As it says in “Hello Dolly”, (and Wall-E!) “It only takes a moment”… for everything to change. Brrrrr, it’s COLD in January… for us life is about finding art no one in their right mind could refuse. I could say I trust in the universe on that, and maybe that’s true, because invariably we find something spectacular and our clients are beside themselves with glee. Is it enough to skip headlong through the financial daisies? Sometimes. Mostly, though, it’s like hibernation. We wait and work, continuing our search for new great art and artists we want to represent, hoping we encounter collectors and artists who match their talents and desires.
All hail the thaw–the warming up! Something about it here on the east coast and here in our gallery leads to fresh optimism, to deals finally taking shape, interests peaking, and new fans and collectors becoming loyal clients here. It has happened every year. And this year is no exception. I’m SO GLAD!
So what about ArtInsights? As we’ve sprung forward and are moving to summer, what’s new and exciting?
Well, we just returned from a great trip to LA, Burbank and Hollywood, and interviewed a slew of incredibly talented artists–animators and illustrators and film artists. For the most part we have some of their original work or are representing them in some way, or hope to in the future–and they all have very interesting stories to tell and lessons to teach–
Let me tell you about some of the very talented artists well known in Hollywood and the exciting partnerships we are entering into:
We are working with artist James Goodridge, who is still a working artist in Hollywood, having worked on Sucker Punch, True Blood, HP7.1 and HP7.2, as well as a host of great recent movies. He created images for Wall-E, and that work is filled with heart and the best of what the movie became. I discovered i had Mr. Spock as my first love in common with his wife…and his interview was inspiring– this artist teaches how determination mixed with talent is an unbeatable combination!
Things are changing in the Disney interpretive art world as well. We are just now putting together the interviews for some of the best and brightest artists who have worked inside Disney and we’ll have original interpretive art by them available either by commission or as they become available. There are artists like Lisa Keene, who has worked at Disney since The Black Cauldron era and has had a hand in many movies over the past 15 years up to and including the very latest, Tangled. We also talked to art director for The Little Mermaid, Mike Peraza, and will be interviewing him again with his wife, who is also an animator! Once we heard his influences and experiences inside Disney, you could really see each of these mentors expressed in his own art. Once again, humble. and once again, awesome!
As it says in “Hello Dolly”, (and Wall-E!) “It only takes a moment”… for everything to change. Brrrrr, it’s COLD in January… for us life is about finding art no one in their right mind could refuse. I could say I trust in the universe on that, and maybe that’s true, because invariably we find something spectacular and our clients are beside themselves with glee. Is it enough to skip headlong through the financial daisies? Sometimes. Mostly, though, it’s like hibernation. We wait and work, continuing our search for new great art and artists we want to represent, hoping we encounter collectors and artists who match their talents and desires.
Also, Acme has stepped up their game in the Disney Studio interpretive art with new artists and images more classically inspired–by artists like the movie concept artist Stephan Martiniere and famed movie concept artist for Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear and Star Wars William Silvers, who we also interviewed for the web magazine. Bill has been doing original backgrounds for Disney and Industrial Light and Magic (for Star Wars) and has just begun creating a new series of traditional Disney images, as well as a super funky alternative design style he paints on paper called “birds nest”, which really has to be seen in person to be believed. Totally all about texture and speed, which is the opposite of the mat paintings. Both express his artistic passion but in completely different ways. His interview was so great, and I found he would be very inspiring to new artists and those reaffirming their commitment to their own vision.
While we were in LA we all went to the El Capitan theatre–where Citizen Kane made its debut in 1941, and saw the exhibit by Disney artist Andreas Deja that was part of the release of the movie “African Cats”. He created images in watercolor (some of which were turned into limited editions) of a variety of African wildlife, with a portion of proceeds to benefit the African Wildlife Foundation. I interviewed Andreas about his career and heard some great stories and trivia and the video is on the web magazine!
For more information about these artists you can call me or check them out online on our gallery site, as we add new art, and each of the interviews we’ve done! And of course, we’ll always add more information and interviews as we find them or conduct them! Some of the artists we just interviewed aren’t quite ready to be seen yet (Disney gets the first OFFICIAL eyeball) so just keep checking back and we’ll have new surprises showing up often now!
Lastly, the folks over at Pixar allowed a few interpretations of their films by Disney interpretive artists, and we got to sell some of the originals–we were very pleased with their images, and since many of these artists are our friends, we love to see the excel. Check these images out! They are also on our site, so if you’re into Pixar movies, go look at what is available from your fave Pixar release…(mine are Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, and Wall-E)