Tony Pro's Art Drivel

Pod casts, articles and other things

tonypro — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:52:30 +0000

Jeremy Lipking and I just recorded our first pod cast together. Jeremy is going to be producing them. It was a load of fun. Cigars, Wine and good discussion. He felt compelled to make it about me so I indulged. You’ll learn quite a bit about me in that pod cast. Stay tuned for a link to the finished version.

Coming this fall will be my article in American Artist Workshop Magazine where they covered my recent workshop for the California Art Club. It was held at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art. Dr. Michael Zakian of Pepperdine University wrote a wonderful article and broke own my entire process of painting. He made me sound REALLY smart… thank you Michael!

Finally, my classes are continuing on Wednesday nights at the California Art Institue in Westlake Village from 7-10pm. I am teaching figure and portrait painting. It’s a lot of fun!

The class painting

“Adventures of Plein Air Painting 2: The Russian” Teaser Trailer

tonypro — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:23:25 +0000

Zdravstvujte !
Here we go again!
Jeremy and I just returned from the Sierras on another painting excursion but this time we brought our good friend, Russian Painter Alexey Steele.

This clip (sped up to make our voices higher for comedic effect) was a fraction of the laughs we had this weekend, not too mention LOADS of great painting and scenic footage.

Releasing soon!!! Vsego horoshego!

Summer Fun in the Sierra’s

tonypro — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:35:30 +0000

So Jeremy Lipking and I were out for an adventure of painting in July this summer up at Saddlebag Lake. The weather turned pretty nasty and we caught a lot of it on tape. We were inclined to make a little special documentary about the process… was a lot of fun.

Enjoy!

Tony

A Call to all Artists and Patrons

tonypro — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:19:02 +0000

Greetings in art!

I am contacting you to let you know about an exciting event that is happening in the world of representational art. My good friend and painter, George Gallo has made a film, Local Color, loosely based on his life about becoming a painter and the trials and tribulations he went through to train with a Russian master. This film has been picked up by Empire Film Group, which they will distribute for a national release!

Personally, I have seen this film and I can say it is not only a well-directed and well written film, but the core principle of the film is based around making people see the RELEVANCE of Representational Art and calls to attention the ridiculousness of the Modern Art movement. Through the Oscar worthy performance of Armin Mueller-Stahl, we see a Russian master painter who speaks the truth about what Modern Art has done to the world of Representational Art and has grown tired of fighting back. Any of this sound too familiar in your life?

I am TIRED of walking into places like Los Angeles County Museum of Art or the Metropolitan Museum of Art and find that they have taken down another Sargent or Rembrandt and replaced it with a piece of Modern “Art” that I can’t even identify what it is. It kills my soul when this happens and I know it kills the souls of many artists around the world.

George and his wife Julie have made a film from money out of their own pockets that promotes this very idea. The studios wouldn’t touch this film because it didn’t have sex and drugs and they don’t see the relevance of Representational Art. Well, my friends, we are relevant and we are here to stay.

The ONLY way we can refute the modernist movement is to make Representational Art RELEVANT again. How do we do this? Not by local shows or even national shows that only get the attention of other artists, it has to be done through the media on a mainstream basis. It needs to be injected back into the mainstream and it needs to become a part of the World Culture again.

This film is going to be out in the mainstream, it’s even trailering on Apple’s website. This is our champion piece for our cause to start moving Representational Art forward and make it relevant to the masses.

PLEASE, I implore you to go support this film in it’s first week of opening nationally the week of November 7^th; take your spouse, go with friends. This movie has something for everyone to discover. The film is so well made that you don’t need to be an artist to enjoy. It’s a heartwarming story that will touch your soul, I know it did mine and it made me realize how good and proud it feels to be a representational artist and to cherish life through art and the relationships we make along the way.

For more information and to see a trailer:

http://www.localcolormovie.com/

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/localcolor/

Respectfully yours in art,

Tony Pro

Welcome to “My Stuff”

tonypro — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:44:38 +0000

12x9 Oil

No self respecting blog would be complete without a shameless plug for my own work. Obviously, I am an artist and this is my “stuff” as the late, great George Carlin put it. My work is whatever I make of it; my work is ever evolving. I am not happy with painting one style or method or subject matter. I believe art evolves with the human spirit and needs to conform to the artist’s life, as such. Which is why you will probably never see me in major galleries with a huge following as I am considered an “inconsistent” artist. I don’t paint in the same manner over and over again and, I am told, buyers want “consistency” which is total bovine feces. Sargent. Sorolla, LePage, and Friant never painted the same thing over and over again and they painted in so many different styles that suited their moods and subject matter. Yes, they had portraiture to conform to, but the paintings they painted for themselves, the ones they painted because they loved to paint… those are the ones that convey the TRUE spirit of who they really were. This is what is valuable to me about being an artist.