Nyc trading cards

Www.nyctradingcards.com

As seen in todays daily news. Another gardega creation.

                                       Spray painted rabbit by SKETCHYNYC 2013

24" x 36" canvas

Gardega Studios Murals

I have had a client for over 6 years and we have done two homes for him. It is best to keep your good clients happy. We are almost done with his second home after a few year on and off. I will post the final photos next week. Quite a journey.. 

Sun will 'flip upside down' within weeks, says Nasa

Tomas Jivanda

The sun is set to “flip upside down” within weeks as its magnetic field reverses polarity in an event that will send ripple effects throughout the solar system.

Although it may sound like a catastrophic occurrence, there’s no need to run for cover. The sun switches its polarity, flipping its magnetic north and south, once every eleven years through an internal mechanism about which little is understood.
The swap could however cause intergalactic weather fronts such as geomagnetic storms, which can interfere with satellites and cause radio blackouts.
Nasa said in August that the change would happen in three to four months time, but it is impossible to give a more specific date. Scientist won’t know for around another three weeks whether the flip is complete.
The impact of the transfer will be widespread as the sun’s magnetic field exerts influence well beyond Pluto, past Nasa's Voyager probes positioned near the edge of interstellar space.
The event will be watched closely by researchers at Stanford University’s Wilcox Solar Observatory, which monitors the sun's magnetic field on a daily basis.
Todd Hoeksema, director of the Wilcox Solar Observatory, said the polarity change is built up throughout the eleven year cycle through areas of intense magnetic activity known as sunspots which gradually move towards the poles, eroding the existing opposite polarity.
Eventually, the magnetic field reduces to zero, before rebounding with the opposite polarity. “It's kind of like a tide coming in or going out,” Hoeksema said. “Each little wave brings a little more water in, and eventually you get to the full reversal.”
One of the most noticeable effect on Earth will be a boost in the occurrence, range and visibility of auroras - the Northern Lights. “It’s not a catastrophic event, it’s a large scale event that has some real implications, but its not something we need to worry about,” added Hoeksema.

MURAL VIDEO BY GARDEGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8hlhimQyWc

On the easel(s)... I now paint on two easels as it saves me time.

Amazing Google Maps

http://www.viralnova.com/i-noticed-this-tiny-thing-on-google-maps-and-when-i-zoomed-in-well-nothing-could-prepare-me/

Murals NYC by Gardega

I painted this for a restaurant in Briarcliff, NY. The owners wanted it to be aged like the old hand painted signs on buildings in NYC. The painting is divided by a wall,hence the black line.

Etched Glass, NYC

I just etched a few dozen of these for a great company in NYC. Here is my glass website:

www.bluelineglass.com

Gardega on Voice of Russia Radio

I just did a radio interview with Voice of Russia regarding my Banksy go home mural/ street art. they said it should go on the radio tomorrow or so. Ill try to find a link and post. 

Banksy Mural, Upper East

New Banksy Mural on 3rd and 85th?

Vandal fesses up

This guy is the guy who tagged my picture. Im glad he ran out of art supplies because he wanted to change my god that I painted in oils and took a lot of time. 

Cy Ko said...
I bumped into your mural in the middle of the night. I looked up your website but I misstyped it and got an error... so for a little moment I thought it was a fake URL. This made me think it could really be something commissioned by Banksy. Because it is really in the spirit of Banksy (I am sure he would love it.) So I thought it would be funny to do something. Sorry my pathetic pen died in my Islamisation attempt... I didn't have my art supplies, otherwise I would have tried to make your God look more like an Iranian cleric! You did a great job. Good luck... + Try to sell it to Banksy! Seriously. He might buy it or sign it and it would pay your trip to Rome! (Do not forget the main reason graffitters work with stencils is because it is fast enough to avoid being arrested. A graffi is not a mural. A graffitter never asks permission to anyone about anything.)

dont mess with god as they say...

To purchase a gardega

for prints and fine art, best bet is to email me and Ill send a link to what is available.

alexgardega@gmail.com


For commissions I am booked for mural and glass commissions until mid November.

My Mural-Fitti in NY POST

http://nypost.com/2013/10/21/new-banksy-artwork-has-fans-flocking-to-bronx/

someone graffitied my graffiti!

The press called me to come there while they photographed my mural this morn so I went to see them and saw that someone had a little fun with my mural-fitti last night. Doubt it was the real Banksy and I doubt its the last thing that happens to the piece. They also added a crescent moon ( I guess a Islam reference?) in the skyline where a cross was, that was pretty clever except their pen died.

Banksy go home

I recently painted my first 18 wheeler trailer basically because it was there and most of my work is done alone in a room or private commissions for clients I decided it would be a bit freeing to get out and hit a big piece in the open air. If you look at the trailer I worked on there is a bunch of eye sore scribbles and things done apparently without any real effort, care or thought. I cant stand "art" that is done in a slap dash fashion and looks like last months sushi. If you are going to do anything put some effort into it.

As far as why I put in the tag "banksy go home" is more a statement about certain kinds of art than Banksy himself . I chose him because he is the best known street artist in my mind.  I do think his work is clever and I never have any sour grapes towards other artists like some artists do about jealousy regarding success etc. I just question why a spray painted Banksy stenciled piece (regardless of how clever) would be worth more than an Andrew Wyeth or an Odd Nerdrum etc. We live in an automated age of short attention spans and Ipads so maybe his work reflects the times (however shitty they may be.) 

Everyone knows who Banksy is but no one knows anything about Raphael. Some art schools dont even teach drawing anymore. I once traded art with Shepard fairey and asked him to draw me something and he said he cant draw. He was a nice guy so I dont mean any ill will but shouldnt a chef know how to cook a ham?


I am sure Banksy is a nice man and treats his workers well and pays them incredibly well etc unlike the corporations he mocks. If there was a Banksy exhibit in NYC it would be packed to the gills and the Rembrandt room at the Met remains largely empty save a few foreign tourists. I suppose street art has its place, I dont like people vandalizing other peoples property so for every Banksy there is 10,000 crappy scribbles like the truck above that hurts my eyes.  Some people, even some friends of mine got upset with my mural. Its just some damn paint and it will probably be painted over and tagged in  two weeks time. 

Why God? You figure it out...Tis much easier to spray a stencil (the british skyline took ten minutes) To oil paint God took 10 hours. I think rome wasnt built in a day but it could have been stenciled in two. 

Someone already vandalized my vandalism...if it was him I shall never know and If I found out I Skill Saw the pig out, sell it and go hang out in Rome for 6 months.

enough said...

I was killing time as I waited for a late contractor in Tribeca. I walked over to the water and watched the sun set over New jersey, Even Jersey can look good with the right sunset. God doesnt make bad paintings.

Etched Glass Brooklyn

When I am not painting and drawing I am running my architectural glass and design company. we specialize in etched and carved glass. We are Brooklyn based and serve the boroughs and surrounding areas.

www.bluelineglass.com

Sketchbook Drawing from Metropolitan: Herakles

sold

Rao's Kitchen Watercolor

Rao's kitchen. I went through a phase of painting a series of NYC kitchens. I tried to paint "old school NY joints" as I like to call them. I like restaurant kitchens because it is behind the scene where the sweat and toil occurs to make the magic the customers see. This is not unlike art. If you want a table at Raos, you cant get one.

sold.

Copy of Picasso (birthday gift) by Gardega. I like early Picasso, eventually he became a joke and a parody of himself. He was just "painting checks" in the end. I also think he went insane from syphilis, by the way. I have finally switched to painting on linen, I dont know why it took so long. It is 1,000 times better than cotton canvas. It is much more expensive but its worth it. I also still paint on Masonite.

Design For Etched Glass

Here is a watercolor I designed for a client that commissioned me to carve two piece of glass for her.

13" x 24.5" watercolor on paper

to purchase click here:

www.tendollarart.com

New Da Vinci Found? HA HA HA. Leonardo wouldn't have painted this on his worst day with a hangover and a broken hand. What a joke. Look at the hair and hand..Horrible art student level work.


http://nypost.com/2013/10/04/500-year-old-da-vinci-painting-surfaces-in-swiss-bank-vault/

Mariano Rivera signing my painting.

It made $7, 500 for charity. I didnt make money on it but I was happy to donate.

Random photos from the Metropolitan Museum

I go to the Met all the time. I like to take photos of details of paintings so I can learn more technique.

Painting of Mariano Rivera: by Gardega

 

I recently painted this for Mariano for his charity. It led to two more paintings and a large glass carving I shall post shortly. I was not paid but it was great press a good cause and he is a great guy.

oil 4' x 5'

At he Odd Nerdrum print show in Stavern, Norway...

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