Painting Party Pairs Art with Uninhibited Partiers

By total coincidence but perfectly timed for the segue from the  last couple of  week’s topics,  we attended a couple’s cocktails and canvas painting party last week.  Artistic expression and the fear of taking the leap has been facilitated by these social gatherings centered around painting and wine. You’ve heard of them, if not yet participated in one. This clever pairing has taken the country by storm. The model is to have an instructor teach a group of friends to copy a pre-selected subject and create their own interpretation on a canvas all the while losing inhibition by imbibing in a glass of wine or cocktail. Actually multiple glasses of wine and cocktails! The more the merrier! P1140371 - Copy

And merry it is. It’s fun and freeing. It’s creativity within boundaries but with enough encouragement and pretty much lack of judgment to produce some very successful finished products.  And this is where we found ourselves last Sunday afternoon. Operative word there, we. P1140384

Yes, I had attended several of these fun-filled events in the past – all women – always entertaining. But this was quite different as it was designed to be couples – husbands painting right alongside their more willing spouses were encouraged to let loose and copy the sunflowers.

Unlike other like-kinds of parties that I had attended, this gal started off each person’s canvas with a faint charcoal-transfer outline of the preliminary placement of the centers of the sunflowers. This was intended to get everyone started on the right track but also said loud and clear – this is what we are painting and deviating from the plan, changing the format or grouping was not encouraged. P1140376

That said, it was just fine that we all pursued the same clutch of gorgeously impressionistic floral explosions with bold brush strokes and colorful blotches of paint tying it all together for a happy theme. Most if not all of the men and perhaps a couple of the women had never tried their hand at painting. This might have been the first attempt at artistic expression that they had ever experienced. I know that was true for my husband!

The setting was fabulous in a private dining room of our local Greek restaurant with brilliant sunlight streaming in through the entire wall of west-facing windows illuminating large format photos of Grecian isles, ancient structures, classic white buildings with cascading brilliant pink bougainvillea set against the piercing blue sky and surrounding sea. A big screen TV mounted high in the far corner featured the very muddy Preakness followed by the Blues and San Jose dashing about on the ice. P1140374

But the attention soon turned to the canvases in front of each budding artist. Primed with cocktails, we donned aprons, selected our seats and set to work in front of our table-top easels. The paints are acrylic, water-based – easy to apply and also to clean-up during or after the session. . As the first splotches of color were applied, the comments began to fly around the room. From whining about how difficult it was to complaints about the blossoming results, the room became animated with commentary. P1140386

People began getting up and viewing others’ progress. Compliments and comparisons were a flurry as the instructor made her way around the room aiding those in duress and adding touches here and there. It was hysterical. Everyone was having a blast, creating their own interpretation of the offered subject and seeing it take shape before their very eyes by their very own hand and all the while amidst lively conversation and milling about the room. Seeing the finished products all so similar yet each very different is the marvel of this exercise.

One enthusiastic participant went out into the dining room and requested participation from restaurant patrons in the way of their leaving their tables and coming into the gallery of all of our redundant sunflowers and voting for their favorites – this added to the hysteria as they made their picks, voiced their critiques and the “artists” received their accolades. P1140402

Dinner followed taking this group of new-found friends to the dining room where everyone ordered from the menu and continued the convivial conversations into the evening. But I learned today that Don doesn’t care if he ever picks up a paintbrush again – he didn’t discover a hidden passion nor exceptional talent. He has no love for the process nor the results, but thoroughly enjoyed the party!!! Woo Hoo!! P1140406 - Copy

 

 

 

 

What is art? Enjoying The Art Forger

I just finished a book. So? Well…with great books piled on many surfaces around my bedroom, the time never seems to avail. I’ll have the best intentions – like selecting one to take on a trip, but I work for hours in the car or upon settling in on a plane, I tend to open the in-flight magazine and flip through the articles – generally discovering some tasty tidbits and then nod off for the rest of the flight – whether for 45 minutes or 4 hours! No better chance upon arrival at the destination, as relaxing is generally not my primary activity anywhere!!

So the recent completion of The Art Forger was a silly accomplishment by most people’s the art forgermeasure.  I followed B. A. Shapiro’s protagonist, Claire, as she navigated the mystery of a missing Degas. Set in a relatively small footprint of NYC, the story is one that could only effectively happen here in this city of superlatives. From the best of the beset to the worst of the worst  and the enormous middle ground of mediocrity which again is superlative due to its sheer density of people, texture, concentration of multi-cultural influences, exceptional urban scenarios and unique prospects.

 

 

I have imagined Claire and her extraordinary artistic talents living in a one horse town someplace in the  middle of nowhere. This story would not take place or it would have to have had many more chapters and be quite convoluted. In NYC the seemingly faceless masses live, thrive, struggle and prosper in a dense infrastructure of architecture and opportunity. It provides a setting and gathering of people breathing the aspirations of personal dreams and collective shared frustrations and weary survival efforts in a remarkably competitive urban microcosm(s).

The story centers around Claire’s innate and learned talent for reproducing paintings. With which talents, she actually works for a company who pays her to copy originals for sale. Degas bathers She is not forging as that would mean that the copies were intended to be marketed as, or represent, or be sold as though the original. Hers are legally sold as reproductions – until the plot thickens…Where a love interest, temptations of wealth and fame, innocent confusion and clever problem solving are woven between the past and the present and ultimately begs the question about the value of art – how is it established and when is it talent versus celebrity? The chicken and the egg thing or the Emperor’s New Clothes, either way,a mystery that boils down to what the market will bear.

With just enough technical information regarding the processes required to create an effective reproduction or, more importantly, a convincing forgery – the story weaves clever innocence with selfishly profitable and ego-feeding intents. It includes petty jealousies and fiercely loyal friendships which provide a believable combination to embody Claire’s world.

In the end, without giving anything away, as an interior designer and more specifically, a gallery owner representing the varied talents of a variety of media, my enjoyment of the story and ultimate amusement for placing value and awarding varying degrees of talent was satisfied. The nod to the OTC (Over the Couch) acronym that derogatorily describes art purchased for the express purpose of matching one’s decor was spot on! And I even gave a talk once entitled “I Want to Buy a Painting to Match My Red Sofa” as a valid niche for some. There is an endless  equation of context, timing, association, validity, originality, creativity, exposure, personality, and marketing. Which leaves me thinking, once again, about the base question – What is art? That too could join the classic bumper stickers  “What is reality?” and “Why be normal?” Hmmm…..something else to ponder…

And next I intend to immerse myself in what I expect to be my Valentine’s present tomorrow – A red likeno other - book A Red Like No Other – but unless I am on a roll, it might take me a while.