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Bites in Print

Today’s blog focuses on various ways to execute bites from Oreo Cookies. If you were expecting bites from The Vampire Diaries or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you may want to look elsewhere…. I finally took the plunge into the whole new world of prints, opening the door to a new area of exploration – along with a new gallery in California and a July group show in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

After working almost exclusively in oil for many years, I began a series of 6 x 6 inch Oreo cookie drawings. Since it is easier and quicker to draw than to paint (think no messy oil paint brush cleanup!), I am able to explore a larger variety of possibilities and whimsical compositions using this particular icon. Here are 10 drawings in cello bags, along with some of the original subjects.
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My initial concept was to make prints of single original Limited Edition Giclée Art Prints based on the Oreo drawings, like this one.

While looking at the initial array square Oreo drawings on the table (shown above), I started playing with the tiles and arranging them. A composition eventually emerged. For the next two days, I intermittently rearranged the drawings, when I finally realized I was looking at my first composite print of 9 Oreo Cookies called “Oreo Mandala”. “Oreo Mandala” made its gallery debut at SuperFresh Food Art Gallery in Novato, CA, which Jay and I visited on the first day of our recent San Francisco trip. Let me introduce you to one of the co-owners, Jennifer Carden, a California food stylist, who coincidentally went to art school at SUNY Purchase. It’s a small world!

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Don’t you just love the big fork next to the Oreo print?

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Imagine being in a room surrounded by exquisite food, without gaining any weight… I have Cristine Kossow, a fellow food artist who I met through our local Art Card Group, to thank for telling me about this gallery.

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Now that I am officially an artist who works in print, there are a plethora of opportunities to exhibit prints and drawings that were previously unavailable, such as the PaperWorks 2014 juried show at Upstream Gallery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, currently on display.

PaperWorks 2014 Announcement

PaperWorks 2014 featured in the RiverTowns Enterprise – with a delicious surprise!

The two Oreo prints accepted into this exhibit are part of a series showing participating entries from my Oreo Cookie Contest, held during the RiverArts Open Studio Tour a few years back. Since the “biter” of the bottom Oreo neglected to leave their name, this “portrait” is titled “Oreo Cookie #2 – Anonymous”. The top print, “Oreo Cookie #8 – My Bite”, was my own contribution to the series and thus is my Oreo “portrait”. Can you see the resemblance?

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Stop by the Upstream Gallery before July 27th for a closer look!

Thank you to all my loyal fans who have encouraged me to stretch, to be more adventuresome, and to try a new media. In other words, thanks for inspiring me to take a bite out of life!

Grounds for Sculpture – Seward Johnson Retrospective

A picture is worth a thousand words in this instance. See for yourself and see why I am so looking forward to the “Seward Johnson: The Retrospective”, featuring more than 287 of works at the Grounds for Sculpture in Trenton, Jersey, which runs through September 21st, 2014. Here is a sampling of the permanent collection from a recent visit.

Our version of Munch’s “The Scream”

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Lunch with my new friends in Renoir’s “Boating Party”

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More food in Edouard Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe.

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Jay waiving from Monet’s “Garden at Sainte-Addresse” – the scale of which is mind-boggling.

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Finally, a suitcase my husband can’t lift in Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”

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With even more Johnson sculptures than ever before in three new indoor shows, this is going to be a spectacular day! The art historian in me gets a big kick out of seeing his re-interpretation of so many iconic images – an experience I that I highly recommend to all of you.

This will be a show with something for everyone. Savor every minute of it!

The Ultimate Obsession in Serial Imagery

Since I am fascinated by the concept of serial imagery, I went to see Peter Dreher’s show at the the Koenig & Clinton Gallery in Chelsea. I am pleased to tell you that I loved this show, felt it rightfully earned its star status in the New York Times, and am still thinking about it long after the show came down.

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It was a quiet and subtle show but somehow very effective and powerful in its simplicity. The name of the show, “Day by Day, Good Day”, is rooted in Zen Buddhism’s meditative and contemplative approach to the world and everything in it. For over 40 years, Dreher painted over 5,000 glasses at different times of day, and 150 of them were shown here. Each work in the series is exquisitely painted.

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When I entered the exhibit, I went right for the wall of glasses above. My daughter, Bonnie, on the other hand, let the row of glasses draw her around the room.

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Some are painted during the day, some at night. This one captures an intriguing reflection that made me think of sunset.

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Markedly different in tonality, this group was painted at night.

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If you look closely above the glass, you can see how the artist scratched a unique code into the wet oil paint on every canvas.

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Dreher himself says that painting the glass “is the only place and the only hours in my life when I really feel quiet. Maybe I don’t make the impression of being unquiet, but I am.” While I agree with him, I also felt really quiet and present while experiencing this show, which is maybe what made it such a gift.

What do you think?

OK Harris Works of Art – The End of an Era

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When I was in Soho last week, I was feeling a little sad and nostalgic because OK Harris had closed after 45 years. I missed my old routine including a regular stop at OK Harris, either to drop off new work or simply to view the five compelling solo exhibits which were typically mounted throughout the year in this huge space – a forerunner to the Chelsea museum-galleries. When I brought my family with me, everyone always found something that appealed to them. I particularly loved seeing the stable of food artists, such as Ralph Goings.

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This probably shouldn’t have surprised me since I attended the 2012 memorial service of Ivan Karp, the founder and director. What a marvelous tribute it was to Ivan, a charismatic person and giant in the art world! Ivan helped launch the careers of pop artist such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg as co-director of Leo Castelli Gallery from 1959-1969. Then Ivan launched his own gallery in SoHo , the first one on West Broadway. Ivan continued to uncover and mentor new artists throughout his entire career, and I am proud to say that I was one of them.

OK Harris was at the forefront of the Photo Realist movement, and was one of the first galleries to exhibit the work of Duane Hanson, one of my all time favorite sculptors. I remember the first time my daughter, Laura, confronted one of Hanson’s guards posted in the gallery.

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The memorial service was packed full of video clips and interviews, one of my favorites showing Ivan and Andy Warhol having a great time. Another memorable moment was when Jim Zagat gave Ivan, a connoisseur of food and wine, credit for suggesting the concept of a restaurant guide at dinner one night. To my delight, I just found the service online.

The visual introducing the memorial service show silhouettes of Ivan smoking his ever-present cigar. OK Harris was probably the only art gallery with a cigar store in it. In fact, I first introduced myself to Ivan in the cigar store in 2001, which led to my first show with the gallery – and I still think of Ivan every time I see someone smoking a cigar. The details of that first show will be the subject of a future post.

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For now, I want to express my appreciation to Ivan, Ethan, and Marilyn Karp, and the rest of the OK Harris team, especially to Suzanne Kreps and Rick Witter, as well as Ana Menezes and Amy Fishman, for their friendship and support for over a decade. I have nothing but good things to say about all of you, the extremely high quality of the numerous OK Harris shows that I savored through the years, and the professionalism of the gallery – of which I was honored to be a part.

Thank you, OK Harris!

Irresistible Chocolate Factory in Chelsea

Given my sweet tooth, love of all things chocolate, and previous job as an Account Executive on the M&M Mars Account, I couldn’t resist going to this show featuring a recreation of the Columbina Chocolate Factory at the David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea. The artist, Oscar Murillo, collaborated with Colombina, one of the premier food companies in his native Columbia, to make this happen calling this exhibition “A Mercantile Novel”.

When my daughter Bonnie and I walked in, it smelled and looked like the M&M Mars candy factory I used to visit in Hacketstown, NJ. Bonnie looked very happy, perhaps pleased that we were looking at REAL chocolate rather than paintings of chocolate!

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This is an exhibit where you can touch and participate. Tens of thousands of candies are being produced and given away for free at the gallery and Columbina, certainly a way to get their name out there to American consumers. Visitors and volunteers are invited to take smiley-faced packages of chocolates and give them to people throughout the five boroughs, embracing the diversity of NYC communities. A part of me loved the unexpected novelty of this show, and the other part felt like I was participating in one giant advertisement for the company.

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While we were visiting the gallery, we ran into a tour of smiling and engaged participants. Unfortunately we arrived near the very end and missed the commentary. At home, I found an interesting UK article showcasing photos of the 13 Columbian factory workers who were brought over for the exhibition.

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At the end of the tour, the guide offered to take photos with the visitors. Of course, I had to take him up on the generous offer… Later on, I found out he was Jerry Salz, the esteemed art critic for New York Magazine (whose reviews I has read religiously through the years) and Pulitzer Prize winner.

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When he asked me who I was, I told him I was Beverly, the dessert painter, and showed him a postcard. He looked at it, threw up his hands, and exclaimed, “Just accept this show! Accept it!”. I really wasn’t sure what he meant. How do you interpret this?

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Attention all chocoholics: You can still stop by and get your own chocolate snacks through June 14th, 2014. Enjoy!

Philip Pearlstein 90th Birthday Party

I was so excited when my friend Anita called and invited me to a very special event celebrating Philip Pearlstein’s 90th birthday. Anita is a long-time friend of Dorothy, Philip’s wife, and was kind enough to call and ask if she could bring an extra guest to the opening of his new show at the Betty Cunningham Gallery in Chelsea. Philip Pearlstein is a force to be reckoned with in the art world as a painter with works in over 70 museums around the world and a professor at Brooklyn College for 25 years. He is a renowned realistic figure painter who helped breathe life back in the Modern Realism movement – for which I am eternally grateful given my love of realism.

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I first met Philip over 40 years ago when I was a college student on break from the University of Michigan. After seeing an ad featuring this giant nude cropped at unusual angles, I decided to go to the opening at the Donald Morris Gallery, in Royal Oak, Michigan. I was bowled over by a few rooms packed full of large, still in-your-face images of realistic nudes, and told him so. The 1970s paintings were quiet and almost monochromatic, but forceful and energized by patterned rugs and fabric furniture, and unexpected reflections. Even back then, I recognized that these images were impactful and iconic. Little did I know he would keep painting nudes for the rest of his career. When we met this time, I had something a bit personal to talk about.

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When Philip got up to thank everyone for coming and give some brief comments, I saw a woman wearing a hat walk right up to him and start taking photos with her phone. At first, I couldn’t believe how bold she was. Then it turns out she was the next speaker. That’s Audrey Flack, a good friend of Philip’s and pioneer of photorealist painting, whose work is owned by major museums such as the Met Museum, MOMA and Guggenheim. The room was packed full of famous people in the art world , if only I had known who they were…

Speech from Philip Pearlstein

While I was speaking with Philip’s actress/playwright daughter, she told me her father still paints every day for at least 4 to 5 hours. This fit with what I was seeing – a vibrant man, with a twinkle in his eye and a dry sense of humor too, who looks absolutely amazing at 90!

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I will always treasure the catalog that was given out which paid tribute to Philip’s entire body of work, as did the cupcakes from Eleni’s Bakery with photos of his paintings on top.

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The show included large format watercolor and oils which gave some insight into how Philip works. When I asked him whether he painted the watercolors first, Philip said he did because he wanted to see if they were worth the time to invest in an oil painting. Here’s a watercolor that he apparently thought had potential. You can see for yourself how a larger, more complex watercolor rectangular composition with two figures evolved it into a more focused, square oil painting with a single figure.

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As you can see, Philip Pearlstein is still going strong at 90 and is officially my new role model! Move over Wayne Thiebaud….for now, anyway. If you’re a Pearlstein fan, I think this is a show you can’t miss. Happy BIrthday, Philip!

A Loyal Fan

Let me introduce you to Blake “The Biter”, one of my greatest fans, who entered my Oreo Cookie Contest this year and in the past. You can see how much thought and care he has given to his bite, and how proud he is of his entry, which broke into 3 pieces and has plenty of crumbs (we like crumbs!)

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Blake and his father stopped by early Saturday, the first day my home studio was open, to take a bite. Then they came back late Sunday afternoon to check out the competition. I don’t think Blake was happy to see so many other entries, and he sure did analyze them carefully.  Good luck, Blake!

The Team

As in most successful endeavors, there is a support team who works behind the scenes. A special thank you goes to my family for their help on my Open Studio weekend. My husband, Jay, cheerfully ran a seemingly endless list of errands leading up to the event, and my youngest daughter, Bonnie, handled many of the numerous nitty gritty details and helped keep me organized (the teacher in her came out!).

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Given that I am a food painter, no occasion passes by without serving food. What do you think we offered besides Oreos? Desserts, of course! Bonnie was in charge of the edible food (how did that healthy looking fruit sneak onto the table?). She is an accomplished baker, as you can see from the Chocolate Cherry Trifle hanging on the wall that she whipped up for me to paint.

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Finally, I want to thank Maritza who helped with the setup and graciously manned the Oreo Cookie Contest table for two days.

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You all made a great team and I couldn’t have done this without you!

Oreo Cookie Contest

To all of you who came to my Open Studio and enthusiastically “took a bite” to enter my Oreo Cookie Contest, I want to thank you for your participation and wish you good luck!

Now the process begins to select the top Oreo Cookies finalists. It will be particularly challenging this year since there were so many contestants with creative ideas on how to bite an Oreo. There are almost too many great choices – if such a thing is possible.

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The first step is to perfect the lighting across the Oreos. My favorite paintings usually have dramatic interplay of lights and darks along cracked surfaces – and lots of extra crumbs! Then I photograph each cookie for safe keeping.

After many years of painting Oreos, I have found that having a visual record of the initial concept is important. The light in my studio changes dramatically from morning to afternoon, shifting the highlights and shadows, which is not optimal. I have new empathy for the French Impressionists who started their outdoor paintings in a particular place at a specific time of day, and then went back daily at the same time to the same spot until they finished.

Open Studio

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Thank you everyone for coming to my Open Studio and making it such a successful event! The turnout was great, the questions insightful, and the feedback meaningful. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with all of you.

Having the opportunity to dialog with you always opens up the doors to new ideas, creative directions, and potential explorations. Certainly that was the case and it is much appreciated.

Hope you come back again soon!
 

Bev’s First Bite

Welcome to Bev’s Bites of Life!

I’m Beverly, a dessert painter and art historian who lives and works in Westchester County, NY. To me, art is more than paint strokes on a canvas. It’s about inspiration. Here I will share everything that piques my interest – from art shows in NYC galleries and museums, to bakeries and food, along with slices of my family life. I also want to hear about what drives you! I would love to open communication with my readers and build a community so we can exchange ideas and inspire each other.

Feel free to introduce yourself in the comments section. Looking forward to “meeting”  you!