Art & Inspiration Blog

Does Leonardo Da Vinci’s turn of the 14th Century Mona Lisa presage the turn of the century 21 st Century Post Conceptual Art theory of Judy Rey Wasserman?

For centuries it has been widely agreed that Leonardo Da Vinci was a genius and one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Like many of the other greatest artists he developed a technique and artistic understanding that was new. His is known as sfumato.

Art historians and professors point to the Mona Lisa as one of the best examples of sfumato. In addition, the portrait is cited for her eyes that seem to follow the viewer while her expression seems to change from into a mysterious smile. Perhaps these attribute are why the Mona Lisa is the best recognized and most famous painting in the world.

In addition to being an artist, Leonardo Da Vinci is well known as a scientist, inventor and lover of codes.

In 2003, American artist Judy  Rey Wasserman developed and founded UnGraven Image Art theory using strokes that are alpha-numeric, phonic and binary symbols (Torah font symbols) to represent the strings of elementary physics. Of course, for all Christians and Jews, this refers to Genesis 1, where basic theology says that the letters of the words of the Lord God are the essences of the physical universe. [Note to see the amazing correlations between Torah font and physics' theory watch the You Tube video, “Painting with the Big Bang of Genesis”]

UnGraven Image Art theory widened into Post Conceptual Art theory, which includes using any type of symbol(s) for strokes. The art theory is the first one that focuses on the stroke and its meaning rather that the image or design it creates. Since the strokes are used traditionally, meaning they overlap or are used as glazes, or shaded, etc., the paintings cannot be read. Thus the intrinsic meanings of the symbol-strokes are not decipherable but obscured as a kind of hidden code.

In December 2010, Italy ‘s  National Committee for Cultural Heritage  announced that hidden Roman alpha-numeric symbols were discovered in the eyes of the Mona Lisa.

“To the naked eye the symbols are not visible, but with a magnifying glass they can clearly be seen,” said Committee President and art historian Silvano Vinceti. “In the right eye appear to be the letters  LV which could well stand for his name Leonardo Da Vinci, while in the left eye there are also symbols, but they are not as defined,” he said. “It is very difficult to make them out clearly but they appear to be the letters CE or it could be the letter B. You have to remember the picture is almost 500 years old so it is not as sharp and clear as when first painted.”

More symbols were discovered in the three-arched bridge which appears over the left shoulder of the portrait the number 72 or an L and a 2 can also be found.

Historical records show that the three-arched bridge, known as the Ponte Gobbo or Ponte Vecchio (the Old Bridge ), was swept away when the River Trebbia burst its banks. “Leonardo added in the number 72 beneath the bridge to record the devastating flood of the River Trebbia and to allow it to be identified,” said art historian Carla Glori, who sets out the theory in a new book, The Leonardo Enigma.

Da Vinci was keen on symbols and codes to get messages across, and he wanted us to know the identity of the model using the eyes, which he believed were the door to the soul and a means for communication.

“It’s remarkable that no one has noticed these symbols before, and from the preliminary investigations we have carried out we are confident they are not a mistake and were put there by the artist,” Vinceti said.

While Dan Brown’s best selling book and movie, The Da Vinci Code asserts that there are hidden messages in Da Vinci’s work, those messages were thought to be shown as images not letters or numbers concealed within the art or used as strokes.

Although a 50 year old book found in a musty used book stack in an antiques shop led the experts from Italy ‘s National Cultural Heritage committee to investigate the Mona Lisa for hidden symbols their findings and proofs were not made public until December 2010, over seven years after Wasserman founded her theory.

“I wish I could credit Da Vinci’s work for inspiring this new Twenty-first century art, but really it owes more to my childhood misunderstanding of van Gogh’s strokes as Morse Code, which I cannot read, plus my idea of visually presenting the Genesis 1 theology in relation to elementary physics,” said Wasserman. “Plus of course, Post Conceptual Art is a next step from Conceptual Art, especially Word Art. That is inherent in its name.”

Da Vinci visualized or invented so many of the possibilities made real in the past 100 years such as helicopter-like flying machines, parachutes, armored vehicles, machine guns,  calculators, a rudimentary theory of  plate tectonics and concentrated  solar power.  Now we know he can add one more presaged idea:  painting with unseen symbols as strokes to create an image, which is  Post Conceptual Art.
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http://store.artofseeingthedivine.com/

Each year I donate a postcard to VisualAIDS for their Postcards from the Edge show and sale.

As usual my postcard sold, which always makes me happy as this is a really good cause. To quote from their web site,” Visual AIDS is the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness through producing and presenting visual art projects, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS. We are committed to preserving and honoring the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement. We embrace diversity and difference in our staff, leadership, artists, and audiences.”

Here is a view of my postcard size art fro this year. This work was created with watercolor pencils using strokes from Genesis 1-2:7. Therefore it falls into the Genesis: Sunset-Sunrise series and is Post Conceptual Art that also belongs to the branch known as UnGraven Image.

Genesis Sunset for VisualAIDs 2010 by Judy Rey Wasserman

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

The 2011 VIP Art Fair was the first major art fair to be held on the web. It will be remembered in the history of art as the first time that highly valued primary market Contemporary Art was openly sold via the Internet by internationally renowned art galleries.

Art Sales via the Internet

Of course, artists are selling art via their websites and community sites like Etsy and 20 x 200.  Secondary dealers have used eBay for many years, and then other auction sites, like artnet.com, plus their own gallery web sites to successfully sell art.

Major primary galleries, including probably all that participated in the VIP Art Fair, have used the Internet to show art and attract collectors via their individual websites.  Most galleries also send JPEGs via emails to prospective collectors; but this takes place in private, whereas the sales from the fair were generally reported in the press.

Breaking Barriers

The VIP Art Fair also broke barriers of time and distance opening the visual information of viewing a major Contemporary Art Fair to anyone, in any country who had access to the Internet. The real and best success of this fair may be truly known ten or twenty years from now when young people who attended the fair, which was free, who would normally not be able to attend such a fair otherwise, become artists, collectors, curators, enthusiasts, etc., thanks to this strong encounter with the Contemporary Art world.

Viewing the VIP Art Fair’s booths and art, plus readily available information (sometimes better in relation to an artist than what the gallery normally includes on its website) was also a boon for current collectors, artists, curators, critics, educators and students, etc.  Plus, again the fair was free and could be viewed by anyone with an internet connection, even while in the warm cozy comfort of home.

According to Jane Cohan, who along with her husband James is the founder of the VIP Art fair, “The galleries showed leadership and courage in joining VIP Art Fair to launch a new global paradigm for art conversation, exposure and commerce.”

Art Viewing

VIP stands for Viewing in Private, a concept that grew out of the James Cohan Gallery ‘s “private viewing gallery”, where the gallery shows specific work to specific clients, streams video and even curates small online shows to clients who are sent a special access code.

While nothing is better that seeing an artwork up close and personal, the VIP fair allowed galleries to show different views of a work. This is especially helpful for sculptures and for 2 D works that include fine details like strokes or collaged items. In addition, the fair featured pan-gallery capability, Artist Pages with biographies, pictures and videos. This is more information than can easily be found about an artist and their work at a gallery show, and is certainly more conveniently perused from one’s own Internet connection than from printouts read sitting on a gallery’s bench.

Participation & Sales

Predominantly the fair was populated by booths of distinguished galleries, many of whom will also be showing at Art Basel 2001,  such as: Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte, Cheim & Read, Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Xavier Hufkens, Luhring Augustine, Timothy Taylor, Marlborough, Pace, White Cube, and David Zwirner.  The presence of such galleries drew collectors and future collectors who were directed to contact the galleries via phones manned for the occasion

Several media sources have reported on the special attendance garnered by the booths selling works by emerging artists. Savvy collectors are always looking to discover the next art stars before they make big, which can be as lucrative as having a super winning lottery ticket. I hope this aspect of the fair continues and becomes widely recognized as it will help lure more collectors, galleries and emerging artists who otherwise have to schlep over to satellite fairs away from major brick and mortar fairs in Basel, Miami, NYC, London, etc.

Top tier galleries such as: James Cohan Gallery sold a Beatriz Milhazes for more than $200,000, Sadie Coles HQ sold an Angus Fairhurst bronze sculpture for between $241,000 and $321,000, David Zwirner Gallery sold Chris Ofili’s “Mary Magdalene (Infinity)” for $375,000. Rudolf Stingel’s 2002 work, “Die Birne,” priced between $500,000 and $1 million by the London dealer Sadie Coles HQ, was the most expensive of the confirmed sales

Impact

This helps every artist who sells their work, both original and reproductive, or takes commissions over their websites or through art websites that features fine art. When a collector hesitates to buy art over the Internet rather than from a studio visit (usually not practical due to distance) or through a brick and mortar gallery, the strength of the online VIP sales mentioned above can be pointed out.

Despite early technical glitches, which did and can befall interactive sites like Facebook, Twitter and even Amazon in its beginning, the VIP Art Fair attendance was strong. It was common for dealers to see over a thousand hits per image. When art or an artist is well viewed it usually results in future sales, as there is a clear correlation between the amount of recognition (fame) an Contemporary artist enjoys and sales, including price. This is why some artists who are never well reviewed (if ever reviewed by major critics) make fortunes and are even included in ArtReview’s 100. Once again this is good for all the artists represented at the fair, plus artists who have websites and exposure as collecting online becomes accepted by collectors.

So, was the VIP Art Fair a success?

Ed Winkleman, who is the owner of the fair participant Winkleman Gallery, blogged “I took a straw poll among other dealers who participated this year, and the vast majority I spoke to agree with me that it’s definitely worth doing again next year….that it seems destined to become a strong supplemental part of our overall outreach efforts. No one expects it to replace real-world art fairs, but in January, when most of the Northern hemisphere is risking serious travel delays due to weather, it brought us a very nice influx of new business and potential for more.

Julia Joern, of the David Zwirner Gallery, which is also one of the founding galleries told me, “We believe in the platform and hope they work out the kinks for next year because we definitely want to continue to be a part of it.”

Jane Cohan said, “Despite some painful technical setbacks that impinged on our vision for the fair, we all have much to be proud of in having attracted 41,000 registrants from over 190 countries who collectively viewed over 7.65 million artworks over nine days. On these measures alone, our inaugural effort confirmed the value and potential of the VIP Art Fair.   Reports from our galleries of sales and new contacts prove that the fair was a catalyst for collectors and curators to engage with galleries and therefore can be considered a success by the standards of a traditional fair. We look forward to working with our galleries to expand the platform for VIP Art Fair 2.0.”

Very few, if any, ground-breakers in the history of Modern and Contemporary art were received with immediate success. Wealthy collectors tend to be conservative, not early adopters who are more likely to be risk takers, entrepreneurs and artistically avant-garde. That the VIP Art fair enjoyed the level of sales it did, is surprising, something to cheer and a harbinger of what will eventually broaden and change the way that Contemporary Art, and fine art is collected. Everyone who participated and attended the inaugural VIP Art Fair helped create a new step in both art and web history.
Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.

Check out the limited and open edition prints available for you to collect in the estore Click HERE
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

Dear Jerry,

This continues my answers and letter to you about Twitter. It covers Following and Unfollowing and Direct Messages (DMs). I post it publicly as I believe it can help others also, plus it is always fun to eavesdrop, which explains some of Twitter’s popularity.

This blog covers and hopefully answers how to follow people and direct messages, which can only be sent by the people you follow.

Unless you are only going to follow people on Twitter who you absolutely know and trust – and below you will discover why this may not be a good idea—before you follow almost anyone else you need to take a step to ensure you do not become swamped with real email from people who follow you.

Go to your Twitter Account. If you use Old Twitter, at the top of your profile page click on “Settings”. This takes you to the “Settings” page. If you use New Twitter click on “Edit your profile à ” , which is found directly under your avatar on your profile page.

Next, click on the “Notices” tab. UnCheck: “New Follower Emails” or you will be emailed every time someone new follows you. Receiving such email is unnecessary. You can see all of the new followers who have followed you directly by clicking your follower list on your profile page. They appear in an order that begins with the most recent follower and ends with the last. If you wish to follow anyone back, this is where you are going to accomplish it, so the email notification is somewhat superfluous.

Also at the “Notices” page UnCheck: “Email when I receive a direct message.” It is faster and simpler to simply check and delete your DM while on Twitter, plus they can only be deleted while on Twitter.

How to Follow People

We can follow people from their Profile page or when their Twitter ID and avatar appear on “Followers” or “Follows” list.

1. Generally we follow people from their Profile page. When logged into Twitter, to navigate to a person’s profile page simply click on their Avatar or @ ID, such as yours, @jerrysaltz . In both new and old Twitter you will see a button that says: “Follow”. If you click on the button, you will immediately start following this ID and their Tweets will show up in your Timeline, which is the stream of public Tweets you see.

For example, Walter Robinson at @Artnet.com Tweets a message with a link to one of your articles there. You and you decide to follow them back. Simply click on either their avatar or name, then at the profile page click “follow” and you are following their art news stream.

2. We find identities who we wish to follow but to not know their Twitter @ ID name by using “Find People”, which can be found near the “Settings” tab we used previously on Old Twitter and you arrive at a Search box.. If you use New Twitter, in the far right hand column click on the words “Who to follow”, which is also a link. . Now in the left column at the very top is a Search box.

Type the name of the Identity into the Search box. Twitter provides you with a list that resembles Tweets in layout of Twitter members who may be who you are looking for. For example, you might type in “ Museum of Modern Art ” Then a list would appear with possible candidates that fit your criteria. The top one will be @MuseumModernArt , which we otherwise know as MoMA.

To follow you just need to click “follow” on New Twitter, which is hard to miss. On Old Twitter click on the head and shoulders, or pawn like symbol’s button found to the left of the name.

3. We can also follow the @ ID’s who follow other people, or who our friends follow from those lists.

For example, let’s say that you decide that since everyone who MoMA follows is probably interested in Art, you would like to follow them to see what they Tweet. [More about why maybe this is a really good way to expand your influence and understanding in Part 3 of these blogs for you.]

Go to the Profile page of @MuseumModernArt. At the top of the left hand column in both versions of Twitter you will find the words “Following” and “Followers”. Click on “Following.”

This takes you to a page that is very similar to the list you saw thanks to your search, for either Old or New Twitter. You can select from the list of people who @MuseumModernArt , (headed up by Victor Samra) has selected to follow by using the same kinds of buttons found in the search.

4. If you know what a person’s Twitter ID is? For example, as you know @nytimesarts Tweets links to your wife, Roberta Smith’s articles. Simply type the Twitter URL into your browser followed by a forward slash and the twitter ID without the @ sign. In our example the URL is this: http://twitter.com/ @nytimesarts

5. Some people have chosen to Lock their Twitter account. This means that they are selective as to who can see their tweets. Often these are people who basically want to communicate with the people they are already close to, such as family and friends, but may follow others, such as you and me, because we Tweet information of interest. To follow or follow back such a person means a request is sent to them to allow (or not) you to follow them. I have followed back all such people who follow me and find that their tweets and our relationship can be quite rewarding as they tend to be very genuine.

How to UnFollow Anyone

Unfollowing is as easy as following and much the same, except for the tab or button you select.

For both Old and New Twitter you need to navigate to the person’s Profile page or unfollow the Twitter @ ID from your Following list.

1. From their Profile page in Old Twitter click on the little button that resembles a gear or circle with spokes. That opens to a box that gives you four items to select from, one is unfollow. Click that. If you not only wish to block this person but prevent them from seeing your Tweets too or ever refollowing you, then also use Block. Use Block sparingly for people who are really repeatedly spammers or foul, and never just because the person does not interest you.

On New Twitter there is a big green tab that says “Following” that absolutely cannot be missed by anyone who can read a regular tweet. Hover over it and it turns Red and says: “Unfollow”. Also, to the left of that you will find the little gears tab described above with the same choices.

2. To Unfollow from your “Following” list just use the now familiar gears button found to the right of each @ ID on your list. Simple.

Direct Messages

Whenever we follow someone this gives them permission to send us Direct Messages. You can send a Direct Message (DM) to anyone who follows you.

Direct messages allow us to send a private aside, a kind of personal whisper. This can be especially rewarding when you are in the middle of a Twitter public conversation, for example when we all watch #Workofart and Tweet about it, but you wish to say something personal to one follower about the conversation.

I can go for many days, even weeks without sending a DM. This is because a tweet that thanks someone for something really special, or includes a link to an appropriate blog or image can usually be shared with everyone for the good of all. Social Media is about being social so the more people who can be included in the conversation the better. Of course, some things are really private.

Never open a DM from anyone that is sent in a DM, and most especially never open a shortened link. Phishers can and have used them previously. Unless someone tells me that they are sending a link, or more likely an email address via the Twitter timeline, an email, I never open one sent in a DM. or a phone conversation, etc. It may not be safe and again, what is private about a link that it needs to hide in a DM?

Both Facebook and Twitter have experienced phishing attacks. Phishers are wily people who use links – especially shortened links to infect PCs and devices and steal passwords in an attempt to gain access to people’s Social Media identities and also financial information. Good people, our friends can fall prey to phishers who create phony websites that look like sites we know and trust, including apps, which ask for passwords. Once phishers get someone’s password to a Social Media site they log on as that individual and send email with links to their phishing site to the people who follow that Twitter or Facebook identity. Social Media sites are not responsible for their members online safety, although both Twitter and Facebook do a good job policing their sites, #%& happens.

So, I urge you to do what I do and never open links, especially any shortened ones, even from artists who ask you to look at their art, if they are sent in DMs. Not even one from me, unless I tell you beforehand and not in a DM that I will be sending you one (but don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen as there are better ways to reach any well known person than through a DM).

Spammers use DMs to send links with messages about the stuff they are hawking, which is often some affiliate product that they hope will gain them a commission. Basically this group has promoted and even convinced some sweet and polite people that it is Twitterquette to send a thank you to everyone who follows you. Nonsense. I never do.

None of the people who I respect and learned from about Social Media send a thank you when we follow them. Twitter is like a party and a follow is a simple “Hello”, like when we meet someone at a party.

I never respond in any way to a DMed message thanking me for a follow or follow back that includes a link. Everyone who has a web site should include it on their Twitter profile so sending such a link smacks of the over eager salesperson at a non-business social gathering. I just delete these DMs. Most of the thanks you’s are sent by bot (short for robots, meaning automated), and are some standard message, which I also simply delete. Ever now and then an authentic thank you is sent by someone who is familiar with my art and mentions something specific. Generally, I reply kindly to that if it lacks a self promoting link.

Next we will deal with the pro’s and cons of following people back, plus Lists. If you have more questions, please either add them as comments at the bottom of this blog or send me an email or post them on my Facebook profile or send a message @judyrey message to me on Twitter.

OK. Now I’m going to apply a coat of clear glaze to the bottom watercolor pencil layer of a study for a Genesis: Sunset/Sunrise painting.  I’m trying to create a Post Conceptual Art sunset over water that is inspired the feelings Rothko evokes for me.

–JR

[Note: Jerry Saltz is the Art Critic for New York Magazine and also one of the three art judges on Bravo's popular reality show, Work of Art. Here is a link to an archive of his articles at New York Magazine: http://nymag.com/nymag/jerry-saltz/
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art-- A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

Bravo to Joel Wachs and the Warhol Foundation for the transparent and courageous stand against censorship, while promoting visual art.

In a letter to Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, President Wachs writes, “For the arts to flourish the arts must be free, and the decision to censor this important work is in stark opposition to our mission to defend freedom of expression wherever and whenever it is under attack.”

This is especially praiseworthy as Andy Warhol is one of the USA’s great religious artists and the Smithsonian’s controversy is at heart about freedom of speech and religion.

Last week, House GOP Leader John Boehner demanded the Smithsonian remove an art video by David Wojnarowicz’s, A Fire in My Belly , which was a part of Hide/SEEK Difference and Desire in American Cultur,  a curated exhibit that is currently on show at the National Portrait Gallery. The video includes an image of the crucified Christ with ants crawling on his body. It is reported that John Boehner stated the video’s inclusion was an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.

Thanks to the UK’s Guardian posting a video, I have seen “Fire in My Belly”, which reveals the agony of marginalization and loss due to AIDS. The ants crawling on a small ceramic of a crucified Jesus seems to me to be a cry to the church to resurrect and come to the help of these people who in the early 1990′s were facing an agonizing and sure death.

Further, I know that it is quite possible, even likely that ants, and other insects such as flies crawled on the bodies of people who were crucified. Although the ants are not mentioned in the Bible, scripture basically leaves out the obvious or what people took for granted.

What John. Boehner missed is that what may be offensive to him, may actually be promoting the very Christian values he holds dear. Ironically, this video would not be allowed to be shown in most totalitarian or fascist regimes in the world, as it questions their (and our) response to AIDS.  The last time I read the Bible it was clear that caring for and healing the sick is strongly promoted, even required.  [By the way, the last time I read the Bible was yesterday, and I also the letters from another scripture for my strokes in a painting.]

Few artists are ever as controversial as actual religious artists in their own lifetimes. When Warhol’s Last Supper works were shown they were very controversial as people stared at the Dove soap and GE logos, commercial symbols representing the sacred. Yet the artist’s vision prevailed as we saw how society had commercialized the sacred, how materialism had (and does) impact the basic Judeo-Christian teachings, and then, as Warhol was a genius, how somehow The Divine manages to be with us through all of that.

In a free country artists need to be able to be controversial, to open a dialogue, to encourage people to see in new ways.

This means artists have to have the right to be somewhat offensive to people as the radically new is always offensive and experimentation or pointing out problem’s in one’s society can  definitely annoy the establishment.

To deny artists this freedom of speech (or paintbrush, chisel and video camera) creates the kind of art we have seen from facist or totalitarian regimes that is uninspired, insipid but excellently crafted propaganda. Is this the kind of art we want for the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Yet, threatened with a loss of funding, the Smithsonian capitulated and removed the video from the already opened show.

We all vote with our dollars (money is another subject painted by Warhol).  As every lobbyist knows, money has more clout on a daily basis than the degree of power the minority of Americans who vote exercise once a year.

We vote with our dollars for businesses, including automobile manufacturers, banks, oil companies,  insurance companies, credit cards, etc.,  When we stop voting for a company they go out of business or ask for a bail out or aid.

We also vote for the museums we support with our admissions dollars and donations, and this is especially shown by the popularity of a museum’s shows.

Over the years, the Warhol Foundation has has helped advance the stature and worth of Andy Warhol’s art (and their holdings) while becoming widely respected for its support of visual art, providing funds to artists, art writers and critics, curators, and museums, etc.

Continuing to successfully promote Warhol’s legacy and visual art, the Warhol Foundation has now publicly contacted the Smithsonian, advising warning the Smithsonian that it will not support this censorship or a museum that allows it.

Somewhere, I believe Andy Warhol is smiling.

Joel Wach’s letter to Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution is reproduced here courtesy of the Warhol Foundation.

December 13, 2010

Mr. Wayne Clough

Smithsonian Institution

SIB Office of the Secretary

MRC 016

PO Box 37012

Washington , D.C. 20013-7012

Dear Mr. Clough,

The Warhol Foundation is proud to have been a lead supporter of Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, but we strongly condemn the decision to remove David Wojnarowicz’s video A Fire in My Belly from the exhibition. Such blatant censorship is unconscionable. It is inimical to everything the Smithsonian Institution should stand for, and everything the Andy Warhol Foundation does stand for.

Although we have enjoyed our growing relationship during the past three years, and have given more than $375,000 to fund several exhibitions at various Smithsonian institutions, we cannot stand by and watch the Smithsonian bow to the demands of bigots who have attacked the exhibition out of ignorance, hatred and fear.

Last week the Foundation published a statement on its website www.warholfoundation.org , condemning the National Portrait Gallery’s removal of the work and on Friday our Board of Directors met to discuss the long-term implications of the Museum’s behavior on the Foundation’s relationship with the Smithsonian Institution. After careful consideration, the Board voted unanimously to demand that you restore the censored work immediately, or the Warhol Foundation will cease funding future exhibitions at all Smithsonian institutions.

I regret that you have put us in this position, but there is no other course we can take. For the arts to flourish the arts must be free, and the decision to censor this important work is in stark opposition to our mission to defend freedom of expression wherever and whenever it is under attack.

Sincerely yours,

Joel Wachs

President

cc:   Ms. Patricia Stonesifer, Smithsonian Chairwoman of the Board

Directors of Smithsonian Institution museums

Board Chairs of Smithsonian Institution museums

VOTE 2010 by Judy Rey Wasserman
Strokes of the dollar bill and Washington’s portrait are the original Biblical letters of Exodus 20- the Ten Commandments, unless otherwise obviously English letters of numbers. Original digital print.

Notes:  Andy Warhol’s later and last works include what is called his “ Last Supper ” works, which are Pop and also religious art. These and other Warhol works greatly influenced Judy Rey Wasserman, the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory, including the branch known as UnGraven Image. SEE Andy Warhol is a Grandfather to Post Conceptual Art

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

VOTE 2010 by Judy Rey Wasserman

New original image print from the In God We Trust series by Judy Rey Wasserman. Strokes of the Dollar Bill and Essence Portrait of George Washington are all the original letters of Exodus 20 (The Ten Commandments).
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

For the majority of the past year I have been working with black and white creating Basic Essence Portraits and money and other images. Working in black and white is new for me as an artist, and I find myself yearning dip a brush into colors, which for me seems like taking a vacation.

Just as Warhol used his black silkscreens, I am scanning my images into the computer where I manipulate them into variations. While the variations usually involve color, it is not the same as working in color with my hand, using a brush, pen or paintbrush. In time I will also be painting upon the prints, as Warhol did with his silkscreens, but, the work is not at that stage.

While the limits of the black and white images have helped me grow as an artist, I miss working in color. Color is one of my strong suits as an artist, which is something I was told by my teachers.

I never tire of seeing the paintings by Monet where he paints the same scene at different times of the day and the color changes due to the light. The Hamptons, where I live, is renowned for its light, which has drawn many famous artists to this place. A drive along a county road here on a sunny day  is a glorious experience, in any season, thanks to the splendid light

Although the majority of my work continues to be in the preparatory stage of black and white for now, I must and do return to color, as a kind of break or vacation, because on some level as an artist I need color.

Below is a new small work, Genesis Dalet, that will be used in a new Visual Awakening Exercise in the revised  version of the e book, The Art of Seeing the Divine, Book 1, What Do You See? When the new, expanded version comes out everyone who previously purchased the original version online now will be notified of a link where they can get the newly revised version for free.  Basically the revised version add more Visual Awakening Experiences (brain games to gain Awakened Vision) to the 10 that are now included. This is a great deal, because when the revisions are completed the price of the book will also increase (but previous book buyers will get the new version for free)  To buy the book, Click: Full Book.

Genesis Dalet uses the Torah font letters of Genesis 1-3:7 for each and ever stroke, and therefore is a member of my Genesis: Sunset-Sunrise series. Among other things this series is about moments of inspiration and understandings — those AhHa moments, when we “see the light”.

In Genesis Dalet the moment of light depicted is so strong that it seems to create a dip in the land beneath it from its “weight”, looking like a heavy object placed on something soft like foam or a quilt. In reality, this effect is created as the bright light reflects and visually seems to overtake whatever immediately surrounds it.

Sometimes an inspirational idea we have can almost weight us down with its significance that we must somehow express the excitement, which can include jumping up and down, which visually echoes the sun in Genesis Dalet weighing upon the horizon.

While a painting can be understood to capture and reveal a moment in time, my symbol — strokes can be understood to represent the ideas,  memories, understandings and activities that led up to this moment of inspiration.  The eternal enigma of consciousness is that in order to fully be in and experience this moment of now consciously, we must perceive it through our memories.

Genesis Dalet by Judy Rey Wasserman
2101, Acrylic, watercolor pencils and ink
Strokes: Genesis:1-2:7

Available as a print. See more. Click HERE
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

Blue chip art is proven to be one of the best investments I both boon times and times of recession, as shown by the Mei Moses Fine Art Index.Plus, in modern history recessions and depressions have also proven to be fabulous opportunities for art investors to discover new, emerging artists who become the blue chip artists from that time period. The secret is to know what exactly to look for and buy.

While the economy and stock market continue to falter, blue chip galleries and auctions show increasing signs of revival and outright strength.

Yet, dealers continue to promote the idea that the best reason to buy art is because a person likes it (or love it). Most prominent dealers confirm that they advise their clients to only collect works that they love. While this works for other personal luxury purchases, such as watches, Jimmy Choo shoes and vehicles, after a certain price point, original art should always be understood as an investment.

The same dealers back up their artists in terms of their art education, previous shows, prominent collectors and past selling history to help a new collector feel secure. Over time, this security may prove false. There is a glut of many artists who have MFAs from excellent art schools who are failing to make a living at art or, more importantly innovate in any important way. And, there is also a glut of good, mid career artists, even artists whose works are in famous museums, whose works will never reach true blue chip status for the same reason.

During this recession collectors are showing that their best reason to buy art is because it is a good investment. Even the Nazi’s knew that art was an extremely valuable possession. This is why the stole so much art that they personally did not “love”, as it was the antithesis of their so-called ideals, as it was beloved or created by Jews, like Kandinsky.

Fine art has proven to be one of the very best investments ever, rivaling an early investment in Google – but like stocks, all fine art is not equally valuable for investors.

Essentially, there are two sure ways to invest well in art.

First Way to Invest Profitably in Art

The first is to invest in an important or significant work by a blue chip artist. A blue chip artist can be understood as an easily recognized name, a kind of brand, like Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Turner, Pissarro and Monet and Degas, van Gogh, Kandinsky, Rothko, Johns or Weiner, etc.

Generally, a blue chip artist influences other innovative artists—who in turn influence other artists. In the above simple and short list, spanning from Caravaggio to Jasper Johns and Lawrence Weiner you can see how one innovative artist’s works inspires another.

Jasper Johns and Lawrence Weiner are contemporary living artists, but my work guarantees that them as prime influencers and thus, blue chip artists who will remain such over coming centuries. I am founding Post Conceptual Art theory – painting with symbols as strokes, which is a radically new step in the history of art. I have taken the inspiration of their letters and numbers and used them as strokes in a traditional painterly manner. In no way am I copying them, but I am standing on their shoulders. [Note: For a free, no strings download of the Post Conceptual Art manifesto PDF. Click: “A Paintings Meaning is Inherent in its Strokes” }. If you can afford it, buy the best works of Johns and Weiner – learning this from the likes of me is as close as you can get to insider art trading.

There are other names, including contemporary ones, which are easily recognized that may not be true blue chip artists. It is questionable that their art will influence other artistic innovators. Some of these artists may be incredible artists who quickly followed innovators like Pissarro and Monet and Degas, and as such carved a kind of historic spot for themselves, like Childe Hassam. Yet Hassam was not the innovator, and somehow, as a young girl wandering the Metropolitan and Museum of Modern Art the Impressionists who inspired me were Pissarro and Monet and Degas. Even though I was uneducated, their authenticity of innovation shone through to me.

The innovators are artists who found new techniques and focuses for making art. They do more than simply have their own recognizable style—they have their own unique way.

Many other chains of artistic innovators leading to artistic innovators may be easily constructed. It is kind of like the game of six degrees of separation played out over the timeline of art history.

Second, Less Expensive Way to Invest Profitably in Art

The second way to make “a killing” by investing in art – is to buy the early works of an artistic innovator before they are really discovered and their prices zoom skyward. This is easy advise but historically difficult to do. It is much like recognizing a nascent Google investment opportunity.

Ironically, in Modern and Contemporary times — when dealers are the middlemen between artists and patrons — the work of an emerging artistic innovator is almost always immediately unnoticed, unappreciated and even shunned, especially by the establishment.

When the Impressionists banded together to show their works, they were not only rejected by the establishment, they were ridiculed. Nothing sold.

Andy Warhol's first show of his now iconic Soup Cans and Brillo Boxes was a complete dud. Nothing sold. His dealer, Irving Blum, took pity on him and bought some of the paintings for a pittance. A few years later this made him a very rich man.

Oh, and van Gogh. His otherwise successful art dealer and brother, Theo, only managed to sell one of his then strange seeming paintings in his lifetime.

Jackson Pollock spent cold winters in Springs, on the Eastern End of Long Island as heat is expensive and his works were not selling.

Lawrence Weiner spent cold winters on his houseboat in the Netherlands as heat is expensive and his works were not selling, although by that time Pollock's were highly valued..

Why do people fail to immediately see artistic innovators? Ironically the answer is in the question, the work of artistic innovators are actually more difficult to see and understand that the work of artists who have already been accepted and are well known.

To see anything we need similar memories. Ninety percent of vision happens in the brain as it decodes impressions of light received from the eyes. It is actually much easier – and we are more accurate at—perceiving art (or anything) that is more familiar to us. We have more memories of this being art. We have learned to see the older art as art.

Keep in mind that any art that sells well will “inspire” other artists to paint in a similar copy-cat way. Copy-cats are not innovators. There are many “Pop” artists today who have developed slightly different styles from Warhol, Lichtenstein. The puzzle is how to tell if something new that somehow does not seem like art, possible is harder to see or understand as art, is something radical, is actually art or just awful. The questions to ask are: 1.) is this artist painting in a new and unique way that can be copied by others? If the answer to that is yes, the next question that also must be affirmative is: Does this new way (or method, or focus) have the potential to inspire other future artistic innovators?

What the Successful Investor Needs (Besides Money)

Recognized Blue Chip

Emerging Investors and Innovators

Finding new innovative artists may also be accomplished through dealers and galleries, especially those that feature emerging artists. However, your fingers can also do the walking online, through sites like artnet.com, artprice.com, the sites the art auction houses, plus, for the really new, by watching and finding artists through social media sites like artists' blogs, Twitter, Facebook and You Tube. New innovators, those who are currently innovating – rather than hoeing the innovative paths they previously created – are most likely found in places that are also innovative, which at present includes social media.

Investing profitably in art takes money, but not necessarily a great deal of money. Herbert Vogel, a postman, and his wife Dorothy, a librarian in the Brooklyn Public Library, managed to amass a Modern and Contemporary art collection worth a fortune that they donated to the National Gallery. What the Vogels really invested was their time.

The Vogels met and befriended artists and bought works early in the artists' careers. The only real advantage the Vogels had was their location, they were in New York City before the Internet and then Social Media was invented.

Today work by truly innovative emerging artists can be found for under $5,000 USA , and easily for under $10,000 for good sized works. While New York City remains the center of the Art World, every innovative artist and gallery in NYC, plus most of the rest of the world, can be found on the Internet. Anyone with a PC is in the right place at the right time.

To make collecting this new work more enticing note that almost always the early works of an artist are considered to be the most valuable. For example, only now are Warhol's later works, such as the large Last Supper paintings, nearing the value of his Soup Cans.

So while the stock market jitters, gold soars and real estate tanks check out investing in art. The images you see, the ideas you come in contact with, the artists you will meet will be much more inspiring and interesting than the average broker. Plus, you are now armed with the insider art knowledge that what you need to find are the innovators.
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art-- A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

The new twenty-first century art theory of Post Conceptual Art, including the branch called UnGraven Image makes a revolutionary leap in visual story telling by its use of symbols as strokes. This is the first art theory to ever actually focus upon the stroke.

From the beginning of time great art has been used to tell stories. The ability of art to tell visual stories is powerful. Usually and often found in great art, the story involves symbols, which add depths of meaning.

Great art such as works by van Gogh, Rembrandt, Poussin, Monet and Dali, etc., usually tells a visual story. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel , Picasso’s Guernica , Da Vinci’s and Warhol’s versions of The Last Supper , all tell stories and include symbols to convey additional visual messages.

Art began as symbolic representation in order to tell the stories and myths of the tribe and its beliefs. For instance, an ancient mask or cave painting of an animal is more likely to symbolize a god or spirit represented by an animal than represent a portrait of a specific animal that was seen or hunted.

Written language developed from symbolic representations. From the earliest writings found to current Chinese, symbols are used to represent ideas, which are then combined to form complex ideas and sentences. A giant leap occurred when symbols were used to represent sounds in speech giving birth to phonetic writing. Letters and numbers are always symbols.

Recent archeological discoveries point to Hebrew as the earliest may be phonetic written languages, but it lacked the symbols for vowels that were famously added by the Phoenicians. Two Hebrew letters of Torah font (the font used for Hebrew Bibles and prayer books by Jews and Christians) can be combined and/or repeated to form any and all of this font’s letters. These basic letters are the yud, which looks much like a comma (‘); and the vav resembles a spear standing upright like a number 1 that lacks the bottom perpendicular base. Each of these letters can be painted, drawn or formed with one stroke. This means Torah font is binary.

Genesis Aleph 2009 See: Larger version & print

According to its art manifesto by founder Judy Rey Wasserman, Post Conceptual Art uses any alpha or numeric or symbol set for strokes, but the branch of UnGraven Image only uses Torah Font. This is only font or symbol set in the world that is fully binary and phonic. Thus the strokes that create the more complex letters are also symbols themselves that represent sounds and ideas.

UnGraven Image art gets is strokes from original Bible texts. These strokes are used just as traditional artists use strokes. Strokes interweave, are overlapped, and used in layers and as glazes over other strokes. It is impossible to read the tests that comprise an artwork, just as we cannot see the atoms and particles that are the basis for the physical reality that surrounds us.

In Post Conceptual Art, the conceptual understanding of the strokes provides the foundational meaning of a work. This new art is a step away from pure Conceptualism or Word Art back to more traditional art thanks to its use of imagery. Yet the symbols, the concept of the texts used are the basis of each artwork.

As twenty-first century art, Post Conceptual Art, including the branch called UnGraven Image tell stories that are ancient yet visually cutting edge. This art echoes the most famous scientific concerns of our time, such as the search for the smallest particle that is the building block of the physical universe: the Higgs boson or “God particle” at Cern; or the harnessing of energy waves, such as light and wind, for power.

Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory and its branch known as UnGraven Image portray a radical and innovative new intrinsic, yet hidden, story that could only be told by art of the twenty-first century.

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

The Art Hamptons fair continues to grow and evolve. This year it showcased $300 million in art from 95 galleries from around the world, according to Rick Friedman, Founder and Executive Director of the show.

The announcement by Scope Hamptons that it would skip this year, no doubt aided Art Hamptons, which for the past two years has reigned as the tony area’s only art fair.

Visually, it is an interesting show as cutting edge emerging contemporary mixes with blue chip artists; and galleries from Asia, Latin America and Europe go toe to toe with local galleries; plus prices range from $2,000.00 to $2 million. Plus, this year’s fair is a carbon-neutral event, an achievement that deserves mention.

Friedman smartly schedules his fair to coincide with other important Hamptons art events, such as the Parrish Art Museum’s Midsummer Party, which occurs the weekend following the July 4 th weekend.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award went to artist Donald Sultan, a Sag Harbor resident. The Mary Ryan Gallery held an exhibit of Sultan’s work in their booth.

When I attend fairs, I know I will blog on what I appreciate because I like to share good art and news with my readers who are now often also my friends on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. There is not time or room in a blog to mention everything, but what follows is some of the best of what I found.

Early on in my trek through the fair, I was looking for Caren Golden and here gallery as I always enjoy seeing her and the Caren Golden Fine Art gallery’s artists, which I have mentioned in past blogs. I was well rewarded as I found work by Devorah Sperber , an artist whose work I first saw at the gallery’s booth at a Pulse fair. By then I had my limit of images fort hat blog, but now I have the opportunity to share one here. What you are seeing is spools of thread, used as strokes to create a portrait of Marilyn Monroe.

Devorah Sperber’s Marilyn 2, 2009

I’ve enjoyed shows and openings at Denise Bibro Fine Art in Chelsea and was happy to see this booth. I wanted to include some work by Jerry Meyer, but although Denise graciously offered to allow me to use an image here, due to my blog’s size constraints, I knew the important details would not be easily visible here. In THE HIT PARADE , Meyer presents a kind of juke box display that riffs on senior citizens. Song selections include: By the Hardening of the Arteries band- “Killing Me Softly”, by the Al Zymer and his Orchestra—“Where Did I Put the Car Keys?”, and by Lust to Dust—“I Left My Libedo in Toledo”.

It was fun to chat with local artist James Kennedy, whose was on view at the booth of the Surface Library II, in East Hampton.

As an artist, always enjoy meeting other artists. It was also good to meet Fedele Spadafora who was accompanying his art.

Gallerist Lisa Cooper of Elisa Contemporary Gallery donates a portion of every sale to philanthropic organizations that serve children and families through art. Currently the gallery supports Free Arts NYC and Creative Arts Workshops for kids. It was a pleasure meeting Lisa and seeing the art in her booth.

At Consorcio de Arte there were wonderfully lyrical new all white collage paintings by Paula Rivero, which would be included here, except the constraints of a smallish jpeg image cannot do them justice, as the texturing is what sets this work apart. Thanks to Solange Guez , Co-Director of the gallery, who took me into a separate room to see more of this exciting artist from Argentina.

A.I.R. Gallery was founded in 1972 as the first all women’s gallery in the United States. You do not need to know that to be drawn into their booth by the quality of the art they show. I enjoyed meeting gallery director Kat Griefan and Simone Meltesen, executive assistant.

Daria Dorosh’s Follow the Patter, Scene II

At last year’s fair images by and of Andy Warhol seemed to be everywhere. Although one can almost always find a reference to Warhol at any fair that includes secondary market galleries, this year the splendid glut was gone. However, a wonderful photograph that features Andy and Edie Sedgewick at Tulla Booth Gallery ‘s booth sated my Warhol hunger. Tulla is a charming lady who shows top notch fine art photography in her Sag Harbor gallery.

I enjoyed the work at Tria‘s booth where I discovered work by Casey Voyt, especially “They Came to Snuff the Rooster”. It was delightful to meet gallerists Carol Suchman and Paige Bart who are friendly and helpful. This gallery also supports various arts charities.

This year Mark Humphrey Gallery, hailing from my hometown of Southampton had a booth, which featured prints by Alex Katz, Damien Hirst and Roy Lichtenstein.

Silas Marder Gallery, a young local gallery that the Art Hampton’s fair was represented by a wall—no need for more considering the gallery is actually located next door to the site of the fair!

Moscow’s Galustyan Gallery introduces Russian artists to the world and international artists to Russia. Their booth had a mystical work by Robert Bery, who has helped in a legal fight to protect and extend the rights on NYC Street Artists.

Alexander Calder’s Fish and Faces, 1976

Mark Borghi Fine Art‘s booth is both last and first for me at this fair. Situated at the fair’s entrance i sets the bar. It is also always the last booth I visit, even though using an exit would be more convenient. I double back because I want to refresh my eyes and hold the vision of the works I see there as I leave the fair. Among the Modern Art treasures was an Alexander Calder that delights me with its playfulness and I hope it will do the same for you. In addition to gallery’s in NYC and LA, Mark Borghi maintains a year round gallery on Main Street in Bridgehampton, which has quiet little shows that can rival what is at the local museums in quality.

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