St. CeeJay

Denver, Colorado, which I recently visited for 18 hours to explore several galleries and famous museums, also boasts a wonderful art scene. Due to the limited time available, I had to prioritize.

Let’s begin with the Denver Art Museum, with its two buildings and seven floors in the larger one. The priority I set in the building was to view the artworks on 4 floors. Western Art was a must for me – a modern perspective in a contemporary manner. The contemporary scene in our temporary world, the art world, which changes rapidly, much like the world outside. 

However, Western art has the ability to ground you. Isn’t it like a fairy tale from another world, especially if you’re from Europe or somewhere else that isn’t the US? 

Isn’t it akin to Alice in Wonderland for anyone who wishes to live that kind of dream? 

Isn’t it a childhood memory for everyone?

Is there anything that conveys more freedom, the American spirit, that kind of stereotype and cliché, than the landscapes of North America, paintings of canyons and cowboys, wild horses and wildlife, hunting and roping, branding, and a loud whisper, a promise, of a free life itself?

There are still artists who paint this kind of American dream in a naturalistic manner. 

There are still cowboys I’ve fallen in unspoken, unrequited love with, more than I could have ever imagined, but that’s a different story ..

Wonderful men. Wonderful lifestyle.

And how do contemporary artists in the wild, wild west deal with a subject that carries such a vast heritage? 

America, yes you can, always could! 

Have you read the book „Fantasyland : How America went Haywire : A 500-year History“ by Kurt Andersen? A strong dream and believe, or a soft nightmare, described on 480 pages.

Americans can do it, conjure, carry lightness, work hard, and embrace an imaginative forward-looking mindset with pride and optimistic greatness. Where else can you find art like that?
The! That! This!

And sometimes, yes sometimes, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

I don’t see how he can ever finish, if he doesn’t begin.

Alice in Wonderland . Chapter 9

More pictures on IG : instagram.com/contemporart_ranchlife/

Denver, Colorado, surprise-surprise, where some galleries are open til 10pm Friday night.

So, Friday I‘m in love ..

Denver. Denver.

Friday. Friday.

Cherries are for me, as someone from Europe, the most US-American fruit. Everything here smells like cherry-heaven; chap sticks, cars, houses, dr. pepper coke. This is so American to me. Love!

Ceejay

There’s a bison, and there’s more.

So much more.

Can you decipher the hidden meaning?

Do you believe in the unimaginable?

There might be a world you’ve never witnessed before, as if time froze years ago, and you choose, within minutes, not to depart this place anymore. Never. Ever. So, believe in enchantment!

Art can possess magic. Too. When you delve deep. When you allow yourself to both embrace and contemplate it with eccentricity. When you read it, at least attempt that.

I was recently in Cody, purchased an artwork, gazed at more. Spotted bison near this charming small city in Wyoming and encountered them in numerous artworks as well.

It’s the western frontier. The untamed west. Some things belong there, others do not. And history may be what defines us.

ever tried? ever failed? no matter. fail again. fail better. (Samuel Beckett)

There is beauty in history.

There is beauty in these far-flung places.

Buy me an ice cream! Show me nature, both the one around us and yours, too!

Myth. Magic. Proud of your heritage. Love for the present.

Thank you for your art!

Brian Timmer . Timmer Gallery . 1371 Sheridan Avenue . Cody / WY

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/marina-abramovic-royal-academy-2023-2365822

What you‘re doing is not important. What is really important is the state of mind from which you do it. Performance.

Marina Abramovič

„I‘m a German artist,“ Baselitz says, “and what I do is rooted in the German tradition. It‘s ugly and expressiv.“

Richard Shiff . In : Writing after Art . davidzwirnerbooks.com

Is there more freedom than in art?

Is it a painting?

Is it a sculpture?

Is it a painted sculpture, a sculptural painting?

Donald Martiny, born in 1953 in Schenectady, New York, is a contemporary American artist currently based in Ivoryton, Essex, Connecticut.

https://www.donaldmartiny.com

Donald is an avid reader. In an interview, he has stated that he reads voraciously, and he and his wife dedicate hours every single day to studying art, art history, criticism, theory, and philosophy.

Perhaps art is about exploration and discussion too?

Donald is also an educator. He has lectured at universities and museums.

Can art be different in every single place?

Donald believes that his best ideas come from the work he is doing, and he works 7 days a week.

What do you observe in his artwork?

Isn’t it a pleasure to have these colorful dots on the wall? They always appear friendly, with nothing frightening or negative about them. It might be color in its most amazing form, where there is a freedom in it that a canvas with a frame can never deliver, never provide, ever. Instead it extends as far as Donald wants it to, to the north, the south, the east, and the west.

It’s a cheerful presence, a happy place, a mountain retreat, a beach paradise, a cozy reading nook, a secret garden, on the wall. It’s like the sun during a rainy day, perhaps even the rain or a rainbow, as rain is absent. These artworks are a dance with the people and things that surround them.

And you’ll love to be around them.

In fact I don’t really think of paint as paint, or color as color.  I experience painting as pushing and  moving pure sensation and feeling, e.g., sympathy, elation, agitation, ecstasy, sorrow, passion. More than an exploration of optics or beauty my use of color is a kind of spiritual quest.

Donald Martiny

Pictures of the artworks are taken at Diehl Gallery, Jackson, Wyoming.

and a little pixie dust.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/fleeting-history-fairy-paintings-art-2361140

Given the fact that the art market is an amazing show, a potpourri of entertainment, sweet fake, temptation, pleasure, and to please people, guess what skills you might need to stand out and thrive?

Maybe, just maybe, the most happy people are these who are able to see beauty, the good, or – at least – purpose in absolutely everything and everybody.

Maybe, just maybe, the biggest flex is to just be yourself in a world that constantly tries to tell you that you’re somebody or something else.

Maybe, just maybe, loving someone who doesn’t even like you, is your own heaven.

Maybe, just maybe, beauty’s hidden in every single detail. – Well, at least, I’m sure about that.

A billion thanks to the US-American countryside!

„David Zwirner says he takes things on balance.“

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/09/19/david-zwirner-real-estate-losses-optimistic