Deloney Newkirk Galleries Blog

Art has become very fashionable. If you have any doubt, check out the December issue of Vanity Fair which includes a “Special Report on Art” or last Sunday’s New York Time Style magazine which devotes most of the issue to the intersection of fashion and the art world.

Most of the press coverage these days is about who spent how much on what piece of art, the glittering parties attended by all the right celebrities in all the right art spots but very little about the art itself.

No matter how fashionable, art is ultimately about the the artist and the viewer - a silent communication between two individuals, each on either side of the canvas. These exchanges don’t take place in a loud swirl of party goers but in the quiet contemplation of the artist’s work.

All of this came to mind as I was completing production on a new video interview with painter Lance Green. Lance has devoted his life to his art and I imagine that the art party circuit is the last thing he thinks about as he approaches a new painting.

In the video Lance talks about his life, from his childhood on the mean streets of East L.A. to working in his studio today in a lush forest in Colorado. He also discusses his working process and the things that inspire him to paint. For those who care to look carefully, Lance’s paintings are like a road map of his life. Within the brush strokes you see the elements of his life’s journey depicted in paint. The swirling colors, the solid forms of his figures, the lyrical interplay of life and the life of the spirit depicted on the canvas are a form of autobiography.

When the life experiences and sensibilities of a viewer converge with the artist’s, a silent conversation takes place. This moment transcends any current trend or the culture’s acceptance of art as the “in thing”. This act of communication - one to one - is a major reason the first artists painted on cave walls and that artists will continue to make art whether or not it makes headlines or is popular with the “right” crowd.

To see Lance Green’s interview go to: DNTV

There’s a great article by Virginia Heffernan in today’s New York Times magazine. Ms Heffernan writes an ongoing feature titled “The Medium” and this week she takes a look at some applications of digital technology to art.

Want a high resolution image of Monet’s Water Lilies on your mobile phone? The article talks about the Boston Museum of Fine Arts project to photograph high resolution photographs of its’ entire collection of 350,000 works. You can visit their site at mfamobile.mfa.org and download some masterpieces directly to your phone’s home screen. Monet-To-Go anyone?

Ms. Heffernan also writes about an incredibly detailed photograph of Davinci’s “Last Supper”. The photograph is made up of 16 billion pixels. It shows such amazing details that as you zoom in you can see individual flecks of paint. If you don’t want to stand in line in Milan, you can see this icon of Western art by visiting The Last Supper.
To read all of Ms Heffernan’s article go to The Medium Blogs.