You don't need to know anything about an artist, his inspiration or the construction of his art to love it.

Cleveland’s
largest and most comprehensive exhibition of fine prints, begins
Friday, September 26, 2008 with an opening night benefit preview and
continues Saturday, September 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sunday,
September 28 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Cuyahoga Community College’s
Corporate College located at 4400 Richmond Road in Warrensville Heights

Agapito Labios (Mexican, 1898-1996) Portait of a Boy,
oil on canvas, signed lower right, h: 16 x w: 12 ins. estimates $400-600

As part of a professional membership application I need to provide a sample estate appraisal/Fair Market Value appraisal. To qualify for my application the appraised property must be American paintings, prints, sculpture or furniture (any time period), and preferably 20 items or more.

I love art, and much in the Cleveland Museum's collection, and the old and newish CMA, but I am not convinced the current reengineering of the museum is economically positive for the region, and I am very displeased with their new slogan "art is back" as shallow and disrespectful to the real NEO arts community, which has never left. The museum needs to better explore its identity and role here, as so many arts organizations, our population and economy transition, and the CMA takes a proportionately larger share of the arts funding pie. If CMA is spending $100s millions constructing new edifices for old mold and cobwebs, I will be very disappointed. I'm waiting to see Rub put his shine on anything, other than proclaiming art is back in a place it never left. What do you think... did art leave?

 

Gray's Auctioneers Saturday March 1st sale was an exciting event in the fine arts market with the sale of two paintings by important California Impressionist painters, Orrin Augustine White and Arthur Grover Rider.  This was probably the first time works by these artists were sold in Northeast Ohio.

Both works had languished for decades in a Cleveland area home, their historical significance and value unrealized until they were discovered discovered by auctioneer Deba Gray. Both paintings were securely identified by the artists' signatures and original gallery stickers on the back of one of the canvases. The consignor was thrilled to find out that the paintings, which she believed to be worthless except for their gilded original frames, were actually worth thousands of dollars. Gray's Auctioneers featured both paintings on  their promotional postcard and on the cover of their auction catalog.

This auction features some real art treasures discovered in Cleveland area homes by auctioneer Deba Gray.

Lot 342. Arthur Grover Rider american, 1886-1975) Cracked Bottle, Oil on Canvas. Estimates $10,000-$15,000.

 

How can the Internet be used to preserve an artist's legacy? Can the Internet make an artist accessible to the world when their work is not exhibited in museums or found in art history books? Is art experienced through the Internet and never seen in person as meaningful and inspiring as art experienced in person? Most of the Realneo community would agree that the Internet and social networking is a useful tool in promoting artists and arts events, but what are the untapped possibilities and limitations. What role can the Internet play in preserving art for the future? As we begin the 21st century there are more artists in the world than ever before, more art work created and probably larger audiences for art as well. But with more artists and art created there is also more art being lost.  
 
Several recent experiences have led me to ponder how the Internet might be used as a cost effective and space saving way to preserve and promote an artist's work for the future. One such experience was Wednesday afternoon February 6th, I had the pleasure of visiting the studio of local artist Gina Brand. Gina Brand is a sculptor, though I am reluctant to give her such a limiting title. On this recent visit I learned that for her entire career she has also painted and produced beautiful charcoal drawings.  
 
Gina Brand has been part of the Cleveland arts scene for many years. A Cleveland Institute of Art graduate, she has been tirelessly producing work that is consistently high quality, both technically and aesthetically strong for many decades. Her studio is filled with works in progress, recently completed works (may of which are sold) and older works that represent her artistic development over the years. Her studio space is in an old warehouse, which I would guess was once used by Cleveland's thriving turn-of-the-century garment industry, is filled with natural light and well organized, though it is obviously the site of much artistic activity.  

It's a new year and a new day of the week for Gray's Auctioneers monthy auctions! The first auction of 2008 is this Saturday, January 26th at 1 pm. In this auction you will find the typical great deals and unique and interesting items. There are vintage and antique Chinese decorative items, textiles and furniture. There are some high quality vintage dining room sets by makers such as Ethan Allen and Drexel Heritage that are sure to sell for such low prices that it will make anyone who buys such stuff for retail ill. There is a very handsome Arts and Craft desk. The newest jewelry consignments are tasteful and priced to sell (great Valentines Day gifts). The real deals of this auction, in my opinion, are the fine art. There are some great prints mixed in lots of "framed decorative items." But, by far the coolest thing in the whole auction is a hand made model of the Quenn Mary made by E. K. Koos in a hand made glass and teak wood case.

When I visited The Art Institute of Chicago there was an icy rain coming in off of Lake Michigan.  The sky was slate gray and at two in the afternoon the headlights and tail lights of the cars on South Michigan Avenue reflected off the shiny wet asphalt as I crossed.   Getting inside the warm lobby of the museum felt good.   A $12.00 ticket provides entry to the galleries.  I hadn’t been here before – I had pleasant surprises ahead.

Global warming will bring an end to white Christmas and winter as we've always known in, here in NEO, so during the first real snowstorm of this season, December 16, 2007, I went in search of a visual symbol of NEO, in my neighborhood, strong enough to stand out in white-out conditions, and I came to the Breuer! Not the Breuer Tower, of global controversy, but the Breuer Museum wing of global celebration, design elements of which are featured in the latest additions to the Cleveland Museum of Art, shown on the left here, now evolving form in the hands of Vinoly.

Three reasons to shop at Gray's Auctioneers this Sunday.

This Friday CIA grad and local artist Scott Miller will present his new works (never before exhibited in Cleveland) at Gray's Auctioneers Gallery. Scott Miller is an internationally acclaimed painter who typically shows and sells his work in L.A. Though it is far too simplistic to call them floral paintings, Scott Miller has titled this series "Epiphyte." If you are not up on your botany, an epiphyte is a plant that relies on another for physical support but does not feed off of it parasitically -- think ferns and orchids. These paintings are dark and sensuous and as visually interesting as they are conceptually stimulating. Come enjoy a glass of wine or maybe something stronger, meet Scott Miller, and be among the first to see what will certainly be a world class art exhibition. Suddenly I feel fortunate to be in Cleveland.

The Cleveland Institute of Art is extraordinarily important to Northeast Ohio and the world for the great artists and designers educated there, and for the great artists and designers who are the educators, and staff. Each year, the work of the diverse CIA faculty is showcased in an exhibition not to be missed... the reception for 2007 was last Friday, December 7, and a great event, as always... perhaps the last ever in the historic Gund Building Reinberger Gallery space, as the CIA moves in total to Euclid Avenue.

As part of the Star Neighborhood Development planning for the Star Complex and surrounding one mile radius, I have been planning the redevelopment of the current Cleveland Institute of Art Gund Building and land, on East Boulevard in Cleveland, shown below (full size image here).

 

Be sure to visit the Cleveland Museum of Art and see the Modern Master’s.  Really, it is way too much to take in during one visit. 

This Tuesday, the day before Halloween, The John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection and The Friends of Art have a treat for all of NEO. The day begins with a tour from 12 noon - 1 pm of some of the highlights of the John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection. The John and Mildred Putnam Collection is a remarkable collection of over 35 sculptures by "regional" artists located indoors and outdoors around the campus of Case Western Reserve University and in University Circle. The tour begins at the sculpture MERGING, infront of Guilford house, Belflower Rd., behind The Cleveland Institute of Art's Gund Building on North Campus. Tour is weather permitting and will be cancelled if there is substantial rains during 12 pm - 1pm. Please wear comfortable walking shoe and warm clothing if necessary!

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Need something for your home or office?

Three Chinese bamboo and metals chairs, est. $60-80

The Women's Council Speaker Series Committee is pleased to welcome Dr. Landau, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University. She has taught in the Cleveland Museum of Art/CWRU Joint Program in Art History since 1982, with courses specializing in 20th-century American and European art and theory, particularly Abstract Expressionism. Considered the leading expert on Jackson Pollock, she is the author of the definitive book on the artist (1989).

My friend Katrina will be guest bartending with Thomas Barbric' the regular bartender at Light Bistro (formerly Parker's) on Thursday, June 26th from 4:30 - 8:00 (Happy Hour) all tips will go to the Cleveland Animal Protective League.  There will be complimentary Tapas as well as a few other appetizers for $5. 

The Fine Art & Antiques Auction preview began on Wednesday and continues through Saturday (11-8 Wed. - Fri. & 11-6 Sat.) but Friday night should be especially fun. From 5:30 - 8 there will a special reception and exhibition of photography by Cleveland artist Ruggero Fatica. Gray's Auctioneers promises to be the new hip place in town to see art, buy art and see and be seen.

 

Beauty inside the mind of the beholder? sure, but education from our peers who know the difference helps get us up the ladder of appreciation.  Here's a shot from the plebian street...GOT UGLY?  Marcel Breuer – do you get it?

Maybe you were there at Gray's Auctioneers Inaugural Auction on Sunday June 17th? Doors opened at 10:30 am for one last opportunity to preview the over 200 lots of fine art, furniture and decorative items, and by noon, auction time, the room was packed with excited bidders.  Some of the people in the audience were old pros and others were new to the auction world.  This first auction had something to suit  everyone's taste and price range. Those who attended were glad they did!

 

An exciting new business has opened in NEO -- Gray's Auctioneers. Cleveland now has the largest auction house between New York and Chicago! Gray's inaugural auction of furniture, decorative arts and fine arts will be this Sunday, June 17th at 12 noon. Most of the items in this auction came from Florida estates and are entirely new to the Cleveland market. There are some great deals to be had! Check out Gray's Auctioneers's website and online catalog that just went live this past weekend and stop by their location at 10717 Detroit Avenue to preview the 212 lots this week (Wednesday 10-6, Thursday, Friday 10-8 and Saturday 10-2). There's sure to be something you have always wanted. Maybe you will find a Father's Day gift. This auction even has vintage ties!

Sometimes a sliver of an image, a hint of fragrance, a word or a small gesture has the power to transcend time and space where intimate collections of buried imagination are stored.

Such is the work in Storage Space (Jun 22-Aug 3, 2007), the artists invest the art with pathways to real or imagined histories.