As most of you know by now I love the outdoors, and I love painting. This summer I was introduced to the amazing natural landscape of Montauk, the best beaches I’ve ever been to in New York. I didn’t get a chance to paint there during the summer, so I made sure to capture some early fall light on a beautiful warm sunny day in late October. I chose this composition because I liked the way the empty chair was lit just inside this entry way to a garden. The dominant tree in the landscape stands tall like a figure and peers over the fence at the chair.  A narrative beckons.

Let me take you through the process…

Starting out with cyan, magenta, and yellow.  This was inspired by my last major studio work called CMYK NYC, that is featured at my solo exhibition that is open in NYC at RL Fine Arts until November 12th.

Keeping the brush strokes very loose feeling out the composition and space.

Yellow and green give form to the ground as the blue fills the sky with volume.

The tree actually bends over the fence and stretches over the garden.  I like to think it is peering into the garden.

Now I can really feel the depth in the foreground.  In the open doorway a chair begins to appear.  The two birdhouses on the fence posts are carved in negative space.

After adding the potted plants I have all of the elements in the landscape represented.

Now im adding dark colors to turn up the contrast in the painting.  The air was crisp and the sun was warm.

The moss on the tree is an electric green.  As the painting develops so does the growth of the tree.

Enjoying the man made elements playing off of the plant life.  The juxtaposition of geometric forms to organic permutations.

I decided it was necessary to eliminate some trees in the background.

The Illuminated Chair, Montauk, NY | acrylic on canvas | 24 x 18 inches | 2011

Click the image for larger version.

The lit up chair is inviting the viewer to a wonderful place, the rest of the landscape frames the moment. Nature, man, and mystery.

See more landscape paintings here. If you would like to commission a location painting contact me info@arilankin.com.

While walking home from a summer BBQ at a friends house in the middle of the night I stopped with a friend in Madison Square Park to see this years public sculpture.  I was taken aback when Jaume Plensa’s Echo appeared perfectly lit in the thick night sky.  We walked around Echo while enjoying the quiet NYC summer night.  The sculpture appeared to follow us as we walked around the park.  It feels alive in this location.   I am particularly drawn to the scale of the sculpture.  It is equal to the height of the trees and stretches towards the sky.   It is definitely worth seeing in person.  It’s up until August 14th.

A few days later I returned to the park to paint a literal landscape with a realistic surreal twist.  People who have seen the painting without knowing about the sculpture think it is one of my surreal paintings.

Here we go…

I got there early and was the first to enter the newly opened gated area.  After some pacing back and forth I decided on this vantage point.

A rough acrylic sketch in some primary shades to feel out the composition.

Jumping into the painting with oils now.  Some dark greens to fracture the space.  It’s only oil from this point on.

Now that I am certain I’m sticking with this composition I start adding the trees.

Testing how putting blue in the sky activates the green.  Although I’m painting from observation, it’s all about what is on the canvas.

Removing the pink from the sky by adding blue.  Every mark of creation is a mark of destruction.

The light is starting to set in the west, so I remove some shadow from the left side of the face.  At this point I took a quick bathroom break.  On my way to the bathroom I had a strange feeling I recognized every other person on the street.  On my way back I thought I recognized a high school classmate while crossing the street.  I turned around and said her name.   Sure enough it was her.  I’ll say it a million times, New York is the smallest-biggest city you’ve ever seen.

Starting to lock in on how I want to place the shadows.  While painting outdoors the light is continually changing.

After spending a lot of time on the trees I turn my focus to the buildings in the background.  I love studying buildings when I paint.   There are so many things to notice, especially as you stand in the same place and watch the light change.

An action shot by the talented Larry Closs.  It was nice chatting with you Larry, and thanks for the great photo.  Notice I have one headphone in.  I listened to Outkast’s Aquemini most of the day on repeat.

Time to change the pace as I add lots of details.  Literally carving out the building on the right side by scraping the paint off the canvas with my knife.  I also gave the sculpture a facelift.

Adding the lines denoting the sectional construction of Echo.  It was very sunny, so notice the reflection of the grass on the chin of the matte stone surface.  Keep in mind that color is traveling all around us.

Madison Square Park and Plensa's Echo | 14 x 11 inches | oil and acrylic on canvas | 2011.

Fine details and some whispy clouds finish the painting off.  Go see this sculpture for yourself and grab a bite to eat at Shake Shack.  It was tough smelling those burgers all day.

This is the perfect time of the year for painting on location.  I am currently available for commissions, so if you would like to commission a location painting or anything else contact me directly.

What an amazing public work of art, great work Jaume!  Plensa exhibits internationally, and is represented  by Galerie Lelong in New York and Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago.

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Click here for Sketch of the Day Archive

Las Vegas, NV – April 20 – 28th, 2011 — Time Out New York’s Most Creative New Yorker, Location Artist Borbay, and Contemporary Artist Ari Lankin, will be painting live, on the Las Vegas strip from April 20 – 28th. Based in the Luxor and financed by a private collector, Borbay and Lankin will spend their days and nights behind the easel.

Borbay was in Vegas this past December to celebrate his fianceé’s birthday, and scout locations. “I love Vegas. In fact, I ran my one and only marathonhere in 2005… Being back in Vegas 5 years later, to-the-day, made me realize I had to paint The Strip. This trip is about capturing the magic of Vegas on canvas, sharing the adventure, gambling big and zeroing-in on what Hunter S. Thompson described as ‘The American Dream, In Action’.”

Borbay’s projected painting locations will include the Welcome to Las Vegassign, Caesars Palace and the soon-to-be-closed Sahara, one of the last refugees of the Rat Pack era.

Lankin was in Vegas last April for a bachelor party.  While there he took advantage of the 24/7 lifestyle he so expertly stradles.  His friends gambled as he roamed the streets and casinos with camera in hand.  There is no separation between living and creating.  Lankin is no stranger to painting on location. ”I can’t wait to paint the eye candy that I experienced last year.  Borbay and I have a great time meeting people while we paint, and the people of Vegas will no doubt be a special blend.”     He is looking forward to painting the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, and a nightscape.

About Borbay

Upper East Side artist Borbay has painted edgy portraits and famed locations around the world, including The Guggenheim, TriBeCa Grand,Woolworth Building, Elaine’s, Chrysler Building, Hancock Tower (Chicago),Runaway Bay (Jamaica) and San Marco Cathedral (Milan). His architectural impressionist collage paintings have been featured in Time Out New York ,Wall Street Journal Japan, New York Post, Whitewall, The Huffington Post, The Source and more.

About Ari Lankin

Lankin creates bodies of work in different visual styles ranging from conceptually based abstraction to photorealism.  There is nothing he can’t paint.   Lankin worked at The Guggenheim, produced a shoe with adidas, and has collaborated in a wide variety of media. He is now a full-time artist painting works in a variety of media and styles.  “Life is my muse. We make things with tools and ideas. The show travels with us wherever we go.”  He lives and works in Manhattan.

Press and Acquisition

Please contact Lankin for press or acquisition inquiries.

This is a recap of a custom painting I did when asked to contribute a work of art to support Doug Varone and Dancers at the upcoming Cast Party on March 15th.  More details about Doug Varone and Dancers, The Opening Night Benefit Cast Party, and his new show Chapters from a Broken Novel at the bottom of the page, but for now lets get to the painting…

The painting was inspired by Doug Varone’s Alchemy.

The figure is derived from a great photograph by Phil Knott of the dancer Netta Yerushalmy.  The above image is a snapshot with my phone off a computer screen that I used to inform my prepatory drawing.  You can see the original photo here.

The drawing was a chance to familiarize myself with the pose and create a sculptural representation.  I drew the photograph in the same way that I have drawn Edgar Degas’ dancers at The Guggenheim Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Degas’ dancers were originally made out of clay before being cast in bronze and have a gestural quality.  His “studies” often exclude details in the face and hands.  Here’s an example from The MET.

The marks I used for this drawing simulate the mass of a sculptural form.  I solidified the hands, obscured the face, and then added a base to further the sculptural effect.

Let’s start on a black ground.

Blocking out the negative space gives the form mass.

Some purple and blue for the highlights.  I simulated museum lighting.

The form of the figure is solidifying.

The figure looks as though it is on the edge.  An edge further emphasized by the base of the sculpture.

Varone's Alchemy (Dancer), oil on canvas, 8 x 6 inches, 2011, Ari Lankin.

Some finishing touches create a simple and expansive space.  A space for this figure to hover between kinetic and potential energy.  It is forever in a pose of sublime expression.

Degas' Dancer In The Guggenheim, oil on canvas, 8 x 6 inches, 2011, Ari Lankin.

Degas at The MET, oil on canvas, 8 x 6 inches, 2010, Ari Lankin.

This is the third painting in my series of sculptural dancers.  The other two (above, and here) were inspired by drawings I did of Degas at The MET and The Guggenheim.  Returning to my studio I used the drawings to create the paintings without ever referring to photographs of the original sculptures.  I did the same thing with this painting.  I felt that degree of separation gives my interpretation a life of its own.  After creating the preparatory drawing I did not look at the original photograph again.  I’m looking forward to adding more sculptural dancers this series.

Come support a great cause, mingle with the Doug Varone and Dancers family, chat with me, and win this painting during a silent auction at The Cast Party on March 15th.  You can purchase tickets here for the March 15th Opening Night Cast Party benefit for Doug Varone and Dancers.  The Cast Party is at The Park Restaurant Garden at 9:00pm following the opening night performance of Chapters from a Broken Novel at the Joyce Theater starting at 7:30pm.

Chapters from a Broken Novel performance schedule at the Joyce this week, get tickets
March 15th – 20th

Tue-Wed 7:30pm

Thu-Fri 8pm

Sat 2pm & 8pm

Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Dance Chat: Wed, Mar 16

Robert Capra, Spanish Loyalist At The Instant Of Death, 1936.

On a side note, the pose from Alchemy reminded me of this iconic photo by Robert Capra during the Spanish Civil War.

Last Saturday the mercury was high enough to officially begin the outdoor painting season.  I decided to set up my easel in front of The Armory Show.  I figured this would provide entertainment for the people waiting in line and an opportune chance for some interesting conversations with art folk.

The scenary near the piers is pretty drab, so when I got there I decided not to paint a representational landscape.  I felt like starting with pink.

More yellow inspired by the warm sunlight on my skin.  The frenzied energy of the visitors to the fair, and the crowded pedestrian highway inspired a denser composition.

Some Flyer orange to cover the white ground.  This anchors the central image.

Around this time I started to get questions from visitors to the show.  One of the staff members from far away came up to me twice saying they really liked the painting.  The viewer interaction while working on the street is an energy that can’t be matched in the studio.

Covering up the black to give the image some atmosphere.

I found the white a little jarring, so lets cover it with some translucent deep pink.

The elements at the top of the image were interesting but I found their relation to the central image distracting.  A healthy layer of pink turns them into yesterday’s news.

Working with the pink, and now adding blue to activate a new idea of light within the image.  In a painting, the idea of light can be represented infinitely.

Less blue and more pink.  I pull the black down to the bottom edge of the canvas.  Notice how that little change in the composition changes everything.

Pushing the black back, I decide I want to keep the shape in the middle away from the edges of the canvas.

What sort of space is this?

An opening to a chasm.

There is life growing from deep below.  There is life reaching across the surface.

A fleshy form connects the long cylinders and the painting is complete. It was getting dark so the color is a little off on this final image.  I will update this with a better picture soon.

Painting outside of the The Armory Show was a lot of fun and my first time painting an abstract image on location in the street.  Considering the high percentage of art people around I was a little surprised by the number of people who came up to talk to me.   I think people are more inclined to talk about the work when its representational of the landscape.  I did get a lot of people standing behind me and watching, some passing comments of praise, and a few interesting conversations. One of the highlights was when a small boy walked by with his mother as they were leaving the show.  She sped by without looking when he yanked on her sleave and said to his mom “Thats a good painting, right?”  She pulled him along without looking, and he continued to look back until they rounded the corner.

I didn’t get any photos of me working.  Please email me if you have any.

Big shout out to Peg, Salem Krieger, Steve Shane, Kate, Robert Rohr, the lovely mother and daughter from Dresden, and the mystery girl who gave me a bathroom break!

There is nothing quite as life changing as your first born child. A new chapter full of blessings and love. The beginning of a new family full of magical moments.

For this painting I had a lot of photographs to choose from.   After listening to what they wanted I chose this one for two reasons.

The first is because I like the peaceful look on his face, the sea of blankets he’s in, and the gesture of his hands.  Secondly, I couldn’t stop thinking about how his Grandma told me she wonders what he dreams about when she watches him sleep.  I can only begin to think about how amazing baby dreams are.  The longer I look at the photo the more I see a little man full of personality.  As the painting evolved I sent them process shots for their approval.  It felt great hearing how excited they were about the developing painting.

For the record this is my youngest portrait. All of five days old, the incredible Robert Gaetan Specht, aka, Robbie G.

I remarked how the “G” in his name kind of sounds gangster, and his grandmother quickly said, “Because he is gangsta!”  This helped inspire the choice of “Every Day” by Girl Talk for the music on the video.  The song samples John Lennon’s “Imagine” and layers it with some contemporary rap beats.

The painting of Robbie G, the new Boss of the family… (Video is best viewed on YouTube in HD)

This painting starts in the shadows of a black ground, inspired by his first 9 months in the womb.

Wrong placement in the canvas which is fixed by wiping down the canvas.

We didn’t want the painting to look exactly like the photograph.  I chose some of my richer colors, and experimented with form.

A real man can wear pink.  Confidence is sexy.  Notice how he can drive with his left hand while pretending to talk on the phone with his right.  While updating the first-time father with pictures of the painting in progess, he told me  ”It’s only been four weeks, but he’s growing up so fast.” I couldn’t help but laugh.  Soon he’ll be asking to borrow the keys to the car.

Keeping the energy high, and the brushwork loose I start to experiment with altering the source material.

Odds are he’ll be right handed, but I increased the size of his left arm to anchor him in the composition.  I also took away his driving privileges by getting rid of the steering wheel.  Sorry fella, your dreaming, not driving.

The patterning on the blanket starts to spell his name, “Robbie G.”

Time to add a little more peacefulness to his face, you can never have too much.

Robbie G | oil on canvas | 24 x 18 inches | 2011

Just a little more peace, and another reference to the family name folded carefully in the blanket above Robbie G’s left shoulder.

A beautiful baby who will grow up to be a legend.

“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one”

-John Lennon, “Imagine”

If you like the soundtrack to the video I highly recommend downloading Girl Talk’s latest LP All Day for free at Illegal Art. Here is a link to a great article in the New York Times about Greg Gillis of Girl Talk.  Looking forward to hear what he comes up with next and hopefully get a chance to see him perform live.  Greg if you read this drop me a line because I have a question for you.

It’s Friday, so time for another time lapse painting video.  This time things are going to be slightly different.  I’m going to let you watch the video without any verbal description.  The play by play after the jump.

Dual, Duel?, 30 x 40 inches, oil on canvas, 2011.

The video is best viewed fullscreen on highest resolution.

The Making of Feathered Edge from MOCA on Vimeo.

There is nothing like bringing together great minds to form something truly amazing. The Bauhaus was a school in Germany that brought together creative people from all backgrounds. The result was a creative synergy that reverberated through art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography. Students and faculty worked together sharing their expertise eliminating any hierarchy in the arts.

That was a very minimal introduction to the Bauhaus. My point of writing this blog entry is to hear from the international community. Do you know of any modern day Bauhaus’ like situations? They do exist, but for the most part not at an institutional level. Please take a few minutes to share with us any places you may know around the world. Whether it be a university, a warehouse in New York, the streets of Berlin… let us know.

I think the structure of the Bauhaus would be an extremely fertile environment for creative professionals. Think of a school that crosses disciplines like architecture, fashion, new media, science/technology, and the arts.

Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues came together to form an ambitious collaboration called Ball-Nogues Studio. A group of people working together in art, architecture and industrial design. According to their website the studio consists of these ten individuals: Benjamin Ball, Martina Dolejsova, Benjamin Jenett, James Jones, Ayodh Kamath, Jonathan Kitchens, Alison Kung, Deborah Lehman, Gaston Nogues, Rachel Shillander. (Please excuse me if any of these links are to the wrong person, I did not have time to verify each link.)

The studio also collaborates with outside professionals to customize production and process for specific projects. Take a look at Feathered Edge, an installation exploring digital technology and craft at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Click on the title of the piece and explore the project with photographic stills, and a great 7 minute video.

Here is the amazing project description in their own words:

Feathered Edge was commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The project explores the convergence of digital technology and craft. It is one in a series of installations curated by Brooke Hodge and Alma Ruiz. Integrating complex digital computation, mechanization, and printing with traditional handcrafted production techniques, Feathered Edge explores our desire to alter a space with fluid architectural forms that require a minimal use of material while utilizing a new proprietary technique that yields the effect of three dimensional spatial constructs “printed” to resemble objects hovering in space.

Feathered Edge is comprised of 3604 individual lengths of twine, totaling 21 miles, that have been dyed, cut, and then suspended from mesh scrims installed on the walls and ceiling of the gallery. With the aid of the “Insta-llator 1 with the Variable-Information Atomizing Module,” a machine designed and manufactured by Ball-Nogues Studio especially for this installation, the strings were precisely saturated with solvent-based inks, created by a chemist for the project, using four digitally controlled airbrushes and then cut to varying lengths. Using specialized parametric software developed with a software programmer, we generated a map that was printed onto the scrim to establish the proper locations and lengths of the twine in the space. Each piece was attached to the mesh scrim, and then knotted by hand in a technique similar to that used to make latch-hook rugs. The weight of the string creates a complex system of overlapping catenary curves on which cyan, magenta, yellow, and black segments were “printed” to yield the effect of ghostly three dimensional objects. Sometimes the objects are visible, at other times they blur to resemble a fluid-like vapor that floats and hovers in the gallery space.

The software used to develop the parameters of the resulting ephemeral spatial condition can yield nearly infinite possible design configurations. While the environment is defined by the string formations and printed “objects,” it is also constructed from the negative space found within the array of catenaries, which allows sight to extend into and throughout the spatial structure. The space is activated by people, movement, and light, creating a continually changing experience.

Computers are great at quickly analyzing large amounts of information, then generating data used for fabrication, but they can’t yet produce fully realized works of architecture. At best they can produce highly accurate components and spatial mappings or systems, this is where hand craft comes in. We use our hands and our knowledge of material as a filter for the digital possibilities and to achieve the final “built” environment; in effect, we use the prowess of the computer to push the limits of the hand.

Feathered Edge is the third in a series of projects we refer to as “Suspensions.” Unseen Current (2008), exhibited at Extension Gallery for Architecture, Chicago, featured 2,500 suspended string catenaries, and Echoes Converge, exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2008 used string to create intricate patterns inspired by the baroque ceilings of the city’s buildings. These softly structural, open-air spaces encouraged social interaction, enveloping rather than obstructing viewers.

Principals in Charge: Benjamin Ball, Gaston Nogues
Project Management: Andrew Lyon

Project Team: Chris Ball, Tatiana Barhar, Seda Brown, Patricia Burns, Paul Clemente, Sergio d’Almeida, Jesse Duclos, Matt Harmon, Karlie Harstad, Ayodh Kamath, Jonathan Kitchens, Andrew Lyon, Lina Park, Tim Peeters, Sarah Riedmann, Joem Elias Sanez, Geoff Sedillo, Norma Silva, Caroline Smogorzewski, Beverly Tang, Blaze Zewnicki, Sasha Zubieta, and the preparatory staff of MOCA.

Feathered Edge was on view July 26-November 15, 2009

Rigging: Kelly Jones of Jax Logistics

Custom Software Development: Pylon Technical

Live Video: Peter West

Lord Stanley's Castle, 30 x 30 inches, oil on canvas. Ari Lankin 2011. Available.

Lord Stanley’s Castle – All-Star Home Ice Advantage In The Stanley Cup Finals?

The Stanley Cup is the greatest trophy known to mankind. Besides the Cup’s visual aesthetic beauty it is a vessel representing heart, soul, and tradition. The passion and dedication it takes to win the grueling seven game series is truly mind over matter.

The Cup is alive and growing.  Every winner of the Cup has their name engraved on it.  When space runs out another ring is added to the bottom of the Cup.   If you started playing the game at an early age it’s what you dreamed of winning.  Players put everything on the line to win the Cup.  It is no wonder the fans turn into frenzied animals.

Home ice advantage is crucial in this sport.  The two biggest factors are the home team can match lines and the support of the fans.  Since the All-Star game is today, let’s imagine if the NHL All-Star game in the old format of West vs. East determined which conference would have home ice advantage for the Stanley Cup Finals.
It would be a tremendous game. In fact, it would be unlike anything the sport has ever witnessed. However, as a life-time fan and player of the game I think the team with the best regular season performance deserves home ice.

Now let’s get to the painting…

I started the painting not knowing I was going to paint the Cup.  The Cup part of the painting started out as two chairs back to back on a bed of grass.   On the left side a fragment of a brick wall.  A brain sits atop the backrest spinal cord, and the spirit of the Cup was born.

By this time I started breaking the space of the painting up;   foreground, middleground, background, and an irregular partitioned space on the left side.  The mapping of space is an exciting component of painting.  I joined the chairs with some lines that created a cylindrical effect.  Then I sculpted out the cup on the top.

I decided the wall on the left needed a more human feeling so I gave it a fleshy opening.  A plant grows at a steady pace up the tall pole.  There’s a brain in the bowl of the Cup and some heart-wings inside the base.

I added some dark paint on the Cup to create some more volume and solidity in the form.  To balance this new mass I added more density to the grass in the foreground.

I turned the grass into ice just like it does every fall as the season starts, and every late December for the Winter Classic.  Notice the dasher action that bends the space.  The black base of the cup anchors the form and gives it a gravitational relationship to the ice.

Lord Stanley's Castle, 30 x 30 inches, oil on canvas. Ari Lankin 2011. Available.

Here is the final painting.  Painting this treasure was unlike any other object I’ve ever painted.  I am a painter and  a huge hockey fan.  This painting symbolizes overcoming any challenge to get to where you want to be in life.  Live a life full of love, dedication, and integrity.