I am going to be taking a part of Design Hope Toronto. http://www.designhopetoronto.ca/ I am really looking forward to interpreting the theme of shelter with my work. I think I will work with found pieces -paper, paint chips, pieces of wallpaper and wrapping paper and make an image of shelter with them. This will resemble so many make shift homes I see downtown each day. What about homeless people that must bring all their belongings with them everywhere each day because they have no place to put them? Maybe I will think more about that.

All this is very good for me. Focusing on helping others somehow makes my troubles so meaningless by comparison to those in real need. I never thought that I would be altruistic. But I'm not; it's just somehow a circle of helping yourself through helping others.

Here are some more pictures of my work from the last show...

Last week my friend and I spent some time in New York. In addition to seeing the city and helping our American friends with some retail therapy, while doing damage to my credit card, I spent a day at the MOMA. Saw a number of exhibitions in addition to the regular art there. WOW! What an amazing experience.

I think if I lived in New York, I wold spend all of my time looking at great art. Sometimes it makes me feel proud to be a part of a life form that can create such beauty, sometimes I feel like all the great things have already been created and what else is there to say. But the main point is that it makes me feel things...

How cool!

More Art Pics

Balance

It is not easy to balance the right and the left side of your brain and do this with grace without falling over your shoes. In order to make a living I work in a real estate services industry, in a large organization at a corporate (yes very corporate office). To have such a job and to be accepted as a businessperson and an artist at the same time is a big challenge. It is somehow viewed to be a mental misbalance to be known as an artist by the purely business types. People look at you with suspicion at work, afraid to peek into the “crazy” world on the other side.

Similarly artists find a choice of my day job odd. Some people even called my art a “hobby”. This is more painful since I define myself more by my creating art than looking for business opportunities in the real estate world. But neither one view nor the other suits me.

I guess the lesson in all of this is the hell with what people think. And so one walks around feeling like most of life goes on inside one’s head and no one can understand. This must be the theme of many people’s lives.

Still this is not an easy position to take no matter which world you live in.

What do you think?

After my show

Nuit Blanche was fantastic. After all the work installing and working out the details and making sure that everything went right, everything came together exactly as planned. The weather was great. There were close to 1800 people visiting our exibit, probably many more in numbers than if the show would be hanging in a gallery.

The best thing about it was observing the reactions of people. It allowed me to be a "fly on the wall" and to hear people talk about my work; something that I have not done for a long time. The fact that many people "got it", understood what I was trying to say in my abstract images ment a lot to me (I did not think it would). The best thing was to observe kids' reactions. Many of them, when walking into my space paused and simply said "WOW". Because it was so uncoached and genuine it probably meant more to me than some of the other, more coached reactions.

The other things were very flatering is how many people took pictures of my work. There were people with cameras and cell phones snapping the shots. Some posed in front of the pictures, some just captured my pieces. Also I caught a young woman jokingly trying to lick, yes lick one of my paintings.

I will still go on and create my work by concentrating on my own language and ideas. But from time to time it is very cool to experience the reaction of others.

Thank you to all who came and saw. I am also greatful to our art cooperative and to our director, Elizabeth Greisman for all their work in putting this together.

Getting Ready for Nuit Blanche

Today I spent almost the entire day at Spadina Museum installing my part of the show. Everything went according to plan; the plan being much thinking and re-thinking. This was the first time I am able to see the pieces up and at night. Since the show will be in a big studio connected to the outside through sliding doors and some outside, the lighting was a big deal.

Looking forward to having all the people visit. Rumor has it there will be thousands. WoW!