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Chet Zar at Strychnin Gallery, London.

I seem to recall attending another Strychnin Gallery opening previously on Friday the 13th. However on this occassion I was there to see Chet Zar’s exhibition “Ugly American”. Arriving early I had a chance to take in all of the exhibition and meet a few people, including the artist himself.

I found Chet to be a very warm, open and friendly soul. He’s nothing like his paintings. As he puts it, his intent with his paintings is to reflect back the ugliness he sees around himself in Los Angeles. He’s worked extensively in the movie industry. He had found it rewarding, but now is very happy to progressing to a life as a full time painter, as he did not enjoy the ugly side of Hollywood. This I surmize has given him endless inspiration for his artwork.

I whipped out a copy of Metamorphosis for him to sign for Jon Beinart and myself. My bag went home a little heavier as I also purchased a catalogue of Chet’s artwork. There was also a hard bound limited edition, but this was a little beyond my budget for the moment.

Laurie Lipton who will also be exhibiting with Strychnin Gallery again in Berlin, also attended the opening. So it was a very social evening talking to the artists, other guests, Yasha Young (the gallery owner) and her lovely staff.

Some of Chet's paintings at the Strychnin exhibition.

Chet’s artwork glowed, although the themes were monsters. He indicated that the colour theme was different to what he usually works with. He went on to explain that he was inspired by a dream with incredibly luminescent colours. It is always interesting seeing the real personality of a painting. The layering, brush strokes, technique, all of the things that are lost in four colour process printing or a digital image on a website. The image is always flattened. It was therefore a real joy to see the detail and masterful layering of Chet’s original artwork.

The night lengthened with the conversations, and eventually closing time arrived. Having already been engaged in a number of stimulating conversations, Chet, his friends, myself and mine, all trooped off to a local bar in the Truman Brewery around the corner. This lasted for one drink, until a bright spark pointed out that there were lonely beers waiting for us back at the gallery.

With a less distracting atmosphere, we settled on the gallery floor until the early hours of the morning for further existential and philosophical discussions.

We all eventually parted ways, leaving Chet to bed down in the guest room at the gallery, and ourselves to seek our repose. Did we all dream of monsters that night, or of the comrade in paint?

You can see Chet’s works for yourself at Strychnin Gallery London, 65 Hanbury Street, London E1 5J, UK.

Photos by Iris Bitter of Strychnin Gallery.

My good friend Peter Gric has
released a catalogue of 55 paintings from 1990 to 2008. I was very honoured that he sent me a copy of his catalogue. We had been discussing Print on Demand (POD) as an option for getting our artwork in to print.

While the catalogue is not an offset print coffee table book, I find it good, as did other artists, Brigid Marlin and Laurie Lipton. I think Peter's bold move has been a source of inspiration for others.

I have an earlier catalogue from Peter and I am very pleased to have this latest one in my collection as it shows the range of themes he has worked with up until now.

The catalogue
format is 21 × 29cm, paperback, with 68 digitally printed pages. The
Catalogue can be ordered via the Lulu Marketplace and costs €20.

This week I travelled with my girlfriend Anja Brinkmann to the Panorama Museum in Bad Frankenhausen, Germany. I had discovered the museum on the internet, and became interested when I noted some of the artists that had been exhibited there. I was rather excited because the museum seemed to be dedicated to modern painters working in Old Masters techniques. We didn't know what to expect, and had some friends in Weimar try and talk us out of going, and rather go to a contemporary art fair.

To say we were surprised, is an understatement. We were astounded, not by the temporary exhibition, but by the panorama painting that the museum was especially built for.

In in 1976 Werner Tübke was commissioned by the East German Government to create a panoramic painting to commemorate a peasants uprising in 1525. The painting is a gob smacking 14m high by 123m long and an unbroken ring around the circular room. The lighting also heightens the effect of the painting as it towers above you.

On my first casual inspection, it appeared to be only a historical depiction, but then as I proceeded around the room, its detailed splendour unfolded. Tübke spent several years researching woodblock prints from the era of the uprising, and styled the painting after that. He also took inspiration from Hieronymus Bosch and wove fantastical themes and creatures into the extensive work.

We spent four hours at the museum, and most of that time, just looking at the painting. I tried in vain to soak all of the detail. It is a truly overwhelming experience. I've never encountered a painting like it before.

I posted more details about the museum on beinArt.org.

This is my latest work in progress. I have already begun the oil glazes. The painting is 60 x 90cm.

The underpainting has been done in casein. Casein paint is derived from milk, and is a fast-drying, water-soluble medium used by artists. Casein paint has been used since ancient Egyptian times as a form of tempera paint, and is still used today.

A short explanation of the painting subject: 

Sophia, a feminine figure, analogous to the human soul but also simultaneously one of the Feminine aspects of God and the Bride of Christ. The Sophia resides in all of us as the Divine Spark. In Gnostic tradition, the term Sophia (Σoφíα, Greek for "wisdom" refers to the final and lowest emanation of God.

One of the wonderful consequences of working with Jon Beinart on his beinArt.org project, is that I've met some very interesting people. Of those is numbered Rardy Van Soest. I was initially made aware of his existence by De Es Schwertberger, who has a number of his paintings in Rardy's collection. I then discovered that he was well known amongst the Fantastic and Visionary art community, as he is an avid art collector of this genre, and has exess of 800 works.

It came to pass that when Rardy noticed two of his favourite artists missing from beinArt.org, he made contact to enquire why. After a very long conversation about many topics associated with art and painting, his two artists were included. During this conversation I also had the opportunity to ask him about his collection. He informed me that he was in the planning stages for the building of a museum in the Netherlands, dedicated solely to Fantastic and Visionary art.

My curiosity was stirred further, so when the opportunity arrived that I was travelling to Amsterdam, I took the opportunity to contact Rardy again, and ask if I could make the trek to Utrecht to visit him and see his collection. Rardy agreed. When we met, we spent much time talking firstly, and he started introducing me to books of his favourite artists. Slowly we made our way to his collection.

What a dream to behold. We spent some hours looking through his collection. As a painter, this was a marvelous opportunity for me to see first hand, works I had only seen in books or on the internet. I could see and learn so much more about the artists techniques.

I spent a hectic but thoroughly enjoyable time in Vienna over December, staying with my good friend and colleague Amanda Sage (www.amandasage.com). She was very gracious to allow me the use of her studio, and so for the first time in almost a year, I could dabble in paint again. Ah how I've missed it. Now the itch has been scratched, there is much more to be done. Included is one of the works I began. It is still a work in progress. Stay tuned.

While there I also had the chance to catch up with Luigi La Speranza and Peter Gric. We met Michael Sheer, the director of Galerie 10 while visiting Amanda's exhibition.