Latino Permanent Collection

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Gnemern Self-Portrait 2003

Fortunately, a piece from my first international exhibition in Germany, 2003 will be in the permanent collection at the Latino Art Museum in Pomona, California starting today. I'd like to thank Graciela Nardi, Director for allowing me to have a solo show there in 2010 and now to be in the permanent collection is a wonderful blessing. Muchisimas gracias!

Latino Art Museum Mission Statement below:

The Latino Art Museum is a nonprofit organization created to promote the works of talented Latin American contemporary artists living in the United State, including literature, and performing art for the benefit of the general public, providing hands-on-art classes to children as well as adults and to the achieve national and international recognition making and leading contribution in the intellectual, culural, economic and social life of the State of California and the United States Nation.

 

Thee Orange Coast Review

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Wavering and Quivering Self 05 (watercolor on MDF)

Me, Jared Millar, Mieke Gelley and Wavering and Quivering Self behind us.

My Belgian boy and ostriches got the cover just this month! Thanks to Jared Millar and Davi Loren for choosing my Magic Realist paintings to be the visual entry point as writers read from the podium, their work became form immediately. It was quite an honor!

If you haven't heard of the Orange Coast Review the description below is from the curator and book designer, Jared Millar.

"Orange Coast Review is an eclectic convergence of literary fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, interviews and art. Think of it as a portable salon, a place where boundaries are broken and styles morph, a celebration of creative diversity.

The 2015 issue includes a wide array of work from established and emerging writers based in Southern California, Canada, and the U.K., including a compelling interview of Raymond Obstfeld, author of over 50 books and a dozen screenplays. Andrew Tonkovich, editor of the Santa Monica Review, contributes a scathing satire of Twitter-driven values, and Kathleen MacKay entertains readers with a tall tale about an eccentric child. Michael Bourne’s engrossing exploration of racial isolation and fear will undoubtedly provoke discussion. We are particularly pleased to be the first to publish a story by Julian Guise, a remarkable new talent."

Artist's included in the exhibition:

Bradford J. Salamon, Michael Harnish, Tom Dowling, Peter Gelker, Julia Klemek, A.M. Rousseau, James F. Lorigan, Sheryl Seltzer, Suzanne Walsh, Lisa Bloomfield, Becca Shewmake, Claudia Morales McCain, Suzanne Petry, Hsin-Han Hsu, Carleen Carrasco, Carl R. Zaptiff, Hannah Melde, and Kitty Nguyen.

Orangecoastreview.com

 

The Mother Ship

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Detail of Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit XIII

Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit XIII

Last but not least Image #13

Physical Inspiration: The Effects of Wind

In October of 2008, my job sent me to Vegas. I walked outside during the day and saw my transportation, a black SUV, and jumped in. The driver and I were stopped, waiting for the traffic to move, at once, the wind moved the trees violently outside the SUV windows. I took notice of their movement, immediately memory brought to my attention that I had dreamt about kites the night before. The first inklings of my love for things that are affected by wind, began. Dust storms and tornadoes came later. Wind is invisible and yet all humans understand, can see, articulate and measure it's effects.       

Spiritual Inspiration: The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

I mentioned this verse one other time but this time I would like to focus on what Jesus was explaining to a very learned man named Nicodemus. Jesus said that everyone has to be born again to see heaven. This was a radical thing to say to a man who was an esteemed bible student and held a position in Jewish society that few held because of his bible knowledge and wisdom. This statement from Jesus applies to everyone today. Jesus chose a physical phenomenon that everyone understands to illustrate a spiritual concept that everyone can receive.

Jesus was saying that if you are "born again" you know the effects the his Holy Spirit in your life. Just like the wind is invisible his Holy Spirit is invisible. All humans understand wind, can see, articulate and measure it's effects. And, the same is true for a person who is "born again". We have the assurance that the effects of a life transformed by Jesus Christ can be seen, articulated and measured and thus the impetus for all 13 of these erasings.         

The End.

P.S. My photographer titled this, "The Mother Ship" because it has bits and pieces of all the other images. If you don't know Jesus personally and consider him your Savior, pray and ask him into your heart...or call me and I can pray with you. (858.663.8481)

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Title: Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit - XIII

40 inches x 82 inches-pastel erasing on dura-lar

Location: Bakersfield Museum of Art

Event: #OpeningReception Extended

 

Art School Really Messed With My Head!

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Detail of Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit XI

Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit XI

Image #12 of 13

Physical Inspiration: File Clam

Long, fleshy tentacles fringe the mantle of the File Clam which are sticky and detach easily when touched. Some file clam species swim, they clap their shells together using a strong adductor muscle, creating directed jets of water that emerge from either side of the hinge which propel them in the opposite direction. To distract a disturber, the clam may shed wriggling tentacles and they can move using their tentacles to 'row' with the shell in a vertical position. This uniquely created creature informed the way I made this drawing. If you haven't seen a File Clam, Google it.

Spiritual Inspiration: In the Book of Genesis God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens"...

It is hard to believe that God "created" all things, isn't it?! Sometimes I still have a hard time saying that aloud in certain company. But by faith, I ask God for understanding about the things that I have a hard time with. 

There are a few things that I marvel at when I read about how God/Jesus/Holy Spirit created the world...the bible actually records that God/Jesus/Holy Spirit spoke the earth into being. That is very different from how human beings create, which was really hard for me to accept. I was trained to think otherwise, art schooI really messed with my head! ...We...have to use our physical bodies to create, this makes us less than God and distinctly separates my act of creation apart from how God creates, thus rendering me - unoriginal. 

My art mentor, friend and wise, Jewish, religious woman said to me one day as we were discussing great artists/people and their creations, "the distance between them and God is narrow". After eating humble pie, I reminded myself that some of the most important technological advances and great art works over the centuries were created after having studied God's original creation.

That day I decided that if I want to be effective, I would have to rearrange my thinking. I can honestly say now that my work is a very simple interpretation of what God has already created.

And...the Book of Genesis consistently reminds me that after He created all things,  He saw that it, what he created, was good.

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Title: Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit - XI

40 inches x 82 inches-pastel erasing on dura-lar

Location: Bakersfield Museum of Art

Event: #OpeningReception Extended

 

 

 

The Great Wave

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Detail of Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit XII

Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit XII

Image #11

Physical Inspiration: The Great Wave

Many hours of video footage scared me into making this erasing. It is 3.8ft. x 7ft. and one of the largest of the bunch.

The most recent Tsunami in Japan March 11, 2011 - At 2:46pm, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake took place 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan, at a depth of 15.2 miles. The earthquake caused a tsunami with 30 ft waves that damaged an estimated 25 trillion yen or $300 billion and took many lives.

I've always been enamored with a wave image made by the Japanese artist Hokusai which was published sometime between 1830 and 1833 titled "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" (神奈川沖浪裏) or "In the well of a wave off Kanagawa", also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave.

My wave confronts the viewer almost straight on, with a gentle strength and an impending power about to drop its force.

Spiritual Inspiration: Raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Jude 1:13

Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James wrote a letter to people of faith and reminded them that God saved them out of Eygpt but shortly there after, God destroyed those who did not believe. There are many examples of waves in the Bible; the wave of destruction, in the form judgement, that ran through Sodom and Gomorrah or when Mark and Luke recorded Jesus rebuking the wind and the waves saying, "Quiet! Be still!" and they were.

Jude's passage is difficult to contend with.  For me it is much like reconciling why God allows natural disasters to occur because of the suffering that they cause. Waves both natural and spiritual can be seen as destructive and cleansing. But as the Psalmist says to God, "You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them".

May we learn to see the signs of life's impending waves as a warning that will ultimately bring forth a spiritual cleansing once we return our gaze toward God.

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Title: Observed and Recorded Permutation of The Holy Spirit - XII

40 inches x 82 inches-pastel erasing on dura-lar

Location: Bakersfield Museum of Art

Event: #OpeningReception Extended