new and not so new work

A week or so ago I delivered a commissioned work to the buyer, Emmanuel Canteras.

"Portrait of Zoe", 40" x 48". Oil on Canvas, ©narangkar glover

I also just sold a small painting that was in my Twenty-Two Shoes show:

"Polish Woman with Head Scarf", 12" x 12", Oil on Canvas, ©narangkar glover

I don't sell a ton of work, so it's always a good feeling when it's up there and someone responds with a genuine interest. I know they must really like it, as opposed to buying it because its the latest in art trends. And hopefully it will provide some enjoyment, as does my own art collection provide enjoyment to me. Hey, maybe I could write about our art collection next time... but first I've got some beef brewing about certain shit. coming soon...

Richard Diebenkorn in New Mexico

Here is a painter I have come to greatly admire, only to find out ten or so years after the fact, that he did his MFA at University of New Mexico - the very department where I just started out when I was a young lass. Geez, I've combed through his books so many times, those being mostly the ones when I'm wondering what to do next.



His New Mexico period (1950-1952) was when he started to remove the abstraction from his work and imply more representation. He used alot of heavy blacks and contrasts, one thing that is apparent in the New Mexico wintry lanscapes. It's arrid and it's stark and the sun is harsh even though it's freezing. You can see the difference in respect to his observation of light when you look at say, Berkeley no.52, 1955.



Lush... makes you want to use more green in your own work, am I right?

Thanks for letting me ramble on about one of my favorite painters of all time. Such a Master.

Ruth Asawa

The Ruth Asawa Retrospective at the DeYoung Museum: Probably one of the best best BEST shows I have seen ever ever ever.

What this show really came down to was Ruth's undeniable excellence with her technique, her medium, and her aesthetic sensibility that is nothing less than genuine. She has perfected her craft. Awe-inspiring is the only word that comes to mind. But maybe it's because the work really leaves one speechless and to talk about it doesn't do it justice.

Ruth Asawa's woven copper-wire hanging sculptures mimic natural forms. In addition to my crappy photos of her work, there were some wonderful works on paper as well.

If only I could better highlight her impact on me and my own work, albiet pale in comparison. Across the board however, anyone this good has to have a profound affect on other artists, regardless of medium. Seeing that a woman has embraced tradition, refined it, and made it into her own, is where I start to have hope for myself in regards to my Painting and Embroidery. With such emphasis these days on repetitive and OCD quality works, these moments can be few and far between. It's when artists are inspired to venture into uncharted and unsafe territory to eventually break through to produce real and interesting work that's neither contrived nor hackneyed.

Asawa's tied wire sculptures take on the form of geometry in the natural world.

If you've just now been introduced to her work and want to learn more, you can always get the exhbition catalogue at Rowan Morrison Gallery. Or go to ruthasawa.com Fortunately for people who missed the big retrospective, there are some of her works in the permanent collection, located in the Foyer near the elevators.
and here is the SF Chronicle write up of the show

Hung Liu

Hung Liu is an established painter and professor at Mills College in Oakland. I was first introduced to her work at the Oakland Museum, and later became more familiar with her when my friend Sean Boyles studied at Mills for his MFA. They were a tight-knit pair, and it gave us a warm feeling knowing that Sean had a painting mentor at Mills, a college that highly encourages New Media like installation, performance and video; placing an importance on the cerebral and conceptual over the technique and expression of making Art. Many an MFA breeze through without getting their feet wet, and I think we all know who those people are and it'd be better for everyone to leave it at that.

Hung Liu's "Three Graces", 80 x 80

Sean Boyles Bottle Bum Army - shown at Rowan Morrison in '06

three girls

here is a picture of a recent painting I did titled "Three Girls", Oil on Canvas, 48" x 48"

Les Nabis

In a quick google image search for Vuillard, I happened upon one of his later works:

comment away, painting dorks!
Les Nabis on Wikipedia

motherfuckin' mondrian

Geez, In all my haste to wrangle kick-ass paintings, I almost left out this one by the Godfather of Modern Art, Piet Mondrian...



Most, if not all Art Historians have name Paul Cezanne the Father of Modern Art. Therefore, it would only be natural to name Mondrian the GODfather of Modern Art ...wikipedia's mondrian entry...

Alika Cooper says:

hey narangkar,

have you heard of the ashcan school of painting? i
think you might dig it, i am way super in to it...

this is Everett Shinn

Go to Alika's website... NOW!

sf galleries

Last Saturday I visited two downtown SF galleries. I finally made it to Dolby-Chadwick, a gallery which champions figurative works and artists for most of its shows, and then over to John Berggruen: a very upscale money-money gallery showing the works of famous and well-established artists. John Berggruen has Jasper Johns' intaglio numerals on the second floor.

Sherie' Franssen: A rad painter mentioned in the Chronicle last fall - oh yeah, NOW I remember.... "Blood Muscle Meat" (see below). She is represented by Dolby Chadwick:

Kim Frohsin has a solo show up at Dolby-Chadwick this month. I do like her figurative work that's up right now:

Oakland Museum of California

Today the Oakland Museum is free, 'cause of Second Sundays. Not many people know about that. Most people know that First Tuesdays are free for San Francisco Museums. I had really planned to go to the Oakland Museum today, but I got sick. So I guess I'll just make another list of some of my favorites from their permanent collection. Okay, here we go:

First off, there's the Society of Six collection, WAAY in the back of the art floor. The Society of Six were a group of (six) plein-air painters based in Oakland in the 1920's. Back then Oakland was wide open space, but some of the places they painted are like half-a-mile away from me, like the rock quarry, which is now a man made "lake" behind Big Long's. Louis Seigreist, the youngest of the six, was born in 1906, right here at 5190 Miles, that's about half-a-mile away too - a really nice Victorian that, from the look of it, has been well taken care of. Some of my favorite little landscapes are from this group, they just punch you with their ease of brushstrokes and purity of pigments. Cobalt Blues, Cadmiums Reds and Oranges - YUM!

Then there's the Bay Area Figurative Collection which hosts the works of Nathan Oliviera, Richard Deibenkorn, David Park, Elmer Bischoff

Spring Nude by Nathan Oliviera is housed there:



This one is huge - but not monumental huge, just a good, big painting that doesn't feel too epic. There are also a lot of Nathan Oliveira works at the DeYoung, along with a couple of killer Bischoff's.

So get off your lazy ass and go to a museum. Next I will post one about a couple of Galleries I visited last Saturday, and one about the Ruth Asawa exhibit (now over) at the DeYoung... stay tuned

coffee cup study

here's a study of a dunkin donuts coffee cup done last December


Another painting to add to my list of all time fave's is this one by Joan Brown, titled Green Bowl, 1964

Welcome to my painting blog

I'm getting this going so that my website will just get updated with new art every few months, but I'll also be able to share my thoughts on some stuff I"m working on, some paintings and artists that inspire me to keep painting. And well, I can ramble alot easier using blogger.com, can't I?

I've been working on this "list" of favorite paintings for a while now. here's one of my all-time faves for ya:

Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Madame Sartre

In many of Gauguin's Brittany paintings, I'm eerily reminded of some family resemblance. Which is odd because most of my ancestors came to America WAY before 1885, way before. Apparently many of my ancestors on my maternal side were Brits who came over as indentured servants before the American Revolution.

Here's one where the little girl looks identical to me! whoa...trip out.


The Title is Breton Girls Dancing, and I first saw this at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002. Since then, I have not found any reproductions that look even close to the original. Because of the resemblance, and because of the headdress, this one hits close to home. I'll go into it later.