House and Studio in Lambertville, NJ

Here are some pictures of the house we are renting along with a couple of my studio...

Dwayne Butcher @ David Lusk

Between getting back from TX and setting up house and studio here I forgot to post this...

Dwayne gave a good accounting of himself at the David Lusk Gallery's annual The Price is Right show.
The show is up until August 31st so stop by.

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth

Yesterday we also saw a great show at the Kimbell called The Mirror and the Mask:Portraiture in the Age of Picasso.
This show included my favorite Lucian Freud painting, Girl with a White Dog. It also gave me the chance to see my first paintings "in the flesh" by Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff.
I had just bought a second hand book of Stanley Spencer a few days before and was fortunate to see three good sized works by him; one of which was Self-Portrait with Patricia Preece, 1936. I've always liked Spencer's masochistic "naked portraits" of Patricia much better than the stylized work for which he is better known.
This show also included work by many German Expressionists, Francis Bacon, and some fine Classical Period pieces by Picasso (mainly portraits of Olga)and portraits of Dora Maar, and Fernande Olivier.

Ron Mueck @ the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

My niece and I went to see the Ron Mueck show in Ft. Worth today. These were some of the works on view...

New Drawings

Out of Touch and Temporary Address

Hi everyone---

I won't have much access to a computer during the moving process. I will only be able to check messages, etc. sporadically.

I can still be reached the old fashioned way via snail mail @

3124 Fieldcrest Court
apt. 3124
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

A Date Certain

At the risk of emboldening the surfer/hippie populations of Saint Augustine, Robin and I have committed to a timetable for withdrawal from Florida. The movers will be here to pack us up on the 26th and 27th!
We will then be able to concentrate the majority of our forces on the looming conflict in New Jersey.

Ireland

I had such a great time in Ireland last week.
The opening at the Hallward went really well---My friends John, Sioban and Shelia were able to make it so I wasn't as nervous as I would have been if I didn't know anyone there. The place was packed and I was able to meet a lot of the other artists that were showing. They were all very friendly, inquisitive and unpretentious so that put me at ease as well.
After the opening Sioban and John took me out to dinner in Greystones.

The next day I made the trek out to the Irish Museum of Modern Art for the Lucian Freud exhibit. This was the best show I've ever seen---right up there with the huge Guston retrospective in Fort Worth.
The paintings were staggering and it was amazing to see a show in which the work spoke for itself. It didn't matter who the sitters were or what relation they had to the artist. There were no lengthy explanations or wall text filled with artspeak needed. Incredible...the man is 84 and seems to be at the height of his powers.
The highlights of the show for me were an etching of his wife at the time, sick and in bed, called Ill in Paris, 1948 and a very delicate white charcoal drawing on grey paper called Girl's Head (Pauline Tennant), 1944. Both works were small but impactful. And of course the large paintings such as Portrait on a White Cover, 2002-03, David and Eli, 2003-04, and the massive Leigh Under the Skylight, 1994, just bowled you over.

Don't Forget: Emily @ MontyShane Tomorrow Night

Check out the very good review here.

Summer Show @ the Hallward in Ireland

Bye Bye Florida

Robin and I are moving again!
She just turned in her notice at work and I turned in mine yesterday.
Robin accepted a job in Princeton, New Jersey. She will start work in the beginning of July and Joe and I will follow her up in the middle of the month. This is a great opportunity for Robin so she's excited and I'm happy that I'll be closer to a larger and more sophisticated art market. Princeton is about an hour and a half from NYC and an hour from Philadelphia, by train.
We don't know where we will live yet---possibly in one of the smaller art towns in the area like Lambertville, NJ.
We will definitely miss the beach and the great people who've befriended us here.
So, June will be a very busy month.
I'll be heading to Dublin again next Monday to attend the opening of a group show that includes a few of the drawings similar to the ones I showed with Dwayne in March.
I'm excited because it's my first opening at the Hallward but I'm at least equally hyped to see the Lucien Freud show at the IMMA.

New Drawings

Emily Walls @ Monty Shane Gallery

New Drawing

Butchie

Here's a detail of a painting of Butchie, a pit bull we rescued.

1998, oil on masonite panel, 9 x 12 inches.

Elizabeth Alley @ Marshall Arts

Don't miss Elizabeth's opening...

Please don't leave anything behind

Friday May 4th, 6-9 PM

639 Marshall

Memphis, TN 38103

Joe + Robin = Downtime

Memphis Flyer Review: Dwayne Butcher at Delta Axis @ Marshall Arts

Check out Carol Knowles' review of Art Made With a Ring in this week's Memphis Flyer.
You can find it here.

New Bike

Robin's new beach cruiser!

Joe

Joe, enjoying the new fire pit on one of our last cool evenings.

Happy Belated Birthday to Robin!!!

Robin's birthday was on March 31st. She celebrated last Tuesday with the traditional home made enchilades. On the 31st we went out to dinner to The Present Moment Cafe here in St. Augustine. It's a raw food restaurant that Robin (and now I) love.
For her presents she got a beach bicycle and an outdoor fire pit.

More Drawings From the Sallynoggin Series