My new Nikon and I love living (I couldn’t call it “working”) in art251. Here’s one of the reasons — Freedom, Trish Biddle.

You have to give credit to Tate Modern in the United Kingdom. Since it opened in 2000, in the shell of a former disused power station Tate Modern has put contemporary art back on the map and revitalized the South Bank of the River Thames in London. Its vast display spaces, particularly the Turbine Hall, have housed some superb collections of some of the best contemporary art in the world. Its ground-breaking exhibitions of surrealism, abstract expressionism, conceptual and pop art have been both hailed and derided by many Londoners and millions of tourists.

So, continuing in the tradition of jarring our sensibilities Tate Modern is unveiling a new exhibit that presents a vision of a post-apocalyptic world 50 years into the future. The works come from French artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. She has filled the enormous space with recreations of sculptures by Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, blowing them up by 25 percent and placed them around a collection of metal bunk beds without mattresses, and complete with reading material. Apparently, in 2058 it rains incessantly in London — it’s been raining non-stop for years, people take refuge inside and the constant rain makes monumental sculptures grow. Well, the work is certainly thought provoking. But, I’m unsure whether Tate Modern is the right venue for a post-apocalyptic worldview compared with say, the British Museum or the Cowgirl Hall of Fame or the Centre Pompidou. You decide.

Had enough of Wall Street’s gyrations over the last couple of weeks? Are you having nightmares over the toxic financial soup about to devour our children’s economic futures? Wondering what to tell your Congressional representative about what to do with those opaque default credit swaps? Worried about where the $700 billion is coming from? I am.

However, sometimes we just have to take a break from the chaotic world that we’ve helped create. And, what better way than to take in some original art. I’m surrounded by the collective works of around 30 local artists. Their art soothes and inspires and gives me hope that creative expression can help smooth the hard edges off these troubled times. Art historians generally agree that really great art usually springs from times of immense change and turmoil — so artists get to work, now is your time!

Some artists never miss a beat. Just take a look at this familiar work by artist Laura Gilbert. Laura specializes in painting and printmaking. She has an upcoming exhibition at the Grady Alexis Gallery in New York, opening on October 24, and includes her (worthless) “Zero Dollar” prints. The show is aptly titled, ”Money, Men, and Mischief.” Ironically, Laura’s works may soon fetch a higher face value than the originals!

(ps. I think the Federal Reserve is printing some money too. But is it art?)

I’m lucky to be surrounded by great art, every day — it comes with the job! I think all the art inside art251 is beautiful to look at; sometimes the beauty is in the subject, or the composition, or the colors, or the narrative. Some of our art makes me feel and even think, and of course it may or may not make someone else feel completely different or even nothing at all.

On September 24, I attended the opening reception for Rita Barnard’s solo show at North Lake College in Irving. Entitled “Ball of Confusion”, Rita’s show contains select pieces of her thought-provoking mixed media. Rita is one of the few local artists who we’ve seen whose work shows concern for some of this country’s recent tragedies: the Iraq war, hurricane Katrina, the Enron financial scandal. Her art can’t help but make you think and feel.

Perhaps her greatest work is the immense “Tribute to the Fallen”. It is 44 feet long, and is made up of 22 panels, each 2 feet wide by 4 feet high. Each panel holds 209 toy soldiers. Each little plastic figure, carefully placed on a panel, represents one of the lives lost in the Iraq war. Each is an individual — we can read his or her name and place of birth and learn how each lost his or her life.

Regardless of which side of the debate you are on, I would urge you to go and view this work for yourself — you cannot help but be moved. This and other works by Rita Barnard are on display in the Gallery at North Lake College in Irving until October 15. For directions, click here.

Sacre Bleu! A retrospective exhibition of Jeff Koons’ sculpture opened on September 10, in the famed Chateau de Versailles! Yes, you are reading this correctly, the superstar of American contemporary art — and long-time commentator on cultural banality — is showing in the very cultural heart of France. The exhibit will continue until December 14, 2008. I see another culture war brewing.

Having seen both Versailles and some of Mr.Koons work I cannot help but be impressed by the braveness of the curators, who no doubt had to put up with obligatory demonstrations from those demanding “cultural purity”. As for Louis XIV, he may very well be spinning in his grave, or perhaps not! After all, the “Sun King” did have a passion for bold, distinctive and monumental works. Bienvenue, Monsieur Koons.

Jeff Koons Comes Home. Image courtesy of Ed Alcock New York Times.

Phew! Another weekend, another art festival. It’s a tough life being in the art business. The Cottonwood Art Festival running on May 3-4, in Richardson, Texas (north of Dallas) is now in its 39th year. It draws around 200 artists from around the country, showcasing their art on the grounds of a delightful old park complete with lake and ducks. This year’s festival featured some exciting new metal work from Moises Diaz and Kristin DeSantis, puzzle-like faceless portraits from Signe Grushovenko, and fluid acrylic sculptures by Rod Garrett. Other notable works included the uncanny photorealistic portraits of Jeannie Maddox, Jeffrey Cannon’s soft landscapes in pastels, and Ed Taylor’s iridescent raku pottery. Also, on display were some bright, new works from emerging, young artists from local high-schools - notables: Shay O’Brien and Holly Lyons.

Great art and weather made for a good turnout. So, while the top end of the art market in the New York auction houses may be suffering from economic splutters, the affordable end of the market seems to be doing rather well in North Texas.

3 festivals in 2 weeks can mean only 1 thing… art lives!

Last week we visited the Ft.Worth Arts Festival (April 17-20), more commonly known as the Main Street arts festival. This grand event is now in its 23rd year, and is drawing bigger crowds and better art than ever. I had to fight my way through the throngs of people to see some really outstanding and innovative works from 200 juried artists from coast-to-coast. Some of the most notable standouts: Lewis Tardy’s biomechanical sculptures, Joseph Becker’s glasswork, surreal photographs from Barbara Kline, photorealistic paintings by Jeannie Maddox.

Then, as I’ve already mentioned, we hosted the first annual Bear Creek Art gala (April 19) in Keller. I fully expect this to become an annual showcase exclusively for local artists over the coming years.

Now, we’re getting ready for Art in the Square (April 25-27) in Southlake. The festival attracts around 130 artists and 80,000 people, and is now ranked in the top 100 art festivals in the U.S.

And, the winners are: me - my family and I get to see lots of great art and meet some very interesting artists; artists - they get lots of great exposure to a receptive audience and make some sales in the process; local community - much of the proceeds from these events goes to our local charities and non-profits, and there’s significant uptick in business for many local stores in the process. And, the losers? Well, I suppose, people who are trying to avoid art and traffic gridlock.

art251 is a proud sponsor of the first annual Bear Creek Art Gala. It is on April 19, 2008, from 7-10pm, at the Arthouse in Keller town center - 251 Town Center Lane, Keller, Texas.
We’ll be opening our space for the event, which features original art, live music, video art, great food and an auction. All proceeds go to Young Artists Of Texas (YAT), a local non-profit dedicated to promoting young, local artists.

All signs seem to be pointing towards this event being a great success. So, we have high hopes of turning this gala into an annual affair, which grows in size and scope. We’ll be working with the talented group of organizers and sponsors to make this a premier art event that focuses on LOCAL art and artists. Oh, it’s called “Bear Creek Art Gala” because the location overlooks Bear Creek, a picturesque sliver of water surrounded by trails that meanders through our city.

Well, we went global! Our top 2 designs hail from two very good graphic designers, one based in Montreal, Canada and the other from Ulm, Germany. So, whichever one we finally select - we’ve gone global!

We like different elements of each design, so we took the best of each and asked the 2 designers to come up with variations that could work together. We have black and white versions as well as designs in various colors. We are very pleased with the results.

art251 design #1, Ulm, Germany

art251 design #2, Montreal, Canada

So, watch for one, of both, of these to appear at an art space near you, very soon.

I’m stuck in Texas trying to finish the business plan for art251. So, it goes without saying - but I’ll say it anyway - I’m missing the annual Armory Show in New York City. The show runs from March 27-30 at Pier94. This year’s count is around 150 galleries featuring all new works from living artists… or is it living works from new artists?

Perhaps indicative of the growing influence of contemporary art in Europe and Asia, in this year’s event non-U.S. galleries outnumber home-grown ones.

So, since I’m unable to attend the Armory - after all, I did get to visit Art Basel Miami in December 2007 - I’ve posted a short pre-opening video that makes me feel as if I am, well, almost, but not-quite really there.

It’s over. After starting our quest for a new logo design just over a month ago, we’ve finally called-off the search. We received 490 entries from all around the world. We gave feedback to each designer, on every design. We ranked each entry on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, with 5-stars being the best. We ended up with around 30 or so in the 5-star category. We rated these on another scale - funky, artsy, urban, trendy, sophisticated and expensive - which would reflect how each might be perceived by our target customers.  It took us a while to whittle down our top 30 - the quality was exceptional, and we had become quite emotionally attached to some of the designs! We eventually got down to the top 10 and then top 5.

Before I go on, here’s a screen shot of the top 24 entries. Each of these is a potential corporate logo, which could end up on our storefront sign, letterhead, website, business cards, packaging and all manner of other items (Roger Federer’s arm band, Tiger Wood’s polo-shirt perhaps?). But more importantly, each of these, and each of the remaining 466 designs, is a work of ART.

About a month ago, we set out to re-design our look. Our logo, website, blog and paper-based marketing materials needed professional assistance from a real graphics designer. So, we went local AND global.

Locally, we contracted with Chris Lauer, a graphic artist and illustrator to re-vamp our logo. He gave us about 30 or so great new designs to consider.

Then, we went global. We posted a logo design contest on 99designs. The response was overwhelming. We received 460 designs from over 80 designers. Entries came from all around the globe, including Argentina, Nigeria, Indonesia, UK, Portugal, France, Romania, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Pakistan, Germany, India, Canada, Italy, Brazil, Taiwan, Netherlands, Serbia and of course the US. In our own very local way we’ve become a globally designed brand.

So, we and our retail designer now have 490 logo designs - or rather, art - to sift through. The creativity, quality and quantity of this work really caught us off-guard. It will take us a while to rank our favorites and even get down to a short-list of 10 or so. As we do, we hope to post some of the best designs here.