Marilyn Monroe zombie leaves a sweet musty smell in City Arts Factory.

Posted on by Thor

I had to drop off some cards for Barbara Hartley at City Arts Factory (29 S Orange Ave, Orlando, FL). The place according to the website is usually closed on Monday but on this Indigenous People’s Day it was open because artists were dropping off their work for the Day of the Dead show happening in October.

While I was chatting with Tr3 Mark Harris at the front desk, Paul Joachim walked in. Paul sculpts life sized chocolate sculptures.  Paul had dropped off a life sized Marilyn Monroe zombie sculpture and he wanted to touch up he paint job. The sign next to her read, “Do not touch. Do not eat.” Which is very ironic since there were plenty of open bite wounds causing her to bleed red syrup. An exposed bone was visible on her left shin. Denna Beena told Paul that every guy who viewed the sculpture thought she might be having her period. Paul had considered making a small card to put under her dress that said,Hard Rock “You should be ashamed of yourself.” He thought better of it.

Paul had done a clean sculpt of Marilyn and then he added the gouges, blood and pasty purple skin tone. When he was working on her face he had to walk a fine line, making her look like Marilyn but dead. A huge bite out of her right cheek exposed her jaw bone and she was missing some teeth. There was an amazing synergy between Marilyn’s mouth and Andrew Spear‘s mural behind her. Both pieces of art treated the female sumptuous lips and teeth with loving detail.

Paul told me that the drive to City Arts Factory with the sculpture in the back of the truck was harrowing. Orlando’s cobble stone streets sent her dancing and shimmying in the back of the truck, Thankfully she didn’t topple over. After this show , Paul hopes that Hard Rock Cafe might inherit Marilyn for next year’s Halloween season. Halloween Horror Nights might be another home for her. I was surprised to find out that chocolate keeps rather well. It gets harder with age.

Mark Your Calendar! CityArts Dia de los Muertos and Monster Factory Exhibit is opening tonight, October 16th 6-11pm.  Phantasmagoria will be there to entertain and amaze and there will be a Day of the Dead Parade with larger than life sized skeletons. The show will remain up through November 14th.

Myth & Magic

Posted on by Thor

Terry invited me to a fundraising event called “Stand up to Bullying” at Ted Maines and Jeff Miller’s gorgeous condo in downtown Orlando. It was raining hard and the traffic to get downtown was horrible. I took a new course every time the traffic came to a dead stop but was still very late ti the event. The event was packed full of beautiful people. I swear half the crown had to be models. The condo has some amazing art, like a diamond studded portrait of Marilyn Monroe, a gold platted AK 47 machine gun lamp, a Robert Rauchenburg and some Andy Warhol prints. The living room table was covered with jewelry and people crowded around to try things on. Terry decided to buy a gorgeous ring with interlaces strands of metal and plenty of stones. Stand up to Bullying aims to educate students that bullying isn’t cool. There  will always be bully’s and victims, but the 98% of students who aren’t bullys or victims need to know how they can help stop the trend rather than watching as a bystander. Since there wasn’t enough time, I didn’t sketch the event. Instead, I decided to walk over to Third Thursday to sketch there.

I quickly walked through Gallery at Avalon Island and City Arts Factory, but they would only be open till 9pm so again I didn’t have enough time.Galleries in this sleepy little town sure hut down early, but the bars remain open till 2am for the drunks. So I ended up in NV Lounge which is great hideaway from the madness of the other nightclubs in Downtown Orlando since 2005. Tr3 Harris had curated a show titled “ Myth and Magic”.  “Benjamin Ezra Cremer and Toni L Taylor encompass Myth and Magic in all
their artwork. Toni Taylor’s beautiful artwork brings out the myths and
mysteries of Ancient Egypt as well as the spirit and magic of Native
America. Goddess imagery is represented powerfully in her collection.

Ben Cremer has the Aztec flare incorporating the myths and magic of that
society into his artwork.The powers of mysterious and supernatural
forces have come together to create an amazing showing, that create a legendary story.

Toni Taylor and Ben Cremer’s artwork taps into the collective
consciousness of the human race and serves to help create new mythology
for our modern times.” said Tr3.

 I have been a long time fan of Toni’s work. Born in Mount Vernon NY, she wants to touch parts of the viewer’s soul, by taking a
mental, emotional and spiritual aspect and placing it into her
creations. She wants people to tap into the ability to dream their
dreams and stimulate their own imaginations. Her highly polished oil paintings are incredibly sensual and lyrical. One of my favorites, called “Tantrika” shows a nude woman’s backside as she lifts her large curly dreads. A  jeweled pendant is delicately chained around her hips to hang in the small of her back. Krishna’s multiple arms radiate around her. Mark your calendar. This show is open through December 15th. I suggest you go to get a drink and soak up the magic.

 As I left NV, the bartender wanted to see my sketch. I noticed a man stood nearby staring into a Lawyers empty offices. What on earth was he looking at? When I walked past him, he turned began to follow me. I had dressed up for the Stand Up to Bullying event. My dress shoes clomped loudly on the wet pavement. I had no doubt that he stood near the bar with the intent to shake down any lone stray mark. If I took my usual route back to the car, I would be exposed on a deserted empty block with no businesses. My umbrella would make a poor excuse for a weapon. I cut across the street towards a crowded and loud sports bar. I stopped in front of the bar for  a moment and watched my stalker slow to a stop across the street. He studied me.  At the street corner we stood opposite each other till the light changed. I decided the best thing to do was to walk straight towards him in the intersection rather than turn my back to him. If there was to be a confrontation, we would have it in the middle of the street in front of a crowded bar. I studied his face as we crossed each other in the intersection so I could sketch him if needed for police. I kept a quick pace on the long walk back too the car, but he had stopped following.

Into Darkness

Posted on by Thor

On September 9th I went to the ArtsHub Art opening and a movie screening at the Chapman Leonard Studios LIVE (9460 Delegates Drive #100, Orlando, Fl). This is the latest showing of Local Artists’ Work At Chapman/Leonard Studios Coupled with A Night at the Movies: Screening of “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Plus there was a special performance from the dancers of Dakota P. Productions new television show “The Upbeat Dancer Show”  Chapman Leonard is an award winning manufacturer of camera support equipment for motion picture and television productions worldwide. The equipment manufacturer is based out of their state of the art sound stages and production facilities.

For the first time ever, thirteen local artists will display work at the Chapman Leonard Studios. The local artists’ work may be viewed during normal business hours by appointment with an Arts Hub Representative.

“Chapman Leonard is proud to bring local artists into their studio facilities” commented Brad Biggs of The Arts Hub FL, curator for this art show. Marketing director of Chapman Leonard, Christine Huenergardt, added, “ we are a worldwide partner to movie makers, and their philosophy includes a commitment to the local arts scene. We are pleased to present this first group of artists ever displayed in our East Coast Studios.”

Artists included Ken Austin, Patricia Byron, Janae Corrado, Mark “TR3” Harris, Catherine Hempel, Saulius Jankauskas, Jason Lee, Kimberly Mathis, Richard Reep, and Parker Sketch. In addition, as a special treat, Chapman Leonard has also installed outdoor sculptures by local artists, Linda Brant and Marsha DeBroske.The show ran though October 8th. Exhibiting artists were paid a small stipend to allow their work to be exhibited.

I arrived a bit late, just as the dancers were finishing their routine. I decided to lean against the tire of a huge mobile lift. This caused an employee to question why I was there. I told him I was the media and he let it go. I stayed for the whole movie, sketching the entire time. It is fun to watch how many more times captain Kirk could get beat up in fist fights. The movie is almost identical to the first film right down to having individuals hurling through space. The story recreated the story line of “The Wrath of Khan” right down to a sacrifice at the ships core system. This time Kirk sacrificed himself instead of Spock. 9/11 was recreated as the Enterprise crashed into San Francisco. A disappointing film but plenty of special effects.