art show

I am having art show tomorrow. I need 8 paintings anyone got some paintings? maybe the elves will paint them while im etching glass in brooklyn. hmmmm....hmmmmm. If your kid shows art talent break his/ her pencils. let em be doctors and lawyers and such...

julius ceasar from memory

in 1986 i memorized julius ceaser. going to test my memory of his speech.

friends romans countrymen
lend me your ears
i come to bury ceasar
not to praise him
the evil that men do
lives after them
the good is oft intered witht their bones
so let it be with ceasar
the noble brutus
hath told you ceasar were ambitious
and if it were so i was a grievious fault
we all did see that in lupercal he
did thrice refuse the kingly crown.

this is all my hungover brain can remember but on a good day i can recite the whole pig.

he went to paris quoted from memory on the train

he went to paris
looking for answers
to questions that bothered him so
he was impressive
young and agrresive
saving the world on his own
but the french wines and cheeses
warm summer breezes
put his ambitions at bay
he liked the quiet, clean country living
and 4 or 5 years slipped away
he went to england played ther piano
married and actress named kim
she was a good wife they had a good life and bore him a young son named jim
but the war took his lady
bombs killed his baby
and left him with only one eye
his body was battered
his whole world was shattered
and all he could was just cry.
while his whole world was fallin
he was recallin
answers he never found
so he hopped on a freighter
skidded the ocean
and left england without a sound.
now he lives in the islands
fishes the pilens
and drinks his green label each day
writing his memoirs losing his hearing
but he dont care what most people say
through 86 years of perpetual motion
if he likes youll he'll smile and hell
jimmy some of its magic and some of its tragic
but i had a good life all the way.


typed from memory on the metro north train. my brain is an encyclopedia of lyrics. i can recite most dylan lyrics from heart as well. if you like something memory is easy, most shit bores me so i choose to forget it.

Im not ashamed

In order to paint my saint mural correctly I had to rent armor and pose for photographs. I am so embarrassed of these photos but I dont mind making fun of myself. I will poke fun at anyone (including myself. ) If you cant take it, dont dish it..as they say...

words of the day: jimmy buffet

By: Jimmy Buffett

Squalls out on the gulf stream
Big storm's comin' soon
I passed out in my hammock
And God I slept 'til way past noon
Stood up and tried to focus
I hoped I wouldn't have to look far
I knew I could use a Bloody Mary
So I stumbled next door to the bar

gardega world

gardega world is being overhauled and perefected. very exciting news. also, gardega.com is being redone after it was ruined by a webmonkey from vegas who begged me for work then ruined my site. never trust a desperate stranger. Î tried to be nice and got had. regardless, my designer has stellar plans for gardega world. my brain cant be contained on a single website. It needs to have 10 sites and it will. I will slow down when I am in a pine box and until then it is full steam until my gaskets blow.

yesterdays schedule

Here is a typical day in my art life:

awake 5:30

work on patent until 9:00

9:36 train to NYC

Subway to brooklyn to confirm 9 foot piece of glass is fabricated

back to NYC to buy art supplies

3:00 meeting to pick up proof of my brochure near city council downtown

4:30 meeting on 96th street with portrait client

6:30 back to brooklyn to do a "rubbing" of one of the old etched glass pieces of mine that was broken

7 :30  Palm steakhouse to drink a bottle of red wine

10:00 train home to fall asleep on my drawings with shoes on

portraits by gardega

i have recently landed a few portrait commisions. Photographing portraits is easy. painting them in oils is not easy. unless you are gardega, then you can listen to john denver in your socks and paint a perfect likeness in glass or oil paints. my manager begs me to stop taking on so much work, she is worried about me but I am a one man art machine of maniacal hard work.

eye of the tiger

wfas 103.9 is playing eye of the tiger for me right now as we speak. damn good day. wish I near a radio.

this is classic, truly classic

If there is one thing I do not allow myself to be it is a hypocrite. I couldnt sleep at night. I admit I am too self-centered, too damn single minded toward my goals, I drink too much and I am an unorganized art slob. One thing I am not nor will I ever be is a hypocrite. I would rather be eaten to death by red ants and stabbed by pigmies with sharp sticks than be a hypocrite in my own eyes or anyone elses. It is worse for me than be bleedin' stupid...

here is a feast, a yummy snack of hypocrisy at its zenith.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-562149/Its-true--hypocrites-huge-carbon-footprint-confesses-Stings-wife.html

500 cash prize for anyone who give me the police and stings carbon footprint

I am offering up $500 of my own money to anyone who is an advanced mathematician/ statistician who can give me the bestimate of how much fuel and carbon footprint Sting and the Police have spewed into my planet since the early 80's. I need a qualified person, not a hack who doesnt mind international press. any genius/ math wizards need a quick 500? hell, I even throw in a watercolor worth at least as much.

DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO MAKES ALEX A VERY ANGRY BOY.

Sting is a hypocrite

Here is a video of Sting talking about earth day and global warming

Think of the combined amount of jet fuel plastic and carbon that Sting and the police have released since the early 80's. I am guessing it is the million of tons across the boards. I want to fly on private jets and spew crap all over the palnet then I want to sit down and tell you how green I am. This is like chalres manson preaching brotherly love.

I can stand many things but I cannot stand hypocrites. get in your private jets and limos and go home to your mansions.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/stings-hypocritical-green-tea-party-lecture.html

custome engraved bottles

I was commissioned recently to etch 55 bottles. It was only names so it wasnt an art challenge per say, it was however, an insane deadline. I actually etched 45 alone in one day with no assistant. As I finished the last one I picked up what I thought was glass cleaner and by accident I picked up spray paint that was near me. I wrecked the very last bottle (not this one) You could hear me screaming for blocks.....Regardless, I made the deadline to the minute. Here is one of the failed bottles, I made an error but It was the only one I had time to photo...a day in my life

sketchbook drawing of the day

I drew this today as a study for a glass piece. I will execute it this week. This is for sale as will be the glass carving.

11 x 14 ink on paper

art table

art supplies

I bought a $50 tube of white paint yesterday. I am only buying the best materials for my 12 women paintings. No  slacking allowed.

mobile blog confession

I thought today was friday for 6 hours. When you are self employed days are a blur. Î blame my boss. he is a low rent drunk.

random random random

mobile blog by gardega

overheard in a restaurant: " I have ten pounds of chop-meat."

random random random

rainwater grill

best restaurant in the universe. you must go there to see my waterfall mirror. mention this blog and tony will buy you a free drink. lobster mac and cheeese is beyond the sun in goodness.

mobile blog by gardega

I have 46 new voicemails. suppose I should "check em?"

THE GARDEGA SONG

SING ALONG, KIDS!

WHO IS A GREAT GENIUS ON PAR WITH DALI AND RAPHAEL?

GARDEGA!

WHO TAUGHT HIMSELF AND MASTERED CARVING GLASS AT 18 YEARS OLD?

GARDEGA!!

WHO ALONE UNDERSTANDS THE SACRED GEOMETRY OF RAPHAELS SCHOOL OF ATHENS?

GARDEGA!

WHO IS IN PAGE SIX ALL THE TIME AND LOVES TO READ HIS OWN NAME IN PRINT??

GARDEGA!

WHO WAS CALLED UPON TO CREATE THE ELEVATOR PANELS FOR THE CHRYLSLER BUILDING WHEN NO OTHER ARTIST COULD SOLVE THE PROBLEM???

GARDEGA!

WHO JUST PATENTED A DEVICE FOR LAPTOP COMPUTERS THAT NO OTHER HUMAN HAS THOUGHT OF??

GARDEGA!

WHO PAINTS ALL THE YELLOW PAGE COVER THAT ARE IN 5 MILLION HOMES LIKE A CAMPBELL SOUP CAN???

GARDEGA!

WHO WORKS HARDER THAN FOUR NORMAL ARTISTS PLUS A CHINESE SHOE FACTORY WORKER COMBINED??

GARDEGA!

WHO GETS UP AT 4:30 AND STARTS HIS DAY PACING AROUND A MAKING LISTS?

GARDEGA

WHO INVENTED THE WORLD FAMOUS BERNIE IN HELL HOT SAUCE???

GARDEGA!!!


WHO HAS BEEN ON FOX NEWS THREE TIMES???

GARDEGA!!!


WHO IS WRITING A SCREENPLAY THAT WILL BE ONE OF THE GREATEST MOVIES EVER MADE?

GARDEGA!!


WHO IS CREATING SOME OF THE GREATEST ART- GLASS PIECES OF CREATED??

GARDEGA!


WHO IS PAINTING 12 WOMEN THAT WILL THE BEST PAINTINGS OF MY GENERATAION!

GARDEGA!


WHO MADE IT ON HIS OWN AGAINST ALL ODDS AND WAS NEVER HANDED A NICKEL FOR LIFE OR COLLEGE?

GARDEGA!!


CHORUS: REFRAIN :CHORUS:VERSE: ETC ETC

GARDEGA WORLD

GARDEGA WORLD IS BEING UPDATED AND GROWING AS WE SPEAK. IT WILL NEVER BE FINISHED, IT WILL ONLY GROW. LIKE A SUNFLOWER AND UNLIKE A DWARF.

ADVICE TO YOUNG ARTISTS

people sometimes ask me if I can give their kid or nephew advice on how to become an artist. My go to response is this:


THERE ARE NO EXCUSES. IF YOU WANT TO MAKE ART YOU WILL MAKE THE TIME. DONT TELL ME YOU ARE TOO BUSY AND THAT YOU WILL START NEXT MONTH, NEXT YEAR. YOU MUST DIP YOUR BRUSH INTO YOUR SPLEEN AND CLEAN IT WITH YOUR BLOOD. THERE IS NO HALF MEASURES, NO ROOM FOR SUNDAY "ARTEESTS." I HAVE ARTIST FRIENDS WHO GAVE UP YEARS AGO.I PERSONALLY, WOULD RATHER BE DEAD. GIVE IT YOUR ALL OR GO HOME.

shepard fairey original

I traded shepard art yesterday. I have a piece of art I can retire on now. I am going to be just as famous as him so he also made out on the deal .I gave him a Gruncher, Gruncher rocks!

my patent

I have recently applied for a patent. Using the gnomic spiral of Leonardo Learning TM I was inspired to create an invention for laptop computers that will make me a very rich man. If I was a very rich man I would live exactly the same way I do---messy apt---messy art studio. I would still walk around talking to myself and doodling on every piece of paper I can find like a crazy person. The only difference I suppose would be that I would eat better. I usually dont eat, I forget to eat all the time. I get so caught up in thoughts and I ideas that I sometimes will go two days without food. I look at eating asw an annoyance. I cannot draw while I am eating and I have to sit still. I hate eating. I like ideas.

today

For the first day in three years I dont have a full plate of deadlines. I have things I could work on but I wont. I am painting zen watercolors for 8 hours today. I am "coming back to life." I am hiding my cell phone and cleaning my art studio and painting, nothing else---- just me and paint.

dustin hoffman

 took this photo on houston street yesterday. I didnt try to talk to them as I dont care about celebs, I care about art and nothing else.

shepard fairey at work

I recently stopped to wait for a cab on houston street and I looked up to see the artist shepard fairey at work. I went up to say hi and he offered to trade me a painting for my work. It was a fair trade and I now own a valuable piece of art. Shepard is a very famous artist who is best known for his protrait of Obama as hope. I have no hope for any politician so I will never be famous as him. He is a really nice guy and we are going to work together soon. I respect him because he is a street artist, not some rich yaley who spent 8 years in school art is on the streets, it aint in some brainwashed professors classroom.

update: by gardega

my drawings were well received by the mausoleum. Not as well received as my head by my pillow tonight.

drawing of the day: st. Joseph glass studies

I have been commissioned to etch two large windows for a mausoleum, the theme is St. Joseph. Jobs like this excite me because they get me closer (in spirit) to my beloved Renaissance when art was actually good and not modern swill.


for sale Watercolor on paper

gardega world

when gardega world is done it will contain the following websites:

1) gardega fine art (done)

2) bluelineglass (done)

3) bernie in hell--world famous hot sauce (done)

4) spycheese  patented device for laptop (in progress)

5) sketchy folk---does humor belong in art? (in progress)

6) Leonardo learning free art lessons online using the methods of leonardo---6 months

7) sketchywear-----my clothing artline

8) gruncher---I aint saying yet

9) americanalex--blog

10) tendollarart----the site that launched my name internationally (in progress)

11) zodiac toys----my inventions and toy inventions

Gardega World

www.gardegaworld.com has launched---not finished yet! still building

It is still in beta form. I am now building the websites that I have always wanted.

some of them are already done and some are in process of being built. It is an organic growing thing, not unlike the sacred symbol The Flower of Life. When it is all done it will be a fairly good representation of the cosmology of my thought, my interests and my ADD. I have artists friends who have been working on one single thing for the last 20 years, the same style, the same paintings the same bread is baked day in day out for years. Nothing is gained, there is no gnomic growth----change is my only constant.

words of the day

You wake up in the morning, get something for the pot
Wonder why the sun makes the rocks feel hot
Draw on the walls, eat, get laid
Back in the good old days

Then some damn fool invents the wheel
Listen to the whitewalls squeal
You spend all day looking for a parking spot
Nothing for the heart, nothing for the pot

Benny turned the dial on his Short Wave radio
Oh how he wanted to talk to the people,
he wanted his own show
Tune in Moscow. Tune in New York
Listen tot the Welsh kid talk
Communicating like in the good old days

Forgive me father for I have sinned
It was either me or him
And a voice said Benny
You fucked the whole thing up
Benny your time is up
Your time is up

Benny turned the dial on his Short Wave radio
He wanted to talk to the people
He wanted his own show
Tune in Moscow. Tune in New York
Listen to the Welsh kid talk communicating
Like in the good old days

Forgive me Father
Welsh Policeman: Mobile One Two to Central.
For I have sinned
Welsh Policeman: We have a multiple on the A465
between Cwmbran and Cylgoch.
Father it was either me or him.
Father can we turn back the clock?
Welsh Policeman: Ambulance, over.
I never meant to drop the concrete block.
Welsh Policeman: Roger central, over and out.

Benny turned the dial on his Short Wave radio
He wanted to talk to the people
He wanted his own show
Tune in Moscow. Tune in New York
Listen to the Welsh kid talk
Just like in the good old days
The good old days

salt

the govt now wants to control the salt in your food and have passed legislature. The sheep cannot be over-salted. This is the tip of a very large and ugly iceberg. Now that the gov't will give you health care your pound of flesh will be total control over everything you eat and everything you do. Because you are a sheep you probably have not seen the writing on the wall. Gardega will help you understand the 1984 aspects of modern life and I am a good sheperd. I think so you dont have to.

whats in a name?

Names mean a lot and symbols mean a lot. If you want to be a great artist you need a name like goya or dali or gardega. You cant be a great painter with the name smith. Likewise we need to start thinking in terms of changing names in society. We need to change the name of WALL STREET to CASINO STREET----this will help people understand what it really is. we need to change the name of GOVERNMENT to WALL STREET and we need to change the title PRESIDENT to PUPPEDENT.

gardega says that

words of wisdom

hard work pays off in the long run but laziness pays off right now....

update

gardegaworld.com officially launches today 100%!


it will be active tonight at the latest. 

please note that it is a growing, organic site and that some links are not yet active but will be over time as I finish all my ideas. I think in circles not straight lines. 

deadline victory!!

I just delivered 55 bottles of etched jagermeister to a company in westchester. My impossible deadline was 12 noon today and I pulled into the parking lot today at exactly 12 noon from my studio in brooklyn. It wasnt 12:01 it was 12:00. viva gardega!

poland

my heart goes out to the people of poland. I am sorry for their loss. It seems the presidents funeral was a perfect time for our prez to get in some golf.


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/18/obama-skips-polish-funeral-heads-to-golf-course/

gardega world

never trust a web designer for a deadline date....

in page six yesterday, I was reading it and I saw then name artist and read it and thought it was a dumb idea then I realized it was me and I thought it brilliant. Today I have a brutal noon deadline to deliver and then my life is a bit calmer. after this week i promise to start my 12 women I got way sided by more work than a human can handle.

filing patent this week for an idea so simple it may just be a winner.

HST QUOTES

For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled.
Hunter S. Thompson

Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect.
Hunter S. Thompson

I feel the same way about disco as I do about herpes.
Hunter S. Thompson

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.
Hunter S. Thompson

I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours.
Hunter S. Thompson

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.
Hunter S. Thompson

If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.
Hunter S. Thompson

If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.
Hunter S. Thompson

In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.
Hunter S. Thompson

It was the Law of the Sea, they said. Civilization ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top.
Hunter S. Thompson

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
Hunter S. Thompson

Of all the men that have run for president in the twentieth century, only George McGovern truly understood what a monument America could be to the human race.
Hunter S. Thompson

Politics is the art of controlling your environment.
Hunter S. Thompson

That was always the difference between Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn't entirely conquer - he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation.
Hunter S. Thompson

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

The person who doesn't scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs.
Hunter S. Thompson

Gardegaworld.com launches today

Sorry for delay my web designer is a slacker and blames her allergies----I blame her TV. I am going to go view the site and it will launch in beta/ unfinished form...

synchronicity

My life is full of events and strange occurences that if I told other people about them they would think me a liar--- so I keep my mouth shut. The last week has been one big moment of the universe lifting her skirt to me and revealing her fishnets. I am not sure what it means some time but as a 20 year student of carl jung I am gaining insite.

Portraits by Gardega

I have decided to start doing more portraits. I get a lot of requests for them but they are generally not my first focus. If I paint you it will be from the gut and I will capture your soul and likeness and it will be a real painting---a professional finished portrait with a likeness that sings but it will not be some Sargent- aristocratic- milquestoast- buttery piece of over-rendered dribble----I have come to far for the dapppled sunlight woman holding her poddle, I have seen to much.... I would rather sell street meat than paint such rubbish. My portraits are gut-born. Prices are $10,000 for a 3/4 oil on linen or masonite and I reserve as much time as I want to get it right. I am currently painting Bo Dietl and he is great to paint and then I paint my Late hero Hunter s thompson. I may paint a younger HST before the gonzo when he was a young struggling writer on the beach in Puerto Rico wondering where his destiny lies. I am booked for 3 months but I will take commisions and you will have to wait a bit. 

VIVA GOYA! today goya's vision are truer than ever--we live in a goya nightmare. Not sure why I just thought of goya....

alexgardega@gmail.com

sketchbook ---petes tavern

.

I stopped into Petes Tavern yesterday after a long furious grind of a day chasing a deadline in my glass studio. I Bought a new sketchbook and used some sumi brushes and sumi ink. I do not fill my sketchbooks for any other reason than to make mental notes and observations and record moments. I may have a laundry list atop my drawings of a nude. I love old NYC haunts and take mini vacations in them whenever I can escape my schedule. I believe the spirit of O'henry is alive and well in Pete's. He wrote the gift of the magi in booth #3...

mobile blog by gardega

just finished etching 46 bottles of jagermesiter liquer for a client in one day. that has to be a record for me. no assistant, solo

mobile blog by gardega

12 hour day. Now I head back into NYC to check on my new website and to spend another six hours trying to make a vicious monday noon deadline. then i will be up at 6 to return back to the sandblast machine. I think I have the flu but I can only ignore it. scheduled to hilt until may 7th then I will step on a plane.

new site launching tomorrow.

I have a great new site launching tomorrow. It is a central hub for all my websites blogs and what not. cant wiat. it will be in beta so it wont have all the links working but it looks darn cool.

New Orleans

If I dont have the big crack up from deadline stress I will be in new Orleans on may 7th. My friend amanda thinks I should relax and not go and just chill and be  calm but If I keep running at this pace I will wind up one of those mumbling people you see in NYC with two different shoes and a map to nowhere. It is great to be busy so alex will not complain but I sure could use a week in happy dumbland with a plateful of jambalaya and a sketchpad. Where is my airport? I am not complaining I am a happy busy person I just want to go sit in the french quarter.

hmmm

In the last year alone close to 30,000 people have logged onto this mess of a website/ blog/ rant conspiracy ridden mess----Think of all that wasted time. People need to get focused and use their time more efficiently.

those who wait

My entire life has been one big crap shoot, one big insane game of chance against odds a horse gambler would laugh at--- one long game of praying to the "Art God's" to let me in "The Gate" for so many years on end the bastards got sick of me and gave me a free pass to sneak in the back door. I have seen hells and sorrows and setbacks that are unnatural, unspeakable and would have broken the average artist like a hyperactive at- risk  kid breaks a cheap candy bar. For some reason I got up every time they punched me out, I laughed out loud in the horrid face of adversity and became Gardega. I watched my friends get married and buy houses and create futures and I sat in the trenches in the cold rain of doubt day after live-long day with a pencil taped to my hand. I may have some PTSD but I am overall a happy maniacal camper who never budged and inch is finally doing the thing I love to do more than anything in this world--- paint and draw.

Alex Update

I am buying a Macintosh today. I will never buy another PC in this lifetime. I am so sick of the problems and the crappy OS. On a positive note on wed. I am booking my first vacation in three years. I am going to New Orleans may first. I have been working full steam 7 days a week for three years and I need a break. On friday I launch an awesome new website! I am so excited. It is a central hub of all my crazy ideas and websites. It is like candy for my ADD. The central image will be the flower of life---that is all I am saying. It is already paid for a the designer is awesome and she promised me friday! My art show was great and someone told me they thought it was 25 different artists. This was a great compliment to me. I dont like to bake the same bread over and over. I cannot wait to jump on a plane and to just draw and eat and drink for a week straight. You know when you smash your PC it is time to jump on a plane. I had the busiest and most lucrative week I have ever had in my life last week. Hard work pays off, sometimes.

strange days

Last night was a great art show. Every person who bought a bottle of my Bernie In Hell Hotsauce got a free shot of Jagermeister. It did not occur to me that I would have to do one with them. In my apt. is 55 bottles of jagermeister and 6,000 condoms. My life is strange. Wheres my toothbrush? I woke up at 9AM today, the latest I have woken up in 10 years.

on way to my art show....30 minutes late.  Just spent 30 minutes looking for an extension cord and printing bios. I dont think Leonardo dealt with this shit. My first curse on my blog in 3 years....so be it.

take your vaccines!

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.1b07d1be69ebdf895fab113ba26ecde7.321&show_article=1

the government loves you, vaccines are yummy---just like white chocolate..mmmmmmmm

Art Show tonight

I am having a small show at Rainwater Grill in Hastings tonight. For me a small show is 25 pieces and three of those are over 5 foot high. My friend Tony and kenny and jerry opened the restaurant about 6 months ago and it is a success and a great place. Now that It will have some Gardega's up it will be even more stellar. The best hamburger in america (the hudson burger) is served there, honest injun. Somebody jumped through one of my glass pieces in a night club in brooklyn (those crazy polish people!) So I have to replace it soon. Never a dull moment.

GET OUT THERE AND ROCK and ROLL THE BONES!

words of the day: Neil Peart

"Roll The Bones"

Well, you can stake that claim
Good work is the key to good fortune
Winners take that praise
Losers seldom take that blame
If they don't take that game
And sometimes the winner takes nothing
We draw our own designs
But fortune has to make that frame

We go out in the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones

Why are we here?
Because we're here
Roll the bones
Why does it happen?
Because it happens
Roll the bones

Faith is cold as ice
Why are little ones born only to suffer
For the want of immunity
Or a bowl of rice?
Well, who would hold a price
On the heads of the innocent children
If there's some immortal power
To control the dice?

We come into the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones

Jack...relax
Get busy with the facts
No zodiacs or almanacs
No maniacs in polyester slacks
Just the facts
Gonna kick some gluteus max
It's a parallax...you dig?
You move around
The small gets big
It's a rig
It's action...reaction
Random interaction
So who's afraid
Of a little abstraction?
Can't get no satisfaction
From the facts?
You better run, homeboy
A fact's a fact
From Nome to Rome, boy

What's the deal?
Spin the wheel
If the dice are hot...take a shot
Play your cards. Show us what you got
What you're holding
If the cards are cold
Don't go folding
Lady Luck is golden
She favors the bold
That's cold
Stop throwing stones
The night has a thousand saxophones
So get out there and rock
And roll the bones
Get busy!

Roll the bones

Why are we here?
Because we're here
Roll the bones
Why does it happen?
Because it happens
Roll the bones

3D modeling

A close friend of mine from art school is a top 3D modeler in Los Angeles. He has worked on many top special FX movies. What makes him great is that he was a good draftsman and sculptor first. I tries to go the hollywood route as a young artist but I was a drop out and they wanted a degree so I was destined to stay in NY and be a fine artist. This is a character I designed and he modeled. His name is Brandon Perlow and his company is:

www.spidermonkeyinc.com

art show

tonight I have an art show. For once in my life all the details are pretty much handled and the stess level is low. I can actually sit back and watch the wheels go round and round a bit for once. Come monday I have a huge workload but this weekend is fairly light. Only one  8 foot mosaic due.

Strange World: Zenaholic

I painted this painting on top of beer bottle caps. The reason I painted this is I believe there is a direct correlation between alcohol and alcoholics and a deep seated need for zen or satori or nirvana. Drinking is a shortcut to zen or meditation. Meditation is hard. Drinking is easy. If you stare at this picture you will eventually see two figures on the shore of life preparing to take flight into "the light" or nirvana. Is it an alcoholic bliss or a pure bliss? This is part of my mosaic/ texture series my brain has led me on...

16 x 20 oil on bottle caps on canvas

art show friday

I have an art show on friday. That is why I have been up since 4 AM working out the final details. This is a fairly painless show as they go and there are no major heart attacks to be had. I will be posting photos and some work for sale if it doesnt sell at the show. In tandem with the art show I have had more work come my way than I have ever had before. I am loaded up with commissions even in this horrid economy. If you believe it it will all happen for you. I never doubted myself as an artist and eventually the universe works with you and brings you some dessert on a platter to thank you for all your persistent sufferings. I smell a vacation in my not- so- distant (my first in years.) It would make sense in the scheme of my life that I do my best in the worst economy in my lifetime. My question is do I do a quasi working vacation or do I do a real no thinking beach- drinking vacation. If anyone is so inclined my show will be at rain water grill in hastings on friday. After my show I will immediately start my 12 women series to be balanced precariously with my heavy load of commissioned work. You can manifest non tangible dreams into tangible realities if you simply believe in your dream in this quantum world of ours. I have ordered new Hot sauce and it is here next to me. If anyone wants to buy my world famous bernie in hell madoff hot sauce please go to www.bernieinhell.com.

Ps: my tiger woods condom mosaic genius work will be done soon.

free brochure

If you want a free brochure snail mailed please send me your address.

alexgardega@gmail.com

New Brochure

I have a new brochure coming out this week. Here is a working version. I am also making a glass brochure separately.

new pages

the new page section on the right will be completed by this weekend. handy new blogger feature.

Bernie Madoff eggs filled with money and hidden throughout central park

AS FEATURED IN PALM BEACH DAILY NEWS

east vs. west

With all due respect I never liked any of the art that comes out of California. I call it the "happy sun syndrome" art requires pain and adversity and character, not sun dappled hills and carmel oceans. I need cold winters of pain and doubt and frozen fingers and dark rivers. I much prefer the east coast schools of art. Here is a sample of a California painting of Carmel. (well done and reasonably executed) compared to an east coast Pennsylvania impressionist painting.

How not to be remembered

On Easter I was in a Long Island supermarket and I ran into my bus driver from high school. (I never forget faces, if I greet you even once I remember your face for 20 years.) She said she did not remember me and that means I was "one of the good ones." It then occurred to me as I was leaving that is how God probably looks at us. In the end of life when we get called before our maker it will probably serve us well to not be remembered. Keep a low profile and look busy! I dont do bad things, I dont steal, I dont cheat ( I do curse more than I should and I drink and I have no patience at all--zero-zilch.) when my number is called in the great deli- in- the sky God will say "weren't you that persistent annoying press- whore artist?"  "I cant believe you never gave up, you have to be an insane loon but I hardly remember you doing anything bad except for kicking that big Australian guy's butt in a barfight in 1999. You can go to heaven---- oh by the way Raphael and leonardo are playing chess over there in the corner and there is also free art supplies and wine"

pedal powered televisions

The greatest idea since sliced bread---Pedal Powered Televisions. Now lazy and fat Americans will actually have to burn calories while they watch TV. This is a great concept and I wish I had thought of it. We should also make people pedal to get free government handouts and healthcare. If you want to get free healthcare if you have to lose the extra 100 lbs of fat you stored up by being a lazy, dumbed down American eating twinkies. 5 hours a day on the bike or my hard earned taxes dont go to help your lazy fat TV watching butt. Life gets better when you think good thoughts. People think I am suppose to be some touchy- feely guy because I am an artist (I am a very sensitive person, you have to be as an artist) but I have zero patience for laziness or stupidity.  I come from the school of hard knocks and it has given my a fiery eye. I guess if I had become an art professor and taught instead of doing I would be a bit more touchy feely to my fellow human, I could be an ivory tower elitist with no street sense but that is a dangerous person. But I meander. and so on...

art show friday

I am having an art show friday in hastings on hudson at The Rainwater Grill. The 2nd best restaurant in America. It is owned by a great bunch of people so I am dropping my gallery snob brain and having a restaurant show and I am really looking forward to it. It is for some westchester art event call friday night live. all are welcome 19 main st. starts at 6. I will be there (the tired guy in the corner mumbling) You can also view my etched waterfall mirror behind the bar. After that show I am dropping everything and starting my 12 women series that I am dying to start. Delays, delays delays.

song of the day

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Ro5&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&q=canadee+io+dylan&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

journal: age 10

I found this yesterday. I wrote it when I was a child in texas. I was an odd kid.

my graduation photo

Someone from high school randomly sent me this graduation photo a few days ago. All I know is I hated high school and couldnt wait to get out. My high school had no art program to speak of and I knew it was what I was going to do with my life since I was 7 so it felt like one big long waste. I did learn a lot about english and writing which I dont regret. I was the only artist in a school of rich lacrosse jocks but I was pretty tough and took no crap from anyone, maybe that was my texas roots. I can tell by the look in my face that I just wanted out. No parties, no balloons, no cake. Hit the road and dont look back. Boy, if I only knew how hard the next ten years would be I would have probably switched to real estate, or banking.

happy easter

may everyone find the egg of happiness.

words of the day: mad season

Wake up young man, it's time to wake up
Your love affair has got to go
For 10 long years, for 10 long years
The leaves to rake up
Slow suicide's no way to go, oh
Blue, clouded grey
You're not a crack up
Dizzy and weakened by the haze
Moving onward
So an infection not a phase
Yeah, oh

The cracks and lines from where you gave up
They make an easy man to read, oh
For all the times you let them bleed you
For little peace from God you plead, and beg
For little peace from God you plead
Ahhaahh, Yeah, Ahhaahh, Yeah, Ahhaahh, Yeah

Wake up young man, wake up, wake up
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
Oh, yeah

Wake up young man, it's time to wake up
Your love affair has got to go, yeah
For 10 long years, for 10 long years,
The leaves to rake up
Slow suicide's no way to go, oh
Slow suicide's no way to go
Wake up, wake up, wake up
Wake up, wake up, wake up

the bogmen

my friend's great band.

the artist at work

If you look closely my lift is what mausoleums use to slide caskets into walls up high. creepy.

update

almost done with all my side projects, my comments on the scourge of modern art! Chocoladen is done and soon the tiger woods will be done! Soon alex will put on his classical shoes and hang up his soiled-modernist coat which brings me world wide press and I will make beautiful classical art which will probably get less press.

choco laden

I have finished a new piece of food- based art. Here is a hand carved white chocolate 12 inch bin laden. As usual I cant photograph well..

In my mind fear is a controlling and damaging element of human behavior. It is a left over vestige from our cave days (like an emotional gall bladder) yet today it still controls many peoples lives. In the end, fear often turns out to be nothing more than an apparition created by our own minds. It is both harmless and edible. The media preys on our fears and many people are afraid of the specter of their own dreams. It is far better to eat our fears than be eaten alive by them. My fears are edible, they are around all the time but they mean little to me. They are the easter bunny or the terrorist you never see. I carry on with my life focused only on my dreams.


12 inch hand-carved chocolate bin laden by alex gardega.

Edition of 100. Each signed and numbered at $500.00 per piece.

Also offering smaller cast pieces (not hand carved) at $100.00 per piece.

if you want to buy one email me, I will set up paypal tomorrow as well.

alexgardega@gmail.com

sea critter found

A submarine exploring the ocean's depths recently returned with an unexpected visitor: a crablike critter that has left many readers startled and horrified.

In a posting to social bookmarking site Reddit, a deep-sea technician detailed the finding, asking the site's readers to help identify what exactly the bizarre looking creature was.

The post reads, "I work for a Sub-sea Survey Company, recently this beast came up attached to one of our ROVs. It measures a wee bit over 2.5 feet head to tail, and we expect it latched onto the ROV at roughly 8,500 feet depth. Unfortunately, the e-mail that these pictures were attached to came from a contractor, and the ship he was operating from (and therefore location) is unknown, so I can't tell you what part of the Earth this beast was living."

The pictures reveal the creature to be a giant isopod, a large crustacean that dwells in deep Atlantic and Pacific waters. This particular creature is a Bathynomus giganteus, a deep-sea scavenger that feeds on dead whales, fish and squid.

Scientists have long remarked on the massive scale of this creature. C.R. McClain wrote on ScienceBlogs explained one theory for the size, that "deep-sea gigantism, for all crustaceans, is a consequence of larger cells sizes obtained under cold temperatures," citing a research paper from 1996.

new mausoleum commision

I have a new/ large commission coming from a mausoleum. I have done many projects for them over years. Will document project.