As I mentioned yesterday, I went into Mexico Lindo Furniture in Santa Fe with a specific goal: I wanted to track down the retablos I saw in this store in 2022, and hopefully buy one. As I was looking around the store, I saw plenty of cool things – like this double-headed angel carved out … Read more
I received an email today with the subject line: “Artwork acquisition inquiry.” And guess who it is supposedly coming from? The pop star Madonna, no less. How exciting would this be? An international music star such as Madonna wants to collect my paintings (3 of which are available for sale, above, and 2 more below), … Read more
I’m heading out to Santa Fe next week on some family business, and I have to admit, something I saw during my last visit 3 years ago popped into my mind recently: retablos. I was at an antiques and home furnishings store in Santa Fe in the fall of 2022, and remember happening upon these … Read more
I was recently in an At Home store, and was amazed at how much art they have for sale. It’s mass-produced and certainly on the “safe” side, image-wise, meaning simple abstractions, pop culture images, and fun, playful art (see below). But when you see how much art they have for sale, how much shelf space … Read more
I’ve seen plenty of art museum exhibitions over the years that have given me artistic inspiration, but one in particular has been lodged in my brain and has provided motivation for ten years now. A Jim Shaw exhibition at the New Museum in 2015 included, among other things, his collection of Thrift Store Paintings. Shaw … Read more
I was on a day trip exploring various parts of western New Jersey when I rolled into Frenchtown, NJ. I parked the car and started to wander, when a store sign caught my attention: “Casa Bizarro.” Who can ignore a name like that? I went in to see what inhabited this location that inspired a … Read more
Let me start my story with an explanation of where I was: exploring Ellenville, NY, at the recommendation of a friend who moved to nearby Wurtsboro and was giving me suggestions on interesting Catskills-area towns. I was walking around New York State Route 52 in the middle of town (as seen below), and was checking … Read more
It started innocently enough, and with good intentions … I was starting a business in the early 2000s, and as I researched and read about my area of interest and found good ideas in magazines, newspapers and other print materials, I’d rip out the page with the valuable ideas and save them for future reference … Read more
I happened upon a sale of local ceramic artists in a funny way: I was going through my emails trying to clear out junk mail and click on “unsubscribe” links to try to slow the flood of future junk mail. I saw an email from the “Nextdoor” app, and thought it was a good candidate … Read more
I started collecting baseball cards when I was a kid, I believe in 1975, when I was a first grader. I developed a big collection over the years, getting older cards either via trading or at baseball card conventions, as well as eventually buying complete sets. When I was in college in the late 1980s, … Read more