ARTzeal Blog

"Tell me, O Muse, of those who travelled far and wide." - The Odyssey and touch point for the Ancient Muse Concert that I had the great good fortune and pleasure to attend last night at the State Theater in Minneapolis.

The ten musicians create this luxuriant musical tapestry that is both ancient and new; rooted in Celtic sounds with hints of inspirations from the mideast or Greece, grounded in a variety of percussion, hurdy gurdy and cello and soaring with the ethereal, sweet and beautiful voice of Loreena. The interplay between the guitars, oud and bouzouki of Brian Hughes and Hugh Marsh's violin was wonderful to see as they traded phrases and Brian added richer texture by moving from electric to acoustic guitar in a song. The lyra and lute of Sokratis Sinopoulos harkened to harmonies of an ancient time. And, oh yes, Loorena's harp, piano and accordion complemented her singing and story telling and blended in perfectly with the overall music of the ensemble.

Loreena spoke of her travels on the Siberian Railroad or to China or Turkey and how the literature she was reading, the historical trails she was investigating and the places she visited combined to inspire her songs. She spoke of history as alive and unfolding. She discussed her discovery of Celtic tribal culture and how she has found her roots in this culture. Clearly, as the nomadic Celtic tribes, she has expanded beyond recreating the historical songs to bring it to life with the power and passion of her adventures today - musically, historically, traveling, literature.

She spoke of the pleasure of sharing the music as a cook who has created a feast, but the feast needs to be shared by people like those in the audience. It was a musical feast. Well done!

It was an inspiring performance. We were in the first row of the concert and I felt as intimate as being in a sherpa tent with this powerful muse and her ensemble of musical travelers. The concert rekindled in me a sense of passion and wonder and excitement for the infinite possibilities life affords us.

Posted by PhilipBlog at 08:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You probably know about the Saatchi gallery in the UK - it is now calling itself: "The World's Interactive Art Gallery." It has become this monster art site with gallery artists, tons of "your gallery" artists and student artists with web pages.

It's a grand experiment in art democracy. On the home page it states:

HITS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS: 30,661,942

That's a ton of hits! It is wonderful that art is being viewed by so many people.

I recently posted my pieces to a your art page on the site. Here it is: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile//32466.html

After a few weeks, I took the bold move to participate in the art "SHOWDWON" which is a 1-week voting block where about 3,000 artists show their work and anybody can rate them between 1-10. It is a bit like American Idol with all the people voting.

Of course, all sorts of questions arise with voting like this on a web site. What is the criteria for good and bad? Is it subject matter, style, concept, new thinking? Is it a get out the vote campaign such as keeping Sanjay afloat in American Idol? Would, say, a Jeff Koonz or a De Kooning do well in this kind
of forum? Should that even matter? Should popular taste drive what is good in art in the same way as it drives what is good on TV? It makes my head hurt to think about it all. Which is why I jump into these adventures as a way to figure them out.

Abstract work has not won a challenge yet.

One winning work is magical realist portrayal of the Isle of Towers which is an hommage to Boecklin's isle of the dead. Here the artist uses key words to describe his work. A second is a glass and metal sculpture of a man's torso and head. A third is a realist pastel on paper of a woman in a submissive surprised look laying on the floor and titled, "Chains." The fourth is a realistic pencil portrayal of a skeleton laying in an embrace of a girl called "Death and the Maiden." So, it seems that strong themes and realism are carrying the day. Interesting.

The site also posts the top 50 favorites which has 8 female nudes or suggestive paintings and 14 portraits. It is interesting, from a taste level, to see what people are adding to their favorites. It would be fascinating to see who votes for what based on age and gender.

Oh yes, my painting Namaste Connections held it's own, but did not win. http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=14266 I did send my link to many friends for voting purposes and see the SHOWDWON as a great viral marketing concept. And, I did check out how my painting was doing periodically. I'm sure the hit count on the web site is driven in part by the realtime viewing of the contest.

I am glad that Saatchi is providing this vehicle for artists to show their work. I can see that an artist can spend a considerable amount of time just "playing the SHOWDOWN game." For now, I am going to concentrate on painting instead.

Posted by PhilipBlog at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)