Lindsey, Stevie, Madison and Andrew

Pee Wee Herman, Gary Panter, Devo and Cindy Lauper

Pee Wee’s Playhouse:

Paul Reubens

 

Gary Panter

SVA - Gary Panter Subway Poster

Artists Who Designed Pee Wee

 

Mark Mothersbaugh

Devo

Palm Springs Crew

 

Martin Denny (Quiet Village)

 

Cindy Lauper

Helen Kane

He's So Unusual

 

Low Brow Art

Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, is an underground visual art. movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California. area in the late 1960s.[1]. It is a populist art movement with its cultural roots in underground comix., punk music., tiki culture., graffiti., and hot-rod. cultures of the street.[2]. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism.[3]. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor—sometimes the humor is gleeful, impish, or a sarcastic comment.[4]

Juxtapoz

Corfu - Alexandria

The Durrells

Gerald Durrell - My Family and Other Animals (Book)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48132.My_Family_and_Other_Animals

My Family and Other Animals- Durrells in Corfu (TV)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166450/Links to an external site.

https://www.pbs.org/show/durrell-in-corfu/?utm_source=googlehome&action=play

Lawrence Durrell - The Alexandria Quartet (Book)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lawrence-durrell

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/24/alexandria-quartet-lawrence-durrell-rereading

Constantine Cavafy (Most Distinguished Greek Poet of 20th cent - Historical (and important to Greek History) - Homoerotic - Psychological and Philosophical

https://www.onassis.org/initiatives/cavafy-archive/the-canon/the-god-abandons-antony

Feminist Punk/Grunge History

Contemporary art - both fine and commercial - is deeply intertwined with our cross conversation with film, animation and the dialogue between these disciplines.

It’s good to know some of the secrets that inform our artistry.

Green Screen Magic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ploi723hg4

Matte Painting

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2egXojcpdzk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTL2FtcQO1k

Cloud Tanks

https://youtu.be/-Pn2xEx7pV4

https://www.chrisparks.art/

CGI - Hair, Water, Particle Effects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-HG8IA-2TI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvTchBdrqdw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VSSSfjTdFhI

Paintin’ on TV

Lou Reed:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374193393

Andy Warhol

& My weirdest client ( A personal 1-degree of separation from both)

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/garden/two-scientists-caught-in-amber.html

https://warholstars.org/warhol/warhol1/andy/warhol/articles/pivar.html

https://glreview.org/article/when-haring-met-andy/andy-warhol-with-friend-stuart-

pivar-at-the-26th-street-flea-market/

I have struggled my whole career to understand the artists I DIS-like, and I engage with them as much (if not more) than some of my favorite artists.

It's ok to struggle with art, and dislike certain art - as with everything, trust your gut - but there is growth that comes from qualifying our negative reactions to art.

Spend some time with art you hate.

GG

Anna Tully at 21 - Perhaps just after graduating from Pratt Institute

I was, very fortunately, given these drawings to safeguard by my cousin Elizabeth Riley Bell., the educator and Scotch expert. (a taste for which is another gene that seems to run in the family...). Smartly, Elizabeth retains the true masterworks of Ann's oeuvre, which she kindly allowed me to photograph - and perhaps I'll eventually share some here.

However, it's these pencil drawings that I reached to as I cast about for something to adorn my walls.  I've had, each time I look at these images, the most profound sensation - one of conspiratorial intimacy with the artist (the telepathic quality of viewing observational art - seeing through someone else's eyes) - of admiration at the skill and precocity of such a young woman (she was 19 when she completed many of these) - and a sense of my own smallness yet belonging in time (which is, after all, what family and history give us) - but most remarkably, an uncanny recognition of myself, like a shared family handwriting quirk, in the mark making of this woman, who died before I was born, and yet without a doubt, perceived as I do and responded with the same inclination toward hatching, value assignment and shorthand.  

This is something I've never felt looking at another artists drawings - as though I'd drawn it myself and forgotten I'd done so. Its a dreamlike illusion. It feels like a strong argument for nature over nurture - even in the arts, which are so dependent on practice and attention. We certainly have many differences as artists, her strengths are not necessarily mine, and vice versa - but there's a similarity I can't ignore and I have to conclude its a comforting feeling. Art is so often about being alone - feeling alone. Great grandma Ann's art makes me feel less alone - and that is a profound epitaph for any artist.  

A world traveler late in life - Ann Riley exploring antiquity in Greece.

I'd love to write up a more complete biography of Ann someday - She led a remarkable life, not only traveling and teaching as an artist, serving as a leader in the arts in her community and of course painting, but also raising 3 boys through the ordinary trials of life and the unique torments of the mid 20th century (All 3 went to war and her oldest son died fighting in the Pacific). But today - I just want to share a few of her drawings and describe some of the reactions I've had living with them and the connections they stir in me.  

I hope you can feel some of the same things I do when you see them.

Hokusai and Hiroshige

Gardeners World - Plants, Dogs, Food 

Emphasis on Mental Health - Accessibility for all (Including Apartment, Urban and Suburban dwellers)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mw1h]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWLQk__iARR/

Piet Oudolf

https://oudolf.com/

The Highline

https://www.thehighline.org/wildbydesign/

NYBG

https://www.nybg.org/whats-on/