May 12th, 2010
At the beginning of this year, I edited and published a catalogue of artwork which included Dennis Konstantin, Micha Colory Krebs and myself. So naturally when I went to Vienna in March for Ernst Fuch’s 80th birthday celebrations, I took our catalogue with. I visited De Es Schwertberger in his studio and showed him the catalogue.
He was very impressed with the quality of the printing and binding. Thus he decided that he’d use the same printing service for a book of his own, that had been published almost thirty years before, but now out of print, “Bilderbuch für Planetarier” (Picture Book for Panetarians). Almost all of the paintings from the Stone Period 1972 – 1979 are reproduced, including the Philosopher’s Stone pictures and the Stone-Images from the book “Heavy Light”.
The Book is 148 pages printed on premium paper with a matte finish and bound with a hard cover. The initial version is in German, but if he receives enough interest he will have it translated in to English.
Bilderbuch für Planetarier is available from Blurb.com.
Here is an interactive preview of the book.
May 11th, 2010
CoSM Journal 6
I just received my copy of the latest CoSM Journal today, courtesy of Delvin Solkinson. I’ve known Delvin for some time now, initially from the Tribe 13 project to his ongoing Galactic Trading Card (GTC) set. Through the course of building his GTC project, he’s come to know and meet many artists the world over. One such artist of note is Alex Grey.
Alex and his wife Allyson, have for many years now put much time and effort into their Chapel of Sacred Mirrors project which was initially based in inner city New York. As of last year CoSM relocated to the countryside just outside of New York. Now that things are finally taking shape on the new property, there is the time and energy to turn back other things that have lain fallow for the interim.
And so with new vigour they have released volume 6 of the CoSM journal. Part of that new energy comes from Delvin, who now works as the managing editor of the journal.
The CoSM journal is a gorgeous A5 sized full colour publication, illustrating the planetary culture of visionary art and showing how this reflects the human relationship to nature, the new Journal includes artists from all five continents of our world including Mark Ryden, Pablo Amaringo, Alex Grey, Allyson Grey, Brigid Marlin, Isabela Maria Hartz, Steven Kenny, Andy Thomas, Akiko Endo, Mitsuru Nagashima, and Anne Mwiti. It also features some major visionary arts organizations including Beinat.org.
Creative Director and Designer: Marisa Scirocco
Managing Editor: Delvin Solkinson
Chief Editors: Alex Grey and Allyson Grey
You can go to www.cosm.org for more details.
March 2nd, 2010
Dennis hanging his artwork
and making the final adjustments
My artwork alongside Dennis'
Quite a nice linear progression with the images.
My artwork
One small artwork yet to add to the wall.
Micha's artwork
With one painting left to hang
Darry and Dennis
Darryl flew in from Stockholm especially to see our exhibition.
Dennis' book
Dennis shows off an early version of a book he is designing for his artwork.
After party party!
Anja, myself, Darryl
Here is a selection of images from our recent Fantastic Visions exhibition opening. It was wonderful to see people make the journey out in such frigid weather, in what was Europe’s coldest Winter in 60 years. We even had a couple of guests from out of the country come to Berlin for the opening. It was also a chance to show off the catalogue of artwork, which we plan to use in assisting us land further exhibitions. When the opening was over, a core of hardy souls braved the subzero temperatures to find a cosy bar, have a few drinks and continue the conversations.
As a footnote, for our efforts with the we received good responses from various people and there are some very interesting opportunities that have opened up for us. There will be more to tell about these when they come to fruition.
March 1st, 2010
In my studio with the book "Imagine the Imagination".
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been watching artists posting images of their copy of the book “Imagine The Imagination – New Visions of Surrealism”, that included their artwork, to various websites. I was becoming impatient to see the book as even a collector of mine had a copy of the book before myself. As of yesterday, the wait was finally over and the book arrived in the post.
The book is solid and the printing is of good quality. Many artists included in the book, I’ve come into contact with through the internet. And amongst those are some good friends. The book project started off on a DeviantArt.com surrealism group which includes artists from all over the world.
The photo which accompanies this article is of me with the book and the original painting “Something Fishy”, which is included in the book. Thank you to Paul Barnett for taking time out from his own painting to come up to my studio and shoot the photo for me.
Imagine the Imagination can be purchased from beinArt.org.
February 15th, 2010
Today I was painting with Dennis Konstantin while he was in his studio in Hamburg and I in mine in Berlin. What began as just a Skype chat moved onto a dual painting session when Dennis picked up his brush and started to work. So, of course rather than just talk about paint, I also continued with my latest work on the easel.
We both continued to occasionally talk when not fully focused on our paintings. What was interesting, was at times glancing back at the computer screen and seeing that the other was doing the same thing, such as sitting and contemplating their painting. It was also an interesting insight into each others studio habits, and how much time is actually spent putting brush to canvas as verses contemplating the next move. It is rather assuring to see that others are also given over to the same foibles.
It would be a wonderful thing if Skype could do multiple video conferencing, then we could have more people involved from all over the world. It’s a nice thought, since painting is usually a very solitary practice. But there are occasions we do all end up in the same physical space. And I certainly look forward to that.
