Odd Nerdrum

I have been accepted to study with the greatest living painter, Odd Nerdrum. I will be heading out of country in June to begin, my return date is noit know at this moment. Very excited to study with a living genius.

http://www.nerdruminstitute.com/

Etched Glass NYC

I have been etching glass for over 20 years, I taught myself as a way to pay for art school. I have etched everything you can name and then some. My favorite etchings are ones like the piece above that I made for myself. I still etch for pay but I pick and choose my jobs these days. I am one of the last of the glass artists who still do everything by hand. No computers!!


If you want my studio to etch for you, you can call me. 917 400 1317.

I am the guy they call when other people cant do the job.

Drawings from The Metropolitan

I have started drawing again in a big way. I stopped really hitting the sketchbooks for 1.5 years and then one day I got the bug again and now I cant stop. I am really focused on greco-roman sculpts right now from the Metropolitan. I am now approaching drawing in a very serious matter. There is a tendency to relax when drawing like its a relaxation exercise. I get very intense and focused and try to pretend that each drawing may be my last. Theres always a chance the ole M15 can take you out with a hot dog in hand on any NYC street..

Etched Glass NYC by Gardega

I was recently commissioned to design and Etch 8 windows for a Rabbi in Brooklyn. The only catch was I had to have 5 of them done and installed in two days for Passover. I was able to get everything done and installed on time.  My client was very happy. Etched glass is great for providing privacy while allowing a lot of light to flow in. Privacy was a major concern on this job so there was a lot of coverage/ etching. All my designs are original. This was hand drawn and designed. Unlike most glass etchers my work is not downloaded clip art from internet. I based this design on a carved wooden piece of furniture in the clients home.

WWW.GARDEGA.COM

Sistine Chapel hits 500

Today is the 500 anniversary of my beloved Sistine Chapel. God Bless Michelangelo.

update

I just got notice that I have actually used up a full 1gb of storage space and cannot post more pictures. go figure. I will now buy storage space. I guess 5,000 posts will do that to you. I shall fix it.


a.

Its a small world...

I cant remember if it was a year and a half or two years ago that I received a phone call from a person I didnt know. (I am lucky enough to get calls on occasion from people looking to buy my art) The person, named Larry called me from Westchester, a place I had just spent a year in before I escaped back to my true home, NYC. While I was in Westchester I painted the above picture. It was a book cover for the Ambassador yellow pages, I was the cover artist for them for about seven years total. Larry had seen the picture and loved it and wanted to buy a print or original. If memory serves me, he wanted to give it to his wife as a birthday gift. We arranged to meet for a beer in NYC. As we sat and talked he told me his wife's brother had passed and she was sad so he hoped  painting would cheer her up. It made me feel good to think my art could actually cheer someone up. When I mentioned where I went to high school he told me his wife's brother taught English there. Turns out he was my english teacher in 8th grade! He was a great guy, Mr. Pryal. He was also my editor on the school newspaper (I was the cartoonist.) I remember Mr. Pryal running around the halls, always in a rush and his great sense of humor and his mustard yellow turtleneck sweaters. The funny thing was I had just discussed Mr. Pryal a month earlier for the first time since high school (many many moons ago) because he had attended a friend's class reunion. Larry loved the print and I even eventually gave him the original oil painting when I finally found it in my files. These moments make the world a much smaller place.... Ambassador Publishing has since closed, leaving me with 40 plus bookcovers under my belt and memories of many, many 5 AM deadlines stress fests.

another point I forgot to mention, the place that I first suggested Larry and I meet in Hastings (Rainwater Grill) was Owned by his god son--you cant make this stuff up. 

Its a small world----but I wouldnt want to paint it!

Its nice to know something you painted had an effect on someone, even something like a commercial book cover. What you put into your art is what comes out of your art.

update by gardega

I am trying to finish my Sistine ceiling mural by the end of the month as I will moving to new apt. it will be tight. In the mean time, I painted a portrait in Mariano Rivera (at this point I cannot explain what it is for)

alex

KICKSTARTER

Please support my completion of a copy Sistine chapel in NYC. I have raised 340.00 thus far 4% of my goal. Getting there. I am trying to raise funds to avoid taking commercial jobs so I can finish mural by Oct 31st.




http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1484278723/an-exact-copy-of-sistine-chapel-on-my-nyc-studio-c

My project in curbed

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/09/11/artists_ues_studio_ceiling_will_soon_replicate_sistine_chapel.php


This project has become my Moby Dick. I must finish!

Gardega Update

I have been sidetracked with side projects. I am getting back on scaffold soon to finish my Sistine Chapel copy. I have started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to finish and keep me from diversion into side projects to pay my bills. feel free to donate...I must finish what I started and I move oct 31.


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1484278723/an-exact-copy-of-sistine-chapel-on-my-nyc-studio-c


alexo

waterfall NY

I recently found this large waterfall way upstate NY. I wish I had found this before my waterfall mural effort. Its quite a thing to behold...do stripes make you look thinner?

a.

Murals NYC by Gardega

I have completed my mural for a private residence on the Upper East side of NYC. It was rather large, 13 x 19 foot and completed without assistants. I now have some new commissions lined up and will also finish my Sistine Chapel copy.


alex

Murals NYC by Gardega

Today is a prep day for tomorrow I start my large waterfall mural again. I am focused on completion in 5 days.

"Hard work pays off in the long run but laziness pays off right now"...Steven Wright

Curiosity has landed

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/08/06/nasa-rover-curiosity-lands-on-mars-after-plummet/

I lost a bet of one beer as to whether the Curiosity Mars rover would make it to Mars. I lost the bet and Nasa came through. Our gov. cant run a Post Office but it came through here...

ETCHED GLASS NYC

I have started a new website for my interior deco work. The site is still being built but it is coming along.

www.bluelineglass.com


alex

Murals NYC by Gardega

I have been sidetracked from my Sistine Chapel on this large outdoor commission. Upper East Side brownstone. It is very hard work and I dont love being up 20 feet high. But it is a challenge to paint so large and on bricks and I love a good new challenge. I painted so much my middle finger is swollen. I can now insult people from father away.

acrylic on brick 19 by 13 feet


alex the arteest

Murals NYC by gardega

I will be taking a short break from my Sistine Chapel to complete a local upper east side exterior mural on a 13 by 19 foot wall. It will be a waterfall/ forest mural. I will document and video the process. The more I read about my heroes, Leonardo and Michelangelo I find they often had to shift projects for a time, such is the nature of art. I start tomorrow...

New landscape by Gardega

I went upstate near Canada and the Adirondacks to paint. I have completed my first in a series of new landscapes.


Malone, NY 20 x 24 inches. Oil on board.

Sistine Chapel Copy, NYC

I have completed about half of my project, The Sistine Chapel copy. Ten times more difficult than I thought it would but nothing good comes easy. To purchase my original  art or my studies for this mural my email is alexgardega@gmail.com.


 I am very busy but I will get back to you ASAP. I am also available to paint commissioned murals as I have done for a large array of clients including the Chrysler Building, Armani and many others.  


 Inquiries:


alexgardega@gmail.com

Sistine Chapel Copy NYC

I worked each day this weekend, no BBQS or beaches for me. I am a man on a mission. In two more full work days I should be finished with entire kitchen portion of mural. The kitchen area includes scenes from Genesis (the Chapel is divided into 9 total scenes of genesis) I have painted The separation of dark and light and the creation of the sun and moon. There is almost some light in the "kitchens tunnel"...

update

closing in on kitchen..another 8 hours today should get me closer.

Only a few more days! the devil lies in the details in art and life...

Sistine Chapel copy update

The kitchen area is almost done. A few more days, then I start the main room to be completed in one months time.

Under the Sea...

http://gizmodo.com/science/

Happy Birthday Dali

Happy Birthday Dali....One of my favorite crazy people of all time...

Sistine Chapel Copy NYC

Ceiling mural progress Friday.

Ten Amazing Trees

http://www.takepart.com/photos/ten-terrific-trees-0

Update

I am starting to make some progress on my ceiling. it is slow and steady as she goes.

ROME PHOTOS...by gardega

Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/modern-michelangelo-heading-rome-fulfill-lofty-ambition-painting-ceiling-sistine-chapel-article-1.1052640

photos by susan watts/ daily news.


If anyone wants to purchase sketches or studies please email me while I perfect website. (press inquiries as well)

alexgardega@gmail.com

Latest study---sistine chapel--by gardega

miles to go...

Sistine Chapel Study---by gardega

By Studying the anatomy of Michelangelo. You can learn more than you will in ten art schools. All my Studies of Sistine will be up here soon for sale. I will be in the Sistine Chapel in one weeks time. Daily news just filmed videos of me painting today they will post soon on line.

Corner Spandrel progress...by gardega

Figure study...Sistine Chapel. By Gardega

Another study of Sisitne Chapel as I try to understand and replicate this work of genius. All my drawings and studies are for sale and I will link this soon. Purchasing my studies will help fund this project.

progress

Painting this is brutally hard. The greatest technical challenge of my career. More so that it is a ceiling than the complex layout. Ceilings are brutal things...

Sistine progress

Sistine progress. Still rough..taking shape...It is 75% harder to paint a ceiling than paint on an easel. It is like painting lefty...

Sistine studies--by gardega

ceiling update

ceiling update--sistine chapel

Just starting to lay in some structure..

Sisitne Chapel update

I have started rolling on my Sistine Chapel now. A lot of prep and planning work. Any sponsors interested can contact me, I am getting a lot of press for this project I will link to today. My current sponsors are listed to the right.

alexgardega@gmail.com

Sistine Chapel studies---by gardega

The studies have begun...I'm deep into dissecting the Sistine Chapel structure and design. All studies are for sale to help fund my mural.

tour of sistine chapel..hi def

http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html

Sistine quick breakdown

I have begun my mural

I have started my Michelangelo mural on my ceiling...Let the games begin. Not sure why I torture myself so but I am only comfortable on the edge and the edge often involves me attempting near impossible projects. Will document whole process on this blog..




alexander


press or work inquiries..


alexgardega@gmail.com

sistine chapel

I am painting an exact copy of sistine chapel on my ceiling..buying scaffold today. A lazy artist is a dead artist...I have nerve damage from my last ceiling mural, sure this will not help the matter. This is a serious challenge...you cant half-ass mr. angelo

The Adventures of Gardega