NEws & Updates 1/24/08: Headless Wolf and TV Cameo

Hi fellow art lover,

Winter stirs hot with activity...

Portraitist to the Stars: Armen Garo to be McCorklized Actor Armen Garo Armen Garo, actor probably best known as the character Salvatore 'Coco' Cogliano in TV series “The Sopranos”, has commissioned two portraits from me through Gallery Z in Providence. Armen coaxed to take a different approach to one of the portraits, compiling a number of overlayed faces into one image. I’ll share the portraits once they are completed. Thank you for the commission, Armen, and thank you Berge Zobian, director of Gallery Z, for arranging it.

Portrait of a Headless Wolf Jim Wolf Jim Wolf of Sonoma is challenging me with a portrait that depicts him headless and holding his face as if it were a mask. I just started compositions for it. Jim is partial to El Greco’s “View of Toledo”, so I’m using that as an inspiration for the background. I never realized that El Greco’s clouds are as enigmatic as his figures, curving over the Spanish city like a dome.

El Greco’s “View of Toledo”	Detail of "dome" of clouds in El Greco’s “View of Toledo”

Inclusion in SF MOMA Biennial Art Auction

Thanks to Karen Eichler for including me in San Francisco Museum of Art’s Biennial Art Auction. A late submission, the painting chosen is “Twirled Figure” will hopefully make it into the print catalog for the auction in time.

"Twirled Figure". Oil on canvas, h36 x w48 inches, to be auctioned.

Cloning of Venus Sells in Upper Teens

James P, a very nice fellow who resides in Florida recently bought the baroque inspired painting, “Cloning of Venus”.

James has collected a number of my and other pieces from Esteban Sabar Gallery, and I’m very flattered by and grateful for this purchase, whose price is far beyond what I would have expected to reach at this stage of my career.

"Cloning of Venus” on display at Esteban Sabar Gallery

Painting Resold in Palm Springs

A very sweet couple, Douglas L and Gary R, who bought a number of my figurative paintings for a Palm Springs residence, were convinced by a friend to part with the painting, “Figure on Wood Deck” for almost three times what they had purchased it for.

Douglas hesitantly informed Esteban Sabar Gallery of this news. It is heartening to know that there are people who like what I paint and I am glad to know the work is spreading about like the seeds of a dandelion.

“Figure on Wood Deck”. Oil on canvas, h36 x w48 inches.

Paintings Make TV Cameo

My work is making it onto TV with the Oxygen Network show “Bad Girls 2”, a title that says it all. Three works adorn the house in which the bad girls reside, most prominently the “Cherry Blossoms” that adorns the main hallway.

“Cherry Blossoms" live with bad girls.

Solo show scheduled in Gallery Z in Providence

I just got word from Berge Zobian that he is scheduling me for a solo show in September, 2008, at Gallery Z in Providence, Rhode Island. Hopefully I will not have learned to paint by then.

Some of my work is showing there now. Here is the Gallery Z's visitor's page, in case you are in Rhode Island.

Be happy.

--Marty McCorkle

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