Performance art you can drink with a straw!

Posted on by Thor

Fresh Squeezed at the Morean Arts Center (719 Central Ave, Saint Petersburg, Florida 33701),  featured the work of six emerging artists picked from a pool of almost 80 applicants. Award-winning
performance artist Brian Feldman is presenting a juicy new project
of the same name; his first in Tampa Bay.

“Fresh Squeezed” will
be the longest performance art piece in Pinellas County history, as
well as of Brian’s career, at 140 hours over 23 days. During
each weekend of the exhibition, Brian Feldman will be in the gallery
window meticulously making and serving 100% fresh squeezed Florida
orange juice in compostable cups for gallery goers to enjoy, and all for
the price of a drawing.

Draw him a picture of an orange for a small!
A picture of a glass of orange juice gets you a medium!
Or you can draw Brian making your orange juice and receive a large!

Colored pencils, crayons, markers, watercolor paint sets and card stock paper will all be provided.

Of course I had to make the several hour drive to earn a large orange juice. Unfortunately this sketch was done in my sketchbook and thus didn’t qualify. Therefor I did a second much simpler sketch to get a tall sip of juice. As a bonus, Brian’s family was there. Brian’s dad did a rather nice drawing of Brian with an orange slice behind his head much like a halo, although I doubt that was his angelic intention. I was surprised when he threw it in the garbage rather than cash it in for a cup of juice. After the Feldman’s left, I confiscated the sketch from the trash and decided to cash it in myself. It was a simple case of recycling and re-purposing the art. I filled out the questionnaire on the back of the sketch in Ed’s name. Brian was concerned that I was turning in stolen art. After any war, art mysteriously makes its way into museum collections. My confiscated submission only earned me 1/4 cup of juice. Crime barely pays.


A reporter asked Brian for an interview. His first question was, “Do you live in Saint Petersburg?” “Well, No.” Brian explained, “I’m from Orlando.” The interviewer stopped him, He just needed to talk to locals. He had no interest in Brian’s award winning career. Brian smiled and then laughed. The interviewer turned to Brian’s family and we all laughed since no one in the room at the time was from Saint Petersburg.


People walking by would often stop to peek in and see what was happening. Some of them would stop in for a free juice. The room was packed all day with children, both young and old, sketching their hearts out. Brian made the event fun and interactive by learning everyone’s name as he explained the performance. People shared stories as they created. This was a shared community experience. The entire performance is being streamed live on Periscope TV.

Oranges are being provided by Maxwell Groves est. 1935. The wall behind me had empty orange boxes stacked high. Brian was getting close to squeezing his 700th cup of juice. If you want to get a delicious cup of orange juice, get out to Fresh Squeezed. On Thursday April 6th, Brian will be giving a fresh squeezed gallery talk starting at 7pm. Fresh Squeezed, the exhibition runs through April 30th.

Evoca 1 paints a mural at Falcon Bar in Thornton Park.

Posted on by Thor

Artist Evoca1 paint original artwork on the wall outside The Falcon Bar and Gallery last week. The artwork is curated by The Falcon and sponsored by Thornton Park District Main Street.

About the artist:
Dominican-born and Miami-based, Evoca1 is a figurative painter, designer and muralist, who is strongly influenced by his Latin American culture. Founder of Sketches for Mankind, Evoca1 works to raise awareness to important local and world issues through art. His powerful imagery can be seen on walls from Mexico to Peru to England.

About this project:
The Falcon become a fan of Evoca1 after seeing his work in the Wynwood Arts District in Miami during Art Basel a few years back and then again more recently in Saint Petersburg, FL during the Shine On Mural Festival. His figurative style is what attracted us to his work and is also what makes it unique from the more traditional mural styles. Evoca1 and The Falcon chatted about what makes The Falcon Bar and Gallery and Thornton Park District distinctive and he came up with a concept that compliments our beautiful historic neighborhood and the uniqueness of The Falcon Bar and Gallery.

I loved how boldly the artist worked. His first bold brushstrokes that blocked in the composition where still visible as I sketched. He used a large paint pan as a palette and worked on the mural like it was an oil painting, gradually building up the lights.  He used a large flat house paint brush as his tool of choice. He spent most of the well refining the mural. Periodically admirers would stop and ask a few questions.

The Salvador Dali Museum

Posted on by Thor

The Dali Museum is in Saint Petersburg Florida. The city has a definite “Artsy” vibe. The museum is right next to an airport. It was actually a bit chilly on the morning I was there. I got to the museum before it opened and decided to sketch the building and gardens before going in. The cement “bench” was in the sun. I leaned back against a light pole and warmed up as I sketched. The architecture of the museum is fascinating, with a glass dome wrapping around the back of the building like an octopus. The garden was arranged as a maze with surreal melting benches. A gentleman admired my work. He tripped on some grass and fell on top of me. I broke his fall. I got a comment from a reader the other day saying that my work is kind of literal, and they would like to see me work in a more surreal or impressionistic style. As soon as man discovered how to make art, there was the art critic.

In the lobby there was an old vintage car that had a mermaid in the back seat. Windows were dripping. The driver wore a heavy metal divers helmet. From the book, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” I remember reading about Dali showing up at a party in such a diving helmet. The faceplate got stuck and Dali almost suffocated to death.

A security guard made me leave my artist stood downstairs when I checked in. I wouldn’t be relaxing and sketching any galleries. The collection has work from Dali back from his student days. I respect the fact that Dali was expelled from art school because he felt he knew more about art than his teachers. Some of his paintings were huge. One piece showed a woman standing and looking out at an ocean through a cross shaped window. There was a small portrait of Lincoln hidden in a panel. Later from across the room I saw the painting again in a whole new light. The hole huge 20 foot high canvas was a portrait of Lincoln but I couldn’t see it from up close. These sort of inspired surprises are when Dali is at his best. I remember hearing that Dali got annoyed that the paper used at Disney Feature Animation had peg holes in it, when he was doing developmental work for Destino back in 1946.