Christa Palazzolo's "Talking Heads Series"

Here's some fun paintings for what turned out to be a glimpse of spring here in Denver. I think a day in the 60s deserves some paintings that also let loose a little:

Christa Palazzolo, "Anne Sullivan"
"Talking Heads Series"
Oil and Acrylic on Panel
2x2'

Christa Palazzolo, "Joan of Arc"
"Talking Heads Series"
Oil and Acrylic on Panel
2x2'
Christa Palazzolo, "Amelia Earhart"
"Talking Heads Series"
Oil and Acrylic on Panel
2x2'

Decorate Your Device

"Laika" by Juan Marín at Poolga

Several websites have made a variety of artistic backgrounds and videos availble for free download to put on your zune or ipod/iphone. Zune-arts in particular is a great resource for videos, music, and tons of backgrounds for your desktop and zune. Also check out Poolga for more. Customizing is fun. If you don't have a digital device like a zune or ipod/iphone - you can download desktop backgrounds from the Zune-arts site too. Everybody wins. There's a great blog with tons of videos here too.

New Website Update

I've been improving and updating my new website. This site has several new features that were not a part of my last website including; exhibitions (documentation, press, installation views), new categories of photography (aerial abstractions, light glare series, and other noteable photos), a very thorough documentation of my press and blog coverage, and video. This will be my dot com in a few weeks. In the mean time you can find it here;

http://nathanabels.wordpress.com

Aerial Geometry

Great post on Circular Communities - lots of interesting aerial views at Deputy Dog. Check it out.

Here's my contribution:

Press: Hess&Hodi

The blog called Hess&Hodi states that it is " a virtual gallery dedicated to showcasing affordable (generally under $300) works of art. We curate our way through the affordable art sludge so you don't have to." They did a feature of some of my work from shopSCAD and wrote some very kind words. You can find the feature here. Thanks Hess&Hodi!

New Website!

In aproximately two weeks my NathanAbels.com website will no longer be with earthlink and will cease to exist in its current form. Nathanabels.com will still exist as a domain but it will now be hosted on a wordpress blog site. I combined the capabilities of wordpress and flickr to make a nice new site with lots of new information that will be much easier for me to update. I now have images from recent exhibitions - with press links, installation photos, and images from the pieces I had in each show. Take a look around and tell me what you think!

Light Glares

I put together a small collection of some sun/light glare photos of mine. I'm a big fan of this pictobrowser application that works with flickr. Really easy to use and highly recommended.

Carved Aspen Tree Art and History

The next time you may be hiking out west through an aspen grove - take a closer look at the carvings and writing on their surfaces. There is a rapidly disappearing history of migrating sheepherders carved into them.

According to the National Parks Service website,

"[Carved] Aspen trees ... bear the marks of those who came before. Known as arborglyphs, dendroglyphs, or aspen art, the carvings provide an important record of the area's history.

The practice was started by Basque sheepherders in the late 1800s. Basque sheepherders were replaced by Peruvian sheepherders in the late 1900s adding yet another style and mix of arborglyphs. Recreational campers and cattlemen also left their marks, some of which date from the early 1900s.

The Basques, who call themselves Euskaldunak, are from the Pyrenees Mountains located on the border of Spain and France. Basques have their own language known as Eusk but since the majority live in Spain, they also speak, read and write in Spanish. This explains why some of the carvings contain a mix of both Eusk and Spanish."

The Hispanic roots of Colorado and New Mexico carved Aspen trees is explained by Arborlyphs.com writer, "Particularly intriguing about the carvings of Colorado and New Mexico is that they were not carved by Basque shepherds, but by Hispanics, whose forefathers had been in the area for generations. Among these herders were descendants of early pioneer families, settlers that came north from Mexico when this part of country was known as Nuevo Mexico and controlled by Spain. There was some Basque immigration to the Grand Junction, Colorado area but little if any to the south San Juans. These carvings are culturally different from the Basque carvings making them even more significant to Colorado and New Mexico’s history."

via Fultxo's flickr set of Basque Tree Carvings
via Fultxo's flickr set of Basque Tree Carvings

via ccguidedogs@sbcglobal.net's flickr set

via Snakeriverphotography

via Cowboyshowcase, "Basque Ranching Culture"

For more information, refer to the book:
"Speaking Through the Aspens: Basque Tree Carvings in California and Nevada", by J. Mallea-Olaetxe

Michael T Hensley

Downtown , 2007

Mixed media Flake, rust and enamel on steel

18" x 24"

Splinter Sky , 2007

Mixed media Flake, rust and enamel on steel

48" x 42"

Astoria , 2007

Mixed media Flake, rust and enamel on steel

18" x 24"

Michael T Hensley
via Lastwater

"Portrait of the Artist as a Young Pigeon" @ ThisweekinDenver

Find a great blog post about my new work and current exhibition here.

New Exhibition Press/Links

There's a few more listings for "Grisaille" - my show with Chris Faller - online:

Denverarts.org

Denver.Yourhub.com

Westword

A Blustery Day: Kinetic Art by Theo Jansen - the Power of the Wind

Sorry for the Morrissey-length title - It's another windy day here in Denver - with gusts in the mountains upwards of 70 mph. I came across this amazing Dutch artist on youtube named Theo Jansen who uses wind as part of his work. Watch the video to see his kinetic wind-powered sculptures in action. You can read a Wired article on him here.

If you are in the Denver area and use Xcel Energy (as 70% of Colorado does) - go to this page to support the use of renewable wind energy in your own home or workplace. You can caluclate how much it will cost, and how much of a positive effect you'll have on the Colorado economy and the environment of course. According to Xcel's site, and "Based on EPA Power Profiler statistics, buying one 100 kWh block of Windsource for a year has the following environmental benefits:

Carbon dioxide avoided: 2,443 lbs. CO2
Miles not driven: 2,400
Trees planted: 1/3 acre

Melancholy Morning

Vic Vicini

"Melancholy Breakfast", by Frank O'Hara

"Melancholy breakfast

blue overhead blue underneath

the silent egg thinks
and the toaster's electrical
ear waits

the stars are in
"that cloud is hid"

the elements of disbelief are
very strong in the morning"

Failure

The LAB at Blemar has a new exhibit opening on Valentine's day titled, "Failure"
Robyn O'Neil, The Edge of the World, 2008

Courtney Reagor, "Too Short" (fellow SCAD alum!)

"Failure" Opening Night - Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2008 7-9 PM

According to the LAB, there will be "Bad poetry, cheap wine, and heartbreaking songs of love performed on the oboe. " How can you go wrong? Although taking a date to a special (romantic?) night called "Failure" might be a difficult proposition, it's sure to be a great show.

Found Friday

From an old photo I picked up years ago - I cut out the background in photoshop at the time, with the intention of using it in some art but it never came to pass. I like the photo like this though.

Robert Olsen's Storm Drain Paintings

Robert Olsen, no title, oil on panel, 9 X 16 inches, 2007 Robert Olsen, no title, oil on panel, 9 X 16 inches, 2007

Robert Olsen, no title, oil on panel, 9 X 16 inches, 2007

Marcel DuChamp Mp3s

great desgin by flickr member Chris

I was just browsing UbuWeb and looking at the various interviews and musical compositions by Marcel DuChamp availble as (free and legal) mp3s. I've had renewed interest in DuChamp lately. Personally, I believe he is the most fascinating, complex, and important artist of the 20th Century. And if there were such a thing as (art)'rock stars' in the early part of the century I think DuChamp would have been the Sid Vicious of the swing era. Also - check out "Making Sense of Marcel DuChamp" - a great interactive site to learn more about him.

New Brad Troemel series, "Valleys, Lakes and Mountains"

side note: I've been looking at a lot of photography lately. March is photo month here in Denver - so consider this early preparation. More on that to come.

Daniel Everett Photography

Like the folks over at Coolhunting, I also love the photos of Daniel Everett. Especially the "Departure" series from 2004 (the two photos above are from this series).

New Blog Press: Beacon St. Design

Contributors over at Beacon St. Design featured couple of images of mine from shopSCAD on their blog today. Thanks!

B. Anderson "Dark Forest Series"

Kasimir Malevich, "Black Square", Oil on Canvas, 1915

I stumbled onto B. Anderson's photography yesterday and I'm a sucker for photography that is related to or inspired by painting (and vice versa). B. Anderson is a Canadian photographer whose "dark forest series - 2005" was especially interesting to me. The statement for the series reads, "This series was first inspired by Russian artist Kasimir Malevich's 1915 painting, "Black Square". The thick, cracked black paint that showed the white canvas underneath made the viewer crave to see the representation that may be shwoing in those cracks. In fact the painting's purpose was to reduce the figurative process to the point where it cancelled itself out."

B. Anderson images from "dark forest series - 2005"

Charles Walters Photography at Colorado History Museum

Good Morning! Yesterday I enjoyed the afternoon at the Denver Art Museum - catching the "Color as Field" exhibition before it closed. Across the street, the Colorado History Museum had a free day and it was my first visit. I loved the numerous dioramas made during the depression era as a governmental effort to employ artists, sculptors, and historians. I also really enjoyed the Colorado photographs by Charles Walters. Unfortunately I couldn't find any examples of the ones at the museum on his website but I did find the above images, which are also quite interesting.

Nathan Abels, Chris Faller, "Grisaille" (Grayscale)

My statement about the show:

In 1903, German Engineer Julius Neubronner combined a small analog camera with a timer and attached it with a harness to a pigeon. This innovative approach to aerial photography soon raised interest from the German military. Sortly thereafter, exploring the potential for secret aerial reconissance carried out by pigeons began in earnest.

As an aerial survey photographer myself, I drew inspiration for this body of work from reading about these pigeons, who unwittingly served as soldiers, message carriers, and pioneers in the field of aerial photography. These pint-sized photographers were among the first to take aerial photos in teh early 20th Century.

“Racing Pigeons” (Four of Seven Canvases), 12x12” , Enamel on Canvas

“Neubronner’s Photographers, 1904”, 14x11”, Charcoal on Paper

“Vanishing Bearings of Pigeons Released at Various Locations”, 30x22”, Colored Pencil, Graphite, Acrylic on Paper

“Pigeon Aerial Photograph”, 18x24”, Charcoal on Paper

“Pigeon-Mounted Camera”, Dimensions Variable
Plastic, Hardware, Leather, Ink, Acrylic, and Mixed Mediums

(Untitled Photograph) and

“City Plan”, 6x9”, Acrylic, Graphite, Casein and Wax on Panel

“Neubronner’s Photographers, 1904”, 11x10”, Charcoal on Paper
Curiosities Cabinet - Including Pigeon Racing Clock, Photo Developing Unit, Photographs, etc.

“Untitled” Pigeon Photographer Accidental Image: The Park, 14x11”, Carcoal and Ink on Paper

“Untitled” Pigeon Photographer Accidental Image: Parking Lot
6x4” each x 36 (installed as one piece), Photography

“Flight Paths of Eight Homing Pigeons: Fig. B”, 14x11”, Gouche, Ink, Wax on Paper

“Flight Paths of Eight Homing Pigeons: Fig. A”, 14x11”, Gouche, Ink, Wax on Paper

“Pigeon Racing: Release”, 24”x80”, Acrylic on Panel

“Flight”, 22x30”, Colored Pencil, Graphite, and Ink on Paper

Installation View (Left-Hand Wall Upon Entering)

Installation View (Back Wall)

Installation View (Right-Hand Wall Upon Entering - looking from the back)

OPENING TONIGHT AT NOW ARSPACE

3977 Tennyson St. Denver, CO 80212

from 6-10 pm with Dj Tony Z