I have worked with a lot of talented artists over the years...one of the most talented is Kathy Benton. She's worked with me for so many years now that i've lost count. She's come up with a really unique way to market her own work by launching a new website, http://www.youcanhireanartist.com/. While the focus is on her incredible talent as a designer and painter, the site also promotes her special ability to convey so many different types of ideas for her clients through her artwork. She's very adaptive and very creative and has a special knack for listening to her clients and interpreting what they have to say through her artwork. She can work in almost any medium you can think of and creates custom-made signs, cards, paintings, and more. If you need something custom-made, give Kathy a call. You'll be happy you did. She's fantastic! Read more about her on prlog.com.

 --Charles

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I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you a "Happy Thanksgiving". I must say that this is one of my favorite holidays because my wife Sue is an amazing cook! Hopefully I won't get in trouble this year. A few years ago it was late on Thanksgiving Eve, and everyone in my house was asleep. I happen to be walking past the kitchen and smelled Sue's freshly baked Pecan Pie (my favorite by the way)...well I decided to take a piece and tried to mold the rest of it back together to make it looked untouched. Needless to say I didn't get away with it. I was thankful that she let me see another Thanksgiving!

Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving to All !!

--Charles 

 

Im heading down to Boca next week and making an appearance wtih Andy Roddick at the Wentworth Gallery in the Town Center Mall in Boca. If anybody has already received an invitation, I understand there may have been a mistake with the date! Just so you know, Andy and I are going to be there on Friday, December 5th from 6-9 PM. Please be sure to stop in and see us if you are in the area. I would love to see you. The reason I am doing this with Andy is because I was asked to do the official artwork for his charitable foundations gala that takes place the following night. He has a great foundation dedicated to helping children, and I'm thrilled to be involved with it.

 

--Charles

I've always loved Macy's....such history...Herald Square....Miracle on 34th Street...It's the home of Santa Claus! And today, I have two more reasons to be a fan. This morning I was part of a check presentation during which Macy's donated $250,000 to one of my favorite charities - The Capuchin Food Pantries. I was honored to be asked to join Father Francis and Joe Sano at the presentation...i gave Macy's two versions of the Doodle I donated to the Food Pantries' recent fundraiser "Doodle for Hunger." It was heart-warming to see the genuine spirit with which the funds were given. Did you know that there are more hungry to feed in NYC than there are residents of the city of Boston? That was one disheartening fact shared by Father Francis....but with organizations like the Capuchins, at least we can try to fight the hunger and give a little relief to those in need.

The second reason i'm a fan of Macy's today? Keith Haring's "Figure With Heart" balloon that will debut in the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Macy's Parade Group began incorporating pop art icons into the parade three years ago. So far, balloons have been introduced based on the art of Tom Otterness and Jeff Koons. This year....Keith Haring. By including these balloons in the parade, Macy's is making a grand statement about the significance of fine art, and pop art in particular, in today's culture. It's a great step for artists all over the world - to be recognized on the world stage...in one of the most celebrated cultural events of the year! Macy's is bringing pop art to everyday people...the same people that pop art was created for in the first place.

The unfortunate news is how rare this type of recognition is for living artists today. Art is one of the forgotten pursuit in our culture today. The movies have the Oscar Awards; Broadway has the Tony's; music the GRAMMY Awards; television the Emmy awards...but where are the artists? Where is the event during which artists and the art community can celebrate their own? Artists are caught in an ironic world in which the definition of success is to "make it" once you've passed on....personally, I'd like to "make it" while i'm still alive. Macy's has talken one giant step towards legitimizing pop art and towards recognizing the achievements of some of our great contemporaries! I aspire to join them and I thank you Macy's! 

What a great day! I am proud to be an artist today. I'm in Kansas City to unveil and donate the painting I created to celebrate the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. When Bob Kendrick from the Musuem asked me if I would create the piece, i was aprehensive. I wasn't sure i could do the subject justice. But the more that i've learned about the history of Black Americans in baseball, the prouder i am to have been asked to create this work.

Today would have been John "Buck" O'Neil's birthday. Buck is quite the hero here in KC and his name SHOULD be a household name. He was the first African-American coach in the Major Leagues and was instrumental in the building of the museum. He is a member of a very special club....a society of very special people who had a very special impact on our country. I had an appreciation for my subject before today, but after receiving a private tour of the Museum from Bob, i have a very new and very real appreciation for the impact and significance of the Negro Baseball Leagues. The Museum tells an incredible story of how hundreds of players and people persevered in order to participate in America's pasttime...the way this one sport and this one cultural phenomenon began the process of bringing the races together...ironically, the League were born of segregation, but in the end, they brought us together as a nation....white people and black people sat in the stands together to watch baseball games during a time when it was unheard of for the races to mix at social events...this began a huge and much-needed wave of change. And of course, there was Jackie Robinson...as Bob put it "there are two important dates in the progression of the civil rights movement in America....Before Jackie...and....After Jackie."

I was touched and honored and overwhelmed being here today. I am glad to include Bob Kendrick and all of the folks at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum among my friends and I look forward to working with them in the future.

Here's one little plug....we've created a small (75 pieces) 3-D limited edition series of prints based on the original painting to raise funds for the Museum. They are available excusively through the Museum and if you're interested in obtaining one of them, email Bob Kendrick (bkendrick@NLBM.com) directly. He's offering a 10% discount on the prints for members of my collectors club.

--Charles

 

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So, two weeks ago, i made one of my whirlwind tours through Germany and France. I started out flying from JFK in NY to Frankfurt, Germany....the major hub there. Frankfurt airport is HUGE...if you ever have to go there and make a connection, leave yourself lots of time if you aren't familiar with it. So, i started in Franfurt and then flew to Zurich, Switzerland. From Zurich, I took a train to Konstanz, Germany for my first show at Galerie Mensing. It was only my second time in Konstanz and it's absolutely gorgeous - the region is right on the biggest lake in Germany and when you look out on it, it's like looking at one of our Great Lakes. The bank is lined with cute restaurants and that's where the gallery is. Konstanz is very close to the Swiss border and there were a lot of Swiss at the show. My work has been shown in Switzerland for almost 15 years also.

After the show, i took the train back to Zurich where i spent the night...in the morning, i flew to Dusseldorf which is the closest big city to Baden-Baden, the site of my next show. This was my first trip to Baden-Baden, as Galerie Mensing had only recently opened their new location there. I took a taxi from Dusseldorf airport to Baden-Baden for the show...the landscape along the way was very interesting...and the city is a nice mixture of old and new....wonderful old churches there. It's known as "The Spa City" and people come from all over Germany to visit the Spas. Famous German Model Alexandra Kamp was a the show and i had never met her before either....what a wonderful person...just so down to earth...and of course, beautiful! We had a great time together.

After Baden-Baden, i took the train back to Dusseldorf where i had a show the following day. I love Dusseldorf and have been there many times. It's a big "shopping city" and Galerie Mensing has their gallery right in the heart of it...the Konigsalle...in a famous indoor mall called "The Sevens." I knew a lot of the collectors who came to that show...it was like seeing a group of old friends again...lots of fun.

Then it was off to France.... plane to Paris....did you know they have MOTORCYCLE TAXIS in Paris???? I have been there many times and never noticed...i couldn't help it this time because as i stood on the back of a long taxi line, a gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and tried to get me to go on his motorcycle taxi...i actually thought about it...but only for a minute...which was a good thing because a few minutes later, as I went through the tunnel in a taxi/van headed into the city....i spotted the same guy on his motorcycle taxi. He had a passenger on the back who had a backpack and i guess the poor guy had left the backpack open because his papers were flying all over the place behind him...oops. What a disaster....and those motorcycle drivers there are CRAZY. He was weaving in and out and zooming by...i think i would have had a heart attack if i'd driven on the back of that thing!

Well, my neice Sylvie met me in Paris ... she lives and works there and i always look forward to seeing her when i go there...and together, we took the train to Lyon. They have a new bullet train so the ride only took 2 1/2 hours.....but it made both me and Sylvie sick. ugh. We soon recovered though and Sylvie helped me the next day at a wonderful show at Galerie Nuances et Lumiere.....the show was packed and Mr. and Mrs. Azoulay, the owners of the gallery, did a fabulous job of gettting people there and showing them my work.

Sylvie and I didn't leave the gallery until after 10:30pm...we grabbed a quick pizza on the way back to the hotel and CRASHED. Next morning, it was a train back to Paris and a plane back to JFK....four cities in five days! Whew! No wonder i'm a little jet lagged still.

 --Charles

 

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I'm going to Kansas City next week. I've never been there and i'm really looking forward to it. I love travelling to new places! Let me know if there are any specific restaurants i should try to make sure i hit.

I'm going there for a really great reason. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum asked me if i would create a pop art painting for installation in their collection. I was honored. I just finished it a couple of weeks ago and they asked me to come to Kansas City and dedicate it in a ceremony on what would have been John "Buck" O'Neil's 97th birthday. The painting features Buck in the middle and he was one of the greatest ambassadors baseball has ever had. The first African-American coach in Major League Baseball history, he was also instrumental in the building of the musuem which opened its doors in 1990. A limited edition 3-d print based on the painting will also be sold to raise funds for the Museum.

My mission as a pop artist is to capture all the different aspects of our popular culture. I'm honored to have been asked to create a work that pays tribute to a very important time in our history. And given the wonderful news of the day, and the incredible progress our nation has made...I feel that my painting is particularly meaningful today.

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I was reading a great blog entry last week about Andy Warhol and a biography written about him, Andy Warhol Prince of Pop.  The author wrote:

            Andy Warhol is inseparable from American Pop Art – an art movement that started in the 1960s and continues today. What made Warhol famous over and above other Pop artists (such as Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wasselmann, James Rosenquist, Claes Oldenburg) was his application of this art form into media such as advertising, design, books, films, TV production and fashion. Besides, when other famous Abstract Expressionist artists of the time (such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko) remained true to their oeuvre, Warhol shamelessly experimented with different media, form and content, extending the boundaries to establish his own style and standards not only on Pop Art, but also on contemporary American culture.

Andy Warhol is often referred to as the Father of the Pop Art Movement, which began in the 1960's. My first exposure to Andy Warhol's work....other than the famous soup can paintings....was his 3D movies in the 1970's....Andy Warhol's Dracula was a personal favorite. He was so avant garde in his film making. His sense of feeling wasn't like any movie i had ever seen before...very dark with strong sexual overtones. Very interesting for a movie about Dracula.

I think that what made Andy Warhol so incredibly special was how he was able to move into so many worlds with his artwork....very similar what Robert Rauschenberg accomplished but even more so. Warhol was into art, films, fashion, architecture, and advertising. His influence permeated every facet of popular American culture. He was a newsmaker and a celebrity presence.

What is amazing for me as an artist is to note the way that he was able to apply himself with equal energy to so many pursuits. For me, just creating the artwork that i create is all-absorbing. It's all i think about and all i do. It takes a great deal of energy. I can't imagine how much energy and focus it took for him to express himself in so many different ways.

I was once asked whether or not i was part of the next generation of pop artists, carrying on the work of Warhol, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, etc. It's a hard question to answer. I look at how many of those artists were considered commercial and today are revered as famous fine artists. Sometimes i feel like i am going in that direction too - i hope so. I do believe that i and my contemporaries are the next generation in a sense...maybe i unconsciously feel an obligation to carry on the movement...but that makes it sound too important. It's not something i think about very often because it's too much pressure and i'm just not there yet. I ASPIRE to be considered the "next generation" and to have that responsibility...but only time will tell if that's how my work is seen.

--Charles

 

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