Saturday, June 11, 2011

Out There

detail from M. Chearney's White Out
My tennis buddy, the painter Michael Chearney, participated in the group show OUT THERE at Gallery 825 in West Hollywood last night.
Joanna among the art lovers

Mike with his painting White Out
(click to enlarge)
"Crazy Mike" as we call him on the courts has a fabulous energy and an indomitable Buddhist spirit. You can see it in his fluid and vigorous work, an artful combination of control and abandon. For me his paintings exhibit a similar theme to one I've been exploring in my novel: merging the assertiveness of the willful West with the ego-dissolution of the mystic East. In life this is seen most dramatically in acts of self-sacrificing courage. In art it is embodied in the artist himself, his daily struggle to lose himself in his work.











On a lighter note, Joanna and I liked this mixed media piece by the artist Deborah Baca. Note the perfect detail: a bottle of Evian water.
Arachnid Attempting 5th Position
(click to enlarge)

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