A while back the Leadel initiative teamed up with media students at Herzilya’s IDC Sammy Ofer school of Communications to create “Leadel 7“. It’s a weekly show dedicated to covering whatever is hip and happening in the Jewish world. The project is supported by the European Jewish Congress and supervised by IBA’s most captivating corespondent, the exquisite and erudite Ms. Leah Stern.

Who needs Protexia when you have Friends?

Leah was apparently tipped about my artistic endeavors by our mutual friend David Abitbol, founder of the hippest Jewish blog out there - “Jewlicious“.
Since the Online-Anglo’s-in-Israel scene is tight (some would say orgiasticly so…) one thing led to another and I found myself invited to do an interview for the Leadel 7 show:

I think it came our rather nicely, although it was quite a shock to hear anchorwoman Andrea Cohen, who conducted the interview, refer to me as an “older guy”.
When the F**K did 35 become “Older”?!?

What did I learn?

1. All the hot girls study media
2. The really really hot girls teach media
3. I’m no longer the youthful waif I once was

A well endowed aftermath

I’d brought a print of “Land of the Fee” to the studio since I wasn’t sure how the bluescreen background would look. Since I couldn’t be bothered to shlep it back home with me I made an endowment of it to the school.

It was worth every penny I spent on the print since it amuses me no end that a shlimazel like myself made an endowment to Sammy Ofer’s edifice for the rich.

Mike
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“Moments like this Mike are what makes the creation of my art worthwhile.

Without individuals like you, this would not have been possible”

That’s how my friend, artist Susan Olmetti chose to start a recent email.

What have I done to deserve such praise?

Frankly, very little.

All I did, and continue to do, is try and support Susan in her latest charitable venture.

Over 25 of Susan’s works and installations will be offered up for auction during the “Andersonville Arts Weekend” and proceeds from the sales will benefit the “The Chicago House“, a well renowned charity that provide housing and supportive services to HIV-affected families and individuals who may also be impacted by poverty, substance abuse, and mental illness.

The event will take place on the 2nd of October from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m, and is generously hosted at the SIR Spa at (5151 N Clark St. Chicago)

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For inquiries just email Susan at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Pete Hillman, the SIR Spa’s owner at 773-271-7000.

Susan says that:

Life provides us so many opportunities to help others.

I guess this is something I believe in too.
With all my heart.

Which is exactly why I’m asking you to share this post onwards and spread the word.

Mike
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This evening I went to Garagegeeks. Arianna Huffington was Yossi Vardi’s guest speaker for the evening. In a nutshell the evening was a yet another case in favor of the whole Garagegeeks concept and I personally had a blast.

We had Beatles

From Garagegeeks with Arianna Huffington

Junk

From Garagegeeks with Arianna Huffington

Enthralled Crowds

From Garagegeeks with Arianna Huffington

Yossi Vardi

From Garagegeeks with Arianna Huffington

and Arianna Huffington

From Garagegeeks with Arianna Huffington

… ooh! and Shani Rosenfelder (editor for the Jerusalem Post) (AKA Jpost.com) was there too!

BTW the picture in the background is my Batsheva…

From Garagegeeks with Arianna Huffington

I had two beers and a ton of fun especially since I ran into an old school mate only to discover that he is now Professor Oren Harman

From Garagegeeks with Arianna Huffington

For those of you who don’t know
GarageGeeks is an Israeli based not-profit physical and virtual space for innovative and creative people to introduce, network, expose, create, brainstorm, innovate and build. People that take part in the activities come from different disciplines such as electronics, software, mechanical, art, design, music, hacking and gaming. The spirit of GarageGeeks promotes building non-commercial projects that would otherwise may not have come to life.

Yossi Vardi makes a point of bringing his most distinguished guests (Sergey Brin and Tim Armstrong to name a few)…

From Garagegeeks with Arianna Huffington

…to a mildly dilapidated old garage in the middle of Holon’s Industrial zone for an evening full of geekish fun and booze. The presentations are usually pretty good too… ; )

You can see all my photos from the event below.
If you want to make use of any of my pictures feel free to do so but please credit me & link to http://DigitalArtPrintGallery.com

Good Night
: )

Mike
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Digital art should be available for digital mediums

I’ve decided to make some of my prints available as desktop backgrounds because I feel that since my art work is Digital, it should be available on digital platforms.

Downloads, Resolutions & Platforms

All the images in the Flickr album embedded below are optimized for usage as desktop backgrounds and I add new images to the collection regularly. The images are optimized for use with Full HD, 1680×1050 wide-screens, and 1280×960 regular aspect desktops. To download a desktop click the image, follow the link to my Flickr account, click the “All sizes” button above the image, and download the largest size image available.

I’d appreciate it you would link back to this post and share it with others so they can enjoy these desktops too.

I’m accepting requests…

This is a new thing for me and I’d love to get your feedback. I hope you browse through some of the other images on my site as well. The best ways to contact me are via my email - mikedarnell [at] gmail [dot] com or my twitter account @pop_art, alternatively you can leave your requests as a comment on this post.

: )
Mike
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Comments viaDisqus

As an artist, there’s always an interest in what other people are working on, what kind of new styles are being invented, as well as the curiosity of how your work stands up against everyone else’s. There’s also the aspect of getting your work out there for others to see and comment on. With Candor Gallery we’ve created a simple gallery in electronic form that we hope addresses these dynamics and creates an outlet for artists along with a venue for art viewers.

Candor Gallery is an OS X based Widget that displays a rotating selection of artwork each time you open your Dashboard. Anyone can submit to the project and have their work displayed on the Widget. All types of art are accepted and encouraged: Painting, Design, Drawing, Photography, Sculpture, etc.

The basis for Candor Gallery has always been to have that quick ability to see new and interesting work at a moment’s notice, whether for pure enjoyment, inspiration, or to see what other people are up to. As a result, you also have a wide audience that you can share with and show off to. So Candor really provides a two-way street for artists and viewers alike.

Many years ago there was a similar project in screensaver form that was floating around the web with much the same premise as Candor. Unfortunately, that project was very short-lived. Still, it was such a great concept and inspiration that we wanted to carry on the idea of sharing artwork in an electronic venue to which anyone could contribute to.

We’ve had an excellent response to the project with nearly 2,000 unique works on display. While we currently don’t broker any deals through the widget, we have had artists sell work to patrons who discovered the artist through the widget.

For the future of Candor Gallery we hope to expand beyond the widget and build a more web-based application where contributors can manage their own space as a type of personal portfolio or just a place to share work in a more elegant manner compared to other options on the web.

Currently Candor Gallery is available for download as an OS X Widget and a Google Gadget. Visitors can also view the entire collection on our website on the Gallery page. We’re always accepting new submissions and encourage new artists to send in their work for display.

Mike
Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | MySpace | Picasa | Delicious

: )

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