Daily Dreamtime

" Moon Tea House" by Christopher Keeley Copyright 2006

If you haven't yet discovered "Daily Dreamtime, Secret Surrealist Society", then let me introduce you to it. It is a most wonderful daily journal written by Christopher Keeley where he posts his own art/documentary/portrait photographs (soon to be a book called Paradise Life), plus a continuous stream of glimpses into other surreal and unusual artists, alive or dead, with lots of links. And, he's got great taste! He also writes about politics and what's happening in the world. Check it out! It's guaranteed not to bore you!

The above photo was a Christmas card he sent me recently.

Daily Dreamtime

The Art of Amy Crehore

Teenar Reaction

For better or worse, dragging "Teenar" out of the mothballs has caused a worldwide chain-reaction of massive hits to my blog post about Lou Reimuller's Girl Guitar. Right now, "she" has captured the imagination of Japan and shows no signs of stopping. The amazing thing is, a lot of people seem to think she is a "real" girl (especially crazy Americans).

I found this photoshopped image of her on a blog in Taipei: Jas 9 . I like it! I have no idea what the blog post says.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Gibson Harp Guitar

Photo of Harp Guitars, Gregg Miner

Oil Painting, "Banquet days" by Amy Crehore (30" x 40")
Here is a photo of the beautiful and unusual Gibson Harp Guitar. We have one of these at home: the instrument on the right, Gibson Style U, 1916. I painted this guitar in the background of a large canvas I did in 1984 called, "Banquet Days".

It was my first "pierrot" image and the pierrot was based on an image from an old tintype photo (a relative of mine who was an actor/singer in the theater).
I first exhibited this painting in Richmond, VA in a solo show and, a couple years later, in New Hope, PA where it won a first patron's award and sold to a collector.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Austin Chronicle Review of "Blab! 17"

"Banana Eater" by Amy Crehore appears in "Blab! 17" (click image to enlarge)

This review of "Blab! 17" by Wayne Alan Brenner in The Austin Chronicle put a smile on my face:

"Each year, Monte Beauchamp harvests and designs a collection of work from the world's diverse crop of illustrators, sequential artists, and the graphically obsessed. Each year, Fantagraphics publishes this collection in a glossy-paged, full-color edition. And each year, we receive the thick and perfectly bound document, eager to see if Beauchamp can replicate or better his successes. There's no disappointment to be found this year: Image after image, alone or in the context of some potent narrative, sears itself into our rods and cones, while still others serve to soothe those burning receptors with pastel hues and whimsical setting. Sue Coe's unnerving rendition of Judith Brody's take (in verse, no less) on the Katrina tragedy plunges us into a swamp of sympathy and righteous anger; Amy Crehore's gentle depiction of a Polynesian idyll floats us on a lagoon of enchantment; "Sun Rays of Death" by Ryan Heshka captures, in bold Forties-era style, the way the media play upon the public's shallower fears; " read more review here: The Austin Chronicle: Books, Reading- Dec 8, 2006

The Art of Amy Crehore

Mannequin Warehouse

Photo by Kunio Monji, eyedia.com

I wonder what these mannequins are thinking? Do they want to be rescued like the beautiful Teenar, Girl Guitar was? Would they like to be converted into art now that they are old and abandoned? Would they like to become musical instruments?

Marcel Duchamp, king of Dada and Surrealism said it best:

"The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the art in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting it's inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act" (Marcel Duchamp)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Teenar, Girl Guitar

Close up of Teenar, Girl Guitar (photo by Lou Reimuller)
Photo by Lou Reimuller
Inventor and craftsman, Lou Reimuller playing Teenar 1986

(Photo by Amy Crehore)
Photo by Lou Reimuller copyright 1986
Here is Lou Reimuller (a.k.a. Sunset Lou, musician, collector, luthier, artist) and his invention: Teenar, The Girl Guitar - a vintage mannequin transformed into an electric guitar (1986, Richmond, VA).

Yes, she really does play the blues.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Listen to Lou Reimuller and Amy Crehore's Hokum Scorcher's Band. LINK

See Teenar in a new outfit HERE .

Interview w/ Amy Crehore, Part 3

"Black Snake Wiggle Blues" 2006 Amy Crehore, Painted for Blab! Show

New! Part 3 of an interview by Marshall Sponder at:

ArtNYC

The Art of Amy Crehore