the mile long boardwalk. I had him take my photo at the shore for Self-Portrait Tuesday.

Here are some other photos that I took this morning. Some of these are of a very cool sand and shell sculpture work of a human face that I came across on the beach. I have no idea who the artist or artists is/are.

In memoriam....

When I was a kid, we absolutely would not miss "Get Smart". Anyone 35 and older will know Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, AKA, Agent 86.



Anyone under 35 will know him as the voice of Inspector Gadget who, of course, was based on Don Adams' portrayal of Maxwell Smart, AKA Agent 86



Don Adams
April 13, 1923 - September 25, 2005

She's so good-looking but she looks like a man

This is just a quick post to state that it was on this day 36 years ago that the Beatles released "Abbey Road", which happens to be one of my favorite albums of all time.



I have great memories of this album from when I was a child and my older cousin (I would have been around 5 and she was about 16 then) would play it for myself and my other siblings. She lived with us for a while then and she would play her albums for us constantly, making sure that we were the hippest (or more close to reality - the hippiest) kids on the block.

I grew up with this album and it's wonderful songs. It's been very interesting, now at the age of 40, to look back on how I have changed and how my interpretation of the meaning of the music and the lyrics have changed as I have grown older. Though, no matter what my latest incarnation of meaning form this album may be now or prove to be 30 years form now, I will always treasure the memories of that early Autumn of 1969 and dancing around the room as a carefree long-haired child to the sound of "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window".

The thrill of it all...

On Friday evening, I went to a party with some friends of mine.


(here's a pic taken shortly after arriving at the gathering)

Afterwards, we went out dancing afterwards. By that point however, I had probably had too much vodka.


By the time we had left the dance club and I was somehow unlocking my front door, I had definitely had too much. Thank God for designated drivers. Of course, I spent all of Saturday recuperating. George (who didn't go out that evening) and I ordered Chinese food and watched movies which was perfect for my muddled head.

While flipping through the channels looking for something to watch, we landed on the Turner Classic Movies station ( one of my favorites) just in time to catch a Doris Day/James Garner flick entitled "The Thrill Of It All".

This was the typical Doris Day light romantic comedy of the early 60's. Though the storyline is very dated, she really looks phenomenal throughout the film (great costumes) and there are some funny moments that still work 40 plus years later. There are also, however, some far fetched moments as well which may have been more believable in 1963 to less sophisticated audiences. This includes the character played by Arlene Francis. In the film, she is supposed to be pregnant for the first time. Though her age is never revealed in the film, there is an implication that she is older than most first time mothers and James Garner's (her doctor in the film) states that "she has been trying for 20 years" to get pregnant. In reality however, Alrene Francis was 56 when she made this film and well, she looks like she's in her 50's. I just didn't find her in that role as believable at all.

There is also a scene where a swimming pool in Day's backyard gets filled with detergent and the suds that form overnight fill the entire backyard - over the roof of her house. They actually call in professional movers to remove the suds with shovels. They then fill in the back of dump trucks with the suds. Again - very unbelievable and they play on the gag way too long. The chemistry between Day and Garner is very natural however.

This was one of Doris Day's three top-grossing films and lines formed around the block to see it when it was released in 1963. This film was directed by Norman Jewison who also directed "Moonstruck", one of my personal favorites.

It was very interesting to see ZaZu Pitts

in her small role as the maid in this film. Zazu was a star of silent film making her first film in 1917. She was renown for her expressive eyes and hands. Famed silent film director Erich von Stroheim called her "the greatest tragedienne of the screen." "The Thrill Of It All" was to be her second to last film as she died the year it was released.

If you have any interest in this film at all, click here to find an in-depth page on the flick including a MPEG of the film's theme song which is actually not song by Doris Day.

The other brilliant film that we watched was "Kinsey" starring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Peter Sarsgaard.



This was an amazing film indeed, poignant, dramatic and humorous on many occasions. This film deals with the life of Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey


and his famous studies of sexuality. Laura Linney was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Clara McMillen, Kinsey's wife. Neeson should have been nominated and I don't understand why he wasn't. This film is currently available on most pay per views throughout the country if you have digital cable. I highly recommend this film. By the way, the funniest line from this film in my opinion involves a heavy accent and the word horse. You'll know it when you hear it. Also, watch for an incredible and heart touching cameo by Lynn Redgrave at the end of the film.

By the way, I just took an online "Politics" test and here were my results...

You are a Social Liberal (76% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (20% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Louise Nevelson

It was on this day September 23 in the year 1899 that acclaimed sculptor Louise Nevelson was born.



Louise Nevelson is known as of the most important American sculptors of the twentieth century. An artist friend who was in NYC in the 60's has told me fascinating stories about seeing this wild eyed woman digging through dumpster on the street in the village. One day he asked an acquaintance about her. He was informed that it was Louise Nevleson looking for fodder for her work.

I think that that would be a very cool memory to have indeed.

It's the time of the season....

Guess what today is folks? Why it's the first day of autumn! And as I've stated before - I love this season. I love the colors of the leaves, the crispness of the air, the golden amber hued light, faded sweaters that you know like a best friend, incredible sunsets, mums apples and pumpkins, Halloween and Thanksgiving… I could go on and on.

So, on that note - here are two wonderful sites that I have found online that specialize in Autumn courtesy of the USDA Forest service. The first one is the Fall Color Page for 2005.

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fallcolors/

This will show you the progress of Fall Colors by region and there is even a Fall Color Hotline!

The next is an informative page also by the USDA Forest Service that explains everything that you would like to know about these colors entitled "WHY LEAVES CHANGE COLORS"

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/leaves/leaves.htm

Now onto something different yet equally beautiful…



It seems that experts are close to proving that the above painting entitled "Mary Magdalene" and painted in 1515, may have been actually painted by the master Leonardo da Vinci. As an artist, I find this fascinating. You can read more about the story by clicking here. And while you’re at it, make sure and read this highly interesting article from UK’s The Guardian entitled "Art detective exposes hidden images to fuel Da Vinci Code conspiracies". Be sure to view the PDF document attached to that article to actually see the amazing sketches previously hidden for the last 500 or so years! Amazing!

Those autumn leaves drift by my window….

Well folks, in case you were unaware of it, today is the last official day of Summer 2005.


The above image is one that I took last week at what my partner and I call the "Bay House". We call it that because the lovely Rehoboth Bay is about 7 feet from the edge of our back deck. This photo was taken at sunset.

I won’t say that this has been one of my more enjoyable summers as it has not. I spent the majority of this summer in my studio furiously painting in preparation for my shows. My partner George and I both also spent most of the summer dealing with all of the leaping through hoops that has to occur while attempting to sale this house while at the same time juggling the delicate china of attempting to purchase two other homes (we sold this one, and put the proceeds into a smaller place here and a second home in Philadelphia).

Now the process of moving from one house into two that are two hours apart from each other begins. But this is alright because I have this to look forward to…



And I must admit that I do indeed love autumn.

Self-Portrait Tuesday

It's Tuesday. Here's my pic.



This was taken with my cellphone but I had to tweak it in Photoshop. I'm standing in front of my one my paintings entitled "Ingenue"



Today also happens to be the 71st birthday of one of my favorite actresses...Sophia Loren



So unto her I say...Happy Birthday!!

"I was crazy about her. She had incredibly kissable lips" Sid Luft on Judy Garland

This will probably be of interest only to those Judy Garland fans ( hello Jeff!), but I just read today about the death of Sid Luft on Thursday, September 15, 2005 at the age of 89.

This burly street-wise man was married to Judy Garland for 13 years and produced the much acclaimed Oscar-nominated 1954 film "A Star Is Born"



Here is a photo of them from the 1950's.



They were married during some of her craziest, prescription pill popping and alcohol addicted times.



I can only image the stories that this man could have told...

"I can't Manny. I'm stuck in the spokes."

When I was just a little tyke, this was THE movie that all of the kids were talking about. I was only in 2nd grade then and too young to go see it myself, but news about the film would trickle down via the television or from other kids who’s parents or older siblings had seen it, or from - most impressive of all on the playground - other kids who had actually been to see it with their parents themselves, which, to my knowledge was still somewhat of a taboo thing to do 33 years ago.

I think that this was the first in a long line of disaster movies that glutted the film industry in the 70’s. There were earthquakes, raging fires, unmanned airplanes, runaway super trains and more. But, I believe that this was the granfather of them all.

The only reason that I bring this up in the blog today, is because I ran across these brilliant little dolls while surfing this AM...



I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them! I said to myself, “Is that Shelly Winters in the role of Belle Rosen from the Poseidon Adventure?!” And to my delight - it was.

There are 9 dolls in total and they can be found online by clicking here.

Shelly Winters has received a lot of flack over the last 35 years or so starting with her role in the P.A., ( she gained 35 punds for the role) but she actually is an amazing actress (she has won two Best Actress Oscars and was nominated for two others including for her role in the Poseidon Adventure). At one time was known as a blonde bombshell in Hollywood and even taught Marilyn Monroe a trick or two...



On a different note, I also ran across this online today



In my opinion, this digitally altered image would be humorous if it weren't for the fact that it is so sadly symbolically true. I may catch a lot of grief for this, but I can barely stomach what our country has become and is becoming under the so-called “leadership” of this patrician idiot.

I would also like to ask this to all of those folks who voted for this buffoon - are you still complaining about the high cost of gasoline when you fill your gas guzzling SUVs which you only purchased as some sort of artifical status, keeping up with the Jones’s, symbol of “prosperity”. I know that you know deep down inside that you can only blame yourself at the pump.

Unless you either actually haul more than 3 kids and a dog around more than several days a week, or use your SUV to transport large items on a regular basis, or work on a ranch or some equivalent thereof, then YOU DON’T NEED A FREAKIN’ SUV!!!

Does anyone over the age of 25 actually have clear memories of being driven around in SUV’s when they were kids? No? Why?

BECAUSE NO ONE HAD THEM except those who used them for work.

THINK ABOUT IT FOLKS!!

Why do you think that so many autos on the road now are SUVs? How many times do you see those filled with kids or materials or covered with dust from working out on the farm?

If you own one, tell me, when was the last time you went “off roading”?
How many times in the last month did you drive it somewhere with every seat occupied with someone?
When was the last time you had it fully loaded with big things that you had to transport somewhere?

I thought so.

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