The Crionna Collection

2009-02-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

Long time, I know. I can't even promise I'll make up for it this year, but as of now, I'll try to put up something worthwhile once a month. I just don't want to throw something up for its own sake.

So, the following photos are of a couple small sculptures at Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas., my and Melicious' alma mater. They are carved alabaseter from 1536-1548 named Warriors Bearing the Arms of the Van Den Berghe and Schore and of the Van Der Noot and Watermaele Families. Frankly, these are the first pieces of art that I really loved. I think the workmanship is extraordinary (truly, click on the detail photos and marvel) and since they are part of the permanent collection, they are always on display. It was great to see them after a decade or more. So, if there are any readers out there, what was your first favorite piece of art?

2008-09-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

Melissa Chandon, an artist new to me, opened a new exhibition at I. Wolk Gallery in St. Helena, CA this past weekend. Most galleries up there remind me of the galleries in Monterey, that is to say the art displayed is not to my taste. Once again though a lone standout, well, stood out.

I like this work very much. And so apparently does Wayne Thiebaud who says "Chandon has developed an effective synthesis of abstract and representational elements in her works. This gives the works an intensity and raw graphic power to behold"

If you have a chance to go see the works they are worth the trip. Try also to hit Elizabeth Spencer Winery, in the old post office across from the Rutherford Grill. Each wine was very good and relatively reasonable.

For those interested, the works ranged in price from $3500 to $9500 (as was our favorite, the Snow King sign), while the piece with the palms was priced at $35000. It must have been 8'x8' or larger. The I. Wolk site has all of the paintings shown.

2008-08-19T00:41:00.000-07:00

Neil Berrett has a show worth seeing up at American Rag Clothing on Van Ness. He's done some wonderful work photographing the abandoned buildings at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and has named it "Decommissioned". Nice work Neil!

2008-07-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

Thomas Reynolds Gallery opened a new show of work by Daniel Levigoureux last night and I was happy to have the opportunity to attend. The work on display was from Daniel's Seaside collection. I liked it very much as it ranged from the geometric...

... to the rather spare (my favorite as it reminds me of morning on the South Carolina coast).

Thomas also presented a few pencils that Daniel had completed upon arriving in SF...

...as well as an older work that I enjoyed as well.

Un-presented but shown on Thomas' site are works from Daniel's Countryside series that I like as well.

From this collector's viewpoint his work is nice in that it is reasonably (for me) priced in the low 4 figures. That allows me to collect two different styles and/or moods if I so desire.

2008-06-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Oops, a bit late again, but good news, I am employed again. I don't start until 7/7 (hopefully that'll be lucky) so I will be accompanying Melicious on her upcoming shoot in Tokyo. It'll be my first visit there and to commemorate, I thought that I'd show you some work that we love but have not yet purchased.

Tom Killion is a Marin county artist who does woodcuts in the Japanese style. We like many of them but here are some of our favorites. They are all under $500 for prints between 1 and 2 feet square. The blocks are destroyed in the process.

Talk to you in July!

This first is of Greenwood Cove on the Mendocino coast

The next is the Big Sur coast

The next is West Point from Mt. Tmalapais

The last is of San Francisco from Grizzly Peak

2008-05-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ah Paris, a wonderful month. We visited a number of museums, Rodin, Pomp (which was 5 blocks from our apartment), Picasso and Louvre (twice, as one can only do by staying longer than a week in Paris). We also visited the Van Gogh and the "little" Rijks in Amsterdam.

Of them all I think I liked the Rijks the best. We had been to the Louvre before and then returned after visiting Amsterdam and having seen how wonderfully the Rijks looks (the big building is under renovation until 2009 or something and so they only showed the best of the best in a smaller building) I can only say that the Louvre is lit like a barn. Too many works all piled up. Specifically, too many lovely still lifes too high up on the wall to get a good look at.

The Van Gogh had a wonderful exhibition of John Everett Millais' work including Ophelia

as well as pretty much every work listed in the Wikipedia entry about him. Incredible. And, of course, impossible to recreate on a screen. We spent so much time at that exhibit that we literally saw about 15 min. of the Van Gogh collection. The museum also had some great works that spilled over from the Rijks in an ante-area just off from where you purchase tickets.

Also, we saw some wonderful new work from Patrick Cornillet at the Galerie Susan Nielsen.

We loved the look of this piece (more can be seen at breathing space). His earlier work is interesting as well as it looks as if painted from a moving car.

Shout outs to
-Otis, the chef, and the gang at Le Taxi Jaune for the best (and best priced) lunch in Paris. Seek out his restaurant (weekdays only) for excellent food and Fisher on tap
-The folks at Ambassade d'Auvergne for your excellent duck, Aligot and crazy good chocolate mousse.
-The crepe cart at the SGdP metro station for the freshest crepes (made while you wait) in the city.
-Le Baron Rouge for great wine

-Bread and Roses for the makings of an excellent picnic

-and of course the Luxembourg Garden for being the best picnic spot on earth

2008-04-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, late, late, late, late, late, late, late. I'm late with this post. But give me a break OK, I've been laid off and in the midst of planning a return trip to Paris, for a month this time. Melicious and I leave tomorrow AM. Plus this is a long post chalk full of pictures and info and linky goodness.

Anyway, the artwork above is an original ink-wash by Tim Sale. Up until now the artwork covered here at The Crionna Collection has been fine art. But, I have a passion for well drawn and well written graphic novels...comic books. Quite frankly, compared with anything else there is no more easy, fun and portable way to see truly fine art than to read a good comic book. And Tim Sale is truly one of the masters. He has collaborated with writer Jeph Loeb (if you like "Lost" and "Heroes", you like Jeph's writing) to create some of the best books I've ever read. Their takes on Batman, Superman and Catwoman are fantastic.

Take a look at some of Tim's work:

The duo has also created an interesting series where they look back at how certain colors have affected the characters. Here are a couple of his best pieces from that series that includes Spiderman, Daredevil and The Hulk. The Hulk on the cliff is beautiful in its book form. So colorful.

I got to meet Tim at a March 23rd event at my favorite comic book store here in SF, Isotope. Isotope's owner, James, is well known in the industry and often attracts outstanding people to his after (store) hours parties (and for good reason, he and his staff of buddy's are some of the nicest people I've met in SF). The event was co-sponsored by Isotope and Whitney Matheson/USA Today/Pop Candy.

Isotope itself is an interesting place. As I said, James is well known and for each event he asks the artist to create something for his toilet seat collection. He's got quite a few:

This one is from an artist named Ben Templesmith. If you know "30 Days of Night" you know Ben.

Here's one of the guys who work with James at the store. Matt Silady wrote and illustrated a wonderful comic (if you can call it that, it's more like a beatifully drawn set of storyboards and a script for a great TV dramady) called "The Homeless Channel". That's "his" seat he's got with him.

And last but not least, here's James.

See y'all again in May, we're off to:

2008-02-18T19:41:00.004-08:00

Okay, Okay, I'm a few days late, but hey, its a long weekend, and I was out having fun. Not that this isn't fun, but, well, you know, some stuff is funner, but, not right now. Right now, this is fun.

Anyway, perhaps you've thought that the Carmel, CA art scene was all about historic paintings or Kinkade-type paintings. We did, but no, there is at least one gallery with taste like ours. So much so, in fact, that one or our artists was showing there. That gallery is Trajan Gallery and Tracey Sylvester-Harris showed a number of paintings.

Melicious' favorite was Sleeping Beach 36" x 48"

Mine was Surfer, 48" x 36"

We also really liked the work of Mark Beck. Eleven O'Clock Train 16" x 18" was very nice at $4,750

But the real beauty was Icon 56" x 68". It looked so powerful on the wall, but we just don't have the space for it (or the will to spend 5 figures on it.)

We also liked the work of Kelly Reemsten who did a number of works on wood, each 20" x 20" and $2500.

Finally, at Oliver Elliott and Sebastian Fine Art we saw the work of Jose Esteban Basso. Most of the stuff at OES was Chagall prints and Picasso drawings, but Basso was interesting. This work in particular caught my eye. Tarde de Verano is 31" x 28" framed and is priced at $6.900.

You'll note that the images are a mix of those from the gallery and my own photos. Sometimes the gallery ones aren't very good, and also, I think that its important to see how they are framed. So, I use a lot of my photos unless they don't do the work justice (like Icon and Surfer above) or there are multiple photos of a single artist's work and they are framed similarly.

2008-01-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

Art in Cambria, CA

So, back in May 2007 I wrote about how on a wine purchasing vacation to the Central Coast we stopped in Cambria, CA and bought a painting but could've spent many thousands more. Nancy Kolliner's work is what I would have spent the money on. Her gallery, (with husband Ned Long) is here.

Her work is incredible to me. Its like the japanese wave block prints, but done in pen and ink and of trees. The work above is called Atascadero Street Trees in Winter.

I also found this little gem in another gallery (forgotten name, I'm so very sorry) that also had a lot of great photography. This is exactly what the central coast is like. It's oil on canvas from 1938 by Alfred Derome. PS., unlike the Kolliner work above which I pirated from her site, the Derome work is a photo I took and so gets nice and large if you click on it.

If you ever travel to CA and decide to head up the coast, Cambria is a great stop. Visit the Hearst Mansion for a docent led night tour and then have dinner in town or out at the water. Lots of great food, wine and art in Cambria.

2007-12-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

The photography is mine. All but one created with a creaky wooden 4x5. Shooting 4x5 (or any large format) is a real joy, to me at least, for it takes awhile. Each shot is about a 30 minute process (when you're not racing the sun that is) and in that time you really get to know the subject. Plus, when you get a negative that is the size of most people's photos from the corner, you get really sharp prints.

Is it art? I don't know. I didn't create the subjects, I simply chronicled their appearance. Some have been there a long time and will be for awhile, while some are fleeting moments at best. I guess some photography can be art, while some not, in the same way that fiction and poetry may be art, but journalism not. Perhaps they would have been art if I "did" things to them, a little longer with the developer here, a little less there. Some color saturation changes in Photoshop perhaps. But I've done none of that, these photos are exactly as I saw them and so, a chronicle, and perhaps not art.

But in the end it doesn't matter to me, because if art is in the joy of the making, then surely the photos below are indeed art, because I enjoyed making them.

This first image is one that I think may be my best ever. Again, little to do with me other than getting the light meter read correctly and not dawdling too much as the light changed. It just ended up wonderfully. This shot was taken late in the day at an abandoned lighthouse on the north shore of the Big Island in 2002. I had just returned from a two and a half month motorcycle journey around Europe and Africa and the trip to Hawaii was to celebrate Melicious's and my 10th anniversary.

This next image is one that I made while practicing in our courtyard probably in 2001 or so. I love this one very much and if you do too, you should really click on it to enlarge it, the image really comes alive larger. Interestingly (to me at least) I took this picture after I tried out a Polaroid back for the 4x5. The Polaroid of this image is slowly fading away, apropos I guess of the subject. I love the layers of the petals on the bottom blossom.

The next image is of the Grand Canyon at dawn. I took this from the South Rim and really had no idea how to use the light meter in this light so I guessed. I cropped the image here to make it more landscapy. This is my Christmas gift (properly framed) to my parents (their request actually).

This Eiffel Tower shot was taken on the Europe/Africa motorcycle trip. I know, I know, I'm an idiot for hauling a 4x5, film, film holders, tripod etc. all over on a motorcycle, but it was pretty cool. Using it got me odd looks in Marrakesh, on the Matterhorn, in Gold Alley, on the top of the Chain Bridge, in La Sagrada Familia and on Le Champs de Elysses, among others. I took over 100 shots and will post more some other time. Anyway, I took this at about 2am.

This is the only non-4x5 photo. It was taken with a Leica D-Lux 2. The Leica isn't the most awesome camera, especially since it's 2 years old now, but it offers a choice of aspect ratios and the 16:9 always strikes me as elegant. I took this in Paris (duh) just a few months ago.

Lots of times people ask how I got started in large format. Well, in 2001 Melicious and I drove cross-country to see my folks and on the way back had time to drive through Monument Valley. I took what I thought were some great shots with a Kodak digital only to find them hideous when enlarged. I resolved then to get a better camera (because of course expensive German gear is what would have made the difference) but amazingly, before I plunked down the coin for a Hasselblad, I read about how only with a large format camera with a bellows could you adjust the focal plane so as to bring elements near and far into focus. You can spend a lot on large format gear too, but I use a no-name wooden 4x5 with old Kodak press camera lenses.

Why no B&W? Well, I just got lazy with the uploads. Then again, here are a couple from trips to NYC. Both taken with the Leica.

PS. the top image is also from the Hawaii trip in 2002. We spent our anniversary day on the volcano watching it eat the highway and fight back against the erosion of the sea. Want to get close to stuff at a national park? Show up with a large format or a Hasselblad (my gift to Melicious, it was the aluminum anniversary after all) on a tripod. Immediately people think you're with National Geographic or something...

2007-11-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

Edward asks that art bloggers answer some questions from Peter Plagens' piece on arts bloggers in the current issue of Art in America. Not that I'm a blogger of any great shakes, but hey, E_ asked and so here we go...

What's the purpose of your blog?

E_ and I met online and when we met in person he thought it would be great to get a collector's viewpoint. I've not been as diligent as I hoped, but I think that The Crionna Collection gives folks an understanding of what a collector of very modest means is thinking.

Plus, I like that the art is on display for all to see, rather than just to those who are invited to our place.

What are the boundaries of your blog?

No politics, but other than that, anything is OK. I just want to say a few things about a few things.

Tyler has cited Joy Garnett's NewsGrist blog [hyperlink added —ed.] as doing a great job of "placing art within a sociocultural and political context." What I see on NewsGrist is a magazinelike interspersing of short profiles, exhibition reviews, op-ed pieces on how other people are covering things, and Village Voice–like political takes. But what does Tyler's comment mean to you, and why are blogs in general better positioned than print to do what he describes?

No Comment

Why can't blogs go further, to the point where there's hardly any discernible difference between artist and critic/commentator, blog and work of art?

Because if I were able to create the art that I collect, I would be too busy making it to write about it.

What scope and degree of editorial control do you exercise over your blog?

Complete. Absolute unlimited power!

What about posting comments from readers, and what about anonymity?

I'll allow it. I might give someone hell who jumps into a thread to attack me or someone else from the veil of anonymity, but only if I'm cranky.

What's "trolling," and why don't some of you allow it?

Being and a** for being and a**es sake. Waste of my time, of which we all have far too little.

Is trolling really so easily identified and universally bad? Is having posters register a solution?

Comment registration isn't a solution for much anything, especially in a low-rent (i.e., low-traffic) niche of the blogosphere like art blogs.

What about liability coverage?

Like if I fall and break my rib? I don't have any. With all due respect asking a blogger whether he has liability coverage for his content betrays a Web-ignorant mentality.

What's the economic model of your blog?

Keeps me off the streets...

How do you see your blog's relation to the established print art media?

My opinions would never be published were it not for the blog.

Tyler and Regina, what's the relationship between your blogging and your work in the print media?

There isn't one.

How do you attract readers/posters other than by word of mouth?

I don't try, but some are kind enough to include me on their blogrolls.

In general, is blog art criticism more open and liberal, and print criticism more closed and conservative?

I dunno, I don't read much print criticism.

Some people say that there's a dearth of art criticism at length on blogs. Is this true? If so, does it have more to do with reading on a computer in general, or with art criticism in particular?

It has to do with the fact that print media writers are paid for length ;)

Art magazines come out once a month. Newspaper art reviews usually appear once a week. Blogs appear more or less daily, and sometimes have updates by the hour. Do you think that the faster pace of blogs will start to affect the pace of art-making.

No. And if it did, it would be because the artists were paying way too much attention to the criticism.

Tyler just said that there's more good art being made by more artists in more places than at any time in history. Is this true? And if so, what's the reason?

Yes. More people feel "entitled" to be an artist leading to more art being produced. More art = more good art.

Do blogs help correct the geographical bias in print art criticism, i.e., the tendency to think that most of the important stuff happens in New York or Los Angeles, and the difficulty of art outside those places to get national attention?

Yes—for people living outside New York and Los Angeles.

One index of a city's gravity as an art center is young artists—perhaps recent MFAs—from elsewhere coming to set up shop. Is that happening in Philadelphia and Portland?

No comment.

Is there any constructively negative edge to your blogging and, if so, what is it?

None so far, unless its the importance of a good frame...

Where will your blog be in three to five years?

Written on an iphone from Huahine? Seriously, hopefully 36 to 60 posts longer with many new posts on new art purchased.

2007-10-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

OK folks, here's the thing. I'm not going to try and post here on a frequent basis anymore (not that I have been) but I am truly going to work hard to put a nice post together once a month (which, as I look back, has been the schedule to which I have settled anyway), hopefully around the 15th or so. So hey! This one's early.

Anyway, Melicious and I visited Paris about a month ago and enjoyed ourselves to death. We stayed in the Marais (Hotel du Petite Moulin, Victor Hugo's favorite boulangerie when it was still a boulangerie), ate at non-guidebook restaurants (hello Robert et Louise), chose a cafe to visit at least once a day (hello Le Sancerre with the duck confit and breast meat salad) and had our 15th anniversary photo taken (howdy Fabien Breuvart). We also visited the Orsay and were lucky to catch the Vollard exhibit. It was wonderful of course, but the amazing thing was a movie of the collector with Renoir in what must have been Renoir's 70's. The artist's hands are destroyed by arthritis from painting and yet he continues to paint and smoke.

We also visited Galerie Alain Blondel where we saw the wonderful work of Alessandro Papetti, whose work is now at http://www.detweepauwen.nl/en/artists.asp?ArtiID=32&NavID=gene. These works were pretty large, call it 3 feet tall by 5 feet wide. We really liked his work as it reminded us a lot of Veerakeat's, but different. Differently priced too; Papetti's work is in the 15-25 thouand euro range! Here are some more photos we took of his work. And, see you in November...promise.

2007-07-21T08:30:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the long break y'all but a change in business strategy at my company and my Tour de France addiction has limited my posting. If you want to read a great blog about the Tour, go see Martin Dugard's blog. I've got a couple rattling around in my head, so see you again in August. Cheers!

2007-06-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Mortgaging Fine Art

There was an interesting story on Marketwatch last week about financing of art purchases. Notably, Sotheby's and Citigroup offer art loans. That Sotheby's should do so is interesting, seems there's more money to be made on the loans than in selling the art (well, duh, just do the mortgage calculation one day crionna...ed.).

One thing not really mentioned in the article is how this could have an affect on the "value" of the art. If you're a good customer of Sotheby's or Citigroup (and what hedge fund manager wouldn't be?) and are guaranteed to get the piece you're bidding on regardless of price, is it really worth the price? Or, like homes, is there a bubble out there?

I'd guess that fine art, the kind that boasts are made of for owning is a lot like real estate in SF, or NYC; they're not making any more of it and it won't really be affected by any downturn that hits the burbs in the same way that a downturn might hit the sales of say, Thomas Kinkade...

PS. Here's an interesting site that talks about art as an investment vehicle.

2007-05-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

New Art: Cambria, CA

Update 6/2/07: Below I mention the terrible frame that held our new work, "California Neighborhood", hostage prior to our purchase and that a new frame was being completed. Well, here is the piece in its new frame. We love it!

The first week of May Melicious and I drove down the coast for some wine tasting in Paso Robles and on the return stopped in Cambria for a couple nights. The day spent walking around town was full of some excellent artwork. I've never been to a place where in the space of 3 hours, I could have easily spent $20K-$30K.

However, we did purchase this: "California Neighborhood" a 10 x 8 oil on canvas by Tracey Sylvester-Harris

Sorry about the background, it's a dining room table, the painting is currently at The Painter's Place receiving a replacement frame. Normally, in fact always, Melicious and I have left the works we purchase as framed by the artist. However, this one had been framed poorly. It was framed in a 2" wide gilt silver frame. The frame both detracted from the painting and reflected into the viewer's eyes when viewing the work. Either is, IMHO, a cardinal sin for a frame and both together was a travesty. We bought the work at Tracey's mother's gallery in Cambria; the Melanee Sylvester Gallery and I'm pretty sure that Ms. Sylvester had a hand in the choice. Her work is all framed in gilt gold. Our frame will be black with the work set to appear to be floating in the frame.

On the collecting side, even with the discount from losing the frame, I think that we overpaid for this work. Compared to works that we've paid similar amounts, Tracey is not as well known as our other artists. But, we love the work and if we overpaid by 10-20%, well, it's not like the work cost five figures.

That said we enjoy Tracey's work a lot. Below, I've shown a number of her other works.

There are some that evoke David Hockney,

and others that seem a lot like a favorite of ours, Henry Villierme. In fact, compare Tracey's work here with the Villierme below it.

I think Tracey's stuff is wonderfully sublime. It just seems to say "ease". I'd love to have one of her swimming pool works, but wine purchases took precedence ;-)

More art from Cambria later...

2007-04-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

Bindi Dharma #16 by Julie Evans, Gouache and bindis on paper, 8" x 8"

Our first internet purchase. Well, not really. We saw Julie's work on Edward Winkleman's site in 2005 and really liked it. And so we bought one; with the help of a man I met at a blog...

I'm sorry that the photo is not the best. Also, I've been told I should crop out all but the image itself, but a. that's more work than I want to do and b. collectors thinking about purchasing her work should see the care she takes in a proper mounting. In fact, the proper mount is critical in my opinion. You want your work shown to its best, well then take control!

Julie's new work is pretty stunnning too. Take a peek over at Julie Saul's. I like it an awful lot. It seems sharper, perhaps than ours. It looks like she decided at some point to go a bit darker of color too. If I could ask her a question I'd ask whether the Red River Extracts came before or after the rest. So beautiful.

And gee, as I look around Ms. Saul's gallery I have to say that I like a lot of the work there. That's interesting. I wonder if other collectors have found that they sync up with a gallerist(s) and enjoy the work of many of the artists they represent or not. I thought that my affection for Thomas Reynolds' artists was lucky, but perhaps collectors sync with a gallerist's choices more than I thought. Anyone?

UPDATE 4/22/07
I just received pricing for Julie's new work and, while her pieces are a skosh larger, the prices begin at $3K+ and end at $6K+. We paid less than $1K for the work we purchased and are quite happy with the increase in the value of her work. Again, this may be seen as a bit crass to discuss, but, I did want to write this as a collector and as such, the increase in value of some of our works is surely of interest to others (however few they may be) reading this blog.

2007-03-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

Contemporary Art Gallery Interview

Over the weekend we finally had time to answer some questions about our collecting from Daniel Ferris at the Contemporary Art Gallery site. Here's the link to the interview if you're interested.

2007-03-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

Mark Ulriksen, Two Fans, 10 x 8 inches

This painting was really Melicious' favorite. I love it too and it's special to us, not just because we love Mr. Ulriksen's style (which we first saw on a New Yorker cover) but because it depicts one of our favorite places, Pacific Bell Park (now AT&T Park), home of the SF Giants. We bought in July of 2000, a little more than a year after the park opened. Also, the gentleman depicted is the spitting image of our longtime hairstylist, Gene Hays, and the bottle in the upper left is an Anchor Steam , Crionna's favorite beer.

This painting was also, I believe, the first of a few where we had a penchant for buying the painting depicted on the announcement card that Thomas Reynolds sent out to invite us to the opening.

2007-01-18T23:51:00.000-08:00

NYC Report

Shame on us, but Melicious and I did not make it to Winkleman's on our trip to NYC last weekend. I'm sure he'll forgive us though as we spent Saturday in Brooklyn at their wonderful museum.

While the hubub was all about the Leibovitz and Mueck exhibits, we were totally blown away by Walton Ford. Go quickly as it ends on the 28th.

I cannot tell you how cool his works were. Nothing but seeing them in person does them justice. And the stories behind them are incredible. One was based on a Hemingway quote about wounding but not killing a hunted animal. Another reflected upon Mr. Audubon's travails at painting a raptor.

Sunday's trip to the Whitney was nice, but the Ford exhibit blew everything away. GO!!!

2006-11-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

Veerakeat again. Melicious and I visited his garage last week (open studio weekend #2) where he had perhaps 40 8x8's like these displayed in a similar fashion. These little paintings are a great way for folks to collect an artist that they like, as well as get away from the poster in a few spots.

These 4 show just a bit of Veerakeat's range. A dash of figurative (which he rarely does), and then three of his normal style all in different looks and colors. These hang at the end of a dining table where they will stay until a large piece worthy of the space draws our eyes and cash. Then it'll be off to the bedroom to hang in a long line over the headboard (where most smart San Franciscans know to hang something light) or to an office if Melicious and I ever attain such a lofty rank (or stop working at such egalitarian firms as we do...).

2006-10-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

Long time no post, I know, I know, but hey, I've been busy at a start-up that's working to beat up on Visa/MasterCard and the cabal of banks that earn billions of dollars in fees for doing very little.

So, anyway, a new post. Last weekend we went to see an open studio of our friend James Jarrett. James is the brother of a good friend of ours. We bought the two pieces above from him* in February. They are oil on board 24x24. These really are the first two pieces of significant abstract art we've purchased. It's a major departure for me but I really love them.

Unfortunately for James, his gallery has closed. He had been showing in San Francisco at Danielle Steele's gallery (yes, THAT Danielle Steele). He shows in Denver as well, but will have to do with open studios and a show at Fort Mason.

His new work is very good as well, we'd love to have a red one, but just couldn't pull the trigger. If you're around SF, check out his studio/garage. Its open this weekend and he'll be at Fort Mason later in the year.

*Its not often that we purchase straight from the artist, since we feel strongly about the value of a good gallery and owner, but in this case, we knew of him through his brother and so, I think it's ok. Comments?

2006-06-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks; two weeks of business/family travel have made it impossible to update the blog as frequently as I'd like. I'm hoping to do better during the Summer.

Today I'm wondering about artists who sell their works to whatever company copies them a million times, frames them in aluminum, triple mats (three colors too) them and then sells them to mid-priced business hotels nationwide for their breakfast rooms. Is it somehow satisfying to see your work Mr. or Ms. Sohnan (that's as close as I can figure based on the sig) on so many walls? Does the money you earn allow you to do "real" work or are you now addicted to the cash and cranking out more of the same to the detriment of your art? Or are you really proud of this work; this nearly paint-by numbers stuff that I have to stare at while eating toast from a machine used by thousands of other people? Perhaps you can honestly deduct the cost of trips to Italy or France for "research" or plein air work?

I don't know. It's pretty bland stuff sir or maam. Just saying...

2006-05-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

WOW, just, WOW...Henry Villierme. Melicious and I visited The Thomas Reynolds Gallery last night before going to the Giants game. We were one of just a couple people there at the time and luckily had a chance to view all of the work on display from many different angles. That was a stroke of luck because in addition to the work on display for sale, Thomas had hung Highway Study #2, oil on canvas, 77x59.5 completed in 1957. Stop reading for a second and look at the work again. Clear your mind of the need to get to the end of this section and read the next and then imagine the size of it, 6 and a half feet tall, nearly 3 feet wide, the black highway protecting the colorful right and against the encroaching white, or vice versa depending on how you see the world today. The colors, each vying for your attention, demanding to be studied more closely. It takes over a room like your favorite uncle when you were a child, full of stories. This painting had hung in the 1957 exhibition of "Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting" at the Oakland Museum along with those of Diebenkorn and Park. How good was he at the time? Well, "There is no one I would feel better about describing as a real painter," said Diebenkorn, who encouraged curator Paul Mills to include Villierme's work in the show. The work in person is very powerful, and quite honestly I was amazed to see it there. Personally I think that it should be at the De Young.

Henry's new works are wonderful as well. Our favorite was Cofferdam, oil on canvas, 30x24. We don't have the wherewithal at the moment to purchase such a wonderful work as it was priced at $12,600*. If we had the wherewithal, this is surely the work we would choose. The rich orange color, the perspective and color of the water and waterway, the deep green and the bits of color to the right, all work for me as a whole and as something I could find new parts to love as time went on.

And truly, I must say that Henry might be one of the nicest people I've ever met. He walked up to us as he entered the gallery, surely seeing the glazed look of people in love with his work, and remarked on the works, wondering aloud who painted them. He asked to be reminded of our names and thanked us for attending. Finding out that we lived in the City (he's a native) he remarked on how wonderful it was. When I told him which of his works we owned he said the nicest thing. He said "Well that makes me the luckiest man, because besides my own, I live in your house too". He wished us happiness and good health and we floated out the door.

I live in your house too. Yes you do Henry, and not in the one made of wood and stone, but rather the one made of muscle in our chests.

*So, is it crass or wrong of me to print the price of the work? If so, please tell me, especially you Thomas, if you're reading. I printed it because in the end this is supposed to be a blog about collecting and the work is, in the end, for sale. I assume that the readers would want to know what such things cost. As mentioned in the previous post, I think that Henry's work is very collectible, and collectible in the best way. It is work with a story, bound to rise in price, created by one of the nicest people I've met in a long time.

2006-05-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, long time no write. In my defense, I started a new job and was watching a friend wait for a new heart (he got one and is home). I still don't have much time to write, but this pic was sitting in iphoto so I could get it up quick and easy.

Anyway, this is our only piece by Henry Villierme. Sorry about the reflection from the glass. I really don't want to remove it to take the photo, so you'll just have to bear with me. This is a gouache on paper work, 8.5x11. I love his landscapes but dislike his figuratives. They just don't speak to me like the landscapes; which don't so much grab me like Veerakeat's work, rather they invite me to look, and look and then, "Well gee, the sun's coming up, where did the time go?"

As a collected piece, this is probably the one of all of ours that is guaranteed to increase in value. The painter is respected by the likes of Richard Diebenkorn, has only recently retaken up his work after a long stint working a real job to earn a living and so hasn't been as prolific as he might have been, and is not a youngster. Personally, I'd be ok with the value of the piece being $0, if Henry could go on painting forever.

And, oh wow, what an amazing coincidence, honestly, I wrote this post and then went to Thomas' to see how to spell "gouache" and there it was, an announcement that Villierme is having another show there on 5/12. If you're anywhere in this timezone, you should really attend. Why? Just ask Diebenkorn.

2006-04-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

MARTA CHAFFEE (now Marta Chaffee Stang) was represented by Thomas Reynolds for, I think, just one show. We really like this piece. Maybe it's the subject, flowers growing in The Lompoc Valley, this piece is No. 16 in a series of paintings done between 1994 and 1999, or perhaps it's the perspective in that it's 8x24 and so gives a panoramic view. Then again, perhaps its just the colors.* In any case, we've placed this oil on canvas work on the far wall of our galley style kitchen and it acts almost as a window, a window to a wonderful view of the countryside.

I don't know what's happened to Ms. Chaffee Stang. I know her work is for sale online, but I don't see her listed on the site of her old gallery, Sylvia White, nor does she appear to have a site of her own. Guild.com has a few of her larger works, 3x-4x this size for many thousands of dollars, much more than this piece cost us. Perhaps she has set painting aside in recent years. I'd love to see her work in person again.

*And this brings up a bit of musing. I have not been a huge fan of abstract art, but looking at this piece again with a wider perspective is interesting to me. I never would have been one to purchase abstract art at the time we bought this (1999 or 2000 I think) but it's quite abstract I think, in fact, only the mountains in the background keep it from being truly abstract in my mind. I wonder if the title had been simply "No. 16" rather than "Lompoc Valley Series No. 16, Yellow-Orange with Blue and Burgundy" and I had seen it by itself, rather than in a show of other "landscapes" if I would have purchased it at the time. Hmmm.

2006-03-30T09:07:00.000-08:00

THE VALUE OF A GALLERY

One thing that you may have noticed on this blog is that while there is a section for artist links, only one has been linked so far (and a photgrapher at that) despite my featuring two artists so far, and two artists whose work we love, as evidenced by our purchase of multiple works. The reason for that is simple, loyalty.

Both of these artists are represented by Thomas Reynolds. We only know about them because he took the time and the risk to seek them out, work with them and then feature their work. I think that it would be the height of disloyalty by us to attempt to purchase works from either gentleman outside of Thomas's gallery given all he's done to educate us.

A commenter at Edward's site asks today I also wonder whether collectors think about 1) directly supporting artists they believe in By "directly supporting" I assume that he means attending (and buying at) open studio events, attending art school shows etc. We haven't done this yet, attended official events that is, but probably will in the future since by now I think we can trust our eyes. 10 years ago, not so much. I think actually purchasing the art is the support we can offer. Perhaps there are others out there that can afford to be a patron and simply pay rent or something in exchange for discounted art or first looks? I don't know.

As I think about it, I'll also say that while the first paragraph is pretty set in stone, I will say that some gallerys seem to me to be more business than pleasure. Melicious and I go to Limn Gallery as often as possible, but don't have the same feeling about it that we do for Thomas's place, or I for Plus Ultra for that matter. Maybe that's the key for us, that personal touch from the people whose name(s) are on the door.

Perhaps that's some good advice for artists; if you want to cultivate collectors like us, choose a good small gallery with an involved owner who loves your work. They're infectious, but in that good way ;)

2006-03-24T12:07:00.000-08:00

I'm not really interested in this site being anything other than art, but the following bit in today's SF Chronicle was just too cool not to share: On Tuesday night in San Francisco, Whitney Priest spotted a Muni bus going east with the destination sign on its front reading "Nowhere in Particular.'' Muni confirms that this notation exists on the sign rolls of some older buses. I love that SF has this little bit of oddity roaming the street, it's almost official graffiti.

2006-03-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

Ch-ch-ch-changes, try'in to buy the artists changes, it ain't easy in this commercial world, landlords still want cash, and you can't change thaaat. Sorry for the bad Bowie rendition, but I've just been thinking about something that's been discussed at Edward's a number of times in recent months. On occasion the conversation veers towards artists whose style changes throughout their careers and whether that's good or bad and what effect it can have on them financially etc. etc. So, I thought that today I'd show a few works that illustrate the point.

On the one hand take Terry Miura whose 16 x 20, oil on board, "Afterschool" is pictured above. We really love this painting and purchased it just last year from Thomas Reynolds (who was very generous with terms as I bought another painting at the same time), it having been painted in 2004. Just look at the colors of the ground to the viewer's left of the tree. Look at the color of that sky. It just says "Picnic under me. Go ahead, open the good French white.". It's magical. Now compare it to the one below that we purchased at the same time we bought the big Veerakeat in 1999. "Silent Ones", oil on canvas, 40 x 30 was painted by the same man. It too totally captivates us, the person sneaking in the door, the perfect roundness of the light globes, the bright orange of the post, the sheer scale of the building depicted.

It probably won't be surprising to you that Mr. Miura was living in NYC when he painted "Silent Ones" and near Sacramento, CA when he painted "Afterschool". My understanding though, is that neither scene actually exists, they are exocative of his feelings of a place. This is what ties his work together for me, how he feels when he paints (and the obvious skill of course), rather than what he paints.

On the other hand, take the 8 x 10, oil on canvas Veerakeat shown below. It was painted in the same period as the big one pictured last time, but seems almost Villierme-esque, as if he saw some of Mr. Villierme's work and thought, "Hey, that'd be interesting to try". It looks like Villierme, a bit, but in a totally Veerakeat way. We love Veerakeat for his willingness to try things and change. The final painting shown is "Big Blue" which we also like, but do not own. It has a lot of the same energy of his "normal" works, but the blue is something new.

As collector's we buy what we like and I would say that if our experience is any indication, artists should feel comfortable in changing because your collectors will follow you as long as you continue to paint with love and passion and skill. I feel fortunate to have had the ability to purchase different paintings from the same wonderful artists.

2006-03-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

We're headed out of town for a bit of a long weekend, but it occurred to me that I mentioned a larger Veerakeat that we owned. "Telegraph Hill" was painted in 1999 and is 48" x 48". The purchase of this piece and another (by another artist we'll feature later) was a pretty big departure for us. This cost mid-4 figures and represents one our largest outlays for artwork. It's worth every nickel. Click on the photo to enlarge it. Go ahead, I'll wait, it's worth it. The photo does absolutely no justice to the power of this work on the wall, the way it captures the changing light in our home to mimic the changes seen on the real Telegraph Hill, the sense of movement in the street and sky, the richness of the colors. This is what I meant by "energy" as discussed in the previous post about Veerakeat. We adore this piece. ADORE it.

Having said that, and in my new role as a "collector" I must say that I'm proud of our purchase of this piece. I'm not sure if Veerakeat has done anything as large (or at least I don't think he has very often and definitely (my recollection) not before 1999), plus I think that this is one of his best pieces combining the movement you see in the street, with the beautiful golds of the roofs and the intensity of the sky. So, as an investment in Veerakeat, I see this as quite astute. Plus, did I say how much we love it? ;)

A word about Veerakeat in case you didn't read about him on Thomas' site. He's one of the nicest people we've met in the city. He honestly seems to delight in the love people have for his artwork. He seems to really appreciate how blessed he's been (as seen in his recent auction to build a hospital to help those in Thailand hurt by the tsunami). He's a great guy. He and Thomas Reynolds even delivered and hung this one for us personally.

Full Disclosure, we live at the bottom of Telegraph Hill. While our place is not pictured here, this is a scene we are intimately familiar with, and that says something doesn't it? That we, who actively seek to view all parts of our city (The Ten Year Tourists*), should choose artwork that presents what we see everyday in such a wonderful light just goes to show how much Veerakeat's work (and SF itself) has touched us.

*Now there's a good name for a blog of photos of a city by residents, maybe even a good name for a book of photography. Consider it taken by me ;)

2006-03-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

So, what were we thinking when we bought this, out first oil painting ("Aft" 1997 10" x 8")? Well, it was less than $1k (much less) so it was in the right price range. And, you know, I was about to say that we weren't thinking about "collecting" but then I guess we were since there were, of course, many other of Veerakeat's works (see previous post for more info about him) at higher prices that we would have liked to have purchased had we the funds. So, in the sense that we desired one of his works for our (as yet nonexistent) collection we were "collecting" already and not simply filling space. This should have been clear to me since, well, 10" x 8" ain't really wall filler material. Then again, as I think back, originally this work hung in the 600 sqft place we started out in and it was hung in a very prominent location. So wall filling wasn't so important after all.

Why did we want one of his works? I think it 's the energy of his work. He brings a sense of movement to the everyday (and this is actually one of his few figurative pieces) that we love. He's also very good, IMHO, at rendering light. As a sailor, that's how it looks on the water. The perspective also gives me a sense of how it feels. I can almost feel the deck underneath me when I look at it. I also found it very cool that he first painted the canvas red (especially since it's a water piece) and then painted over that. I had never heard of that before, although I've seen it since.

Anyway, with this painting began our love affair with Veerakeat's work resulting in our owning 9 paintings, many of them small ones like this (I dream of a day the SFMOMA asks us to lend them ours for a "Petite Veerakeat" exhibition), and one 4' x 4' that I'll profile another time.

UPDATE
I'm told that the proper way to list art dimensions is HxW, so that would make "Aft", shown above, 8x10.

2006-03-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

In the beginning, there were posters; posters of movies, then framed posters of old advertisements or cool events attended, but posters nonetheless. When the Mrs. (who'll you see posting here as Melicious) and I purchased our first (and only) home here in SF lo these many years ago (thankfully just before real estate went berserk (make that REALLY berserk) in the Bay Area) we had many blank walls and a goodly number of posters adorning them. This was ok in the beginning, but really only as ok as the 70's tile, formica counters and bland carpeting, which is to say that they did their job of covering blank walls.

In 1999 we discovered two things. The first was Thomas Reynolds Gallery and through him the paintings of Veerakeat Tongpaiboon. Thomas "discovered"* Veerakeat through some paintings that Veerakeat had placed in his parents' Thai restaurant and, following his bliss rented the Victorian that now houses his gallery for six weeks to display and sell the work. The rest is history, er Thomas's history.

The history of The Crionna Collection begins with our first oil painting purchase, shown above. "Aft" is 10" x 8". At the time we were the proud 1/3 owners of an old Hunter 30' sailboat and the painting just spoke to us. We loved Veerakeat's style and still enjoy this painting. Since that time we've become friends of Thomas Reynolds and regulars at his gallery. His ideas about how to collect art made an impression on us and we soon found ourselves with a good number of paintings, mostly purchased from him.

As blogging made its impression on the world I came to know a gallery owner in NY, Edward Winkleman, through the comments section of a blog called Tacitus. Tacitus has changed since then and neither of us post there as often but a while back Edward created a blog just for art. Recently, Edward and I met and he mentioned that our collecting and attitudes about such might be an interesting topic for a blog. In fact, until that exact moment I'd never thought of "collecting" art, but rather purchasing it as something wonderful.

So, here it is, The Crionna Collection. We don't collect in order to be cool or to speculate financially, although IOHO having an art collection is, to us, much more interesting than having say, a nice used Ferrari, or some land on which to build a weekend house, both of which could be had for the value of our collection. We'll post photos of our purchases and discuss what we were thinking when we bought them. Now that we're "collectors", we'll discuss what we think we need to do to enhance the collection. We'll discuss objects of desire that we have yet to purchase, and may never, as well as things that some may call crafts, but that we call art. We'll also pick up on topics of discussion in the art world and try to give a mid-range collectors view on things.

We're open to receiving email questions, but have a comments section that we'll attend to regularly. We're thinking that weekly posts are about right. Check back on Mondays and I'd guess we'll have posted sometime during the week before or on the weekend.

*You'll pardon me if by using this word I give Thomas more credit for bringing Veerakeat to the attention of San Franciscans than is proper, I just couldn't think of a better term and don't know the really detailed story. We certainly discovered him through Thomas and are very grateful.

UPDATE
I believe that Thomas Reynolds can indeed be said to have discovered Veerakeat, only it was at his Aunt's restaurant where the paintings were hung. Also, the size of the piece above is 8x10.