So, the tests are successful, which means...

The next step is to get some more of my photos up here. The focus will be twofold, art and food, but you know me. I still am working on getting an art website up, complete with snazzy artist notes, bio, etc. I am, however, working on it in the "thinking and planning stage" so perhaps having a way of at least getting photos of the art up there will be the spark that makes me go further in this direction.

The long and short of it is this: newspaper writing, which is like the grocery business in that it is all about volume, is drying up. The papers I have been writing for have merged with another newspaper group, and I went from being the only food critic for a nine-paper chain of dailies with a range covering the whole Bay Area, to one of three. Add to the fact that the editors I have been working with are now gone, and that the other reviewers are staff people, who do not require extra money (beyond the expense of the dinner, which our management is notoriously niggardly about - a stupid thing in a food-obsessed region such as ours, but that is a different rant), and that the paper shut down the two most lucrative (for me, although they were good revenue generators for the company, too, so go figure) publications, the net result is fewer and fewer assignments, all in the outlying areas of the region (which is not bad, food wise, as Fremont has a rich concentration of interesting south Asian food, but to drive all that distance for the same fee is not all that exciting to me).

Since I do not advertise or market myself in my corporate writing (when times were good, I didn't have to), and am about done with that stuff anyway (although if a gig turns up, I take it), I have to think about a different income stream.

As a result, I have gone back to a pretty rigorous painting schedule. However, without a gallery this means the Internet, which many artists have had good success with.

So, the fast track to getting a website going is the inevitable conclusion.

Now, I am guessing that most of my readership here is more interested in my realist paintings, particularly my religious paintings, so that will probably be the principle focus of the images on this site. I have not, and do not intend to ever stop painting in the high modernist key as well, so those sorts of works will pop up from time to time, too.

There is a risk in being two painters in one: partisans of either style will assume that the work in the other is nothing but sell-out work, pandering to some ideological base or another. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth. I like Giotto, I like Diebenkorn. I like a lot of stuff in between.

In the 1950's, the Bay Area Figurative painters faced similar accusations. Diebenkorn, that always level-headed master, pointed out that he saw no more contradiction in painting abstract paintings at the same time as figurative works as he would in painting a landscape one day and a still life the next.

Post-modernism is probably a silly term in its use, but there is an underlying truth to what it originally meant: there is no more artistic mainstream. There may be one in the future, but there isn't one now. Artists should draw from whatever sources and inspirations they need, without regard for fitting into some label.

Easier said than done, as a quick tour of most contemporary galleries will demonstrate: many in the arts world will proclaim the end of the avant garde, althewhile desperately trying to find a place within it. The result is a lot of ideologically heavy work that often falls apart when analyzed for form and structure.

Anyone who has read my writings on art, or attended one of my lectures, will know that I strive after a theory of art that can be applied to a late Diebenkorn as well as to a Fra Angelico, and will make sense of both. The key to that is Music. A musical/structural analysis of any good painting will show that underlying the "rhetoric of images" (my term), all painting works by means of proportion, rhythm, counterpoint, and all of the terms that come to us from the study of music.

So it is in what I strive for in painting, whether it is a realistic painting of St. Francis or one of my recent "Stockhausen structure" paintings, in which the forms are taken from nature and combined, manipulated, and edited to make a highly abstract result.

So, there you have it. In the spirit of twentieth century art, I give you too many words and not enough images. Hopefully that will be corrected in the next few days.

A note on the commercial aspect of the postings: Unless otherwise noted, all posted works are available for sale. And, until I am in a gallery structure, I will be offering these direct to the buyer at wholesale price. So, if something strikes your fancy now, realize that the price will increase (by as much as double) when I get into a gallery representation situation, because the gallery owner has to pay rent, too. I will charge for shipping and handling on a simple formula: my time packaging and delivering to the shipper (on a $15 an hour rate, which is substantially less than what I charge to write, paint, or to cook), plus cost (packaging material, shipping costs, insurance, etc.). I will not skimp on the packaging, as that is silly. I will sell works on paper unframed, if they are not already framed, but the quoted prices will generally include framing (I used to work in a high end frame shop, so I follow sound archival practices in framing my work). If you want unframed, ask, and I will give you an unframed quote.

So, if you see a work that you would like to buy (and I can hold the price on a layaway sort of deal - I am very flexible), let me know immediately. I will email you (or snail mail) a contract (basically it transfers ownership of the painting to you, but I retain copyright and other usual artist's rights). You get the contract to me with a check (or I can set up a PayPal acocunt), and I package and ship the painting with the necessary documentation.

If a painting has a defect in workmanship (I am pretty meticulous, but these things do happen, even in works of the masters), I will make a reasonable effort to repair the work, or will offer a substitution painting. If the painting arrives and you just don't like it, send it back and I will refund the price, but not the shipping (otherwise abuses could occur, however, I am flexible, so if you want another painting instead, we could make some accomodation in the shipping cost).

If you are interested in renting a painting, we can talk. Basically, we could do a lease, after which you get the option of applying that fee to the price of the painting, or could ship it back.

I am also available for art consulting and for on-site installations, commissions, and site-specific works. I will even do dog portraiture if that is your thing (Good Lord, I hope not, though), and I have become pretty handy at restoring and touching up religious statues.

So, at the risk of turning this blog into the sort of blog that is always flogging work for sale, take this as an announcement that Erik's Rants and Recipes will begin functioning as an online gallery within a week.

If you like what you see, buy it, and spread the word!

One final note: feel free to link to and to post images on posts on your non-commercial blogs, so long as you credit the image with a link and post the copyright notice. If you want to use one of my images on your permanent template, that is probably fine, just ask my permission first.

Thank you.

Posted by erik at January 19, 2007 1:32 PM