Small, but significant:  I was surprised to find that Kronan, the bicycle maker, used Globe Amaranth in their Peace Project Supporter/ Ad Banner.  I entered this work in The Whole 9’s Peace Project competition but it was not included in the show.  My painting Cockscomb Amaranth was chosen instead.  Oddly enough, The Whole 9’s book, created about this exhibit, includes Globe Amaranth as well, rather than the chosen painting. Whichever painting has been recogonized or used, I’m extremely gratified to have my  work supporting this worthy cause.

© 2010 All rights reserved Kathleen Benton | You Can Hire an Artist

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I am pleased have my work included in the show SMALL WORKS for Holiday Giving at Blue Door Gallery in Yonkers, NY from November 20 – December 30, 2010.  All work in the show is less than 16 inches in any dimension and priced at $500 or less.

Globe Amaranth and ten paintings from the Camouflage Fish series of paintings will be included in the show. 

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The opening reception will take place on Sunday, November 21 from 2-5 pm.  I will be attending this event so please come by to see the show and say hello. 

On Saturday, December 18, I will be attending the gallery from 1-6 pm and on the closing day, Thursday, December 30, from 12- 6 pm.  At any of these times I would be happy to add personal notes and signatures to any purchases of my artwork.  Happy holidays!

Kathleen Benton

November 21 – Opening Reception

Thanks to all who attended the reception and all who worked so hard to make this show possible!

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© 2010 All rights reserved Kathleen Benton | You Can Hire an Artist

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear. 

This exerpt from The Whole 9 website explains the project:

“The Peace Project from The Whole 9, an international collaborative art competition and exhibition created to connect peace-minded individuals everywhere. Artists from around the world, working in diverse mediums, are invited to submit their creative interpretations of peace. This collective vision will be unveiled September 21, 2010 at a press event at Gallery 9 in Los Angeles, followed by an opening reception on Saturday, September 25. The exhibit will subsequently travel to San Francisco and New York in conjunction with a simultaneous online exhibition.

It’s no coincidence that the premiere date of The Peace Project is on World Peace Day. World Peace Day was conceived by filmmaker Jeremy Gilley, who inspired the 192 member states of the United Nations to come together and celebrate this annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence. In that same spirit of inclusion and collaboration, The Peace Project speaks to the power of art and the power of community to take a stand against the indefensible paradigm of endless war, torture and killing; of people fighting and dying for causes most don’t understand; of countries and families left in chaos.

The Peace Project aims to refute the notion that peace is no longer possible in an increasingly contentious world. More importantly, it seeks to inspire in people the belief that they can make a contribution towards achieving universal peace.”

EXHIBITION SITES

Los Angeles – Opening Saturday, September 25, 5:30pm – 10:00pm, exhibition runs through November 6, 2010. By popular demand, extended until November 22, 2010.
Gallery 9
6101 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 9023

R.S.V.P.  http://www.thewhole9.com/RSVP

New York — One Night Only, Thursday, September 30, 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Max Lang Gallery
229 10th Avenue (between 23rd & 24th)
New York, NY 10011

R.S.V.P.  http://www.thewhole9.com/NewYork

San Francisco – One Night Only, Tuesday, November 9, 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Meridian Gallery
535 Powell Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

Los Angeles — December 1 - 31, 2010
Levantine Cultural Center
5998 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035

For more information on The Peace Project and to see/buy any of the 150 included works see The Whole 9 website.

Kathleen Benton

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Photos from the NYC event – Max Lang Gallery , 9/30/2010

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FAITH IN CHAOS,  Pep Bonet

A special addition to The Peace Project is  “Faith in Chaos,” an exhibition of black-and-white images from famed photographer Pep Bonet.  The Majorcan native – who works independently of monolithic media corporations – spent six years in Sierra Leone documenting the appalling human cost of the country’s civil war (1991-2001), arguably the cruelest in Africa’s recent history.  The grim facts include tens of thousands of people killed; hundreds of thousands raped, burned, tortured and enslaved; and more than two million displaced.  Even more tragic were those that were blinded and the 20,000+ amputees who had arms and legs cut off with machetes and axes by the Revolutionary United Front.  Bonet’s photographs confront these harsh realities while illuminating the strength his subjects manifest to overcome horrific circumstances.

Bonet shares “I try to find a little bit of the faith, or the hope, or the human strength required to get through a drama or disability or traumatic event,” he says.  “I think the human spirit and the human condition is always able to adapt, and that’s what I try to show with my photography.  That faith and courage and self-confidence is something that can really bring you further than you thought possible.”

(-excerpt from The Whole 9 website)

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© 2010 All rights reserved Kathleen Benton | You Can Hire an Artist

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear.

When I first developed this website to offer my skills as a traditional artist for hire never did I imagine that I would be asked to collaborate on a film!   So then I was very pleased to accept the commission of a billboard design which will be part of the closing shot for a film called Fate.  The film is a production made by Transcendent Films, a UK television and film production company based in Spain. 

The film is to be entered as Chapter 4 of an ongoing film-making contest being sponsored by Canon USA and Vimeo called Beyond the Still.  Each contestant is required to create film chapters based on the final still image of a previous film-maker’s chapter.  Each month a winner of a chapter is chosen with seven chapters planned to complete the contest.  I am, of course, very hopeful that Transcendent Films Chapter 4, Fate, is chosen to be the winner.  Not only will my art work be part of the winning chapter, but as my billboard is the final still in the film it will automatically be included in the beginning of all entries for chapter 5! 

It was the director Kris Koster’s idea that the final still image of this film be of a retro-styled billboard.  I was asked to create the billboard which would include a portrait of the young boy chosen to act in this chapter.  Using photos of the boy then it was a bit of a challenge to make, as the director required, this sweet boy look mischievous and even a bit sinister, all while keeping the wholesome tone of dental hygiene and the retro-style.   Below are my first attempt at the portrait, trying to be faithful to the photos, and also the final version as per the director’s suggestions.  The portrait was done by hand using acrylic paint and pencil on Bristol board.  The billboard background and text were made using Photoshop and and final version of the portrait was then added.

This month’s chapter contest has closed as of midnight last night.  Within a week the film should be available for viewing.  I’ll keep you posted on the results and add will add the still to this post when it becomes available.  Good luck to Kris Koster and to all the other collaborators of Fate.  I am very honored to have been a part of the team!

Postscript – 5/5/10:  The film has been released online at Vimeo and here it is:

The Story Beyond The Still: Fate from Kris Koster on Vimeo.

To make sense of the complete short feature made to date you can view this and all prior chapters at Vimeo using this link:   

http://www.vimeo.com/groups/beyondthestill/videos/11445196

For more information and to see all chapter winners and finalists go to:  http://www.vimeo.com/groups/beyondthestill

Trancendent Films has already done well in the contest to date.  Their Chapter 2 entry, The Mob, was chosen as one of the top ten finalists.  To find out more information on Transcendent Films Spain visit their website:  http://www.transcendentfilms.com/canonvimeo.htm

 Kathleen Benton

© 2010 All rights reserved Kathleen Benton | You Can Hire an Artist

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear.  

This day in history is also the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519) and Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889–1975).  Little else will align these two artists.  Born almost four hundred years apart, their styles are naturally quite different.  Leonardo, working at the center of his art world at the same time of Raphael and Michelangelo, strived in his painting for classic beauty, proportion, and composition.  Thomas Hart Benton, on the other hand, eschewing the art worlds of New York and Paris for a Midwestern regionalist lifestyle  and subject matter, worked in a decidedly mannerist style.  Leonardo was probably a homosexual and Thomas Hart Benton was a documented homophobe.  I wonder how an astrologist would work out all these contradictions. 

Here are examples of each artists approach to myth:

Apple of Discord, 1949. Tempera glazed with oil on gessoed mahogany panel, 33 ½ x 43 ¼ inches, Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

Leonardo da Vinci, John the Baptist (with the attributes of Bacchus), c. 1513-1516. Oil on canvas, transferred from panel, Louvre, Paris, France

Thomas Hart Benton, Persephone, ca. 1938, Alternate Title: Rape of Persephone, Tempera with oil glazes on canvas mounted on panel, 72 1/8 x 56 1/16 inches, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri

For more scholarly information on Leonardo probable homosexuality and an extensive bibliography for further reading click here.  For more on Thomas Hart Benton’s life  and views read his biography at The Artchive.

Kathleen Benton

© 2010 All rights reserved Kathleen Benton | You Can Hire an Artist

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear.