I know, I know, it's been a while since I muttered any timeless insights on the AfrAmerican creative world. I have no excuse except...er, uh...arah..hrummph, ah...er....I have no excuse.
But I haven't exactly been silent - no matter how much some folks may dream. I've made myself heard on another AfrAmerican artist's blog. Joyce Owens has been very productive in generating content for her highly informative and disarmingly honest blog. I'll add a link as soon as I get a chance.
I just got the chance: Joyce Owens' blog.
Meanwhile, I'll ask again for any other AfrAmerican artists out there to send me a jpeg (not more than 100 k) of one of your works for the ORIGINAALS Gallery. It's free. Send it to lowelltho@gmail.com. OK?
Oh, and BTW, one of the things keeping my mind off this blog is my "Dreams Can Come True" piece. I'm offering limited (100) edition 24"w X 18" h signed and numbered posters of it. They started at $100. After the first 25 the price is up to $175. It will probably go up again when I reach 50. Interested? Contact me at lowelltho@gmail.com.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
A painting I just had to do.
I've just added a new image to the ORIGINAALS Gallery. It's a painting I started planning before Barack Obama's historic securing of the enough votes to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for the presidency of the United States of America.
The original painting is 48" w X 36" h. The response to it has been greater and more gratifying than any I've ever done. Even my youngest brother was impressed (and you know how hard it is to get your family to appreciate your work).
I'll be unveiling the piece at various locations, including on the streets of downtown Chicago - as part of my "Man On Da Street Walking Art Gallery".
I'm even thinking of asking other artists, writers, etc. to join me in an exhibition of work related to this event. Whatdya think?
The original painting is 48" w X 36" h. The response to it has been greater and more gratifying than any I've ever done. Even my youngest brother was impressed (and you know how hard it is to get your family to appreciate your work).
I'll be unveiling the piece at various locations, including on the streets of downtown Chicago - as part of my "Man On Da Street Walking Art Gallery".
I'm even thinking of asking other artists, writers, etc. to join me in an exhibition of work related to this event. Whatdya think?
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Two new artists in the OriginAAls Gallery
I've just added two new images from two of Chicago's most unique artists and characters,
Melvin King and Emmett McBain.
For those already familiar with Melvin's work (and I'd guess many collectors are), the image in the gallery is quite a departure. Mr. King's most popular paintings and prints usually depict stylized, multi-peopled scenes of African-American life and history. But, as he told me when I first went to his studio, his first real love was abstraction. The image here is one of many that show his other side.
The other new image is by a man I've known and admired over 35 years, Emmett McBain. For those of you in the ad game, the name should ring a bell. (If it doesn't, you should buy the book, Madison Avenue and the Colorline). Mr. McBain was one of the most creative and successful AfrAmericans in advertising. He was co-founder of Burrell-McBain, the ad agency that blazed new trails in advertising in the 70's, 80's and 90's, which still (as Burrell Communications) is one of the leading companies in the business.
A few years ago, he started painting again after decades of confining his skills to advertising and communications design. I think we're all the better for it. What about you?
Melvin King and Emmett McBain.
For those already familiar with Melvin's work (and I'd guess many collectors are), the image in the gallery is quite a departure. Mr. King's most popular paintings and prints usually depict stylized, multi-peopled scenes of African-American life and history. But, as he told me when I first went to his studio, his first real love was abstraction. The image here is one of many that show his other side.
The other new image is by a man I've known and admired over 35 years, Emmett McBain. For those of you in the ad game, the name should ring a bell. (If it doesn't, you should buy the book, Madison Avenue and the Colorline). Mr. McBain was one of the most creative and successful AfrAmericans in advertising. He was co-founder of Burrell-McBain, the ad agency that blazed new trails in advertising in the 70's, 80's and 90's, which still (as Burrell Communications) is one of the leading companies in the business.
A few years ago, he started painting again after decades of confining his skills to advertising and communications design. I think we're all the better for it. What about you?
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Lowell's in the Loop.
Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate to toot my own trumpet. But I've found out that sometimes that's the only way it gets played, so please forgive me. Besides, I'm also tooting the axes (or should I say "chopping"?) of 39 other Chicago artists as well.
I've just come from seeing my painting in downtown Chicago; an area actually just north of the Loop proper (for you out-of-towners it's called the Loop because of the way the L train "loops" around the heart of it). The painting is just one of 40 by Chi-Town artists that were selected for its "Chicago Looks" exhibit that runs along the "RiverWalk", the lower level of the south bank of the Chicago River from State Street to LaSalle Street.
My painting is between Clark Street and LaSalle. I'm posting a jpeg in the ORIGINAALS gallery, but you're really missing a lot if you don't get up close and personal. It's 30" w X 40" h.
I've just come from seeing my painting in downtown Chicago; an area actually just north of the Loop proper (for you out-of-towners it's called the Loop because of the way the L train "loops" around the heart of it). The painting is just one of 40 by Chi-Town artists that were selected for its "Chicago Looks" exhibit that runs along the "RiverWalk", the lower level of the south bank of the Chicago River from State Street to LaSalle Street.
My painting is between Clark Street and LaSalle. I'm posting a jpeg in the ORIGINAALS gallery, but you're really missing a lot if you don't get up close and personal. It's 30" w X 40" h.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
New York ad agencies progress in "diversity"?
The New York Times' vet ad columnist Stuart Elliott wrote today on how the big ad guys are doing in meeting their self-policed campaign to become more "diverse" - whatever that means.
They were forced to at least acknowledge their lack thereof a few years ago when the NYC Human Rights Commission threatened hearings on their almost exclusively"whites only" hiring policies in their professional and upper management ranks. Elliott's article today mentions a report the commission released yesterday on what progress has been made. According to Elliott, the agencies are making some progress, if not meeting some of their more ambitious goals.
The story is interesting to me because 16 years ago I instigated a similar examination of the business nationwide. Even more interesting is the fact that no other source, including the NYCHRC itself seems to think the issue is important enough to even mention. I googled "New York City Human Rights Commission - Diversity" and there was nothing about their report anywhere else, even on their own sight.
That fact and the fact that none of the successful hires are broken down into racial, ethnic, age, gender or sexual orientation tells me even their modest success is padded with diversifiers not of the...er...ah...let's just say "darker hues".
Call me paranoid but it looks like diversity perversity.
Business and BS as usual.
They were forced to at least acknowledge their lack thereof a few years ago when the NYC Human Rights Commission threatened hearings on their almost exclusively"whites only" hiring policies in their professional and upper management ranks. Elliott's article today mentions a report the commission released yesterday on what progress has been made. According to Elliott, the agencies are making some progress, if not meeting some of their more ambitious goals.
The story is interesting to me because 16 years ago I instigated a similar examination of the business nationwide. Even more interesting is the fact that no other source, including the NYCHRC itself seems to think the issue is important enough to even mention. I googled "New York City Human Rights Commission - Diversity" and there was nothing about their report anywhere else, even on their own sight.
That fact and the fact that none of the successful hires are broken down into racial, ethnic, age, gender or sexual orientation tells me even their modest success is padded with diversifiers not of the...er...ah...let's just say "darker hues".
Call me paranoid but it looks like diversity perversity.
Business and BS as usual.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Basquiat: The Spook who sat by Warhol's studio door?
Chicago-based art maven and creative critic, Nathaniel McLin, has an interesting piece on Jean Michel Basquiat, the graffiti artist some ignorant white bloviator once called "the only important Black artist in history". The title, "In the Shadow of Basquiat: The Spook That Opened the Door" is suspect, but McLin makes his case.
I like mine better, but maybe I'm just "dead playa hatin". Check it out at Paint magazine online. The link is here somewhere.
I like mine better, but maybe I'm just "dead playa hatin". Check it out at Paint magazine online. The link is here somewhere.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Georg Olden lives on the internet
One of the most interesting but ultimately frustrating projects I ever worked on was when Print, a New York communications design magazine, asked me to write an article on Georg Olden.
Georg who? I know most of you are asking. (And, yes, I spelled his name right.)
I would guess that few people, even African Americans in advertising, graphic design or television today, have ever heard of Mr. Olden. But almost 20 years before the March on Washington, Georg Olden was one of, if not, the first television art directors. He was definitely the first art director for CBS Television. He was there at the very beginning, creating many of the first logos and graphics ever seen on the air, anywhere. And, just to make sure you're not missing my point - he was what was then known as "colored".
Print magazine's head editor, Martin Fox asked Julie Lasky, managing editor, to ask me if I would write an article whose theme would be, "Whatever happened to Georg Olden?"
Well, to make a long, long story very short, the article I wrote was rejected by the magazine. They said I had failed to find out what actually happened to him. And technically, I guess they were right. Even though I dug up lots of previously unpublished information about Mr. Olden's life, before and after he left CBS, I didn't find out that he had been shot in LA by an irate girlfriend. Julie Lasky found that out, and she then used my material as the basis for much of her article. She even quoted me a few times.
But remember I said "technically" I didn't find out what happened to Georg. On a larger scale, I think I did. Good ol' American racism happened to Olden, even though it took its own sweet time getting to him. Ironically, for most of his life, the tall, handsome, light-skinned Olden seemed to think himself exempt from the realities of race and racism.
I just stumbled across a video of Olden on the old "I've Got a Secret" show on May 20, 1963. Isn't the internet amazing? When I was writing the article in 1993, the www was still just a glint in a DARPA techie's eye. Click on "Olden on YouTube".
Georg who? I know most of you are asking. (And, yes, I spelled his name right.)
I would guess that few people, even African Americans in advertising, graphic design or television today, have ever heard of Mr. Olden. But almost 20 years before the March on Washington, Georg Olden was one of, if not, the first television art directors. He was definitely the first art director for CBS Television. He was there at the very beginning, creating many of the first logos and graphics ever seen on the air, anywhere. And, just to make sure you're not missing my point - he was what was then known as "colored".
Print magazine's head editor, Martin Fox asked Julie Lasky, managing editor, to ask me if I would write an article whose theme would be, "Whatever happened to Georg Olden?"
Well, to make a long, long story very short, the article I wrote was rejected by the magazine. They said I had failed to find out what actually happened to him. And technically, I guess they were right. Even though I dug up lots of previously unpublished information about Mr. Olden's life, before and after he left CBS, I didn't find out that he had been shot in LA by an irate girlfriend. Julie Lasky found that out, and she then used my material as the basis for much of her article. She even quoted me a few times.
But remember I said "technically" I didn't find out what happened to Georg. On a larger scale, I think I did. Good ol' American racism happened to Olden, even though it took its own sweet time getting to him. Ironically, for most of his life, the tall, handsome, light-skinned Olden seemed to think himself exempt from the realities of race and racism.
I just stumbled across a video of Olden on the old "I've Got a Secret" show on May 20, 1963. Isn't the internet amazing? When I was writing the article in 1993, the www was still just a glint in a DARPA techie's eye. Click on "Olden on YouTube".
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