Art News, Life, and Assorted Ice Creams...

So there is a guy serving 3 life sentences in solitary confinement who has been doing paintings using the dye from M&M's. He paints on postcards with a brush he created with plastic wrap, foil and his own hair. He makes paint by leaching the colors from M&M’s into little plastic grape jelly containers. Not very archival. But very "Art School Confidential", as this guy has been written up in the New York Times twice.

Donny Johnson, in a 1985 photograph taken at San Quentin.

Mr. Johnson’s work has been on display for several weeks at a gallery in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where twenty of his paintings have been sold, for $500 each. He donated the paintings to the Pelican Bay Prison Project, a charity which says it will honor Mr. Johnson’s wish that it use the proceeds from the show to help the children of prisoners. The jail has stopped him from mailing out his art, as he has committed a violation by engaging in a business or profession without the warden’s permission.

The following is old news, but fun, and relevant to our previous posts of competitions for "best artist"... P.S. 1 held an "Iron Artist" competition, based on the Food Network's "Iron Chef" competitions. According to the P.S. 1 website, "The competition consists of two duels, each 45 minutes in length. Using materials and tools provided at P.S.1, the opponents in each duel will create artwork in response to a theme revealed to them on the spot. Running commentary will be provided by a panel of judges, roving commentators, and prominent New York art critics." 45 minutes in length. Yours truly could probably not cut the mustard. Reminds me of the time I was sitting in a doctor's office and happened to catch "the World's Fastest Painter" on a talk show. *Sigh.* Cabinet Magazine posted some great play-by-play images of the event.

Finally, artist Jill Greenberg, a woman after my own heart, has a show up at Paul Kopeiking Gallery in Los Angeles: I wish I could own some of these gorgeously lit photos of children crying... to me, seeing these silent images without the accompanying shrieks makes me think about photography in a different way than I ever have before. The Guardian reports that people are outraged at her tactic of giving the child lollipops, only to take them away for a minute while she photographs them: her critics are saying that this amounts to child abuse. I'm sure these kids will never remember having a lollipop taken away for a minute when they were 2.

I remember agonizing over the ethical dilemma inherent in my Crying Men paintings. Actors? no, too artificial. Insane asylum, bar at 3 a.m.? too exploitive. So the camera was set up in front of my volunteer models, and I left the room, telling them, "I will be in the next room, reading. Call me when you have a good cry going. If you can't do it, that's fine too."
I remember wanting to make them root beer floats to cheer them up before they left.
I am still looking for some men to cry for me. Preferably over 25, as all my previous models were ex-art students, and there seems to be some reluctance to cry in men over a certain age.

On the home front, today was a beautiful day and we went for a ride in the country on the motorcycle this afternoon. We recently realized that the summer is almost over, and we have been working too much. We got some amazing mangoes, already peeled & sliced, from Costco, and they were screaming to be made into ice cream. The recipe called for 6 egg whites, so with the 6 yolks left over, I made my first batch of green tea ice cream. The mango was amazing, I added vanilla to it, to replicate the Mango shakes we used to make in Miami with rum and french vanilla ice cream. I haven't tasted the Green Tea, as it needs to sit overnight before I freeze it. I am really excited about making some more exotic ones to serve after an Indian dinner: ginger, orange cardamom, rose...