The Face of Reality

Just a short text this week, little more than to say Hello to you. I am still moving and settling in the new place, after 35 years that is hard. There will be a change of IP so I may miss some post. Part of this blog site will become a museum site. Here are the prints for this week.

Help save the Barnes!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to talk briefly about people who collect art. Many art collectors are not just investors,some are actually motivated by the desire to protect the art that they collect. Such individuals often go to extremes to look out for the art works that they buy. Last year a Cezanne painting sold for 250 million dollars. I do not need to point out that is a quarter of a billion dollars! The motivation of thieves to steal such a work is obvious. We all have a responsibility to help protect art works from theft.

One of our national treasures is in jeopardy,The Friends of The Barnes Foundation need our help. Doctor Barnes stated that he never wanted any of the art works in his collection to be moved from the residence that was his home in west Philadelphia Pennsylvania. I need no more than that to write this appeal. Please do what You can to help save the Barnes http://www.barnesfriends.org/

www.barnesfriends.org

"From one hand to another"

I find it very interesting to try to imagine the lives of the people that created these art works. They were probably much different from most of us. Some of these art works were created in the stone age. The stone age had ended by the time that many of these works were created. Dividing the art work into time periods is a current Anthropological endeavor. It is very likely that we will learn much about indigenous peoples by discovering when and how their art works were created. Stone effigy figures are probably mankind's oldest art works. Many of these “found” sculptures are thousands of years old. They were passed from one hand to another. Often they are highly polished from being carried on the person of their current owner. What kind of tales would such a treasure tell?

Ask for Help!

A couple of weeks ago I suggested that the library was a good place to find material related to the art work of the American Indians. I thought that I might suggest that asking the Librarian to help you is a good thing to do. When you ask for help the Librarian knows that you wanted that material, that is one of the ways that new books are added to the inventory. All library budgets are stretched thin so only a few acquisitions are possible. The staff of the particular facility are trying to be sure that the books that are purchased are in demand. By all means do talk to your Librarian.

We must protect Art!

Many viewers can not see the images in most of these plates. So if you do not see an art work in a plate, that is understandable. I may see something that is actually not there! I do not try to say that I never make mistakes. I send along any image that I feel is real. No one to this date has said anything to me about this blog what so ever. And I do think that is somewhat strange. I am astounded at the prints that I see from day to day. My home is littered with piles of beautiful classic images that I contemplate as I think about my work. I really think that it is a gift from heaven that no one but myself can see! Actually, the truth is, experienced people explained to me that the art form existed. I had never seen any of the products until I printed stones for myself. So I hope that you are seeing the same thing that I see from one batch to the next! I am sure that we are looking at art history in the making.

A subject for thought and meditation

 

I have thought frequently that these art works were far ahead of their time and I have expressed that idea in the post of this blog page. Here I would like say that I think that the age of affordable personal computers has created a time when these images can be easily copied and shared as a true art form. An interested person can copy an image and print that image themselves. Also many office supply centers are offering excellent quality printing at very affordable prices. I live in a small southern town in Arkansas. One of our suppliers is the Office Depot. They specialize in high quality digital printing and at a fair price. They can enlarge an image and in many cases improve the finished work over the original. They also have frames and materials that make quick displays possible. Changing your display weekly creates a focal point in your interior and it makes a wonderful subject for thought and meditation.

Go to the Library!

I have written in past post that I recommend that you spend time in the library reading and researching topics related to indigenous American art. I would reiterate that idea here. This blog is intended to give you a view of my work from week to week. It serves to inform interested individuals that these works do exist! What a wonderful thing Google is, before I had blogger all I could do was stack up the prints and file them away! Now you can make a file and study them at your leisure. I am very interested in what you think about what you see. Maybe in the future there can be a meeting where we can all share our thoughts and ask questions. Until that time arrives, you can reach me at my gmail address.

lmccarty.fa@gmail.com