Buy Outside the Box: June 2006

It’s All in How We View It

Fever - Mixed Media by James Mall

In a very large room with white walls, say in a gallery or museum somewhere, where art is isolated from living, it looks different than when you insert it into your living space. Or does it? My husband and I are always arguing about how high to place a painting because he is taller than me. A rule of thumb is to place the center of the art at your eye level. Hey that’s why we argue! For a really great article on how to hang click here., Enjoy!—Ruth Mitchell

Art as a Lifestyle

Koi of Joy - Sabe Lewellyn

I first saw Sabe’s Lewellyn’s work at the Gem Theatre in my little adopted town of Heber Springs, Arkansas, county seat of Cleburne County. While the Gem is a wonderful historic building, and truly has some incredible venues, for a town of less than 7,000 souls, you don’t exactly expect to walk in there and see the quality of work I saw in Sabe’s exhibit.

What an adventurer he is! Read all about Sabe here, and check out his work here.

Did You Know? Free Arts Calendar

Wings of California - Lucy Arnold

In case you weren't aware, we wanted to let you in on the fact that buyoutsidethebox has an arts calendar. You can either submit an exhibit or event, or catch up on news. This is a great way to know if there is something going on in your area or a faraway place where you might be traveling to.

Let Color Serve Art

One of my favorite artists is Henri Matisse, and I know it has to do with his passion to have color serve his art. This obsession with color became identified loosely with the Fauvism movement at the turn of the last century. The movement lasted only a few short years as Matisse and other artists worked to breakout of traditional molds. Spurred by the work of Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne, the Fauvists included artists Maurice de Vlaminck, Andre Derain, Albert Marquet, and Georges Rouault, who used color to express an emotional force.

If you would like to learn more about Fauvism, visit these sites: Web Museum, Paris; Image Library, or Artchive.

To set your imagination in motion, I have chosen a painting by Ildikó Kalapács that demonstrates certain Matisse-like elements including the use of color to make a statement. Visit our site for more incredible paintings by this artist and others. The artists always set their own prices, and I think they are all very fairly priced; in fact some are a steal.--Ruth Mitchell

"Transylvanian Hungarian" - Ildikó Kalapács

Unload that Apple Cart

We’ve all had a grandmother or elderly aunt say, “Don’t upset the apple cart,” or perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” Which all boils down to the idea: if change isn’t necessary, then “don’t stir the waters.”

Then there are those elite that consider “stirring up the pot, makes for better soup.” They are those artists out there always looking for a new perspective on something we take for granted every day.

We recognize this “cutting edge” perspective in contemporary art because these artists are challenging the current culture we are familiar with, but it has been going on for centuries now. Art Nouveau, Abstract Expressionism, Symbolism, Romanticism, Post Modernism, Dada and the Avant-Garde movements are just some of the art movements to mention here.

Then within these movements are individual artists, expressing their own personal reality in their own unique way, influenced perhaps by their rebellious predecessors.

Each group tends to build upon the work of the last. This happens in all areas of culture, not just art, and sometimes these changes are for the better, and sometimes for the worse, it’s all in your perspective. Say instead of “upsetting the apple cart,” we unload it instead.

Contemporary art is not so concerned with explaining itself as movements have been in the past. The public seems to be less concerned with motive behind the work, and more involved in what the work says to them. This is probably due to conditioning, and education through the mass media more than anything.

This painting by Ukraine artist Alexey Yesjunin, "Two Figures in the Room," is a fine example of the ordinary becoming visually extraordinary. Have a unique day!—Ruth Mitchell

"Two Figures in the Room" - Oil on Canvas - Alexey Yesjunin

War...What is it Good For?

Whenever a young soldier returns home to his family with body parts missing, or worse returns in a box, people start to question the war of the day. What seemed like a good idea at first, “we’ll just help out our friends,” “we’ll just protect our oil source,” “we’re just the good guys in this world,” whatever the justification, the people sour on the idea of sending their “brightest and bravest” off to war. There is an instinct to protect our homes and families that obviously leads to these grandiose conflicts. With respect to any soldier and their family who is currently engaged in today’s war, I grieve for them. This blog is not about political statements, but information. Now that we are into this stage of the war in Iraq, I have become more curious about contemporary artist’s movements for peace; because, historically, artists have used their forum to express their dissatisfaction with war as a viable form to address conflict. This is especially true in more modern times when the wars have gotten bloodier and the death counts more extensive.

An excellent book on the topic is “Art Against War: Four Hundred Years of Protest in Art” by D. J. R. Bruckner, Seymour Chwast, Steven Heller . An excellent article on the Dada Movement, which was particularly shocking visually, by K. Kimberly King focuses on this aspect of art. A comprehensive exhibit of the movement is currently showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, through Sept. 11, 2006. Also well known were the three Mexican muralists: Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros who came to the U.S. in the 1930s and used their art to express their political philosophies.

And then there was Da Vinci who was probably the most hawkish artist I can think of because he profited so much from designing war machines for one of his wealthy patrons.

Growing up in the ’60s and ’70s as I did there was “Flower Power” which probably was responsible for more bad art than good, but the peaceful point was made. Actually more musicians stand out in that period than visual artists. You had Yoko and John holding a bed-in press conference in their Hotel Room at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth in Montreal in 1969. You had Bob Dylan singing “Blowing in the Wind,” Pete Seeger’s “Where Have all the Flowers Gone?,” made famous by the Mamas and the Papas, and of course “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” that is used in so many movies.

After Nine Eleven - Andrew Neighbour - Digital Painting

What attracts me to art is the sheer raw expression, and beyond that I can’t place my finger on any particular element that makes me look at a work and say wow, whether there is political agenda or just self-exploration, or sheer boredom motivating its creation. I believe most artists create because their inner voice screams to come out. Some artists are socially conscious, some are humorous, some are dark, many are into pushing the envelope, some are design driven, others just plain weird. It is one of the most fascinating communities in the world. Don’t you think so?—Ruth Mitchell

Can you Say Giclee (zhee-klay)?

Acropolis from Hotel Terrace - Giclee print

I first came across the phenomenon of giclee prints while interviewing artist George Dombek in his nifty home in Northwest Arkansas. He is the only person I have ever known who grew wheat in his front yard instead of grass. It was beautiful by the way. He also had a tricycle on his roof, and a tree in his living room. I liked him right off the bat.

George’s work is very, very controlled watercolor. I was familiar with his work long before I ever met him because he had painted some soft-to-the-touch-as-a-baby’s-behind pebbles from Pebble Beach in Door County, Wis., and I knew the minute I saw his painting where the stones were from and I wanted to meet this amazing artist. What was particularly amazing to me was that he would show me an original and then the giclee of the work, and I was hard pressed to tell the difference.

A giclee print is a product of the digital age. It is a high-resoltuion reproduction done on a large-format inkjet printer using as many as 12 archival colors. This process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction. The process starts with a digital scan of an original artwork or a digital file original if the artist is working in the digital format to begin with. Giclees can be printed on a variety of media including canvas, watercolor paper and transparent acetates. The colors are brighter and last longer than lithographs because the inks are sprayed on in a continuous tone.

Giclees were actually developed as a proofing system for lithograph printing presses, but it quickly became evident they were superior in quality to the lithographs themselves. Even though giclees are not originals, they are fast becoming exceedingly popular with collectors, and some have been auctioned off in the five-digit price range.

We have a number of incredible giclees on our site by artists Priscilla Humay, George Wittenberg, Lucy Arnold, Ellen Hobgood and Laurin McCracken. The prices are all a very good value. I own several of them myself, and plan to pass them down to future generations. You’ve got to see them to believe!—Ruth Mitchell

Can You Believe People Buy Cars Over the Internet?

I have a friend who enjoys selling used cars on Ebay. He buys them and then sells them so cheap, that he has now sold several that were shipped overseas. The hidden meaning here is that Paul’s price is so good, the buyers still feel like it is a bargain to buy from Paul, even if they have to pay for shipping. Shipping a car over the Atlantic costs around $4,000.

Paul has told some pretty crazy stories involving the language barrier in selling these cars, but he enjoys his avocation. My point in bringing this up, is that not only is the internet excellent for providing information, (see my blog “Summertime and the Internet is Easy), but it is now a global marketplace with a growing sense of trust. If a used-car salesman can sell over the internet anyone can.

When I first developed Buyoutsidethebox.com, I had already come to rely on internet shopping as my main source of shopping. Granted sometimes, especially when you are on vacation, it is more fun to stroll through the little shops and try on the dresses, but for the mainstay, I love internet shopping. You can shop in the middle of the night in your pajamas, you can compare prices easily, and the whole world is your oyster so to speak.

At Buyoutsidethebox.com our first goal is to bring buyer and seller together. Not just any buyer and seller however, that’s a job for Ebay. We bring the finest handmade things and the best the visual arts have to offer to discerning buyers. Art enthusiasts aren’t mainstream people. They are looking for something different. That’s where Creative Consumerism™ comes into play. Creative consumers want what creative people have created, whether they are collecting for their home or office, or are giving a gift.

When I was first married, my mother and future mother-in-law trotted me through the expensive stores and made me register for all the finer things in life, but it was the art we received that has had the most lasting presence in my life. It still hangs on the walls, while the other things are either broken or so high maintenance that they get stored in tight boxes.

So, don’t be surprised if you someday find yourself shopping online for a car. Many people already shop for such unlikely things online as mortgages, underwear, shoes and car parts. Actaully, the first time a bought a pair of shoes over the internet I thought I was nuts, but the amazing thing was, they fit, and they arrived the next day by 10 a.m. when I had called them the evening before. Now that's amazing.

At buyousidethebox.com, almost all our art and fine handmade things are shipped free of charge, that is unless of course you live in Africa and you're purchasing a bronze statue from a New Jersey artist. We also will call anyone who has a question and assist you personally. All you have to do is email us at: info@buyoutsidethebox.com.

And if you're shopping for a car online and you run across a fellow named Paul, he’s probably got the best prices out there. For a long, tall Texan he’s a pretty good ‘ole horse trader.--Ruth Mitchell

It's Not Just Black and White

Monument Valley - Dougan Gary

Not too many people know that photographer Ansel Adam’s first career choice was music. At age 12 he taught himself how to read music and play the piano and went on to study music extensively. This discipline as a musician undoubtedly influenced his abilities as a visual artist.

His passion for photography began with the Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie camera his parents gave him, and his first visit to Yosemite, his favorite subject, came in 1916. He was an early member of the Sierra Club, and worked tirelessly as an advocate for preserving the wilderness, which stems from his earliest childhood days when, as a youth growing up in San Francisco near Golden Gate, he would roam for hours through the roughest territory.

Adam’s powerful black and white images, which he achieved through his gift as an artist and by a highly developed and structured technical restraint, were not just realistic documentations of nature, but an intensely developed vision of natural beauty that was often more emotional than the actual landscapes he photographed.

Many photographers have emulated Adam’s presentation through the years, but one photographer in particular is able to bring that emotional presentation of nature to his images, and that’s Arizona photographer Dougan Gary. Check out his work and see what I’m talking about. --Ruth Mitchell

Exciting Russian Art

Tatyana Tumasyah writes of the work of Alexey Yesjunin……Freshness of field sketches, unusual easiness of perception, spontaneity of composition and colors (with) richness are perfectly kept in two landscape series “Botanical Garden” and “Crimea.” It seems that these works possess the feeling of the constant world unsteadiness, (and the) idea of natural interconnection between home—like human close natural surroundings and majestic spaces. There’s so much of expressionism, dramatic color intensity here.

We have to agree with Tatyana. Check out this incredible collection at www.buyoutsidethebox.com

Summertime and the Internet is Easy

I never hear people gushing about the internet in the way that I feel about it, and yet whenever internet service is interrupted for even the shortest time, you hear a lot of complaining. There are some negative things about the internet of course. Before the internet computer viruses weren’t rampant, and we had porn and sexual predators, but they didn’t have the speed of the information highway to their advantage.

I know that my affection for the internet comes from my experience as a writer. For years I spent hours upon hours in the library researching to get information about the topics I wrote about. Not that I don’t enjoy being in libraries, but now that same information is in my grasp within minutes, thanks to the internet and some incredible search engines we all have come to love with Google being right there on top. Not only that my home office allows me to have an occasional eagle stops by to say hello. That never happened at the library.

Now that information we get off the internet can be somewhat arcane. For instance last night I was indulging in a little network surfing because summer reruns have set in. I landed on Casino Royale, a 1967 production that was confusing, yet entertaining with incredible actors like Peter Sellers, Orson Welles, Ursula Andress, Woody Allen and David Niven.

Anyone that has ever seen a Bond movie knows they ramble all over the place, but you will be entertained with some interesting diversionary tactics. I was so totally lost when the phone rang, and even more so when I returned to the movie. So this morning, with my interest piqued, I went online to figure out what was going on. You could never have done that previously to the internet, and that sort of information might not even be available at the library.

The first thing I learned was that Sony Pictures is releasing a new film this fall of the James Bond adventure with Daniel Craig and Eva Green. That was the number one listing on Google. I learned that the original Casino Royale movie based on Ian Fleming’s first novel, and because it came after some of the other films produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, the directors of the original Casino Royale, there were (count them) five not all listed on the credits, decided to turn Casino Royal into a spoof. I have to say that the sprawling, disjointed plot had to be planned as part of the spoof, and there were many sections of the film that seemed to be the work of Woody Allen, who was early in his career at the time.

This all leads me to some other great things about the internet like Pandora.com. Have you heard about it yet? Created by the Music Genome Project™, Pandora.com is a smart website. You type in what kind of music you like and it will find more great music similar to your stated tastes. Now that’s using your internet noggin!

There are so many opportunities on the web these days, and we feel a part of that exciting change as we explore this new technology. We cordially invite you to participate in Creative Consumerism™ at www.buyoutsidethebox.com

Morning Preen - Andrew Neighbour

Art Evolution from Outer to Inner Worlds

According to artcyclopedia surrealism is “a style in which fantastical visual imagery from the subconscious mind is used with no intention of making the work logically comprehensible.” That’s a great way to put it, but many of us look at surrealism and just say, “That’s modern art,” taking for granted its evolution. Art is often influenced by the events, fashions, politics and culture of the day, and surrealism is no exception. It was particularly influenced by politics and the birth of psychoanalysis.

The movement was founded in 1924 by Andre Breton who was a poet, writer and artist who studied psychiatry and once even met Freud. He was even an early feminist and a member of the French Communist party for a few years. With strong ties to the Dada movement, surrealists include such noted artists as: Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, Jean Arp, Man Ray, Joan Miro, and Rene Magritte. Salvador Dali is perhaps the single-most identified name with surrealism, but he was actually known to have broken with the group because of his extreme right politics

The exploratory passion of surrealism to explore the subconscious mind has been a tremendous break from representational art and has opened up a whole new world of visual images from the inner world, versus the outer world. A contemporary surrealist that has grabbed my attention recently is Portuguese artist Alberto D'Assumpcao. I invite you to see Alberto's work now.--Ruth Mitchell

Dripping with Jewels

In her book Jewelry: From Antiquity to the Present (World of Art) by Clare Phillips, we learn that different cultures throughout time as far back as the ancient Egyptians have cherished jewelry and partaken in personal adornment. The sophisticated assemblage of jewelry from the past is ours to ponder through personal effects including jewelry, that have been buried with the deceased, accentuating our presumptions of its importance to the owner. In past cultures, jewelry served as a dowry, the owner carrying their wealth around with them in the form of personal adornment.

With plastic and paper now serving as our mobile wealth, jewelry is less about being expensive than ever before, not that there is anything wrong with that. But today's concept of jewelry is more about self expression for those that are wearing it, and certainly for those that are creating it. Our concept of jewelry is as varied as the human imagination, from clay beads, glass, precious stones, and the use of metals from stainless steel to silver to gold, and even such space age metals as titanium, we have an endless selection to set our own personal style.

I personally enjoy having meaningful jewelry in my wardrobe to express myself visually about how I feel that day. I especially enjoy wearing “organic” jewelry, and by that I mean jewelry made out of more earthy things, such as clay and glass, but I also have some other cherished items that are more traditional that have been given to me through the years. Jewelry is an emotional thing, and even men are more inclined to wear it than in past decades.

At Buyoutsidethebox.com we have a number of talented artists making jewelry including: Glass artists Andrew Pollack, Laurie Ament and Braden Hammond, as well as Svetlana Howells, Rebecca Ottensmann, Leanne Soden, Jill Montesanto, and Deborah Thorpe. We invite you to visit our site and check out their beautiful work. --Ruth Mitchell