In Honor Of Three Alive Artists

This weekend a simultaneous art experience will happen for three renowned artists/pava members. Jack Breit, Denis Gaston and James Michaels will have their current work on display at the Cool Art Show and also have their collected work on display at the “In a new Light “ exhibition at the Florida International Museum at St. Petersburg College. This will give the public the rare opportunity to meet celebrated artists in the community and purchase their latest creations.

In honor of the artists and the concurrent show at the Florida International Museum (FIM) patrons visiting the Cool Art Show will receive discounted passes to view the “In a new Light” exhibition.

The Cool Art Show runs Saturday and Sunday, 10a.m. to 5p.m. inside the Coliseum, 535 4th Avenue North in downtown St. Petersburg. Admission and parking for the show is free.

Hot Town, Cool Art

The 21st annual Cool Art Show returns to the historic Coliseum in St. Petersburg, July 18, 19, 10am-5pm. Featuring 75 statewide artists working in all media, Cool Art will please the eyes and engage the mind. Check art writer Megan Voeller's Creative Loafing story for more information.

Little Boxes

It is not necessary to work eight hours a day seven days a week to create a body of art. All that is required is a willingness to somehow get the job done. Painting sixty minutes a day over a year's time will give many hours in the studio.

The writer Elmore Leonard got up at 5:00 am and wrote for two hours before going to work at an ad agency. He did it for ten years and turned out five books and 30 short stories.

My ad agency days are thankfully behind me and I've found arising in the dark unappealing. The best I can muster is staring out the window at daybreak, nursing a cup of darjeeling.

But working here and there over time, I've amassed a sizeable body of new paintings and drawings. Above is a mixed-media painting on masonite called Little Boxes.

Florida Artist Group Exhibition

Florida Artist Group (FLAG), the oldest statewide organization of professional artists, is holding its annual symposium and exhibition at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art in Tarpon Springs.

The exhibition runs through July 18, and demonstrates the variety and excellence of artists living in Florida. I am pleased to have this mixed-media painting, Artemis, included in the show.

More Doll Face

Dolls are creepy play things. With dull unblinking eyes and pouty baby lips, they lay in the corner of the room, waiting, never sleeping, even with eyes closed. I'm reminded of the strange marionette from the film Cabaret and the fantastic animated dolls of Czech film-maker Jan Svankmajer. Dolls seen this way mirror the anxiety and dread that inhabit a grown-up world.

Children must see it differently. For them, dolls become a blank screen on which to project their hopes, dreams and wishes for a life that is anything but a fantasy.