PORN Art Exhibit at the Falcon

For the month of February, local artists are exhibiting PORN Art at the Falcon,(819 E Washington St
Orlando, FL). This exhibit will be up for the entire month of February. I couldn’t resist doing a sketch that ties in with the shows theme. From the event page on Facebook I found a dancer who was interested in posing for the sketch. He put out feelers to see if a female dancer was also willing to pose. The week before the show, I had the dancers pose naked on a futon in the studio. They posed in an sensual embrace and I sketched them feverishly. The sketch worked well. We had time to spare, so we tried a second pose where they embraced sitting up with her in his lap. Unfortunately his leg turned blue and fell asleep. The second pose was a bit too adventurous to hold. I didn’t mind since the first sketch was acceptable.

The opening for PORN was incredibly crowded.  People spilled out into the street. Tr3 Harris told me he was jealous because he knew the models who posed for my sketch. I don’t know how he found out their names, news travels fast in a small town. My sketch is being exhibited in the front room. An odd sculpted bull with a vagina for a head is above my piece. There was a woman wearing a Wonder Woman dress. I cursed myself for not having the room to fit her in the sketch I had started. Wendy Claitor helped me find a decent German beer to sip while I sketched. Morgan Wilson did a whole series of brightly colored slick oil paintings of women in porn. Two bright green women with magenta hair kissed, a purple woman was in a red blind fold, a middle finger was thrust up near a woman’s panties, a purple woman lay recumbent, her breasts thrust up as if she were pulling her nipples. Karen Russell showed a rather tame woman’s portrait that showed some bare shoulders. There was a magnifying glass to allow people to study a small golden sculpture. A man stood with a huge towel hiding his genitals. 3D glasses were available although I didn’t try them out to see if any body parts might thrust out of any canvases. Bernie Martin joined me at my table and he worked on a sketch of a ballerina using watercolor.

Safe porn themed Hollywood movies, like “Boogie Nights“, were being projected. At one point the guy in my sketch stood up and took off his jacket. He shouted, “Porn!” and started unbuttoning his shirt while shaking his hips Elvis style. He stopped after unfastening two buttons and sat back down. In many ways the show seems to have unbuttoned only part of the way. I was hoping to be shocked that Orlando had an undercurrent of lust and impropriety. I’m as guilty as any artist of keeping things PG in this theme park town. At least the show is a bold first step towards pushing the envelope.

Karen Russell Opening

I went to the opening reception of Karen Russell‘s solo art show at Sam Flax (1800 East Colonial Drive) on July 9th. I arrived straight from my job at Full Sail. I had to buy a few brushes for my trip to Santo Domingo. I bumped into Karen and her friend George as I was shopping. Karen let me know that she had crackers and that spray on Easy Cheese. How awesome! I haven’t had Easy Cheese since I was a kid. This was turning out to be quite an auspicious  pinky raised affair. Karen had to run out to get a few more supplies for the opening.

Since I was early, I started sketching the room, leaving a few open spots for arts patrons when they arrived. I spoke with the store owner for a while and I’m very happy that he is now stocking quality sketchbooks.  Half of the Stillman & Birn sketchbooks had sold from the floor display that he had picked up from the Namta Art Supply Convention at the Orlando Convention Center about a month ago. He has started stocking the new quality sketchbooks from Canson and Strathmore as well. As he said, “This is the year of the sketchbook.”

Karen was dressed all in black, with oil paint dabbed all over her calves. She returned with a supply of Communion wafers. Gordon Spears tried one and he said it tasted a bit like an ice cream cone or Styrofoam. I tried a small white wafer as well, letting it dissolve on the roof of my mouth. Karen suggested that they taste better with Easy Cheese. I never did try that combo. Being Jewish, my wife Terry wondered if she would go to hell for tasting a wafer. Some guy told her that it wasn’t too late to save her soul. She avoided him the rest of the evening. Terry had Karen paint a nude of her. The angular painting stares at me as I try to go to sleep at night. Terry joked that we should buy all the paintings and then sell them for thousands of dollars more down at Art Basel in Miami. A store clerk talked about how locals don’t buy art. He knew of a couple from Orlando who purchased some art in a Chicago art gallery. The art was by an Orlando artist. They said that they never buy art in Orlando. “For some reason, people only appreciate art north of the Mason Dixie Line.” he said.

People sat in all the black “Darth Vader” studio chairs on display. A friend of Karen’s showed off all the abrasions and bruises she got at a “Sui-slide” party she had been at. Another woman had a broken finger. Darn, I knew about that party and didn’t go to sketch. I could kick myself. The model for one the paintings liked how she looked on the wall with a flower in her hair. Jokingly, she lamented the hunch back and saggy boobs. A couple bought the smallest painting for $65. A green dot went on the label. I love Karen’s work. The harsh knuckled fingers and angular figures remind me of Viennese Expressionistic art prior to the world wars. This show is on display through July 23rd.

Shut Up & Play Sketch Marathon

Music was being performed constantly for 12 hours at 11/12 Lounge. Artist, Dawn Schreiner had to move her easel and art supplies off stage two as all the musical equipment was changed out. The next band brought in another drum set so there was plenty of activity on the stage. I was still adding watercolor washes to a sketch as all the sound equipment was being carted away. Lynn Halter Birdsall told me to inform Dawn that she could set up on the stage across the room since the other artist was done with his painting. When I sketched the Forefathers, she was at her new post. With all the activity, I abandoned inking in my drawings and just scribbled away with my pencil. I started to love the freedom the blunt pencil offered.

The Forefathers performed in the red glow of stage one. Their music had a mystic lyricism. Jupiter Groove on stage two was the last act that I sketched. Their driving riffs had elements of Progressive Fusion and Jazz. The seemingly improvisational performance influenced every line I drew. I kept beat with the flow of every line. I had arranged to get Terry into the concert. She finally texted me saying she was on her way. After my sketch was done I contemplated getting a beer and relaxing a bit. But Jeremy Birdsall was on stage playing keyboard and guitar at the same time. He was jamming with two other musicians he had just met. They improvised with absolute joy and abandon. I stood at a table and swayed to the beat. People at the bar were clapping and shouting encouragement. The place was buzzing and vibrant. I just soaked it in.

When Terry arrived she wanted to immediately go out to get a bite to eat. I left on my wrist band figuring I could return to the festival which continued until 2am. After dinner at Dexter’s we went to Karen Russell’s opening at Mother Falcon. Quite a few of her pieces were sold. Terry talked to Karen about possibly getting a tattoo. We went home. It was a good day.