pablo picasso never got called an asshole...

so my bro joe wisner(bacon) was over yesterday and we began talking about various artistic projects that we would like to undertake. along the way, the subject came up of joe's recent trip to an east side artists auction of their wares and how that made him feel about the overall status of art, and more in particular, the art of painting. somewhere during all this, with a cheeky bend in our smiles, we got onto the subject of what truly defines art to us especially in the form of paint to canvas and much to my suprise we both had some very "outside the gallery" thinking on the subject.

now, anybody that knows me knows my feelings on how antiquated of an artform i think that most of them have become in the wake of the moving image as video effects can now bring expressionism, impressionism and abstract expressionism into the way of moving that these artists could only have dreamed of when trying to capture that movement on the ststic canvas. if you doubt that ask me to view one of my many video projects...please.

but this entry is not about that exactly. because as antiquated as painting may be, i still enjoy looking at it and am occasionally moved into liking it. oddly enough though, as joe and i discovered, films tend to show me what i want from paintings more often than galleries do. and by this i don't mean bullshit like painter's painting(a doc about the abstract expressionists) or the lame as all hell pollock(starring the vile and revolting ed harris). and it has nothing to do with the moving image giving life as in the above paragraph. no, i find that my favorite paintings actually tend to be part of the greater set designs in films.

my favorite painting of all time was done by an annonymous artist, not some famous one like picasso. it sits above the desk of jimmy stewart(american hero/treasure) in his home office in the film harvey. yaeh my favorite painting ever is a rockwellian portrait of a nine foot rabbit with his arm around the shoulder of jimmy stewart. and anyone who knows me knows i am not afraid to admit it. i'm not afraid because that painting is perfect.

and then joe brought up something that i had forgotten about, the paintings in the royal tenenbaums. these, by artist miguel calderon, also exemplify the "harvey" school of painting as they are painted by someone with actual painting talent, the type of people who mastered fruitbowls, flowers and the human form before moving on. and unlike alot of talented artists they didn't move into the realm of just splashing colors on canvas(mark rothko et al.) no they managed to use their sizable talent and mix in a little oddball humor and come up with amazing works.

the sad part of all this is that i live in a world where i have to go to the movies to see badass, original work like this, while the numerous galleries and museums around here show off either the newest in knockoffs of older modes of painting or some talentless hacks splashes of color that don't mean anything. occasionally i get lucky and robert meko unveils a new piece, but that is like once a year. no the sad part is, even with the strides already made, this city still has a long way to go before i can have a firsthand look upon the works of a genius like arturo herrera .

oh well, at least i still have the cinema to show me the best of what the painting world has to offer.