Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Reminder: Art Now Fair, Art Basel Miami

"Green Snake Stumble" by Amy Crehore 2007 (Blues Gal)
"Honeybee" by Amy Crehore 2007 (as seen on boingboing)
will display 50 original paintings in his "KNOW" exhibition at the Art Now Fair, Art Basel Miami from Thursday 10 AM until Sunday 6 PM, December 6-9, 2007. He will also showcase a selection of very special art books. Here is the website for the event: Art Now Fair. Don't miss it if you are in Miami.
Stop by Murphy's booth 215 to see these two oil paintings by Amy Crehore (me!) along with
works by: Robert Bellm + Cathie Bleck + Marc Burckhardt + Cynthia von Buhler + William Buzzell + Luke Chueh + David Chung + Warren Dykeman + P-Jay Fidler + AJ Fosik + Keith Greiman + Matt Haber + Brent Harada + Ryan Heshka + Jordin Isip + James Kirkpatrick + Pamela Jaeger + Travis Lampe + Lola + Daniel Lim + Tommii Lim + Anthony Lister + Jen Lobo + Jason Murphy + Mark Murphy + Joel Nakamura + Kathie Olivas + Brandt Peters + Chris Pyle + Jermain Rogers + Chris Ryniak + Erik Sandberg + Greg Simkins/Craola + Kim Scott + Keith Shore + Jeff Soto + Matt Stallings + Peter Taylor + Gary Taxali + Mark Todd + Jonathan Viner + Amanda Wachob + Esther Pearl Watson + Damien Weinkrantz + Gord Wiebe + John Yanok
Wow! What a list.
Claremont Hotel, 1700 Collins Ave.at 17th St. Miami Beach, FLA (phone:347-461-8713)

Beinart International Surreal Collective

" Sunken Garden" painting by Mike Worrall
I want to tell you about a website called Bein Art Collective. On it, you will find many wonderful artists; some you have heard of and some you have not. I was pleased to discover the work of Mike Worrall (above). Check it out for yourselves if you have some free time to simply look at art.
"We represent exceptional artists of the 21st Century who practice one or more of the following art traditions: Surrealism, Fantastic Art, Fantastic Realism, Magic Realism, Symbolism, Comic Surrealism, Pop Surrealism, Lowbrow, Psychedelic, Visionary, Mythical, Esoteric, Pagan, Dark, Gothic, Macabre, Underground, Outsider, Erotic & Surreal Art."
They also have a newsy blog and are publishers of a book called "Metamorphosis".
They have a link to my website in their links section.
The Art of Amy Crehore
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Monday, December 03, 2007

"American Memory" Website

Illustration from Little Red Cloak by Harriet Burn McKeever. Ca. 1866.

The Library of Congress has a cool website called "American Memory". Here you will find a bunch of historical information and images about America, such as this baseball card from 1888 or this Sunday School book illustration from 1866. Or how about WPA posters from 1936-1943 ?
American Memory

The Art of Amy Crehore
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"Blues Gal" for sale, Art Basel Miami

"Green Snake Stumble" copyright 2007 Amy Crehore, oil on linen panel "Blues Gal Series" -
8 3/4" x 8 3/4"
CLICK TO ENLARGE
Art Basel Miami is coming up next week (Dec 6-9) and I will have two paintings on display in Mark Murphy's KNOW exhibition at the Claremont Hotel (1700 Collins Ave.): my "Honeybee" painting, which I blogged about earlier, and another painting called "Green Snake Stumble"(shown here).

"Honeybee" has already SOLD, but this one is available. If you are in Miami next week, please go and see these paintings in person hanging alongside many other wonderful artists. This painting is from my new "Blues Gal" series. My "Blues Gals" were first seen at the second Blab Art Show , CoproNason Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. Boingboing has blogged about them a few times - LINK .

I am selling a limited print of "Roaming Tomcat Rag" on my homepage. "Feed the Bear" and "Black Snake Wiggle Blues" can be seen here: Amy Crehore . A Spanish blog called Dime Bag just posted "Losin' my Cones over You" today.

The Drawings of Henri Matisse

Sleeping Gamblers,1994 Amy Crehore 24" x 20" oil on linen
The Tutu, 1995 Amy Crehore, 24"x 20" oil on linen
By John Elderfield (Museum of Modern Art 1984)

Vered Art
I found these two Henri Matisse drawings (above) at Vered Art
I saw a Matisse drawing show at the Museum of Modern Art in the mid-eighties and I picked up this book, "The Drawings of Matisse" by John Elderfield. I was inspired by the drawings in the book to paint the two paintings above which are based on some drawings of sleeping figures by Matisse. Although his art got more and more simplified with time, the underlying power of Matisse's drawing skills cannot be denied. This book can still be found used on amazon. It has some beautiful things in it.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Little Sammy Sneeze by Windsor McCay



"Little Sammy Sneeze" comics by Windsor McCay 1904-1906, New York Herald
I've been looking for a new art book to buy for Xmas. This might be the one. Lloyd just reviewed it on Mardecortesbaja . It's a collection of Winsor McCay's comic strips that appeared before "Little Nemo in Slumberland". The book is called "Little Sammy Sneeze". It also includes an intriguing sister-strip called "Hungry Henrietta". The "Little Sammy Sneeze" strip is about a boy who ends up sneezing violently in a variety of settings. He ultimately gets kicked out or punished by the people who are unfortunate enough to get caught in his explosion. “He Just Simply Couldn’t Stop It” and “He Never Knew When It Was Coming.”

Buy the book here: Sunday Press Books
View beautiful sample pages here.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Mexican Retablos

"Mexican Folk Retablos", book by Gloria Fraser Giffords
Santa Rita
Red Cross Saint
I can't believe that I haven't blogged Mexican Retablos and Ex Votos before. I've always been in love with them. They are religious miniatures painted on tin, originating in the mid-1800's. Here are two fine examples - click images for larger view. I found them on a site called Mexican Retablos where they have descriptions and lots more images. The frames are often as interesting as the paintings. The more worn-down the piece, the better. These little paintings are very personal pieces of folk art. I have owned a copy of Gloria Gifford's book for many, many years.
"Santa Rita de Casia, patroness saint of desperate cases, is almost always portrayed as she is here, with a spot of blood and a thorn deeply imbedded in her forehead. As the story goes, in the year of 1441, during a sermon on the crown of thorns, Santa Rita prayed so intently that a thorn detached itself from her crucifix and lodged itself in her forehead." link
This is the website of a lovely-looking store in San Francisco called Colonial Arts, located at 463 Union St. in the heart of North Beach, San Francisco.
The Art of Amy Crehore