Colored People

"Colored People" painted in 1996, depicts different colored faces with expressions that are angry, confused, mean, surprised, and so intense.  Their eyes are different colors, as are their mouths.  What did Serafin intend to convey in this group setting?  Actually, why did I pick this painting to talk about today?.  The title, "Colored People" plays on words, teases the mind, or simply shares a Crayola moment for a youngster?  What are they all looking at?  A mirror?  Is this the selfie that expresses America, then and now?  2020 is coming in a few hours; will we have 20/20 vision?  Or, in 25 years will this painting be as relevant as it was 25 years ago?

Festival of Star Cathedral

For the holiday season, Festival of Star Cathedral, shows the joy and glee of the characters John created for the holy day.  It's a happy adventure with animals, folk dancers, and strangers who showed up randomly.  There's a lot of movement, proud characters on top of the star, and of course, it's a mystery where the door of the church is!  Does anyone want to really go to church?  Or, just dance and wave at us?

Winter's Kitchen on a snowy morning

John Serafin lived most of his life in Upstate New York where wintertime rules.  The painting, Winter's Kitchen, reminds one of a late morning, probably a snow day, and breakfast is on the table.  There's such happiness in this still life. The images are dancing and a quilted river is flowing through the kitchen reminding one of the continuous and circular nature of our Mother, our lives.

Adirondack Gold

Glory to the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate, New York where John Serafin grew up.  This abstract scene espouses the beauty of the mountains and the life source of the sun.  The painting captures what one knows when hiking and mountain climbing; that feeling that one is surrounded by the most precious things on Earth.

This is a fine art print of John's original watercolor painting.   Here in Austin, TX, the prints are made on quality matte paper. The print has a white border to help you fit it in a frame or use a matte.  

If you'd like another size print, just email the measurements and I will try to make a print to fit your frame!  Please specify the exact size you would like in an email.  Let's work together.

Please allow 5-8  business days before your order is ready to ship.

Shipping: Free shipping! Shipped by USPS packaging.

The Church of the Hacienda was painted in 2005 in the snowy winter of Syracuse, NY.  In 2009, John and Susie moved to Phoenix, AZ, where this painting hung naturally in their home for 10 years.  The saguaro cactus in front of the church only grows in the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona and California, and in Sonora, Mexico.  Saguaros are very beautiful, many animals call them home, and Native Americans honored them. Saguaros are very beautiful and many animals call them home. The saguaro seems at home in front of the church, protected and loved.

Roses, or Olives?

Roses are red, violets are blue.....

While living in Israel in 1983, I fell in love with this song about roses.  Here's the poem transliterated into English:

Evening of roses
Let us go out to the grove
Myrrh, perfumes, and Frankincense
Is the carpet under your feet

Night falls slowly
And a wind of rose blows
Let me whisper a song for you slowly
A song of love

Dawn and the dove coos
Your hair is full of dewdrops
Your lips are as roses unto the morning
I will pick them for myself

Erev Shel Shoshanim (English: Evening of Lilies or Evening of Roses; the Hebrew word shoshana has been identified with both flowers[1]) is a poetic Hebrew love song.

This painting is originally titled by John, Flowers with Olives.  The contrast between the two is easy to comprehend.  John was into symbolism, so, perhaps love is bitter at times?  Or, more than a dozen roses certainly outnumbers 3 olives, so, perhaps love always rebounds and reseeds and blooms again and again.  I'd like to think it's the latter.

John Serafin's "Still Life With Olives" is an abstract painting using fruit and flowers. He painted it for me, his wife, as a gift. Today, in my blog, I want to speak about women and art, and still life paintings.  On the Internet, I learned that, "from the 16-19th centuries, women were barred from studying the nude model, which formed the basis for academic training and representation." (Women, Art, and Society) Which means that men were able to keep them out of formal art education and the artists' circles for centuries.  Women artists centuries ago had many conflicts, especially marriage, which didn't allow a career, such as art. So, women could paint flowers, fruit, and portraits without becoming too naughty. Hence, Georgia O'Keeffe and her sensuous flowers that beg the question, "flowers or vaginas"?  She never confessed painting anything other than flowers.  Oh well, she did however always assert "that she was an important artist, not just an important female artist."  

(The Guardian)

Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 12.14 EST

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Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 12.14 EST

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Spacescapes

To sum up the impact that Biological Spacescape had in the early 1990's, let's look at the Manhattan Arts International September-October, 1994.  Diana Roberts reviewed the painting in the section, "Artists in the 1990's" to preview John's upcoming gallery shows in New York City at the Limner Gallery and the Montserrat Gallery.

I looked up the term "spacescape" to see when it was first used.  In the Urban Dictionary, spacescape is listed as,

"A spacescape is a type of digital or traditional art that depicts scenes in space- most commonly with a science-fiction or surreal-like quality, which may include planets, spacecraft, nebulae, etc. 

'Man, that spacescape is the shizz.'    {The shizz!  Very cool word that replaces "shit" acc'd to the UD}

#spacescape#space#stars#scape#art

by Tactic May 17, 2006".

The term stayed with John throughout his career.  His last show, at the Delavan Gallery, in 2005 was titled, "Cathedralscapes".   

Symbols in Biological Spacescape painting

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Biological Spacescape, the featured painting this week, at first looks starry with the aurora borealis center stage, and that may be the theme. However, look more closely and you see a circle with a cross in the middle of the painting. That symbol represents the 4 elements: Earth, air, fire, and water. Many of John's paintings have these elements in abstract form or as characters. I found the same symbol is numerous other paintings, such as these 2. 

Any thoughts?  Go to John Serafin Art on Facebook!  or, johnserafinfineart@gmail.com