The Eola Wine Company

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I sketched at the  Lake Eola Wine Company (430 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) during a private workshop I hosted for with an undisclosed artist from NYC. On the subject of mysterious artists, I enjoyed watching the a painting being sold at auction of a girl releasing a heart shaped balloon by Banksy at a Sotherby’s. It sold for 1.4 million dollars. As soon as the gavel went down, the painting self destructed. The artist had built a shredder into the frame and he must have been in the auction house and pressed the self destruct button. On Instagram, he posted an image of shocked auction goers with the caption going going, gone. IT was a brilliant stroke of genius. I has not been reported yet what the auction house will do for the person who purchased the now shredded art.

Opulence at Barefoot Spa.

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“Opulence” features the work of 25 Central Florida artists. The connecting theme of this show is the use of “rooms of spectacular opulence” in art. Included are paintings, sculptures, photography and multi media pieces. The collection is diverse vibrant and interesting with plenty of golden colors.

This show will be up for the months of February and March at
The Barefoot Spa
(801 Virginia, Orlando FL, 32803).
Hours are 10am to 5pm daily (closed Sundays).

The reception was on Saturday February 25th from 6 to 9 PM. Most of the artists were available at the reception. I have a painting on exhibit in this show, so I stopped by the opening reception to sketch. My painting is of the National Arts Club in NYC.  Parker Sketch has several paintings in the show. He shared old photos on his phone of his punk days with an incredibly tall Mohawk haircut.  His parents got divorced when he was a tee and he decided to live a homeless lifestyle for a summer not because he had to, but for the experience. His parents never missed him. He explained how you have to sleep in a park during the day since you would get kicked out at night. This rock bottom conversation was a nice stark contrast to the opulence on display. One of Parker’s painting had alternating stripes of gold and gold sparkle paint bands with a painting of a highball drink as the center of interest.

LK Phipps, a fine art digital photographer was curious a bow my digital sketch.  She told me about an Art and Algorithm show that sounds intriguing. With the sketch done, I relaxed and enjoyed the company of friends for a while.

New York City Urban Sketching Workshop.

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I went to NYC to give an Urban Sketching workshop for the New York City
Urban Sketchers. My premises was to show how to populate a sketch by
placing figures in perspective. The workshop was held in a midtown
building on the West side near Grand Central Station. The studios are
usually used to rehears and workshop Broadway plays. As a matter of face
we could heard dancers working in the studio next door. Our studio room
had mirrored walls for the dancers to see themselves. One thing I
always tell students when I am teaching students to imagine a vanishing
point is to imagine the room has mirrored walls. The vanishing point
would be right between the students eyes in the reflection. With this
room, They didn’t have to imagine.

Mark Leibovitz the NYC go to guy acted as a model and students had to
draw him as well as other students and the reflections. I did very quick
sample drawings to demonstrate the concepts I had shared. I think some
light bulbs lit up that day. Some students brought in copies of my book,
Urban Sketching: the Complete Guide to Techniques for me to sign. After
class we all went out to lunch and then we met again at Grand Central
Station for another series of sketches in which we places crowds of
people in perspective. The second level of a grand Central Station is
now a huge Apple Store. We gathered at the edges of the balcony in the
store to draw the crowds of commuters below.


The last sketch of the day was done outside Grand Central Station of the
facade. The goal was to demonstrate three point perspective. In three
point perspective there is a vanishing point in the clouds and the lines
of buildings all converge up towards that third point. I cut my sketch
short so I could walk around and share the love by giving one on one
advice to students based on the sketch they had started.

After the last Grand Central sketch, we all went to a German beer hall
to share sketches and war stories from the day. There I could look at
students entire sketchbooks and offer advice. It was a fabulous day. I
hope to arrange similar workshops in the future. I love sharing what I
have learned from doing a sketch every day for the past 7 years.

Snap offered an Artist Panel Discussion.

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On March 28th I went to an Artist Panel Discussion at Snap! Orlando (1013 E Colonial Dr, Orlando, FL). The exhibit at the time was called Structure and Perspective.  Structure and Perspective examined the intersection of organic and
man made forms such as those found in the distinction of body forms and
building forms.The artists were Christoph Morlinghaus in the black shirt, Ryan Buyssens in the green stripes, Dan L. Hess in a military shirt and Juan Travieso in the white tee shirt.

Amazingly Dan went to the School of Visual Arts in NYC around the same time I did. He pointed out that the school stressed the importance and rich history of drawing. Children today aren’t taught to draw. If they want to make something, they assume there is an application that can do it for them. When Dan starts a drawing, he has no idea where it will go. He has no set final destination. For a long time he has been avoiding painting, so all his works are on paper. Dan and I have much in common.

The large format photos behind the artists were by Christoph. All of his photos are analog taken with a large format camera. He joked, “I wouldn’t be a good German if I didn’t look for order and structure.” The photos were of computer circuitry and the resembled cityscapes. He has been using x-ray film the last 2 years which results in bleak intimate images. He mentioned that social media is resulting in the death of photography. Art has become disposable. He feels that there is an existential crisis due to the overload of images. There is so much to assimilate at the large art fairs like Art Basel in Miami. Art Basel is all about consumption.

Ryan creates animated organic flapping birds wings, crafted from 3D printed, machined and laser-cut parts; “Resistance”
is time-based, interactive, mechatronic sculpture that emulates the
articulated flapping of bird’s wings. Several sets of these mechanical
birds are mounted to a wall and, through various intensities of
flapping, respond to the viewer’s movements within the space.

Juan related his childhood memory of fleeing Cuba. Seventy or more people were killed at sea. He watched a man cut in half when he got caught between boats. Because of these memories, Juan paints endangered species. He feels that art is a language and we as artists have a responsibility to carry on the conversation. Art is about how you relate to another human being. The person viewing the art has to want that relationship. Juan taught teachers how to teach art. Line work is the framework for everything. Many students lack an ability to be present in the moment. They don’t have the ability to trust the beauty in front of them. To compensate they might take a picture with their phone and work from that. Juan likes to create a body of work over the course of a year without showing anyone. Creating art is like raising dysfunctional children, you want to get them strong enough to kick them out of the house. A piece isn’t finished until it goes out into the world.

Smaller cities are where artists can flourish today. NYC isn’t the mecca it used to be except for the blue chip artists. You can produce art anywhere and find alternate venues to show it in like Art in Empty Spaces and Pop Up Shops. This artist panel discussion was one of the most enlightening experiences I’ve had. Snap continues to give the city beautiful a much needed pulse.

Autobahn shines it’s headlights on the drama of road trips.

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Handwritten Productions presented Autobahn written by Neil Labute, in the Red Venue of this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival. It presented five one act scenes with the audience voyeuristicly looking through the windshield at couples in the front seats of their car. The show began with headlights shining in the audiences eyes. The first scene featured a young woman, (Kristen Shoffner) in a black skull T-shirt slouching down in the passenger seat. Presumably her mother, (Candy Heller) sat stoic and silent behind the driving wheel. The young woman chatted non-stop while the driver never spoke and always seemed a bit annoyed. It became clear over time that the young woman had beer released from a rehab program. She had learned how to give the staff all the right answers. The one thing she had learned is that she needed to have one person she could always confide in. She informed the driver that it was her lucky day because she would always confide in her. What she confided however was that she couldn’t wait to start using again. She missed the rush, the heavenly high. It was clear that the stoic driver wasn’t pleased, but she must have had a checkered past as well because the passenger felt no one would take the driver’s word were she to try and turn the young woman in.

A boy and girl sat in a car with a bench seat at a lovers point. The girl, (Jillian Gizzi) was on edge because she thought the boy, (Adam DelMedica)  might want to break up with her. Instead then began to make out. When they come up for air she tells him  about the last boy who broke up with her. She sought revenge by mailing dead mice to his house from different locations. She rejoiced in the fact that police were unable to stop her. The boy’s face turned pale as he heard about her fatal attraction and unending need for revenge. He had been happy with their relationship, but now he clearly wanted out but was to frightened to broach the subject.

The scene that hit closest to home for me featured an older man behind the wheel, (Lucas Perez) and a young girl curled up in the passenger’s seat (Marisa Nieves Hemphill). From their first interactions I presumed this was a father and daughter. He chastised her for her behavior in a rest stop where her temper tantrum had gotten him quite upset. However, the more they spoke, the less close they seemed. I kept trying to guess her age. When she was curled up in the fetal position she seemed like such a young child but as they spoke she seemed to mature. The drivers affection for the girl seemed fine when I imagined he was her dad but when it became clear he was a stranger, his affection became menacing. He was her driver’s ed instructor and he was taking her to a secluded cabin. I wanted to shout out, “Get out of the car!” But instead she chatted amicably seeking forgiveness for her outburst at the rest stop. He spotted a deer on the side of the road, and she begged him to turn around so she could see it. He refused. He was now clearly in control. She curled up again. He asked, “Can I touch your hair?” She asked “Why?” “Because I want to.” he replied. The lights dimmed as he ran his fingers through her hair. Marisa, the actress in this scene, resembles a friend of mine who once confided that a relative had sexually abused her. This is more common than I ever imagined here in Florida. Another friend, who later committed suicide confided that her brother had done the same when she was very young. She had blocked that memory for years. When it resurfaced, she couldn’t live with it. This scene sticks with me because I wish that the inevitable tragedy could be averted.

The plays title comes from the last scene in which the woman says that perhaps the Germans had it right with their Autobahn in that there should be no speed limits and we should speed through life never having time to see the people speeding past us. We are all in a mad automotive rush, but to what end, what final destination? I can’t shake this play which first appeared at the Little Shubert Theater in NYC on March 8, 2004. This is what Fringe does best, five one act scenes that will linger forever. This was the Patron’s Pick in the Red Venue so there is one more performance.

Autobahn

Last performance: Monday May 25,  12:30pm to 1:30pm

Length: 60 minutes.

Venue: Red (Shakes behind through the courtyard and up to a second floor theater)

Rated: 18+ for language and sexual themes

Tickets: $11 (+service charge)