Evil Duck Says "Esther"

Max and I made this annoying little movie after I bought this evil duck from an "Out of The Closet" store for 2 bucks. Here he says "Esther" because we were about to go to see Esther Watson's Show at Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery in Culver City. Eeeeeerie!

David Sandlin at Billy Shire Fine Arts

I just got back from 2 very busy art openings. The first was for the opening at Billy Shire Fine Arts of David Sandlin and Helen Garber's new work. I'm such a long time fan of David Sandlin's work that I'm just commenting on his show there for this post entry. It was a tough night to have an opening because so many people were going over to the "Some Paintings" show at Track 16 (Bergamot Station in Santa Monica). That place was a madhouse. More of a partylike atmosphere, but good strong work and celebs filling the place. Matt Groening and Matt Dillon were there. Apparently a lot of famous men named Matt. Anyway, I'm just glad I made it to Billy Shire first to see David Sandlin's work. I will add more to this post in a day so I can get the name of the paintings that I found really impressive. Here are a couple of images from the show though. The work was big....BIG!!!! They were all oil on canvas (for the most part) and the colors were strong and vibrant. I've always loved how Sandlin rides this fine line between cartoonish and abstract. It's a dreamworld of distorted characters and genitalia. (Lord knows I love to paint the female breast.) He tends to draw on his life experiences and his 2 favorite topics are sex and religion. We have this in common for sure. He grew up in Belfast and also Alabama. His mother was from Ireland and the first painting here is an homage to her.

The Marion Peck Show at Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery

As usual it's taken me more than a week to finally post this, but the show is still going. Great show too. If you can get over to Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City you should see the show. Many people will compare Marion Peck's work to her boyfriend Mark Ryden's work for obvious reasons, but I see many differences between them. She is undeniably in the "Ryden" zone though. But her paintings have a very "French" quality to them. They are very flowery and ornate and rich to look at. Her work has a very aristocratic quality to every stroke. And like Mark her work is just inspiring to take in. It's an event for sure. So here are some of my usual blurry shots. Someday I will learn how to take a sharper picture, but some of these aren't so awful. I hope they respect the art.