Panorama of Cincinnati Art XXXI

This Friday I will have a painting hanging  in the Cincinnati Art Galleries Panorama of Cincinnati Art. The special opening featuring paintings by Cincinnati artists from the turn of the century as well as a select group of contemporary Cincinnati artists will be for sale.
Reservations are required for the opening night benefit at $100 per person. (Checks should be made payable directly to the Cincinnati Opera). I will be cleaned up and attending the opening, so that there is worth the price of admission.

Battle at the Red River, 16 x 20, oil on linen, © copyright Richard Luschek 2016

If you can't make the fancy opening the show will be open until January 31 and is worth checking out. I have a few other paintings there too if you need to do some holiday shopping. 

Benefit for the Cincinnati Opera

Special Opening Friday December 2, 5 - 8pm ($100 per person)

Music, Wine, Hors d’oeuvres, Desserts & Valet Parking

Opening night ticket sales as well as a portion of all painting sales from the month of December will go to benefit the Cincinnati Opera.

This exhibition and sale will be held at Cincinnati Art Galleries at 225 East 6th Street and will be open free to the public after the special Friday night opening.  For more information, please call 513-381-2128.

While you are trying to decide if you should go to Panorama, please enjoy this video by Bananarama.

30th Anniversary of Panorama

I will have a painting hanging at the Cincinnati Art Galleries downtown in their 30th Anniversary Panorama show. It is a benefit for the Cincinnati Art Museum. 

Doughnut and Coffee, 14x11, oil on linen, 2015

 This is a painting I did as a demonstration at a local art store, then finished in the studio. I wrote about the process here a few months ago. 

The opening tomorrow is a ticketed event, but the show will be up till the first of the year. If you want to come tomorrow, put your fancy clothes on, buy a ticket and come hang out with me over by the snack table.

• Friday, December 4, 2015
• 5:00pm 8:00pm

Please join us Friday, December 4th from 5 pm to 8 pm for a special opening featuring paintings by artists of Cincinnati’s Golden Age.
This Panorama of Cincinnati Art is a benefit for the Cincinnati Art Museum. Opening night ticket sales as well as a portion of all painting sales from the month of December will go to benefit the Cincinnati Art Museum. Paintings by Cincinnati artists from the turn of the century as well as a few local Cincinnati artists will be for sale.
Reservations are required for the opening night benefit.
Exhibition continues through December 31st.

Secret Revealed

So, my Secrets are apparently not too secret as everyone seems to know which ones are mine. It is either that or something to do with pheromones. Nah, lets say it has to do with the visual charm of the work. That probably sounds better.
Mine was snatched up quickly by someone who already has around 4 of my secret cards from the past few years. Interestingly, on the very first Secret Artworks event 6 years ago, this same collector, who did not know me at the time, was with her husband. When the doors opened, they both rushed off to get cards they liked. They both separately got cards I had painted- obviously having no idea who did them.  Pretty cool considering there are usually close to 1000 5x7 cards by various artists to search through. Last year, her husband grabbed the card I painted as well. 
Here is my card for this years 2013 Secret Artworks which they can hang in the Richard Luschek section of their collection.

Clean Thoughts, 7 x 5, oil shellacked paper , ©copyright Richard Luschek 2013

It is probably my favorite opening of the year. The work is donated and the funds raised go to the various Artworks community programs. Artists that donate work get to attend a hip and happening party (oddly I don't get to go to those very often).
I thought I would post a few process shots.
The artists are sent simple postcards. I decided to coat the paper with orange shellac which protects the paper from the oil paint and gives a warm tone to paint on.
I taped the card to a board and started painting. I wanted to create a little story and continue my series of light bulbs.
Here is a shot after about 40 minutes. I did not do a drawing, but just started painting on the orange card, doing my best to cover it fast. You can see the scene with the bulb suspended by a wire. You can also see the other Mr. Clean doll I have laying nearby on the table. Yes, I have 4 Mr. Clean dolls, you wanna make something of it?!

I got big shapes down and just continued refining and pushing shapes around. Here it is after about another hour.

 I let it dry setting it near the furnace pipe and then refined it on a second day to get to the finished image you see at the top of this post.
If you are an artist in Cincinnati and are not doing this event, what are you thinking?

Secret ArtWorks 2013

Once again I have painted a card for the Secrets Show. 
I know I am not supposed to show you the work- it being a secret and all, but here is a shot of the card.

It is not a great photo and really the other side is more exciting, but if you want to see it you had better show up and check it out. It is a happening party.
Click to buy tickets
Click to see the cards online.    Last I looked, mine was not showing, as I turned mine in about two weeks after the deadline- that is just how secret mine is. Anyway, if you saw it, you would know it is mine.

It all happens this Friday, November 22, 5:00 pm- 9:00pm

The Center in the Mercantile Building (The old Contemporary Art Center space)
115 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

5-6pm: Cocktails & VIP Art Sneak Peek
6pm: Doors Open to Secret Works of Art
Valet parking available on Walnut Street between 4th & 5th Streets.
Handicap access on 5th Street.


Art Preview Week
November 18 – 21, 2013
Westin Hotel Atrium
21 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Greenacres is the Place to be.

I am pretty sure Eva Gabor would have decorated the Green Acres farm house with one of my paintings if she had the chance. But this post is not about the sitcom, it is about the new Greenacres Art Guild located in the Indian Hill section of Cincinnati.

I am excited to be a member of this wonderful new group and to announce that the Greenacres Artists Guild Inaugural Show will take place the fall of 2013.  This show will highlight the best pieces of art from twenty seven of the most highly accomplished living artists in Cincinnati.  Opening Night of the Inaugural Show will take place on October 18th. 
Opening Night of the Inaugural Art Show of The Greenacres Artists Guild
     October 18, 2013 6:00 pm- 9:00pm
     $50.00 per person 
     8400 Blome Road, Cincinnati, OH, 45243, United States

The event will run thru  November 17th with the following gallery hours and be free to the public:

• Fridays 5pm-9pm
• Saturdays noon – 5pm
• Sundays noon – 4pm

For more information about the guild Click Here
For more information about the opening 
                   and to purchase a ticket  Click Here

 
 

Unisex Art Club and Art Club for Women.

I have a small piece in a show that opens tonight at the Cincinnati Art Club.  

Unbolted, 3 1/2" x 5", oil on linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

Signature Member Show Opening Reception
Friday, September 14, 6-9 p.m.
Exhibit open Sat., Sun., Sept. 15, 16, 22, 23
1021 Parkside Place, Cincinnati, Oh 45202


Yesterday I was honored to be asked to judge an art show for the Cincinnati Women's Art Club. The show is the Annual Members Exhibit, and will open this Sunday, September 15 through October 7th.

I had to chose 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Out of an entire room packed with paintings that is a challenge. I thought I would talk a bit about my method for choosing the works I did. I do enjoy judging art shows, as it is a solid lesson in what makes a painting successful. 
My first method is to do a cursory stroll through the gallery to quickly look at everything. I then stand in the middle of the room and slowly spin around to see what attracts my eye. I grabbed some cards they had stacked by the door as advertising for the show- I grabbed a handful and dropped cards in front of pieces I thought should be considered for the top prizes. I quickly narrowed it down to about 10. The only issue with this is that twice, club members strolled through while I was judging and tidied up the space, picking up my cards.
Then I made sure to slowly walk around and look at every piece. I found it interesting how many pieces I had not seen at all in the first two go arounds. Now that I was forcing myself to look at each one I was finally looking at some of them. Interestingly, this did not change my initial decisions at all. The paintings "invisible" to my initial look, were not helped by careful study.
 
So, the lesson learned- a painting has to have a powerful abstraction of lights and darks. When I say light and dark, I do not mean white and black, but some arrangement of values that catches the eye. Paintings can be monochromatic, but they should never be monovalumatic- is that a word? Well, it is now, it means having a single value. Paintings are going to be more successful with clearly stated value patterns with a pleasing arrangement.
I also considered good used of color and edges to control the space and atmosphere in a picture. There were a few paintings that had deep space, with good drawing, but the artists had not adjusted the color or edges at all to control space.

I want to stress how little subject matter influenced what I chose. A painting of road kill could have won if it was done well enough and had some beauty. A judge does of course have specific tastes. I tend towards realism, so any paintings that were merely abstract were probably not going to get much consideration. Sorry, life is not fair.  

I think most people see me as a still life painter. While a few still lifes were in my top 10, I did not pick a single still life for an award. Again, I may have been harder on still life, but again, I tried to make it a visual game.
I will be at the Fund Raising Event on September 21st, so anyone with paintings in the show that has questions about my thoughts on their work can of course talk to me. Be prepared, I may be a bit tipsy and opinionated, but my wife will be there to make sure I am well behaved.

I will tell you a Secret

I just got back from the Secrets event. I had a great time. It was very crowded with lots of fancy Cincinnati people there. I ran into a lot of old friends and meet a lot of great people. Of course we can discuss the real reason I enjoyed it- the snacks and beverages. Very nice.
The event opened at 5 and I got there around 6 and my secret card had already sold. It's no longer a secret so I can post the image here.

Basement Bulb, 7 x 5, oil on linen. © copyright Richard Luschek 2011

Yes, I did another light bulb. This time I did a lit bulb. I have to say, it is a challenge staring at a light for that long. I was doing a lot of squinting, but still it took a toll. I hope who ever purchased it appreciates the possible long-term retinal damage this painting may have caused.

I knew the trick to getting this painting to read was to get the overall key of the picture correct. Even the lightest light in the painting has some color to it, a warm chromatic yellow. Very near white, but not quite. So I had to darken everything else down to get that to read as a lit bulb. In a heavy squint the aura around the bulb was an orange to red glow that filled the darks.

Luschek Reveals All in Record Setting Auction

"Sold for $520 million to Scarlet Johansson in the front row!" 

Unfortunately for you, I have yet to unleash my collection of life sized nude self portraits on the world. We can only imagine what a smash hit that would be. Records would be broken I am sure, but the above simulation of this fantasy was staged just for this blog post. Thanks to Sotheby's for their cooperation.


Actually, I do have some work in an online auction. The auction is being hosted by Brigham Galleries online. A percentage of sales go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an international charity raising awareness for breast cancer [http://ww5.komen.org/]

While a preview of this auction was held last week in New York, the auction is still going on. If you are interested  log in and place a bid.

Click Here to BID

Above is the painting available for auction shown in its frame. Let the bidding war begin!
I discussed this painting last month in a post, basically explaining how complicated life can be.