Monday, November 20, 2006

Discovering a New Artist

I went to an art opening on Friday night downtown in Soho, which I haven't done since my best friend was dating a guy who owned his own art gallery down on Wooster Street. But a colleague from work told me about this amazing artist, Daniel Merriam, and gave me the link to the gallery website, and I just fell in love with the art.

I'm no art historian, I'm one of those people who know what they like. And I really like Daniel Merriam's art. His paintings are so surrealistic and fantastical. You just want to create stories around the paintings. They provoke and stimulate the imagination.

I'm not a big fan of abstract painting. I can appreciate the talent and technique of Picasso, Francis Bacon, and Jackson Pollack, but I don't want their stuffing hanging in my house. My taste runs more to the impressionists or Chagall, Georgia O'Keefe, or even Frida Kahlo.

Daniel Merriam's art reminds me of the artist Maxfield Parrish, or Heironymous Bosch, sort of larger than life art, but still grounded. Plus the colors are astounding! There are very few artists that I would want to own, and Daniel Merriam is one of them. I also long to collect Disney animation cells.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to make Eloisa James or Julia Quinn type of money before I can afford to buy one of his paintings. Of course, the ones that I really liked were going for $60,000. The cheapest were limited edition prints that were going for $600. Wow, I could sell a kidney and maybe then I would be able to afford a painting.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

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