Discoveries in Art and Media

Saint Barbie  - Mark Ryden - Oil on Panel - 1994 The Lowbrow movement was fueled by the events of the 20th century, and doesn't draw many other cultural influences, which makes it distinguishable. Part of this evolution has to do with its incubation on the West Coast U.S., its influences were most notably the Kustom Culture art movement, the consumer and suburban culture of the mid-century, surf and coastal culture, representational art, comics, psychedelia, and rock music. The non-conformity with European art principles that art popular in East Coast U.S. cities, like New York, is a distinctive low-brow approach. Paintings are mainly representational and narrative-driven. Alternatively, rock band posters and psychedelia of the late 60's, 70's, and 80's are of great influence on this movement.  The formation of the low-brow scene in Vancouver, as well as the proliferation of women's art in this scene, were helpful in understanding my role as an Art Cu

The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors is an exhibition of the life work of Alex and Allyson Grey. This art gallery is a transdenominational church that was given a home in Chelsea, Manhattan in 2004, where it grew in popularity for some years. In 2009, the artistic partners were inspired to build a permanent chapel in the Wappinger area of the Hudson River Valley, on a 10,000 acre swath of land, where they now live permanently.  In 2013, they began fundraising to build Entheon, a 3-story, 12,000 foot gallery space, whose name means "a place to discover the creator within".   The current art gallery is housed in a sprawling guest house, and holds the individual and collaborative paintings and sculptures of Alex and Allyson, as well as many other artists in residence there. It became a spiritual mecca and public space which hosts ceremonial celebrations during the Full Moon and Seasonal Equinoxes of the year (an average of 18 public gatherings yearly), which feature music performance

Concept I was inspired to start a self-portrait that has a strong linear component and a unique shape running through it.  The purpose of superimposing shapes over organic forms is to show movement of energy around a person, thoughts we share.  I wanted to depict this energy as rings of foreign languages, which is why I began to paint a ring of Egyptian hieroglyphs in the center. Initially, the drawing underneath my face was of my skull. I drew the underlying features in pencil and then fine-point marker.  I then painted over that in watercolor, and next solidified certain areas with acrylic paint.  One challenge was that the entire intended composition, including rings of text, is too detailed to finish in a short period of time, so for the purpose of this portrait, I only painted my face.