Who I Am Writing For

I received a short and sweet comment to my post Late Night Musings on the Value of Art and Why I Paint Squares from kzurc who wrote: Great Post! I love art talk. I responded: Thanks. I love art talk also.

Late Night Musings is basically a review of Don Thompson’s book $12 Million Stuffed Shark the Curious Economics of Contemporary Art (Palgrave/MacMillan, 2008). It’s a great book and a must read if you are interested in who becomes a famous artist and why. I included an image of my geometric collage titled Metro at the start of the post to show I really do paint squares. I see myself as a contemporary artist who has a sense of art history. See the image below.

The $12 million refers to the price for Damien Hirst’s dead shark in formaldehyde titled “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” (1991). It caused a sensation and the haute art world has never been the same since Damien Hirst. But maybe it’s changing. Reality bites.

The economy has hurt the art market for artists at all levels, crushed opportunities and sales. A lot of artists complain that galleries won’t look at their work. I say we have to reinvent the game.

I have a dilemma: I want to write about the art world (it’s a big world and there are so many important issues that intrigue me). I also want to write about the art of collage. I love paper. I teach collage workshops. I say my life is about glue. But I love to talk art talk.

I signed up for Blog Triage with Alyson B. Stanfield and Cynthia Morris to get a handle on blogging. I’ve been following Alyson’s posts, have her book I’d rather be in the studio,  and I’m ready to get to work.

Lesson #1 asked us to write a blog: Who are you writing for? (Who do you want to visit your blog?), and asked us to think of a real person we know.

The person I would like to visit my blog is someone like Sylvia (her real name). That’s because she’s smart and interested in contemporary art. Sylvia loves to make jewelry and takes classes. Sylvia has an incredible sense of style and design. Sylvia would be a great patron. She’s not afraid of art. She is a fun person to be with.

Sylvia’s been to my studio and comes to my art openings. I’m not sure she ever will buy my art (maybe she will). She’s very supportive. She is the kind of person I would love to have as a patron of my work.

She told me she likes to read my blog but has never left comments. I wonder if she thinks the posts are too wordy. I will ask her.

Nikkal: Metro Green Grey Brown Black Indian Yellow, 24×24 collage on panel

Here’s an  image of my collage on panel titled Metro. The series is all about geometric abstraction and color. If you are in the Metro NY area, visit my studio at Media Loft to see images in person, or visit me online at nikkal.com.

I just  relaunched my collage website Stuff That Sticks. It has a new mission statement with a focus on collage workshops.

I posted a new blog titled Caribbean Fantasy Island Collage the day after the collage website was relaunched (with help from webhost Christina Saj at Muse Design Group). I have 2 workshops scheduled this month. One is titled Caribbean Fantasy Collage. The other is titled Conjur Woman Portrait in Collage. Both are inspired by the work of Romare Bearden (African-American, 1911-1988), one of the greatest masters of modern collage. His work is the inspiration for the two workshops.

Romare Bearden, Purple Eden (1987) watercolor and collage

At left is his work titled Purple Eden , photo by Carlos Lippai. It’s the first of several Bearden watercolor collage paintings included on the blog.

This painting captures the lush colors of the Caribbean and showcases Bearden’s brilliant watercolor technique.

Toni Ruppert already commented on my blog: Nikkal, Thank you for sharing more about this wonderful artist. I knew of Romare Bearden before, but viewing his work through your eyes was very enlightening. Well done!

I have to reply to Toni asap and say thanks for the nice comments.

I hope more people who love the art of Romare Bearden and the Caribbean will find my post and be inspired by Bearden’s art. I hope many of them will be inspired to make their own collage paintings.

My Blog Triage goal: repurpose the blog to focus mainly on the art of collage with appeal to a broad audience, and, when I want to, tie in themes in the broader art world (like a mixed media collage that can include  this, that and some of everything in between!).

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