Annie Leibovitz, OMG!

I had the great fortune to visit the Annie Leibovitz show at the High Museum in Atlanta last Friday. Just amazing! I've been a fan of hers since the Rolling Stone days, but I have to admit I haven't been keeping up these last fifteen years. Now, after seeing this latest exhibition (1990-2005), she is without a doubt simply the best.

Here are the exhibit details from the High web site:

The personal photographs in the exhibition document many events involving her family, including the birth of Leibovitz’ three daughters and the death of her father. Portraits of public figures include the pregnant Demi Moore; rock star Mick Jagger; actors Chris Rock, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Scarlett Johansson; George W. Bush with members of his Cabinet at the White House; William Burroughs in Kansas; and Agnes Martin in Taos. Assignment work includes searing reportage from the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s, and a series of landscapes taken in the American West and in the Jordanian desert.


The show is up though September 9; if you're in the Southeast and have a chance to go, by all means don't miss it.

And here's a link to the show

Over the Hills

I'm currently in the process of doing a series of five paintings and prints depicting each of the five years in the life of Fort Loudoun, commemorating it's 250th anniversary (1756-1760). Each print will be debuted and released in September of its anniversary year, and each painting will show something pertinent to the events of the fort in that particular year. The painting for last year's premier of the series (which you can see above) was called, Over the Hills: Sergeant Gibbs and the Advance Party. This painting shows the British Sergeant Gibbs (on horseback) being guided through the Smoky Mountains by Little Carpenter (or Attakullakulla) the chief of the Overhill Cherokees (the redcoat standing to the left of the horse is yours truly).

The prints are available from me at www.kensmithhistoricalart.com or from the Fort Loudoun State Park: 250 print edition, $95 plus $18 shipping and handling.

Coming in September will be part two of the series, tentatively titled, Mud and Blood: Carolina builds a fort. This painting will show the South Carolina Provincial Company involved in digging the earthworks that would soon become Fort Loudoun. Look for it soon at a blog near you (or come by the Fort in September). For more information on the program at Fort Loudoun State Historic Area, click here.

The London Olympics

This has been getting some press in the British news lately: the new London Olympics logo.

Neville Brody, the famous British graphic designer, is supposed to have said that it looked like "Lisa performing fellatio on Bart." And now that I've heard that description, that's all I can see.

The cost: $796,000

Oh, and the animated version apparently caused epileptic seizures. No, I'm not making this stuff up.

Just part of the wonderful world or graphic design.

The Savannah Nocturnes: Mercer House

Now for something completely different. No history and no figures. This is the first in a series that I'm calling the Savannah Nocturnes. Night time paintings of the famous haunted houses of Savannah, Georgia. The old houses of Savannah look very stately and Ole South during the day, but at night you can begin to picture them in the lush tropical environment that feels like the real Savannah.

The Mercer House, of course, is the original home of Johnny Mercer, and the house that played a large part in the book and movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The painting will be reproduced in a 250 print edition on paper, and a 25 print edition on canvas. Available for Christmas!

Murray Tinkelman

Murray Tinkelman is the director of the MFA in Illustration program at the University of Hartford, and is one of the most amazing people I've ever met.

He's crusty and outspoken, compassionate and caring; he knows everything that ever happened in the history of illustration (and has an opinion about it); and as a teacher, has had an astounding influence on a generation of artists.

Recently Zina Saunders posted a very interesting and enlightening interview with Murray on her blog at: http://www.drawger.com/zinasaunders/

Read it and enjoy; I know I did.

(PS: in case it's scrolled away by the time you read this, the article is: Murray Tinkelman Profile, posted on July 25, 2007)

Finito

Here they are, all the actresses finished, framed and hanging at the Silpe Gallery at the University of Hartford.

and here's a link to the story:

http://www.hartford.edu/daily/news.asp?id=3091

one small step.

The Fair of Rosalind

From As You Like It by William Shakespeare
With Lily Langtry as Rosalind

Rosalind, the cross-dressing debutante, is one of the more visually picturesque figures in Shakespearean theater. On a quest to find her father, the banished Duke, Rosalind takes the name of Ganymede and travels with her friend through the forest of Arden, eventually coming upon her love interest, Orlando, whereupon Shakespearean hijinks ensue.

The painting shows Rosalind dressed in men’s clothes with her hair under her cap, reading the love letters that her beau-to-be has posted around the forest. The background replicates a section of a Victorian matte painting, while Langtry/Rosalind/Ganymede reclines on a stone while reading her lover’s missives. I could find no reference to the actual color of her clothing so red was chosen to provide a dramatic contrast to the primarily green forest background.

Lily Langtry, popularly known as Jersey Lily, was introduced to a modern audience by the Paul Newman movie, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, in which Langtry was depicted as Judge Bean’s lifelong obsession (though they had never met). Langtry was in fact a major actress and socialite of the late nineteenth century. She was mistress to the future King of England, Edward VII, and friends with the author Oscar Wilde and the painter James MacNeil Whistler.