Category Archives: Uncategorized

Breukelen Coffee House Exhibit Opens Tomorrow

Date: Friday, February 5, 2010
Time: 8pm – 12am
Location: Breukelen Coffee House, 764A Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Event Description:
Spread Love, It’s the Breukelen Way!

The Breukelen Coffee House proudly presents it’s first official art opening, complete with Brooklyn artists of all mediums and walks of life.

A Brooklyn-based DJ, will be spinning fly tunes, and a Brooklyn-based bartender will be slinging drinks for those who wish to partake in libations!

In addition to the party and press — there will be an Independent documentary film crew there — taking footage for their documentary on the 6 month progression of the Breukelen Coffee House starting this month.

Gabriel Orozco at MOMA

Clever and interesting work, but what struck me is seeing photos of many of these pieces was essentially the same as seeing the objects in person. I’ve seen the Bauhaus work in the next gallery several times but doubt I’ll be returning to see this exhibit. Once you “get” the concept behind the art, there’s not much left. Car cut in thirds and reassembled without the center. Four bikes connected by their head tubes and seat posts. Hanging whale skeleton inscribed with circles. You can easily visualize the work and it’s exactly what you’d imagine. Sometimes that’s not enough.

Happy Holidays!

It’s been a fantastic year and you’ve helped to make it possible, so thank you!

I’ve gotten married, had my work featured in several exhibits, got a new art studio, revamped my website, started developing a new group of paintings (see one of my latest pieces above), and posted the work of 50 artists at the Art in Brooklyn website. Thanks for your interest in my work and please stay tuned for more exciting events in 2010!

Health and happiness to you and your loved ones in the New Year

Source Photos

There’s a new exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum consisting of source photographs the artist staged for his paintings.

http://www.nrm.org/2009/10/opening-of-landmark-exhibition-exploring-a-new-body-of-rockwell-imagery-nov-7th/

NPR has an interesting report questioning the implications of these photos being released and the line between artist and illustrator. For me the line is always at least partially blurred.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2009/11/rockwell.html

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/W/warhol.html

Vermeer’s Milkmaid at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A highlight of my recent visit to the Met was seeing Vermeer’s painting of The Milkmaid on loan from the Rijksmuseum. The last time the painting was seen here was 70 years ago, so it’s been a while. NYC is no stranger to Vermeer, there are 5 of his paintings in the Met and 3 at the Frick, but this is something else. The picture of a solitary woman pouring milk from a jug into a bowl with a tabletop of breads simply stuns. The colors are radiant, her apron is a pure ultramarine blue, and the details are phenomenal. The stitching in her bodice is so finely portrayed you can see the darker fabric in the individual stitches that haven’t been bleached by sunlight. Her face and arms are a ruddy, fleshy, red but her upper forearms are a doughy white. The crusts of bread sparkle in the sunlight. See it yourself before the weekend is over, otherwise you’ll have to pay for a trip to Amsterdam.

Work in Progress

I’ve started taking pictures of work in progress at the end of painting sessions. It’s interesting to watch the development of a piece since I work intuitively. One of the real pleasures of painting is getting involved in the process and letting the work have a life of it’s own (instead of planning everything ahead of time). The link below shows a series of images from my latest piece which is still unfinished.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesorgatz/sets/72157622762103982/