Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts

Some Thoughts About Portrait Artist of the Year, a British TV Show

Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 Season 5, Episode 8, Sky Arts; Artist: Rebecca Train, Sitter: Daniel Lismore

One of my guilty pleasures is binge-watching creativity reality shows, especially from the UK. We’ve got the Great Pottery Throw Down, where the judge, a great hulking potter in overalls with a Wallace and Gromit face, bursts into tears every time he sees a beautifully made ceramic. There’s Blown Away, a glass-blowing show with lots of macho folk blowing glass sweatily. And there’s Landscape Artist of the Year. But my all-time favorite is Sky Art’s Portrait Artist of the Year.

Continue reading “Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts”

Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts

Let’s Keep Thinking About Pollyanna

A painting of a person leaning on a table

Description automatically generated
Woman in a Window (detail) 1957 Richard Diebenkorn, Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum / Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1958

Have you heard about a mysterious note found among Richard Diebenkorn’s papers that he made for himself in his later years? It’s a motivational studio credo titled Notes to Myself on Beginning a Painting and is comprised of ten tips. All ten are fascinating to think about, but number eight is the most enigmatic:

“Keep thinking about Pollyanna.”

Continue reading “Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts”

Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts

Let’s Be Nothing Burgers

Stars in outer space with a bright star

Description automatically generated
Photo of Pandora’s Cluster showing ancient galaxies from the early universe by the James Webb Space Telescope, Feb 15, 2023, Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ivo Labbe (Swinburne), Rachel Bezanson (University of Pittsburgh)

Recently I was watching a guy on TikTok gently freak out about all the revelations coming back from the James Webb Space Telescope. His panic was so relatable because the images returning from deep space only reinforce how utterly minute we Earthlings are in the cosmos. The JWST is so powerful that, looking from Earth, it can sense the heat signature of a single bumblebee on the moon. And, of course, faced with this, he just shrugged helplessly and said, “We’re a total nothing burger.”

Continue reading “Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts”

Amy Talluto Describes an Elisabeth Condon Painting – Dusk, 2023

A blue and brown abstract painting

Description automatically generated
Elisabeth Condon, Dusk, 2023, acrylic and mediums on linen, 30 x 21 inches

Amy Talluto’s reflections on a painting by Elisabeth Condon were initially presented in an interview with the artist in podcast episode 59 for Pep Talks for Artists. Elisabeth Condon is a frequent guest on the show, contributing to the series Elisabeth Condon Describes a Painting. In conjunction with Condon’s solo exhibition and participation in the Untitled fair, both with Emerson Dorsch Gallery in Miami,[LINK: https://emersondorsch.com/] Amy interviewed Elisabeth and described Condon’s Dusk, 2023, acrylic and mediums on linen, 30 x 21 inches, a painting included in her show. Dusk will be on view at the gallery from December 3, 2023, through February 3, 2024, in the exhibition Tempus Fugit.

Continue reading “Amy Talluto Describes an Elisabeth Condon Painting – Dusk, 2023”

Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts

Fear & Philip Guston
A painting of a chair

Description automatically generated
Philip Guston Head (detail), 1968 Oil on board, Courtesy of Museum of Modern Art © 2023 The Estate of Philip Guston

Born in 1913, Canadian American painter Philip Guston began his career in the 50’s in New York during the Abstract Expressionist movement. The Ab-Ex-ers were sweeping the country as the next great thing and developing a bit of a swagger. Painters everywhere were ditching representational painting for the new experimental style of pure abstraction, and Guston was no exception. Well-esteemed and well-reviewed, he was a part of the in-crowd. Everyone loved the guy.

Continue reading “Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts”

Elisabeth Condon Describes a Painting – Wanderings, Bilbao

WANDERINGS: BILBAO, ORANGE, YELLOW AND BLUE, 45 1/2 X 39 1/2, Acrylic on Canvas, 2004 //Jules Olitski Art Foundation Inc. / 2022 Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Jules Olitski ,Wanderings: Bilbao, Orange, Yellow and Blue, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 45 ½ x 39 1/2 inches, from the exhibition Jules Olitski: Late Works at the Sam and Adele Golden Gallery on the campus of Golden Artist Colors in New Berlin, New York

Painter Elisabeth Condon’s reflections on a painting by Jules Olitski she had seen at the exhibition Jules Olitski: Late Works—were initially presented in the first episode of Elisabeth Condon Describes a Painting, a new series artist Amy Talluto has recently launched in her podcast Pep Talks for Artists. In each episode in this series Elisabeth Condon shares her way of looking at one painting, here, at the acrylic painting (2004) Wanderings, Bilbao: Orange Yellow and Blue, by Ukrainian- American artist Jules Olitski. The show at the Sam and Adele Golden Gallery in New Berlin, NY is up until March 2023 and another concurrent show of his works was up at Yares Gallery in New York (till February 11, 2023).

Continue reading “Elisabeth Condon Describes a Painting – Wanderings, Bilbao”

Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts

Midlife Big Bangs

Text

Description automatically generated with low confidence
Faith Ringgold, Women Free Angela, 1971, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Drawing Committee, © Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

As an artist, have you ever looked around and felt ancient, withered, and uncool? Well, this pep talk is for you, because we’re about to find out how later in life, big bangs can be the bravest and most creative big bangs of all.

Continue reading “Whisperings from the Wormhole with @talluts”