Keane Eyes Gallery

Here is something that I never knew: Margaret Keane, creator of the Famous Big-Eyed paintings (that are so influential to certain current lowbrow painters) had to go to court to prove that she painted them and not her ex-husband.

"You see, for many years she was married to a man who claimed credit for what she painted. To prove she was in fact the artist and not her former husband, she painted in court before a Federal Judge and jury, an original oil on canvas painting. When her ex-husband was asked to paint by the judge, his reply was: "I can't today, because I have a sore shoulder." Needless to say Margaret won the case and she continues to paint those Big Eyes we have come to love so dearly. " I remember friends in San Francisco picking these paintings up at flea markets for a song twenty years ago. It looks like vintage originals are going for quite a bit now. I like the ones with cats and a few of the others. Read and see more here about Margaret Keane, painter of big eyes. The website says she accepts commissions:

Keane Eyes Gallery of San Francisco

The Art of Amy Crehore

Zombie Walks

Homepage of Zombie Walk Forum

Photo by Melissa Churley- Toronto Zombie Couple
Richmond, VA flyer from last year

My friend Tom in Richmond, VA told me all about the Zombie Walk that happened last year in his city. Before that, I hadn't heard of it. But, if you google "Zombie Walk" you will see that it's happening all over the place. Crowds of people are stumbling down city streets like ghostly dead robots with fake blood dripping on clown-white foreheads and it looks like a blast. Who didn't see the film "Night of the Living Dead" in college 15 times? Some of the art that is being shown in hip lowbrow galleries reminds me of these photos of Zombie Walks. It does, it truly does. Maybe we all have a bit of zombie in us.

ZOMBIE WALK

Wonder when the next one is? Go to this forum.

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Tragedy of John William Godward

Click on image to enlarge - painting by John William Godward

Check out the absolute beauty of this erotic and wonderful painting by John William Godward. Godward was born in 1861 and died 1922 from a suicide. He was an English Pre-Raphaelite/Neo-Classicist painter and according to Wikipedia: "He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema but his style of painting fell out of favour with the arrival of painters like Picasso. He committed suicide at the age of 61 and is said to have written in his suicide note that 'the world was not big enough' for him and a Picasso.
His already estranged family, who had disapproved of him becoming an artist, were ashamed of his suicide and burned his papers. No photographs of Godward are known to survive."

I actually came across this painting on Pin Up Art,

a site which has lots of fun images- commercial illustration, images from art history and Ziegfeld girls.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Beautiful Nude by Hopper

Edward Hopper 1924 Watercolor -Whitney Museum

I like this watercolor that Edward Hopper painted for his wife, Jo, shortly after he married her. He used his wife as a model for most of the female images in his work. This one is particularly nice- it is very feminine and relaxed, unlike some of his oils which seem to have a certain masculine tension about them. It seems that he struggled with the female form. But, I love Hopper's stark American landscapes -hotel rooms, trains, lobbies, theaters, NYC buildings, and houses in natural settings. He is a true American Icon himself and that is what he painted- iconic American images. His favorite teacher was Robert Henri and that tells me a lot right there about the man. He was also a magazine illustrator and teacher himself before he took up painting full-time.

Here's an interesting website:

An Edward Hopper Scrapbook

compiled by the Smithsonian.

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Literartistry" Show is Online

Listen to snippets from the music soundtrack from Lolita 1962, Nelson Riddle

It looks like both of my "Lolita" paintings sold last night at the "Literartistry" Show. I'm very happy about that! (Update: Both paintings sold on opening night, but one buyer fell through and a Crehore painting is still available! Check gallery website.) Unfortunately, I did not make it down to the opening. The show is now online for all to see, though, and it looks to be a great show with a great theme:

Corey Helford Gallery

I think I will explore my new "demon" character in some future art. Demons can be quite interesting creatures with a lot of depth and history behind them - as seen on the Cornell University library website that I blogged about a while ago.

The Art of Amy Crehore

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Ectoplasmosis

I keep meaning to tell you about John Brownlee's new blog. That's a picture of him with the fez, smoking a pipe with a green slug coming out of it. He used to have a happening blog over at wired.com, but now he's got his own blog with many devoted readers. It's called ECTOMO

or Ectoplasmosis. He's very crazy and funny so you might want to have a look. The man has recently moved from Dublin to Berlin (temporarily, I think, for an adventure). Brownlee posts a continuous stream of sweet-and-sour junk like: super-duper moustaches, what he sees inside of the psychedelic walls of his new padded cell, what he sees outside of his Berlin window, artwork with monkeys, etc....and blah, blah, blah.
He recently blogged my new painting for the Literartistry Show. That was nice.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Literartistry Show Reminder

Sketch for "Story of Lolita, Part Two" by Amy Crehore
"Story of Lolita, Part Two", oil on linen 2007 copyright Amy Crehore, Interpretation of the novel by Vladimir Nabokov

Click to on images to enlarge

Here is the sketch and final for one of 2 pieces that I painted for the "Literartistry" Group Show which will open at Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City, CA on August 11, 2007 from 7-10 pm. Each artist is interpreting a favorite book. Don't miss this show - artists include: Jason Shawn Alexander, Erik Alos, Chris Anthony, Chris Conn Askew, Attaboy, Anthony Ausgang, Lauren Bergman, Andrew Brandou, Dave Burke, Paul Chatem, Greg Clarke, Amy Crehore, Camilla d’Ericco, Jason Dugan, Korin Faught, Sarah Folkman, Melissa Forman, Andrew Foster, Lauren Gardiner, Andrew Hem, Michael Hussar, Stella Im Hultberg, Mari Inukai, Wednesday Kirwan, Kukula, Joe Ledbetter, Tiffany Liu, Kevin Llewellyn, Lola, Jeff McMillan, Lisa Moneypenny Murray, Tom Neely, Joe O’Neill, Alex Pardee, Kevin Peterson, Joshua Petker, Carlos Ramos, Sergio Rebia, Joey Remmers, Lesley Reppeteaux, Isabel Samaras, Mijn Schatje, Nathan Spoor, Bob Staake, Gin Stevens, David Stoupakis, Cassandra Szekely, Heidi Taillefer, The Pizz, Sage Vaughn, Amanda Visell, David VonDerLinn, and Jasmine Worth. Contact:

Corey Helford Gallery

P.S. See my earlier post for "The Story of Lolita, Part One" (my other painting in this show) and more details.

(thousands of Hungarians are hitting on this image)

The Art of Amy Crehore