It Breaks My Heart: California State Supreme Court Upholds Proposition 8 But Does Allow 18,000 Existing Gay Marriages to Stand

Breaking News: California State Supreme Court Upholds Proposition 8 But Does Allow 18,000 Existing Gay Marriages to Stand
For all of us dedicated to equality this is a momentary setback for we have only just begun!



More at:

Courage Campaign
California Supreme Court Upholds Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Must Read ~ At Camp Pendleton Every Day is Memorial Day

Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
From the Los Angeles Times - "Marine Staff Sgt. Ryan Gray and his wife, Alexsia, share a moment at Camp Pendleton before his recent deployment to Afghanistan. He wants her to make “what if” plans in case something happens to him."

A must read from the Los Angeles Times:
Must Read ~ At Camp Pendleton Every Day is Memorial Day

New Paintings by Gregg Chadwick at the Culver City Artwalk

For My Brother ~ Something In the Night

Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
Something In the Night
May 23, 2009, 50 Rte 120
East Rutherford, NJ 07073

As a Jersey boy, when life gets rough I tend to "turn the radio way up loud, so I don't have to think." And I tend to turn to my (slightly) older brother for his wisdom and comfort. Now it's my turn to offer a strong back and a shoulder to lean on.

Life can seem cruel, unfair and oh so brief. I deeply understand the pathos when Bruce sings, "As soon as you got something, they send someone to try and take it away." Kent, maybe because he was born in Virginia, rather than in the state that became known as much for its factories and boarded up cities, would reject the cynicism in that line. Kent having learned much from our Marine Corps dad, instead, finds hope no matter what life throws his way and Kent knows how to soldier on.


Luke Chadwick Gestures Against the Fading Light

Kent's son Luke received a double lung transplant a year ago and has a had a remarkable 12 months. Luke's courage and sweet good humor has carried him on incredible adventures. But, Luke has hit a rough spot and is in the ICU at UW in Seattle. Luke and Kent and Kent's wife Cathy and their daughter Ali need all the love and support they can get at this time.


Not Quite the Jersey Shore
Cassiel Chadwick, Cathy Chadwick, Kent Chadwick and Luke Chadwick

Kent is a masterful poet and has introduced to me and my son, a world of words and images. My brother, I love you and am in awe of your courage and patience, and in your rough hour I give you the words of a Jersey street poet and a Welsh writer - Springsteen and Dylan Thomas.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
by Dylan Thomas


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The Source of Words

Gregg Chadwick
The Source of Words
48"x38" oil on linen 2009

13 Geisha (13芸者)

Gregg Chadwick
Sea of Spring 春の海 (Haru no umi)
36"x48" oil on linen 2009

Japan has been a continual theme in my life and artwork. At age 10, I began my artistic dialogue with Japan before I even exited our arriving plane in Okinawa. On that journey I sketched the new world around me and have continued to do so over the years. My latest body of work was inspired by an artistic pilgrimage to Tokyo and Kyoto in March and April 2009. At that time, I was privileged to be in Kyoto at the height of the cherry blossom season.
Young geisha in training (maiko) and full geisha brought their own color and timeless beauty to the city.
The word geisha in Japanese means arts - person ( gei - sha). The flower and willow world of these caretakers of Japan's traditional arts seems to be as fragile and impermanent as the cherry blossoms that bloom so quickly then fall each year.


Gregg Chadwick
Gion Night
85"x37" oil on linen 2009


Gregg Chadwick
Karyūkai ( 花柳界)
85"x54" oil on linen 2009


Gregg Chadwick
Maiko's Night
36"x18" oil on linen 2009

Gregg Chadwick's Studio with Karyūkai ( Flower and Willow World ~ 花柳界)

Careers in the Arts: U.S. Mint Releases New Lincoln Penny Designed by Sculptor Charles L. Vickers

One of a series of four new pennies honoring the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth was released today. The design was sculpted by artist Charles L. Vickers for the United States Mint. On the reverse side of Vicker's new penny is a low relief of a young Abraham Lincoln sitting on a log reading a large book. It seems that Lincoln has found his true calling in the realm of words as he takes a break from his rail splitting duties in Indiana.

Vickers has created an inspiring image that speaks as much of our time as Lincoln's. With high school drop out rates at 20% in California it is nice to be reminded daily that the mind needs to be exercised as much as the body. Lincoln's story is inspiring and as a nation we are fortunate that President Obama understands Lincoln's legacy.

Sculptor Charles L. Vickers' story is inspiring as well. Vickers served with the 101st Airborne Division before heading off to New York in pursuit of his dream to become a professional artist. Vickers studied at the Art Students League, the Frank Reilly School of Art, the Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts. Not all art careers begin with an MFA. Much like young actors, many young visual artists find their way through a series of lessons and classes rather than a degree program.

Most artists do not find immediate gallery representation or steady employment in the arts. Looking for a break, Vickers left New York in 1976 and moved to the city of Eakins, Philadelphia, eventually finding a position at the Franklin Mint. In the interesting nether-world between the blue chip art world and commercial design, Vickers has found his place. The United States Mint site describes how Vickers has progressed:

"Since leaving as a Senior Sculptor in 1985 and establishing his own studio, Charles’ design work has earned him recognition throughout the world and he has been commissioned to work on many private collections"

We are fortunate that Charles L. Vickers joined the United States Mint’s sculptor-engraving staff in December 2003. In the future when I hear the change rattling in my pocket, I will be sure to pull out the coins and see if Vicker's Lincoln is journeying with me.


(The pennies are being produced at U.S. Mint sites in Philadelphia and Denver. They are minted in 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc -- the same metallic content as the first Lincoln penny issued in 1909.)


Charles L. Vickers
courtesy the U.S. Mint

More at:
Charles L. Vickers - US Mint

Sneak Peek at My Painting in this Weekend's 30th Anniversary Venice Artwalk's Silent Art Auction

This weekend! Sunday, May 17, 2009

Now in its 30th year, the Venice Art Walk & Auctions has raised millions of dollars for Venice Family Clinic – largely through the Silent Art Auction, which offers great deals on original and limited-edition works by the biggest names in the Southern California art scene.


Gregg Chadwick
American Memory (Bobby and Teddy Kennedy)
10"x16" oil on linen 2009
(Larger View at: American Memory)

My painting is up for bidding on Sunday, May 17, at Westminster School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd., in Venice.

More at:
30th Anniversary Venice Artwalk
2009 Venice Art Walk & Auctions

What Lies In the Shadow of the Statue? ~ Ille qui nos omnes servabit.

Update; January 26, 2010
The statue is of Tawaret the goddess of protection during pregnancy and childbirth.

Temple of Haroeris and Sobek, Kom Ombo, copyright by Gary Jones.

The Egyptian god Sobek seems to be the inspiration for the giant statue on LOST. I was leaning towards Anubis but the crocodilian snout gives it away. (Anubis was probably a bit too close to Stargate anyway.) Gary Jones' masterful photo of the Temple of Haroeris and Sobek in Egypt shows Sobek in detail. The light in Jones' photo is stunning - mysterious and beckoning.

Caroline Seawright writes of Sobek:

"Having the form of a crocodile, the Egyptians believed that he also had the nature of a crocodile. He could be the strong, powerful symbol of the pharaoh, showing the ruler's might. He could use this force to protect the justified dead in their after life, and be the protector and rescuer of the other gods... yet he could also use that power to savage his enemies and the sinful deceased. He could bestow sight and senses to the dead, he could bring water and fertility to the land."

"What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Richard's answer in Latin is:

"Ille qui nos omnes servabit," ("He who will protect/save us all.")

Just in time for the release tomorrow of the film Angels and Demons, we have Richard on LOST answering questions in Latin and calling himself Ricardo. Latin of course brings to mind the Catholic church and the history of Rome. Could Richard be a priest? Is he also known as Father Ricardo?

More at:
Sobek, God of Crocodiles, Power, Protection and Fertility

Is this the earliest known painting by Michelangelo?

Is this painting of Saint Anthony tormented by demons the earliest extant painting by Michelangelo? Keith Christiansen, a curator of European painting at the Metropolitan Museum in New York is convinced the work is indeed a Michelangelo. The painting in question would have been painted when Michelangelo was a young (12 0r 13 year old) apprentice in the established Florentine painter Ghirlandaio's workshop. Michelangelo's earliest biographers including Giorgio Vasari and his former student Ascanio Condivi describe how a young Michelangelo was inspired by an engraving of Saint Anthony tormented by demons by the 15th century German artist Martin Schongauer. Michelangelo freely created his own version of the composition providing richly invented colors and a Tuscan landscape in which the action takes place. Carol Vogel in the New York times describes how Met curator Christansen's detailed examination of the painting convinced him that the work was Michelangelo's earliest known painting:

"I looked at it and said this is self-evidently Michelangelo. There’s a section of the rocks with cross-hatching. Nobody else did this kind of emphatic cross-hatching.”

Attributed to Michelangelo
The Torment of Saint Anthony
c. 1487–88. Oil and tempera on panel, 18 1/2 x 13 1/4 in.
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
courtesy the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth


Martin Schongauer
St. Anthony
engraving printed on paper 15th-century - German

Ascanio Condivi describes in his biography of Michelangelo how the young artist visited the fish market to study the detailed overlapping of fish scales to provide verisimilitude to his version of Schongauer's demons.




Attributed to Michelangelo
Details of The Torment of Saint Anthony
c. 1487–88. Oil and tempera on panel, 18 1/2 x 13 1/4 in.
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
courtesy the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth

Michelangelo's Torment of Saint Anthony will be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum in New York from June through August. The painting will then travel to its new home at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. The painting will be hung alongside an edition of Martin Schongauer's engraving, reuniting inspiration and creation.

“It is now one of our greatest treasures,” Kimbell Director Mr. Eric McCauley Lee said. “And will receive pride of place in our collection.”


More at:
Earliest Known Painting by Michelangelo Acquired by the Kimbell Art Museum

By the Hand of a Very Young Master?

Reading Craig Arnold's "The Singer"

And what they sing so lovely and so meaningless
may urge itself upon you with the ache
of something just beyond the point of being remembered
the trace of a brave thought in the face of sadness.

- Craig Arnold, from The Singer


Gregg Chadwick
A Balance of Shadows
72"x96" oil on linen

On the small volcanic island of Kuchino-erabu off the coast of Japan, American poet Craig Arnold became lost and searchers have now concluded that Craig vanished over the side of a cliff into the unknown. It is sad whenever a life is lost but even more so when an artist in his youth leaves so much undone for us to only guess at. We are left to carry on in Craig's artistic spirit.

More at:
Craig Arnold - Facebook Tribute