Robert Hughes

I just read today that Australian art-critic Robert Hughes passed away at the age of 74... Robert Hughes was one of my favorite author/historians. He was a brilliant writer and he had a real gift for making art history come alive. I've read a few of his books, including his brilliant book on Goya from a few years ago. He also was featured as a talking head on basically every important art documentary, and his insights were always fascinating. I heard that he never really recovered from injuries sustained in a horrible car wreck a decade ago. In the "Goya" he relates that experience to Goya and his desire to cary on. I highly recommend "The Shock of the New" and the great BBC series about modern art.
You'll feel smarter for having given it the time-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/aug/07/robert-hughes-greatest-art-critic

The End of Kodak

Just saw this week that Kodak declared bankruptcy, bringing an official end to an amazing run. The end of Kodak was inevitable given the rise of digital photography. Still, it seams almost unbelievable to me that such a significant company is going under- It seams like only yesterday that I was dropping off film for processing. In actuality, the last time I did that was probably 8-10 years ago! The landscape of photography changed overnight, and Kodak was left in the cold.


For the last few years I've been using old Kodachrome slides as a starting point for painting, and for each image that I've painted I have probably a through a few hundred images. I'm always amazed at the color and clarity of these images. Kodachrome film somehow manages to capture and harness nostalgia. Only a few years ago I was still taking slides of my art work because that was the required format, and while I don't miss driving to specialty stores to find the film and paying lots for the developing of sometimes bad pictures, I do miss holding those slides up to the light and seeing them right in front of me as opposed to a nuclear glowing computer screen. I suppose that Kodak is to digital photography what LPs and CDs are to digital music these days, a higher quality and equally outdated alternative. Something about that makes me pretty sad, but at the same time I live on digital media too-


The future will certainly be telling. Old slides get thrown into a box in the ally and forgotten, only to eventually be found years later as an incredible full color time capsule. What's going to happen to the trillions of digital photographs out there? How many people even have photos printed anymore, and what happens when the computers crash, all all computers eventually do in short time, and those files are lost and forgotten? Something tells me that we'll always have remainders of our time, but it will certainly be different in the future.


There's a great article on CNN about Kodak- Here's a quote:


"It feels like it marks the end of a major era, even though it's easier to take photos now. The idea of democratization is everywhere, but this bankruptcy strikes a nerve for a lot of people. It's farewell to a certain version of the past, and with that is this idea of nostalgia and what Kodak so successfully sold to the American public."


Check out the article here-

NEW WORK

Finally, some new images for the blog of some very new work and a different idea.
I've been using vintage newspaper in place of paint for the last few months, making some large scale collages of classic cars. Each one of these takes between 70-100 hours to make. That's why I've only made 6 in the last 4 months. I'll have more on the concept later... for now, enjoy the new work. Comments are appreciated-

54 Chevy Pickup

59 Plymouth Savoy

58 Dodge Pickup

57 Buick 2 door

54 Mercury Station Wagon

58 Oldsmobile

A few Paintings SOLD

Hi- The following paintings, "Cowboys" and "Business Types/Socialites", have sold the last few weeks at Terzian Galleries in Park City, UT. I'm in the process now of sending a few more out west so if by chance you find yourselves in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by and check them out. Also, have a look at all my work in the portfolio section of my website here: nathanstromberg.com

"Cowboys"

"Business Types/Socialites"

Lucian Freud

Just saw this evening that Lucian Freud passed away at the age of 88. Lucian Freud certainly painted more than a few nudes in compromising positions, but it cannot be denied that he was truly an original. During my undergraduate days I remember being told by a professor that I should study up on Freud and try to see some of his work first hand. I've seen a few of his paintings since and have had the chance to look close. He has been called the "greatest living painter of flesh" for decades, and I don't see how that could be argued. His use of the brush, his palette, the texture of his paint, and the way he positioned and controlled the figure in surprising and sometimes shockingly different ways makes him a real art legend. He also remained a true realist his whole life, even as he lived through a tumultuous time for pure painters in the art world. I'm certainly grateful that he made so many works in his lifetime. I continue to use Lucian Freud as a great resource for figure painting. Now if I can only be 1% the painter he was...

New Developments. I'm HUGE in Utah.

It's been months with no posting.... I've found that blogs tend to work that way-

The last few months have been very busy. I led a 16 day art tour of Italy in June, and the prep for that consumed a lot of my time this spring. The trip was wonderful, with many highlights. For me, seeing Caravaggio paintings and Bernini sculptures in secluded churches around Rome was near the top-

As for new art, I've started 5 new paintings this spring, much in the same style of the 2 awkward family snapshots I made at the 11th hour before the big show last December. Those paintings have been tabled for the moment, as I've been taking some much-needed time to experiment with some new ideas. I've been working a lot with collage, treating torn bits of vintage newspaper as brush strokes.

So far, I'm encouraged by the results and it's fun to be doing something really different for a change.

Finally, I spent weeks this spring working long distance to establish a presence at a gallery. I'm proud to say that my work can now be seen at Terzian Galleries in Park City UTAH, so next time you go for a ski vacation be sure to check it out. Their website is here, not updated with my name yet but should be shortly. I will hopefully post some new images soon-

Gallery Shots and art updates

How time flies.... It's been a few months since the last post. Sorry about that!

The gallery show at the Hopkins Center for the Arts went very well. I only sold a few paintings, but the plus side to that is that I have a lot of work to move forward with. I'm in the process right now of figuring out what that next step is and I have a few leads. I'll hopefully have updates on that soon. The real reason it's been quiet on the art front is that I've taken a self-imposed break from making art the last 3 months... The show was the end of almost 4 years of 20-30 hrs per week in the studio (including grad school). A break was long-overdue. To be honest, it has been very hard to step back. I've been used to working so hard for so long that watching a movie or reading a book feels like a waste of time. I always have that nagging feeling that I should be working. After 3 months off, I finally have curbed some of those compulsive habits and managed to get some sleep here and there. I'm ready to start up again soon, and the creative batteries are fully recharged. I'm really excited to see where the next work goes-

Here's a few gallery shots from Hopkins. Much work went into the presentation of the work and the proximity of works to each other in the space.