Fenimore Art Museum Event

UPDATE (8/11):

ART BY THE LAKE ON AUG 21ST IS CANCELED DUE TO RISING COVID CASES.

THE EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED AND IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN ON OCT 2ND. I MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE EVENT AT THAT TIME. TBD.

Come see me and my new paintings in-person on Saturday, August 21st at the Art by the Lake event at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY. The event will be outdoors on the museum’s lawn overlooking Otsego Lake.

 
The Fenimore Art Museum on Otsego Lake, Cooperstown, NY

The Fenimore Art Museum on Otsego Lake, Cooperstown, NY

 

I’ve shown my work at this event for the last couple years, with last year being virtual, so it’ll be great to be back again in-person.

Earlier this year, I sold out of nearly all my paintings so I’ve spent the last four months making a new body of work specifically for this event. So if you come visit me in Cooperstown, you’ll be the first to see my newly available paintings.

Here’s a selection of just a few of the 40 works that I will have available for sale, many for the first time. I’ll be posting even newer works on Instagram in the coming weeks as well. All paintings are oil on wood panels, ready to hang.

 
Me doing a painting demonstration at Art by the Lake in 2019

Me doing a painting demonstration at Art by the Lake in 2019

 

In addition to showing and selling my newly created paintings, I’ll be doing a painting demonstration and have a free artwork raffle. You don’t have to be there to participate in the raffle: email subscribers are automatically entered and you can become an email subscriber here.

Other artists at the event include Meg Anderson Argo, Marta Baxter, Karen J. F. Cooper, Roger Dowse, Robert Fisher, Kim Harvey, Tom Hussey, John Jackson, Matthais Kern, Nancy Kieffer, David Oster, Anne Pascale, Svetlana Pavlicek, Audrey Prucnal, Tatiana Rhinevault, Lisa Tessier, Linda Tracz, Christopher Wakefield, Maureen Wallace, and Andra Wilcox.

 
Hope to see you there!

Hope to see you there!

 

Art by the Lake at Fenimore Art Museum
August 21, 2021, 10 am - 5pm

 
 
 

Spring Flowers

I became fully vaccinated a couple weeks ago and have been really enjoying the spring and my new found freedom. I’ve been venturing out to my local community garden which I recently joined, seeing friends and family and working on making a new collection of paintings that I hope to show in-person this summer.

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Ariel and I recently joined the Red Shed Community Garden here in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We’ve been growing all kinds of great veggies - kale, lettuce, basil, bok choy, carrots, cucumbers, peas, chamomile and so on. The garden has all kinds of amazing fruit trees and flowers as well. The painting above shows some pink irises blooming at the garden. I had never seen pink irises before. Below are some pics of our personal bed (filled with Marigolds in the front) as well as a few the other trees and flowers in the garden.

I’ve continued to stay sane by going to our garden frequently and making a lot of day trips in and around the city. Last weekend we went to the New York Botanical Garden. Below is a painting of their Rose Garden which is in full bloom.

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To contrast the abundance of flowers and color I’ve been seeing in the city this spring, below is a painting I did of our neighborhood this March. What a difference a few weeks make!

Bedford and Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, March 2021

Bedford and Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, March 2021

As always, I’ve been working in two different styles, one more realistic (above) and the other more abstract (flower field paintings below). My goal is to eventually merge the two styles together. I’ve been debating with myself if I should continue to focus on developing each style more before trying to merge the two, or if I should nudge myself into combining the two styles sooner than later. I still have to think about that a bit more.

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I’ve applied for an upcoming in-person art exhibition which means I’ve had to hold off on selling any of my new works as I will need them if I’m accepted into the show. But if you’re interested in any new paintings, please let me know and I can keep you informed about when they’ll be available for purchase.

I hope you’ve having as nice of a spring as I am and are doing a bit better after such a rough Covid winter.

You can also check out my old work with is still available here:

 
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See Available Work

 

For A Brief Moment Roomba Wanted Me In Their Ads

 
Me and Dusty, my Roomba vacuum

Me and Dusty, my Roomba vacuum

 

A month ago I received an email out of the blue from a casting director to see if I would want to apply to be in Roomba’s upcoming content campaign called “So You Can” which will highlight various artists, lifestyles and family activities. Specifically, they wanted painters that use non-traditional tools, including palette knives which I use a lot when painting.

As it turns out I bought a Roomba last year (I call him Dusty) and have been totally obsessed with him. Last summer I broke my arm in a bike accident and found sweeping with one arm to be so difficult I ended up buying Dusty to clean the apartment for me. I love watching him drive all over the place, ram into walls, do circles and get himself out of crazy jams with electrical cords and other objects. So I was particularly excited to be in a Roomba campaign.

The casting director and I had a lot of back-and-forths and he told me the videos on my site were helpful but he wanted me to also make a 1-2 minute video of me talking about what inspires me to paint. I made a video of me reading a script which was probably not a great idea but better than me rambling. Here it is if you’re interested:

When I made my video, I thought of a bunch of ways to make it better (including being more human and less robotically creepy) but then I thought about how my goal is to be a good artist and not to be a mediocre actor for a vacuum commercial. So in the end I just sent the first take I recorded without a huge flub. If they want me, they want me. Otherwise it’d be better for me to focus my time on being a better painter than trying to pursue a fun but totally random one-off project.

They never did call me back which was a little disappointing but also a relief and totally expected. I think a lot of artists find themselves in the funny position of working very hard to develop their given artistic skill only to find themselves doing something completely different such as writing, teaching, lecturing or being in Roomba ads. I’m going to continue to pursue and be grateful for other avenues of painting related income but it’s tricky to know just how much effort you should put into pursuing these often fun but random opportunities.

In spite everything, I do love Roombas so here’s my pitch to get one even though they aren’t paying me:

I recommend buying the affordable Roomba 614 ($250) which is hidden on their website, sure it doesn’t have an app like the $900 version has, but you don’t need an app, you need a clean house which is what the 614 does. I also recommend buying a robot mop too. Since I’m not being paid by Roomba, I recommend buying the Shinebot W400 instead of the Roomba Braava Jet mop. The Roomba mop requires you to keep buying replacement pads which sounds annoying while the Shinebot just needs a brief cleaning after use. I love my Shinebot. I call her Dot my Shinebot mop bot.

So there’s my pitch. These robots probably won’t save you time as the “So You Can” campaign will probably suggest, but your floors will be much cleaner, the robots will entertain you with their antics and you get a new obsession of having your floors perfectly clean.

Why Art Matters to Me

“Art is the only thing people buy that doesn’t have a purpose. I suppose if art does have a purpose, it’s probably just to cover the walls.” This was a comment a painting professor I had at Pratt Institute would loved to espouse during class. My professor would usually go on and say that painting throughout history was used to document people and places, however with the advent of photography to document our daily lives, art in modern times is simply left to be decoration.

If art’s main purpose pre-photography was simply to document life, than I would get as much love out of looking at Rembradt’s self-portrait as I would looking at my own drivers license photo. There is also plenty of art, like the sculptures on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), which are universally charming even thought they aren’t realistic in representing human proportions. Art obviously brings more joy to people than just being accurate depictions of people and things. My professor’s last argument was that art is decoration, and by implication, marginal in its power. For me, decorations are the details that make an artwork whole: the inlay on a building’s arch, a pattern on a dress and so on. So I’m not even sure how you could have decoration but not art. Perhaps my professor is in need of a fresh perspective about art.

For me the purpose of art is to give people a fresh perspective on an emotional level. I got the sense that the reason why we were all at art school, my professor included, was because we were not the most emotionally well rounded group of people. We were sensitive, unbalanced and in need of new perspectives that could give us the ability to be ourselves in the world. This need for new perspectives is why I think we all became artists. By being an artist you can communicate your own life experience, how you’d like life to be, or what you think is most important.

 
My inner-self needs to be let out.

My inner-self needs to be let out.

 

When you consider that I live in Brooklyn, am a bit anxious and take spiritual refuge in nature, you can see why I enjoy painting landscapes which are naturally relaxing and point to the importance of nature. For me, art is not unlike medicine or religion. Art is there as an antidote to whatever plagues my mind.

Painting landscapes is a reminder to myself and others of the importance of nature and it’s calming effects.

Painting landscapes is a reminder to myself and others of the importance of nature and it’s calming effects.

I work at the Museum of Modern Art which sits right next to Saint Thomas Church and in many ways I think both institutions do similar things: they are both there to shift our focus away from everyday problems and to larger and different perspectives that make us feel more connected with our own lives, emotions and thoughts. For me, art and museums very much serve as my religion and church.

We all know we like art, but I think we as a society would be better off if we were able to understand why we like art. If we could more clearly articulate art’s value in uplifting people’s lives than we might not need to be so afraid of it. Art’s power is also clearly evident by how eager people are to use it as a form of oppression, by controlling how and what art is seen and by using art to signal a sense of superiority in wealth or status.

Art can do little for us if it doesn’t represent who we are, how we feel and what our concerns are. It’s been nice for me to see museums here in New York expanding a bit beyond showing work made by affluent white men from US and European cities. The way we currently exhibit, sell and fetishize art casts a long shadow on the potential it has in improving people’s lives. That shadow of course ostracizes many people. I hope my old professor, along with the art world continue to find new perspectives on what the power of art can be.

Be sure to join me for my upcoming Instagram Live spring sale this Sunday, March 21st, at 6PM! You can learn more here:

Fresh from the Easel

I hope you’re all doing well, or relatively so, considering it’s winter and we’re in a pandemic. I’ve pretty much finished setting up my at-home studio and I wanted to share with you my newest paintings that I’ve been making from home.

Once I finish a painting I wait for it to dry, take its “official” photos with my camera and then I make it available for sale on my website. But for this week, I thought I’d skip that whole drying/official photo routine and just show you some iPhone photos of what I’ve been up to.

Feel free to email me if you’re interested in owning one of the paintings below (alex@alexroediger.com) and I hope you enjoy seeing my new work!

Abstracted Landscape (After P. Bloomfield)

 
Abstracted Landscape (After P. Bloomfield), oil on wood, 14 x 11 inches, $580

Abstracted Landscape (After P. Bloomfield), oil on wood, 14 x 11 inches, $580

 

This work is a copy of a painting I inherited from my grandmother. The original painting is signed by a mysterious P. Bloomfield and was in large part the inspiration for me to start landscape painting.

I grew up seeing the original painting at my grandparents’ home and then inherited it in 2016 when my grandmother passed away. After inheriting the painting, I started seeing it everyday in my apartment and was reminded of how much I like the confident brush marks and its level of abstraction. Four months after inheriting the painting, I decided to start a series of semi-abstracted, impressionistic landscapes which I’ve been making ever since!

 
The original P. Bloomfield painting I inherited from my grandmother

The original P. Bloomfield painting I inherited from my grandmother

 

Forest Park

My wife and I recently bought a car and have been taking day trips to nearby parks and wildlife preserves so that we get some time out of the house. During these walks I’ve become interested in the very muted color palette of winters in New York City and wanted to make a painting based on those limited colors. Several weeks ago we visited Forest Park (in Queens) on a foggy morning and I realized it would be a perfect subject for the New York winter painting I had in mind.

 
Forest Park, oil on wood, 24 x 20 inches, $910

Forest Park, oil on wood, 24 x 20 inches, $910

 

Here are some details of Forest Park

 
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Night Walk

Night Walk is an abstract landscape that, at least for me, makes me think of that beautiful, spooky vibe I get when I’m in the woods at night and hear a sudden gust of wind rustling through the trees.

 
Night Walk, Oil on Wood, 8 x 6 inches, $210

Night Walk, Oil on Wood, 8 x 6 inches, $210

 

Black Oyster

I made Black Oyster based on a memory I have of a hill with exposed and crumbling rocks. But now that the painting is done, I’m just reminded of the mushrooms we’ve been recently growing in our home (blue oyster, yellow oyster, lion’s mane) which I think must have been a subconscious influence on me.

 
Black Oyster, oil on wood, 8 x 6 inches, $210

Black Oyster, oil on wood, 8 x 6 inches, $210

 

Wild Flower Meadow

Wild Flower Meadow is a sense memory of the colors, textures and arraignment of a meadow in upstate New York.

 
 
 

Wild Flower Meadow, Oil on Wood, 8 x 6 inches, $210

 

Richardson St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn

This view is from the corner of Richardson Street and Meeker Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, just a couple blocks away from my apartment. I was drawn to this view because of the great lighting and because of all the great color on the buildings — the bright green cornices to the right, the fun red and blue Kalmon Dolgin realtor logo and of course the fact the trees were in peak fall foliage. I also love the awesome vintage VW van on the left.

 
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Richardson Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Oil on Wood, 18 x 14 inches, $780

 

Abstract Landscape (Gray & Red)

When I look at this painting I get a fuzzy warm feeling of melancholy that I can sometimes experience on an overcast day, as if somehow the cloud cover is a giant blanket protecting me.

 
 
 

Abstract Landscape (Gray & Red), Oil on Wood, 8 x 6 inches, $210

 

End of An Era

Sadly, after nine awesome years, I went to my Bushwick studio last month for the very last time and moved out. Due to the pandemic and too many artists moving out at the same time, it was no longer tenable for the six of us that share the space to keep it going.

The studio was my second home, my refuge where I could make art, hang out with friends and have a community. Most of all I’m going to miss all the great friendships and conversations I’ve had there with Jisho, Andrew, Kyrre, Tati, Paz and so many more. I’m forever grateful to Jisho, who was able to manage the studio for nearly a decade!

I can’t recommend enough trying to find a community of like-minded people that exists outside of work and home. I was lucky I found mine at the studio. I hope to find a similar place again when the pandemic is over. But in the meantime, I’ve been painting from home for the last couple of months and it’s been going well. Although my apartment is much more crowded now that I’ve squeezed a small studio into my space, I’m able to paint just much as I did when I had a studio.

I’ve collected a lot of photos of the studio from over the years and thought I’d share them here. Photos include some of the amazing sunset views from our roof and windows.

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Constantin Brancusi’s “Mlle Pogany” (8 x 6 inches)
$175.00
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Richardson St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn (18 x 14 in.)
$720.00

Video & Interview with Musician, Public Speaking

I’m excited to share with you my latest video, which along with my art, features a song I commissioned by my friend and previous MoMA coworker Jason Anthony Harris. Jason makes music under the moniker Public Speaking and has toured across the US, been featured on the Bandcamp Weekly, The Needle Drop, and his album “Within Patterns” was listed as a Top Ten Experimental Album by A Closer Listen. The following is an email exchange I had with Jason about our video Color Walk, making art, and finding connection during a time of social isolation.

Alex: Thanks so much for the amazing song Jason! It’s perfect! I was inspired to reach out to you after reading one of your thoughtful social media posts about the importance of supporting bands during this time when there are no live concerts. I took a look at your Patreon where I was surprised to learn that anyone can commission you to write a personalized song! I immediately thought of how fun it would be to commission you to write a song that I could use to accompany a video of my paintings. Have you done any other song commissions? It’s such a great idea.

Jason: I started a Patreon in late September of last year with a member benefit of a personalized song. The listener fills out a brief questionnaire, and I write and record a song based on their life and whatever they might be going through. Some of the songs are light and playful, some are meant to empower people who are struggling, and others are more intimate dives into people's lives. Writing songs for other people is a completely new experience for me. I usually write music that draws heavily from history and literature, occasionally writing more personal pieces about my own life and experiences. Somehow, I've written nearly thirty personalized songs since launching this project, and the commissions keep coming. I've grown so much as a songwriter in that short period of time, and I've learned that making very specific art for an audience of one can be a rich, engaging process. I know that writing all these songs for other people has unalterably changed me as a musician. I also feel more open and confident in sharing and gifting my work.

Public Speaking

Public Speaking

Alex: I can relate, commissions have been helpful in my growth as an artist as well. Can you share a little about your process in writing and recording your song for me? What you were thinking about? What instruments did you use?

Jason: I was predominantly concerned with your aesthetic and the world of your paintings. I think your pictures have a great sense of calm and warmth. I wanted to put the listener inside that feeling, without distracting from it too much. I used some field recordings from an archivist at Yosemite National Park. I juxtaposed a soundscape of birds singing in the daytime with some nighttime lake sounds to give the piece a subtle, otherworldly, timeless quality. I also used the rhythmic sounds of chopping firewood, an electronic kick drum, and many layers of what sounds like synth but is actually effect-heavy guitar.

 
Public Speaking|Photo by Chester Hawkins

Public Speaking|Photo by Chester Hawkins

 

Alex: My hope was that this video might inspire others to get out, even if it’s a small walk around the block, and find a little solace with whatever nature can be found this time of year. Getting outside has definitely helped me a lot with my cabin fever and social isolation. Have you been able to get into nature at all? How have you been maintaining on a personal level?

Jason: I live in a small apartment with my wife and cat in Brooklyn, and I take daily walks and runs around our neighborhood to fight the feeling of isolation. I also meet up with friends one-on-one in the park every now and then, and I sat on my roof almost every day before the temperature dropped too low and the wind became too strong. I've been fortunate to take a couple of short trips upstate over the past few months to do a little hiking and feel closer to nature. On these trips we've been careful to stay very secluded and safe. They've definitely helped us stay sane during the pandemic.

Jason composing in his Brooklyn apartment

Jason composing in his Brooklyn apartment

“I have never regretted trying, but I almost always regret giving up, limiting, or diminishing myself. It’s taken me a lifetime to feel the agency to speak up and advocate for what I believe in.”
— Jason Anthony Harris

Alex: One of the highlights of the year for me was hearing a song of yours on the podcast How Did This Get Made? Have there been any silver linings for you creatively in the past year? Or as a musician do you feel like your creative life has just been on hold?

Jason: Happily, I've been more productive than ever. I'm sort of a workaholic when it comes to my music, and this time has given me so much space to explore and create - and also to reach out to other people and take more risks. I'm a recent convert to the philosophy of continually trying to make contact with (and make an impact on) others through my work, and of giving of oneself as much as possible. I have never regretted trying, but I almost always regret giving up, limiting, or diminishing myself. It's taken me a lifetime to feel the agency to speak up and advocate for what I believe in (not to mention, for my own art), instead of convincing myself that my contribution does not matter. What I do is not for everyone, but I know that I have been able to touch some people. I want to continue to show up for the ears that may want to listen. Besides, I've designed my whole life around making music, and creating is how I build meaning and keep myself from falling into despair.

Alex: Making art is definitely something I need to do to keep myself emotionally buoyant as well. Lastly, any plans, hopes or dreams for the rest of the year?

Jason: I find it almost impossible to make plans yet. It all depends on the vaccine rollout, which unfortunately does not seem to be going very well. I'd like to continue to build my Patreon following, and I have a loose goal of finishing 100 personalized songs by the end of this year. I have two upcoming albums for 2021, but the release dates have not been finalized yet. I'd love to play live again and to do some touring (especially in Europe), but who knows if that will be possible this year. I may have to wait until 2022! Thank you so much, Alex. I'm happy to provide music for your beautiful artwork, and I look forward to seeing it, and you, in person when the plague subsides.

Alex: Thanks Jason!

You can listen to and find out more about Public Speaking here:

Bandcamp
Tumblr
Facebook
Patreon.com

You can also find Public Speaking on streaming services: Spotify, AppleMusic and the like.