I had met Larry Shapin a year ago at some art function in Louisville Kentucky, during my first time at Idea Festival in September 2011.
I was starting to learn ‘who knew who,’ who hung out with who and the incestuous nature of this new city I had embarked on. Every city has those incestuous connections and Louisville is no exception – it’s those connections and relationships that make things work.
Person A is passion about X and so is Person B, so person A helps B and B helps A and X in the middle benefits, whether X is a person ‘creating’ the passion or a result of it. X then in turn helps A and B and dots are connected and stuff grows and blossoms….sometimes into new businesses, non-profits or initiatives. Sometimes into new relationships. Sometimes, it’s new art.
A local entrepreneur, Larry happens to love art, so much so that he decided to support the local Louisville art scene and owns over 230 pieces from nearby talent.
By support, you might think he just throws donations towards a central organization. That’s one way to help and support but there are others. How about directly buying the work from the artist and publicly displaying it in your home?
He invited me to his house last year and I didn’t have the time since it’s on the outskirts of town and I was carless.
This year, I got lucky and trekked out to his eclectic home in the country. As you make your way up the driveway, the first thing that hits you is a bright pink painted baby grand piano that isn’t a “real” baby grand piano or is it? It’s one of those double take moments. Beyond “it” is a tennis court and you find yourself asking “where am I anyway?”
The pink creation of a baby grand piano is from Israeli artist Avraham Palgi who created this piece of work from tank parts he found in the Israeli desert. It wasn’t originally pink of course, but how appropriate that it gets converted from dark army green to bright pink once it hits Kentucky soil.
One way to learn a lot about the local art scene is to visit museums and art galleries in town and they certainly have their fair share of them in the greater Louisville area. I was fortunate to meet Larry since he not only genuinely cares about helping accelerate the success of artists in the area, but his quirky personality is a delight not to mention the fact that he is a great storyteller. After all, every artist has a story to tell. Since images say so much, how about we start there?
From the gallery, let’s learn a bit about the artists, shall we?
The image on the left in the first row is an early painting of one of the most famous Kentucky still life artists: Mary Ann Currier, a piece he purchased in 1971. She is known for painting flowers, onions and other natural scenes, which has ended up on wine labels. On the right is a piece done by an artist from Iraq depicting how both women and the country of Iraq is becoming unraveled. Or at least, that’s “an” interpretation I heard.
Row two is of a piece of driftwood on the wall. This very moving piece hits you when you first enter the house as it stares at you from a large bare white wall over a refrigerator. Artist Keith Linton calls it PRICK and his other piece (8th row right) is appropriately called Nebulous.
The third row left is a little deceiving. Since the image is small, you could almost think the shot is of a piece of gym equipment in a home work out room. A Chris Radtke piece, it is supposed to represent an exact body mass amount of a human being in the broken glass that is shattered and lying around the thin wooden protruding beams which is supposedly the exact height of a person standing on ‘her’ hands. To the right of is a small piece (with horns), underneath of which displays spent bullets from the Iraq war.
Fourth row left – a space ship? Sort of. The piece is sitting in Larry’s front yard and while it looks like a massive heavy bolder, the piece itself is “feather-light.” (a different angle of it is also shown in fifth and sixth row right)
Shown in fifth row left is the work of Julie Leidner who takes photos of moving images during a popular movie and then attempts to paint it in its original effect, blur and all. This piece is showing a moving Julia Roberts in bright vivacious colors.
The sixth row left doesn’t capture the full piece, which is a vertical painting done by J.B. Wilson, who I had the fortune to meet last year. The painting which is propped up against the edge of the bathtub is done in cellophane. A more traditional piece to its right is a colorful and artistic painting from artist Sarah Lasley of a photograph she shot of someone on the street.
Seventh row left shows another view of the giant rocketship-like structure from Larry’s lawn and Nebulous by Keith Linton.
The next row is a piece by Bob Higgins who painted something that is reflective of De Koening’s later years. Larry stands in a photograph next to “it,” explaining the works of Scott Scarboro, a young artist who painted this large vertical piece as a representation of his “life” to-date. On the canvas, you can see his mother’s sewing machine among other memories and snippets from his first 20 years.
The ninth row (left) doesn’t look like much in such a small image on the screen, but it piece is fairly wide taking up real estate on a large white wall. The little boxes are of microfilm strung together, each one of a pornography shot in history. The microfilm is from the University of Kentucky, which was going to be tossed until Professor Auturo Sandoval decided to turned it into a “collage” piece of art instead. It’s called Very P.C. and the piece which is Pellon Polymer Canvas-backed is machine stitched and interlaced 35 mm microfilm, a combination of porn magazines, color photography, monofilament threads.
On the right is a dog, but not just any dog. When I first walked into the room, this mechanical dog (which makes sounds when turned on) was hidden under a silver glittery crinkley thin blanket that almost represents tin foil. His name is Buddy and he has 80 tattoos on his body. Buddy moves and responds to touch, so watch out.
The tenth row is another view of the pink piano and on the right, a completely different mood sets in: a vertical of the Ohio River by local artist Valerie Fuchs. The piece is called 1/60th of a Second.
The next to the last row shows another J.B. Wilson painting on the right (purple and pink background with a white unicorn in the foreground) also depicts Wounded Knee, American Indians and the prediction of space travel all wrapped into one. On its left is a piece by artist Kasha Ritter who says “real art matters.” She apparently makes funky purses as well according to a local.
Other things I saw? An amazing blue status made of blown and cast glass by artist Paul Nelson, a painting of a dog by Art Snake who finished the piece after he lost his dog. Larry also had pieces by 94 year old Bill Fischer, Steve Irwin, photographer Sarah Lyon and others, with over 230 pieces from local artists in his eclectic and very inviting home.
The lesson? As always, seek out the knowledge and the passion of the locals in whatever town or city you are visiting since it is there where the true stories lie. In their homes and heads is where you will find your hidden and magical journey and the most authentic one.
For more on the greater Louisville area, check out my post on the Hermitage Classic, Idea Festival, the Churchill Downs Taste of Innovation, and a handful of restaurant reviews in We Blog the World’s Kentucky food/wine section. The experience of 21c Hotel can be found here.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
