october 2018 – The Humble Fabulist

#colorpalleting – the orange halloweens

June 4, 2020June 3, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

It’s 149 days to Halloween.

But the days we live in are way scarier, with orange shades even more prevalent than usual – no relation to pumpkins.

Walking along a path lined with 5,000-plus hand-crafted pumpkins.

The Rise of the Jack O’Lanterns@ the Old Westbury Gardens, N.Y.

October 28th, 2018

Old Westbury Gardens – The Mansion

June 2, 2020June 1, 2020 The Humble Fabulist1 Comment

It could be no less gracious than the magnificent gardens surrounding it, could it? And yet it was designed by an artist with no formal degree in architecture.

One of the glorious Gold Coast Mansions, home of John S. Phipps, his English-born wife, Margarita Grace Phipps and their four children, the mansion we know today as ”Old Westbury Gardens” was designed by George A. Crawley in the style of a Charles II Restoration manor house, and completed in 1906.

Following the deaths of Margarita and John S. Phipps in the late 1950s, their daughter Margaret Phipps Boegner – or Peggie, as he preferred to be called, inherited the Old Westbury estate and opened the gardens to the public to honor the memory of her mother.

Today, one can visit the house and gardens for guided tours, view exhibitions or attend a number of family events, talks or gardening classes. Or just take a leisurely stroll up and down the stairs and out and about in the gardens, taking in the little details and trying to decide which room would be their favourite.

Mine was the bathroom.

Old Westbury Gardens – Long Island, NY

October 28th, 2018

#colorpalleting – lilly pond greys & mauves

June 1, 2020May 31, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

Old Westbury Gardens – Long Island, NY

October 28th, 2018

#colorpalleting – the greens

May 31, 2020May 30, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

with a dewy glow

Old Westbury Gardens – Long Island, NY

October 28th, 2018

#colorpalleting

May 30, 2020May 29, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

@ the magnificent Old Westbury Gardens

Long Island, NY

October 28th, 2018

Shit Happens

May 28, 2020May 27, 2020 The Humble Fabulist1 Comment

One hundred thousand. Shit that could have been avoided.

Images from Disappearing Acts, a Bruce Nauman retrospective that was presented in two parts, in MoMa and MoMA PS1.

”Disappearing Acts traces what Nauman has called “withdrawal as an art form”—both literal and figurative incidents of removal, deflection, and concealment. Bodies are fragmented, centers are left empty, voices emanate from hidden speakers, and the artist sculpts himself in absentia, appearing only as negative space. The retrospective charts these forms of omission and loss across media and throughout the decades, following Nauman as he circles back to earlier concerns with new urgency. Presented in two complementary parts, at The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, this is the most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work ever assembled.” [source: MoMA]

Last photo (not) showing the Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh; I wonder when (or even if) will we ever see crowds like this anymore…

October 19th, 2018

Meanwhile back in New York…

May 27, 2020May 26, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

Hustle and bustle as usual.

October 19th, 2018

Accusing

May 26, 2020May 25, 2020 The Humble Fabulist5 Comments

The vase with flowers and the accusing look on the cat’s face;

I’m sensing an overly dramatic scene in…

2-3-1!

Robert Massey
Siamese Cats II, early 1960s
Oil and egg tempera on canvas

Portraits || El Paso Museum of Art

May 25, 2020May 24, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

Today, America honours the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.

On this very special Memorial Day, let us also take a moment to reflect on the lives of all our fellow humans that were cut short – more recently, in the Covid-19 pandemic. They were someone’s husband, wife, mother, father, son, daughter, friend.

Let us all remember and raise our voices for peace.

Silence the guns. The time is now.

Tom Lea
Sarah (Portrait of the Artist’s Wife), 1939
Oil on canvas

Manuel Acosta
Yolanda, 1956
Oil on canvas

Gerrit Beneker
Telephone Operator, 1921
Oil on canvas

Robert Henri
Carl (Boy in Blue Overalls), 1921
Oil on canvas

Irving Ramsey Wiles
Gladys in Chinese Robes, 1920-29
Oil on canvas

El Paso Museum of Art, TX

October 12th, 2018

El Paso Museum of Art

May 24, 2020May 24, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

An Art Institution in a binational, bilingual city like El Paso could showcase nothing less than an eclectic collection, rich in history, diverse in technique, open-minded and thought provoking, drawing inspiration from both sides of the Americas.

EPMA is the only American Alliance of Museums-accredited art museum within a 200-mile radius, one of the only accredited museums in all of West Texas, and serves as a major cultural and educational resource for West Texas, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico with nearly 100,000 visitors each year. The demographic characteristics of this region are diverse and unique among large cities in the United States because of the nature of its fluid, binational population which sees inhabitants working, learning, and socializing across international and state borders on a daily basis. El Paso and its sister city Ciudad Juárez, Mexico share three international bridges that bring 75,000 people from Juárez to El Paso each day (Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2016). According to Customs and Border Protection, 600 to 1,000 children legally cross the Paso del Norte bridge to go to school every day. Moreover, over 80% of residents identify as Mexican, Hispanic, or Mexican-American. [sourge: EPMA]

James Surls
Me, Knife, Diamond and Flower, 1999
Pine, poplar and steel