Foreword - “It’s a Web of friendship”

One of the things I love most about the Web is how it has enabled all of us to connect and foster friendships with people we’ve never met.
People living in our apartment block, and people halfway round the globe.
People we wouldn’t grace with a glance on the street, and people we’ve admired from afar our entire life. People.

Susan Olmetti - artist and friend

I can’t recall how Susan and I met and frankly it doesn’t matter. I do remember the huge murals she created that were the reason for my initial fascination with her. Anyone with the energy to paint on such a colossal scale has my respect. Susan’s Biblical inspiration, vibrant colors and fundamental “Joie de vivre” are all things I relate to personally so our naturally a friendship developed.

Susan

About a week ago Susan emailed me and asked me to help her with the online publicity for her upcoming show. I’ve long thought it would be interesting to do an interview her here on my blog and this seemed like a great opportunity. I hope you enjoy it…

An interview with Susan

M:

“So Susan what was your inspiration for the ‘The Jonah Series?’”

Susan:

“My inspiration is my determination to overcome all adversity through my creation and live a happy and healthy existence by letting go of negativity. My new series is very chaotic in flow. I see it as an explosion of color.”

M:

“Sounds like we share that much in common. - I’ve long said that:
‘I do art because it makes me happy. Everything else is a bonus…’”

Susan:

“I’ve adapted over time.
I’ve developed a ‘You can’t hurt what you can’t touch (my heart)’ attitude, although I always struggled with maintaining this protective barrier in interactions with people close to me.

God forgave Jonah. From my perspective, it takes a lot to forgive people.
I have a personal secret with Jonah. I finds myself everyday uttering the words, ‘Not today,Jonah’ whenever I feel myself being pulled under by others around me. I find I’d prefer to say goodbye and let go because they people don’t change.”

Jonah

M:

“Which is your favorite piece in your coming exhibition and why?”

Susan:

“Well Mike they all are the same to me. I look at my art like they are my children and I do my best to love each and every one of them. They’re all different yet the same.”

M:

“Where did you meet Rachel Cohen-Lunning and Merrille Lichenstien-Cohen and how did the joint exhibition come about?”

Susan:

“Rachel and Merrille are sisters and they both lived in the Chelsea Hotel at one time. Rachel still lives there and Merrille moved right around the corner. I’ve known them for a decade and we all admire each others work and have wanted to do a joint exhibition for a long time. We’ve been working closely for a year now on this one.”

M:

“How did your relationship with the Tappan Z Gallery begin?”

Susan:

“I stumbled across his Gallery online. I contacted the gallery director and told him a bit about myself, my art, my long term goals. We clicked right away and I’ve been simply going with the flow.”

M:

“Well I wish you all the best of luck it’s been great chatting to you and I hope you send me pictures form the opening : )”

Well, that’s all for this morning…
As always, if you’ve enjoyed reading I’d appreciate it if you’d link back and share this with your friends.

Also if you’re an artist and would like to feature in an interview on my blog, or if you’re familiar with an artist whom you think might be interested, be sure to give me a holler. I’m always on the lookout for cool people to talk to… : )

Mike
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Acclaimed artist Susan Olmetti will return to New York in the summer of 2009 for the unveiling of the Jonah series. Olmetti’s newest series of oil paintings are intertwined in a fluid movement and frantic energy.

Olmetti commonly refers to tackling a new creation as: “Setting out to kill the canvas”.
Her passion becomes interwoven with twists and turns of color communicated from the depths of her minds emotional darkness. The strength of her strokes gives life to her works with a mood akin madness. A menagerie of comically exaggerated characters take on a whimsical and humorous light. The obscurity of the figures reflect the bridling of spirit and entrapment of soul from those who want to be set free of that which binds them.

After the events of last night it was time to get back to the art, so we took to the road and enjoyed the open skies and the closed tunnels.

Because I am so interested in Political Pop Art the SOWA Artists Guild didn’t arrange that I meet Abraham Obama and a freakish yet friendly dog.
We all smelled each other politely after which I left my scent on Obama.

After investing my assets in some really yummy cuttlefish sushi at a cutting edge Banq I meandered down to Boston’s kitschy river bank where I discovered that sometimes even grass grates.

Later on in the day I commissioned Genzyme to help me with some corporate art. After all they might be giants but for the tree…

If none of this makes sense to you then I suggest you click on the slide-show and visit the Picasa album where you’ll find the captions I wrote for these photos…

As always, if you want to download a photo you can click on the slide-show and that will lead you to the album with the higher res images.
You can use the photos in any way you choose but I’d appreciate it if you gave me credit and provided a link to my website or blog - MikeDarnell.name.

All the best,
Mike

PS
My one regret is that I missed the SOWA artwalk - maybe next time…

Shahid Brown and I spent a very intense Friday evening together.
Shahid is the amazing gallery director for the Grind Gallery and an artist in his own right, but more importantly - he is a good person.

These are pictures I took while we were around the Grind gallery and later while Shahid and I walked his amazing dogs. Shahid has an incredible bond with his canine friends and they obey him without any question or hesitation.

These pictures are my way of showing gratitude to Shahid for the invitation he gave me to visit his home and for his hospitality.

The portraits of Shahid are also my tribute to Shahid’s involvement with LA’s Cannibal Flower show, of which Shahid is one of the principal organizers and which is celebrating it’s 8th anniversary this month after running since 2000 once a month, without fail. The Cannibal Flower show gives emerging and up-and-coming artists from around the world the chance to display their work at one of the coolest venues on the planet.

If you want to download a photo you can click on the slide-show and that will lead you to the Picasa album where they are all stored. You can use the photos in any way you desire, I only ask that you give me credit and provide a link to my website or blog - MikeDarnell.name.

Enjoy…

I spent most of yesterday in downtown LA.
I saw Frank Gehry’s incredible Walt Disney concert hall, the LA MOCA, and a whole bunch of other landmarks, but frankly nothing impressed me as much as the downtown gallery walk and the Digital Art international expo organized by Mr. Rex Bruce of LACDA.

After the gallery walk I went over to the after-party hosted by Edgar Varela at his gallery on Alameda st. Being the outsider is never easy but Edgar was really friendly and made me feel right at home : )

As is always the case when traveling alone, I bumped into a bunch of interesting people whom I knew nothing about…
Of special note was George Stiehl, publisher of Citizen LA magazine, who was really sweet, modest and friendly.

I only wish I was more of a social animal - I’d probably meet more people that way… Anyway, I had a blast of a time and spent most of this morning preparing the pictures in this slide show as a tribute to Edgar’s hospitality and as a means to remind myself of last night in years to come.

If you want to read the captions I added or download a photo you can click on any photo and that will lead you to the Picasa album where they are all stored.

Enjoy…

I’ll be posting the pictures from my walk in Downtown LA and from the Downtown Gallery Walk just as soon as I get back home (boy oh boy things sure are piling up…).

Well time for breakfast…
All the best,
: )

Mike