What is going on for spring 2023.
I hope you are doing well.
Today I am writing a bit about Spanish artists and their influence on me as well as introducing new work and projects that are coming along. Thanks for reading.
California Garden #1 (CG1)
I recently started a new series of paintings which I am calling “The California Garden Series." Painting #1 is pictured above. This oil painting was finished last month and this photo was shot outside of MichaelKate Interiors in front of the mural that I painted in 2019.
This new painting is now hanging inside at MichaelKate Interiors, 132 Santa Barbara St. Santa Barbara Ca.. 805 963-1411.And here is painting #2 in the series.
I have been revisiting the art I grew up with while living part time in Spain as a kid. I was recently looking a book from the 60's and found an interesting quote by Jaun De Contreras, The Marquis de Lozoya. (It's from the book "Spain a History in Art" by Bradley Smith).
In the introduction Jaun de Contreras writes "It has been said that in an art gallery the only living things are El Greco, Velazquez, Zurbarán and Goya, the rest are nothing but marvelous wax figures.”
That is a interesting thought and it may be a good goal for artists painting in the 2020's? Bringing paintings to life!
California Garden #2 (CG2)
This is where I want to get to and "California Garden #2" (above) is a humble attempt towards that goal. This 4.5 X 8.5 foot piece was finished last week and it too is hanging at MichaelKate Interiors, 132 Santa Barbara St. Santa Barbara. 805 963-1411.
Lobero
It is the 150th anniversary for the Lobero Theatre and as you may already know I am honored to have been asked to do three paintings for the covers of three issues of their Backstage Magazine for the 2022 - 2023 season.
Issue number two (pictured above) is out now. Next time you're at the Lobero pick one up. There is an amazing story in this issue about the long lost Lobero Golden Eagle and it's triumphant return to the theatre.Music:
Video
Zach Madden and Brenda Roman pictured (above) from Zach's new video.
The idea was to keep the video simple and capture a moment. You know when just hanging out with friends on a nice afternoon is all you need? Shot and edited for Zach Madden's song called "Us Two" which we videoed last week on a sunny winter day at the beach in Isla Vista. Link below.
Francisco de Zurbarán
This is a detail from the upper right of a painting by Francisco de Zurbarán, another Spanish painter. It's called Vision of Blessed Alonso Rodriguez. It is in The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fennando in Madrid.
I saw this painting when I was a kid and it may have been in the back of my mind an influence for the video shoot for Zach Madden…but maybe not. Sometime influences can be subconciouse.
Goya
In this painting by Goya, the goat is the focus The humans are all haphazard and awkward, but perhaps that is meant to be because the artist let's the goat take center and the whole piece works. However, there is a lot more going on.
The painting is called The Witches' Sabbath and the goat is the devil and the women are Witches, but apparently Goya in 1789 was not a big fan of Witch hunting and this painting can be seen as an attack on those superstitious beliefs.
Many in rural Spain in the seventeenth century believed in midnight gatherings of witches and the appearance of the devil but this painting was supposed to mock those beliefs and it reflects Goya's hostility to the then popular tendency of superstition. Goya's thought that a return to medieval fears were exploited by the established order for political and capital gain.
However, if you look at the painting without going deep into it, it could look like a fun picnic with a happy goat dude.
California Garden #1 (CG1)
Looking again at my painting, there are no witches, no devils, no dark or evil tropes. Gardens do have their own drama and hazards and tensions but they can also be balanced and joyful. That's where this painting lives.
Bird
In conclusion, dear newsletter reader, we have "Bird" which just flew off to Austin, Texas to the home of a private collector. This one has more of a nod to 1960's Pop Art, which if you ask me, has a direct line to pieces like Goya's above. There's something about the eyes.
Okay that's all for now.
Thanks,
Brad Nack, 2023
PS. MichealKate Interiors has been very supportive of art and artists over the years, they are at 132 Santa Barbara St. in the Funk Zone, in Santa Barbara, if you get a chance, please stop by to see my new pieces and everthing else they have going on.
