Category Archives: Art

Articles about art or artists of any genre.

The Art at the Auto Show

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The November 2011 L.A. Auto Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, California USA.

(click twice on any image to see it full size)

Honda Civic Instrument Panel

For years, the-vu has been lucky enough to have a couple of writers attend the LA Auto show on Press Days, and we have written selective reviews of cars, usually electric and alternative fuel cars. We used to have to search the back corners of Kentia Hall, where the accessories were shown, to find our hydrogen, electric and hybrid subjects, but the world has caught up with us and in 2011 all the news is about green technology.

So we are taking a left turn from the green news and focusing instead on the art of the automobile. Art often takes a back seat in new car models. Just look at a typical Buick, Toyota or Dodge and you will have to really search it inside and out to find much art in the car.

But art sometimes does make it into production, if you know where to look. It may be front and central, like the dashboard of a Mini-Cooper, or it may be hidden in the subtle belt-line curves of a new Hyundai.

This year our low flying cameraman follows our jazz, opera and ballroom-dancing inspired crew into the gallery that is the 2011 LA Auto Show. We only invested a couple of miles of walkaround into this project, but if you happen to attend and notice anything we missed, please post comments at the end of this article.

Not a Caddy, a Civic roof antenna.

Aside from the cars, some elements of the exhibition itself caught our attention. From perforated nylon partitions to shiny white floors, the cars benefitted from the latest in display innovation.

 

While the design criteria for a Rolls Royce, a Nissan and a Morgan have to be very different, as usual, judging all marques together  Volkswagen and Audi rise to the top of the pile for overall good aesthetics mixed with functionality.

VW Golf GTI nose

And as usual the BMW Mini has an interior that really stands out from all others, from the large clocks to the door trim to the stitching on the leather steering wheel.

 

But sometimes it can be a tiny detail such as a headlight, that uses art and design to elevate the car as a whole.

Bentley

Morgan

Even the mundane daily driver can be enhanced by trim and color to stand out from the crowd, as in the case of this lowly Hyundai.

Today’s Rolls Royces may have taken design far beyond either function or good taste, and I will spare your poor eyeballs by not showing the whole car here, but a nod to the classic wooden speedboat is always appreciated.

When presenting a small production electric car to go up against the major manufacturers, it helps to pull out all the stops, and Doking has a center driver seat, gull wing doors and cartoonish tail lights to grab the attention of the crowd.

Mitsubishi’s electric cars have become a reality, but the next generation take a leaf from the Beetle Book and also add some faux-wood-inlay micro-circuitry. (click once or twice on the small photo to zoom into image to see it in detail).

Have you been to the show and found any details that caught your artistic eye? If so please comment with your photo links.

Where are the nice cars?

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Where are the nice cars?
A walk through the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show
There are certain cars that just look and feel right. Their design suggests quality and precision. The metal looks solid and the doors close with a solid thunk, and no tinny ring. But other cars look as fragile as tin-foil, with seams that are too wide or too tight. They may have hard plastic where you would expect upholstery, or molded polyurethane where you like to see a softer surface. And then some designs are embellished so much beyond their function that they scream ugliness.
It may be personal preference, and differences in the tastes of middle-America versus those of, for example, the Japanese or the French, but in general, some cars are rolling art, and others are rolling messes. And then there is Steam-Punk, a cartoonish design idea that has now found it’s way onto the showroom floors.
What follows is my personal opinion, and my personal impression, but I at least, agree with myself!
For good clean design that seems functional, well-executed, and just has a quality, precise, expensive feel, look no further than Audi and Volkswagen. Alright, perhaps outside of the USA, their larger SUV’s are a bit bigger than anyone would ever need a car to be, but in general, their designs are elegant and just right. The world loves the Golf, and for good reason. It’s sporty, practical, holds a lot of stuff and takes up little space. The GTI version is as enjoyable on the racetrack as many a six-figure sports car, and speaking of which, the Audi R8 looks so much cooler than today’s Italian supercars.
Also from Germany, the interior of the BMW Mini-E, an electric car, is a beautiful design, with it’s colored swirls and oversized central display. For some reason the fit and finish on the Mini seems to be a step above that of the larger 3, 5 and 7 series, which despite their clever angles are bland, and have orange peel paint, rather like cheaper Chevys.
The new Lexus LFA supercar, has a terrible paint finish that combines a high gloss above the beltline with a visually sticky-looking texture in the same color, and a front-end design that is comparable in style with a Corolla, only with a big gap at the tip of the hood/bonnet. If you search for photos for the front you’ll see it shot from up high, or lit from the side to create shadows, but in real life, it’s a front from Wal-Mart, and yet this supercar costs $375,000. Something does not add up here.
Representing Steam-Punk, the new Morgan Aero SuperSports  was almost a hot car, but is a hot mess. A mishmash of curves and embellishments that should not be shared on one chassis. Steam-Punk can be described as historical future fantasy such as in the visions of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. This ever so ugly Morgan has it down, right down to it’s misguided interpetive brown leather seats.
To understand what is wrong with General Motors, you have to imagine that you are not in Los Angeles, but instead on a street in Rome, Frankfurt or London. You look up and see the grille of a GM SUV coming at you. A big ugly unnecessary jukebox of a grill, stuck onto the front of a primitive oversized hunk of beige metal. To my eye, these vehicles look ridiculous and I would rather have witnessed their extinction than been a part of their bailout with my income tax. Car manufacturing is a competition, and these guys lost that competition. They should not still be here.
Ford got by without a bailout, but what are those big things stuck on the front ends of Mercurys and Fords and Lincolns? Who on Earth likes these grilles?
Design in modern cars treads a narrow ridge path with steep fall-offs on either side into ravines of bad taste. In these ravines, you will see Rolls Royces, Dodges, Fords, and countless other Marques. The traffic on the top will be quite light, even in rush hour.

By Jeffrey the Barak

319A walk through the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show

There are certain cars that just look and feel right. Their design suggests quality and precision. The metal looks solid and the doors close with a solid thunk, and no tinny ring. But other cars look as fragile as tin-foil, with seams that are too wide or too tight. They may have hard plastic where you would expect upholstery, or molded polyurethane where you like to see a softer surface. And then some designs are embellished so much beyond their function that they scream ugliness.

It may be personal preference, and differences in the tastes of middle-America versus those of, for example, the Japanese or the French, but in general, some cars are rolling art, and others are rolling messes. And then there is Steam-Punk, a cartoonish design idea that has now found it’s way onto the showroom floors.

What follows is my personal opinion, and my personal impression, but I at least, agree with myself!

audir82For good clean design that seems functional, well-executed, and just has a quality, precise, expensive feel, look no further than Audi and Volkswagen. Alright, perhaps outside of the USA, their larger SUV’s are a bit bigger than anyone would ever need a car to be, but in general, their designs are elegant and just right. The world loves the Golf, and for good reason. It’s sporty, practical, holds a lot of stuff and takes up little space. The GTI version is as enjoyable on the racetrack as many a six-figure sports car, and speaking of which, the Audi R8 looks so much cooler than today’s Italian supercars.

minieintAlso from Germany, the interior of the BMW Mini-E, an electric car, is a beautiful design, with it’s colored swirls and oversized central display. For some reason the fit and finish on the Mini seems to be a step above that of the larger 3, 5 and 7 series, which despite their clever angles are bland, and have orange peel paint, rather like cheaper Chevys.

lexuslfa375kThe new Lexus LFA supercar, has a terrible paint finish that combines a high gloss above the beltline with a visually sticky-looking texture in the same color, and a front-end design that is comparable in style with a Corolla, only with a big gap at the tip of the hood/bonnet. If you search for photos for the front you’ll see it shot from up high, or lit from the side to create shadows, but in real life, it’s a front from Wal-Mart, and yet this supercar costs $375,000. Something does not add up here.

morganfmorganrRepresenting Steam-Punk, the new Morgan Aero SuperSports  was almost a hot car, but is a hot mess. A mishmash of curves and embellishments that should not be shared on one chassis. Steam-Punk can be described as historical future fantasy such as in the visions of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. This ever so ugly Morgan has it down, right down to it’s misguided interpetive brown leather seats.

enclavegrillTo understand what is wrong with General Motors, you have to imagine that you are not in Los Angeles, but instead on a street in Rome, Frankfurt or London. You look up and see the grille of a GM SUV coming at you. A big ugly unnecessary jukebox of a grille, stuck onto the front of a primitive oversized hunk of beige metal. To my eye, these vehicles look ridiculous and I would rather have witnessed their extinction than been a part of their bailout with my income tax. Car manufacturing is a competition, and these guys lost that competition. They should not still be here.

lincolnfrontFord got by without a bailout, but what are those big things stuck on the front ends of Mercurys and Fords and Lincolns? Who on Earth likes these grilles?

Design in modern cars treads a narrow ridge path with steep fall-offs on either side into ravines of bad taste. In these ravines, you will see Rolls Royces, Dodges, Fords, and countless other Marques. The traffic on the top will be quite light, even in rush hour.

How Art Almost Killed An Entire People

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By Jeffrey the Barak

At times, we wander the galleries and see pieces of art that look as if they could hurt someone, or kill someone, but in a way this has actually happened.

moI refer to a place commonly known as Easter Island. This is it’s modern name, given to the place by Christian explorers from Holland in 1722 when they happened to come across this land on their Easter Sunday.

For most of history, This place had no name, and no inhabitants, but at sometime between 400 and 600 C.E. a human civilisation, the Polynesians, found it, and it became known as Rapa Nui.

We know from the surviving Polynesian people here and across Oceana that for at least two thousand years, their relatively advanced society was capable of trans-oceanic explorations by canoe that no modern sailor in their right mind would dare attempt. By contrast, the people of the nations that would later become the world’s explorers, the Britons, the French, The Spanish, The Portuguese, The Dutch were by comparison, quite behind in terms of long-distance seafaring.

Even the Mediterranean traders of the day would have been amazed at the voyages back and forth that the ancient Polynesians embarked upon.

So art came to Rapa Nui with its first people. It is generally accepted that they came from either the Marquesas Islands or Mangareva, which like everywhere else, are very far indeed from Rapa Nui.

The oral history tells us they brought plants, food animals and tools and their mission was colonization. The climate on Rapa Nui was certainly not the tropical paradise they were used to so they had a lot of adaptation to do in order to survive and thrive.

Rapa Nui was covered in trees, palms and other types, and drinking water was naturally gathered in volcanic craters, despite the island’s absence of rivers or streams. The island also had obsidian, great for making cutting tools and weapons, and it had lot of special rock which we call lapilli tuff.

Some say the islanders employed slash and burn techniques to clear land for farming, and others say, they used up all the wood in order to make and transport the huge stone statues that Rapa Nui is now famous for.

With the forest cover gone, the rain and weather eroded the topsoil and famine ensued. But let’s take a step back and focus on the art.

The art of Rapa Nui is divided between two periods. The Moai period and the Birdman period. On other islands in Polynesia, there were statues, (Moai), atop shrines, (Ahu). which were representations of chiefs (living and dead) and the gods in which they believed.

Dead chiefs were sacred, and after their life passed, their representative Moa remained. Rapa Nui has around 900 such moai, either standing, toppled or partially completed, still in the quarry or partway to their final site. There are about 360 ahu. The moai did not look out to sea, as commonly assumed, but they faced away from the sea, towards the villages. Some completed and erected statues had white coral eyes and wore stone hats or top knots called pukao, carved from a rock that was more red (scoria).

There is much debate as to exactly how the heavy statues were moved, assembled, erected etc. They are so heavy, that engineering on a grand scale was definitely needed, but the methods used have passed from memory.

It seems clear that at some point, the statues were worshiped as gods, and were a means of control for the ruling society, called the “Long Ears”. Everyone else, lived as subjects of the ruling Long Ears. However they were not slaves, but simply lowly subjects of the rulers, who would eventually rebel aginst the Long Ears and topple the very statues that generations suffered to construct.

It is said that so much wood was expended on the statue making that the islanders could no longer build canoes, so they became unable to travel to and from other parts of Polynesia. However, it is possible that the forests were burned to clear land, without any understanding of the long term environmental consequences. Without canoes, there was little opportunity to fish offshore, and without the lush vegetation, farming was all that was left.

So in isolation, with the natural resources of the island being eroded, burned and used for making statues, the people sealed their fate. Numbering as high as seven thousand in it’s heyday, the society on Rapa Nui became unsustainable with the resources at hand, and they were unable to leave or go for help.

Eventually, out of this declining situation, a powerful warrior class emerged, called Matato’a. And a change of power and leadership ensued. This also heralded the second art movement. All of the statues were toppled, some face up, some face down, and a new, even sillier religion began to dominate.

This was the birdman cult, (Tangatamenu). Once a year on a small island off the coast of Rapa Nui, migrating birds laid eggs. It was a bountiful annual harvest. The young warriors would hold a swimming race across the rough, shark-infested straits between the main island and bird island. The first man back holding an intact egg became absolute ruler for exactly one year, until this was repeated.

In the time after the upright moai, the art consisted of carvings and drawings on rock, depicting a bird-man character. Again the sheer quantity of this art in the virtual absence of all other, shows us that life at the time was all about the birdman. And a new monotheism emerged, coincidentally featuring a single, creator god, not the Jewish-Christian-Moslem one, but one with the name Makemake.

If the Western sailing ships had never found Easter Island, the natives may or may not have survived to this day, but considering what the sailors did to them, it is amazing that any have survived. The so-called advanced civilizations from Europe murdered, enslaved, kidnapped and infected the people with diseases such as smallpox and syphilis, and those few who survived these horrors were later subjected to forced Christianization.

As a result of the missionary subjugation, at this point there was no more art for a long time. The island was culturally dead until relatively recently when inhabitants of Polynesian decent began to nurture their cultural heritage, which amazingly still has much in common with other far way parts of Polynesia. And so through dance, costume, cuisine and the tatoo, the art of the island survives, but this time it won’t kill them, it may save them, from us.

First Glimmer

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By Gregory Nuber

I have a water colored memory of a particular summer day when I was eight or nine years old. It was probably very hot and I must have spent the morning swimming and fighting and playing with my younger sister. On a typical day lunch might be followed by an afternoon of errands with Mom- my hair damp and smelling of chlorine, the air conditioned car a cool refuge from the oppressive, baking heat. This day was not typical. Lunch was followed by a bath, fresh, damp hair was neatly combed and we were chauffeured by Mom (for this was to become her major, practical function in my life) across town to the home of an elderly lady named Flossie McCoy. She was the organist at our church and although I did not know her well, I knew that sometimes the music she played before and after services brought a strange feeling to my gut.

We walked from the cool of Mother’s car through the heat of the afternoon into Ms. Flossie’s serene and welcoming home. We were probably offered a glass of water – perhaps iced tea or lemonade. Mother and Sister settled comfortably into a sofa, Flossie into her familiar hard-backed chair and I, with only slight trepidation, took my place on the smooth, black lacquered bench that felt good on my sun-drenched legs.

“This is a piano,” began Ms. Flossie. “It has eighty-eight keys, fifty-two white and thirty-six black.” My large, hazel eyes probably became even bigger at this point and I began to feel that strange feeling in my gut. I still didn’t know what this feeling was all about. It was an intense pang of yearning, excitement, possibility, fear – a dense composite of thoughts and feelings that moved around inside me like a swarm of bees. I knew what a piano was – we had one at home and I had often pounded out discordant rhythms with passionate abandon, or meticulously picked out simple, familiar tunes. I also knew that some people had the magical ability to draw forth real music from the piano and some of that music made my gut feel strange.

“Right in front of you heart is a key we call ‘middle-C’”. My heart. “It is a home- a safe place and a point of references with a world of possibilities on either side. Is home. “Let’s begin by placing the thumb of your right hand on ‘middle-C’. Your thumb is one and the other four fingers are two, three, four and five. That is all you need to create music.” I was intrigued. Flossie began calling out finger numbers, I began to play, and my Mother sat on the sofa and beamed at my crude rendition of the holiday standard “Jingle Bells”. I was concentrating so hard that when I was through I had no idea what I had just played. Mother commented that it made her think of cold winter days, and what a nice thought that was on a hot summer day. Flossie laughed in agreement, and I became impatient because I still didn’t know what I had played.

“Tell me the numbers again,” I demanded. I needed to know what I was playing. I needed to recognize it and at the same time be cognizant of what I was doing. I wanted the ability to create the music independently without the numeric prompting of my teacher. I was less than five minutes into my first piano lesson and already filled with an intense desire that I had always possessed but had just accessed. I was beginning to understand what the strange sensation in my gut was all about. This was perhaps the first cathartic moment of my young life. I knew that I was given a gift- the chance to learn something that would make me feel special and whole. Although I did not know it at the time, I had just stepped on the path that led toward my future.

Gregory Nuber moved to NYC in July of 1992 from Arizona State University where he was pursuing his MFA in Modern Dance. He immediately began studying on scholarship at the David Howard Dance Center and soon landed his first professional contract with Michael Mao Dance. Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre (now RIOULT (re-you) and finally the world-renown Mark Morris Dance Group. Gregory also played Lord Capulet in Frances Patrele’s full length Romeo and Juliet and danced in the pick-up companies Matthew Nash Music and Dance and Jonathan Appels. A member of Actors’ Equity Association, Mr. Nuber has performed professionally in regional productions of West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof and Cinderella.

A Native American Flute Circle

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By Leticia Andreas

Flute Gatherings and Circles of the Native American Flute have been around for quite some time, and can be found in almost every US state. Their purpose is a coming-together of performers, makers and enthusiasts of the Native American Flute. Other musicians are always welcome, such as guitarists, other flautists (Western-European flutes, Ney-flutes, Shakuhachi-flutes, Dizi-flutes, etc.), percussionists, crystal bowl players, and everybody else wanting to spend a great, spiritual, peaceful day with fellow artists and musicians listening to wonderful music. Some attendants of these flute circles are not musicians at all, but enjoy the sounds and performances, spoken words, friendliness and open sharing of the people in these circles.

The last flute circle in Southern California was held on September 15, 2001, at the home of Guillermo, an accomplished flute and percussion maker himself, as well as a player. Guillermo lives in a beautiful area in the Cleveland National Forrest in Orange County. His backyard is large enough to hold about one hundred guests, and the backyard of his immediate neighbor is used as a marketplace for the various flute makers or craftswomen and -men, displaying their art for sale. A flute circle requires that you bring a vegetarian potluck dish, or drinks, so the buffet has a great variety and is loaded with food items. Most people also bring their own camping chairs for comfort.

Usually, most people arrive early to help with the set-up of the stage equipment and the buffet. A regular flute circle is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the prayer starting at 11 a.m. This time, I arrived at 10:40 a.m., just in time to put my salad and fruits on the buffet table, place my chair next to my friend Robert, and say hello to people I had not seen in a few months. Just after 11 a.m., we gathered around the medicine wheel in the backyard, and Robert began the prayer to the Grandfather, or Creator, by thanking him for everything that we have. Because of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Robert then continued to pray for all the people whose lives had been lost, and for everyone else involved, near or far. He reminded us that the “enemy” is also part of us, and we are part of the “enemy”, as we are all connected: all humans, animals, and plants on this earth. After that, Robert went around to each and every person with a shell full of burning sage, to cleanse and bless everyone in the circle, while Guillermo beat a drum and sang. The prayer is one of my favorite parts of the day, and I never miss it, because everyone is connected during that time, and you feel peaceful and simply happy for a moment, I guess. Guillermo closed the prayer circle with stating that since September 11, he had kept a small fire going in the backyard, and on that tragic day had also made offerings at the medicine wheel, especially towards the direction of East.

The prayer ended with everyone honoring the four directions, meaning everyone in the circle turned first to the East, remaining there for a moment and shaking rattles, beating drums, blowing conch shells; then South, and same here with percussion; then West, and percussion; then North, and percussion.

After the prayer, most of us disbursed to the buffet, grabbed a bite to eat, sat down in our chairs and began to watch the first performances. Young Evren Ozan played first. I believe he is 8 now, and has played the Native American Flute since he was 3. He has been invited to play at the Nammys (the Native American Grammys) this year, and wanted to practice the song he would perform there. It was a nice, contemporary upbeat dance song, keyboards played the modern background music, and Evren played his flute melody over it.

Evren Ozan

Evren Ozan

Performances continued throughout the day by whoever had signed up on the sign-in sheet. Always one of the highlights are Sarah Thompson and Gary Lemos, an extremely talented Native musician couple who play all kinds of Native American Flutes, and percussion instruments. An emotionally charged performance came from a man from Oregon, who is a policeman. He played his Lakota Warrior song as a tribute to all the policemen and firefighters who perished in the New York attacks.

Sarah Thompson and Gary Lemos

Sarah Thompson and Gary Lemos

Around 2:30 p.m., the usual raffle was held, with tickets going for $2 each this time. The proceeds this time would go to the Red Cross in New York. My friend Robert Leon won an awesome gourd flute made by Guillermo himself, and an ecstatic Japanese couple won a cedar flute of Guillermo’s. Also raffled off were some beautiful Native American jewelry, and a painting of a Fancy Dancer by Terry-Anne. After the raffle, some people leave, and others hang out for a bit. I decided to leave soon also, before traffic would get the best of me on the hour-long ride back home to West L.A.

The Southern California Flute Circle is held only three times a year; the next gathering will probably be in January 2002. For more info on how to participate, please contact the author by Email: jingoforever@yahoo.com

Flute Circles and Gatherings have been held for years, all over the United States, and they meet on a regular basis. The need for those arose out of the renaissance of the Native American Flute – NAF for short -, and its many friends and followers. It has been said that a Flute Circle provides an intimate venue for people interested in the NAF, to gather and share their talents and experiences, and even to help one another musically, spiritually, and educationally.

The NAF had nearly vanished from this part of the continent during the assimilation period of Native Americans in the early 1900’s. Thanks to some Native peoples, the NAF and its music saw a revival in the 1960s to 1970s, when only a handful of original, elder NAF players were still alive and capable of passing on the art and music of the NAF to others.

The NAF is so popular due to its wonderful, haunting, meditative, and mostly pentatonic sounds, no matter which key the individual flute is in. The most traditional styles of the NAF are the 5-hole Lakota Courting Flutes, made mostly out of the traditional cedar. Now, many different styles and woods can be found, but all of them either 5-hole or 6-hole styles, with or without intricate carvings, fetishes, or adornments. The NAF, as a vertical flute, meaning it is played endblown, is easy to play, and is said to be a spiritual instrument with immense healing qualities. It has many legends of origin, but all of them similar and related to animals, nature, and their connections to humans.

Los Angeles based author Leticia Andreas plays Flute and Saxophone.

Is there such a word as Muralist?

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Is there such a word as Muralist? We talk to a man who does things to walls.
An interview with Michael Gullberg by Jeffrey the Barak

The wall featuring “…and Then The Goddess Began Conjuring Herself Up Out Of The Palm Of My Hand.” by Michael Gullberg.

What is the full title of the piece seen above?

…and Then The Goddess Began Conjuring Herself Up Out Of The Palm Of My Hand.

Where is this mural located?

2317 Lakeshore Avenue in Echo Park, just west of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It’s on the side of a house.

There’s a brick wall in the photograph which gives us some sense of scale, but exactly how big is it?

Fourteen feet high, eleven and a half feet wide. There’s actually some rocks and stuff down below which help to put in perspective.

How long did it take to paint this work?

I started at the end of October in 1996 and I had an unveiling party on May 18th 1997. That’s seven months.

While you were painting the mural, was the public passing by, watching you?

Yeah, people would come by and I would be in my own world. People would sit behind me for a while and I wouldn’t know they were there for a long time. Then I’d notice them and say “Hi.”

What kind of paint is it? What’s the medium?

Well it’s actually house paint. Behr exterior latex acrylic semi-gloss paint from The Home Depot. The background surface is Stucco, primed.

What is your current project?

It’s long one. Forty feet long and about seven and a half feet high.

It must be easier when you don’t have to climb up ladders all the time.

Yeah, it’s a little bit easier. I still need to get a stool to reach the top two feet. This one’s gonna take a while. I probably not going to be done with this one for another year or so.

Is there such a word as Muralist?

Yeah. Diego Rivera was a Muralist.

Upon who’s house is Goddess painted?

The current owner of the house is John Duffy, but when the work began, the owner of the house was a woman who owns about four of my smaller painting, Carol Sherman. It was her wall and originally she was thinking about simple silhouettes or something like that. And then we started kicking around some ideas. There was some Indian imagery that she liked and I think that’s where the Goddess came from. Carol was very much into the Goddess aspect of the feminist movement also.

So the Goddess was more of a symbol of empowerment than an actual God-like potent being?

It’s not a specific, it’s an all encompassing universal female/feminine energy.

What’s the difference between painting a large mural and painting something two feet wide?

It depends on the artist! For me, what I have found is that with smaller canvases I was cramming a lot. I was putting a lot into one small painting. Somebody said to me once, you’ve got to start painting bigger. This was after I had painted Goddess, and I started to notice the difference. There’s a lot of emotion and energy in my work and I pour that emotion into it. A lot of big emotion, and I think the extra space affords you more freedom with that. I express myself more fully on a large space. So it’s not just a case of it being larger so you can see it from further away, there’s something more to see if you are close to the piece. From every perspective, from far away, from up close from the sides, from the top. That’s the whole thing, I’m creating other worlds.

Have you ever thought about camouflaging a building and making it blend into its background?

Even though this mural sticks out, it’s colors blend into the hillside. The painting is affected by all of its surroundings. This is more apparent in my current work. I’m affected by all the surroundings, even the insects. One of the things that I started to understand when I first started painting this mural, is I’m actually painting landscapes, other worlds, on top of the ants’, insects’ and spiders’ world. They’ve actually visited while I was painting. This one spider which looked almost futuristic and robotic, with things like wipers on it’s eyes, came into my field of vision and looked up right at me, and I realized at that point that in creating something like a mural, you are also destroying something. On my current piece, the lizards come out of the drain. I disrupt the ants many times. Ants are crazy, they get right in the line of the brush, they’ll come right up to the brush and sacrifice themselves for the beauty of art. I’m in touch with the animals and the insects too. Murals have brought me back to that kind of stuff. I was raised in the woods in the rural areas of Pennsylvania.

What about decay and maintenance?

That’s one of the reasons I use Behr house paint. It has a fifteen-year guarantee. I also use a clear coat, a graffiti coat I’ve been watching this mural for the past three years. With the amount of paint I’m putting on, I could literally peel that thing right off the wall.

So it’s like a big latex skin on the wall.

Yes.

Like a condom.

It’s like an art condom.

Do you have to keep stepping back to have a look at the piece?

I walk all the way up the street, walking backwards, holding my paintbrush. There are a lot of varying perspectives.

Do you use an outline first, or a slide projector?

No, no, no. This mural was strictly out of my head. The planning and design elements were as I was going. I used tape for certain perspective lines. At an early stage in this piece, carol said, “You know what, I like what you paint, I like your style, so just go ahead and paint whatever comes to you.” And I did. A lot of my work evolves as the paint is being moved around. All of a sudden things reveal themselves in the paint. I let go enough to allow the paint to kind of show me what to paint, basically.

You sign your work “Michael”. Is that your artist name?

It was, now I’m thinking of using my whole name, Michael Gullberg, but the single name Michael looks better as a signature on the paintings.

What would you like to say about being a Muralist?

Buy more murals! No reasonable offer refused.

See more of Michael Gullberg’s art at http://michaelgullberg.com/

Article/interview by Jeffrey the Barak