#QueerQuote: “Your Own Life While it’s Happening to You Never Has Any Atmosphere Until it’s a Memory.” – Andy Warhol

By Stephen Rutledge on August 6, 2022 7:55 am

Bianchini gallery opening, 1963 Left to right: Bob Stanley, Ultra Violet, Andy Warhol, Paul Bianchini, public domain Andy Warhol (1928-1993) was an ardent, practicing Catholic of the Eastern Byzantine strain, going to mass every day. But, he was also a secular artist, a … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Artist, Touko Laaksonen (Tom Of Finland)

By Stephen Rutledge on May 8, 2022 3:05 am

May 8, 1920 - Touko Laaksonen The first time I saw a Tom of Finland drawing was in a downtown Spokane used-book store near the bus station in the 1970s. The image, buried at the back of a men's physique magazine (this is pre-Men's Health Magazine, but the same idea) was a small … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Artist, Cy Twombly

By Stephen Rutledge on April 25, 2022 3:03 am

Photo montage via YouTube April 25, 1938 - Cy Twombly: "I swear if I had to do this over again, I would just do the paintings and never show them." He was nicknamed "Cy" by his father, a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, after Cy Young, another famous pitcher. … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Mostly Forgotten Gay Artist, William Bruce Ellis Ranken

By Stephen Rutledge on April 12, 2022 3:03 am

1903 portrait by Adolph De Meyer via Wikimedia Commons April 12, 1881 - William Bruce Ellis Ranken He was a gay British artist and Edwardian aesthete. Born in Edinburgh, his father was a wealthy, successful lawyer. Ranken studied at Eton College before being accepted at the … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Painter, Marsden Hartley

By Stephen Rutledge on January 4, 2022 3:03 am

Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, 1916, via Wikimedia Commons January 4, 1877– Marsden Hartley: "I have lived rather gaily in the Berlin fashion, with all that implies." He is one of my favorite artists from one of my favorite periods. Plus, Mardsen Hartley is one of … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Actor/ Artist (& Cary Grant Squeeze) Don Barclay

By Stephen Rutledge on December 26, 2021 3:03 am

Barclay (seated) with John Maguire in Mexican Spitfire Sees A Ghost (1942) via YouTube December 26, 1892 - Don Barclay Don … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Artist, Joseph Cornell

By Stephen Rutledge on December 24, 2021 3:03 am

Christmas Eve, 1903 - Joseph Cornell: "My boxes are life's experiences aesthetically expressed." He's my husband's favorite artist and the biggest influence on his work. Susan Sontag, Lauren Bacall and Tony Curtis also shared a passion for the work of artist Joseph … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Artist, Mark Tobey

By Stephen Rutledge on December 11, 2021 3:03 am

December 11, 1890 – Mark Tobey: "According to one critic, my works looked like scrapped billboards. I went to look at the billboards and decided that more billboards should be scrapped." Famed painter Jackson Pollock saw Mark Tobey's work in 1944 and described Tobey as the … [Read more...]

#WomenWeLove – Georgia O’Keeffe

By Stephen Rutledge on November 15, 2021 6:06 am

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is one of the 20th century's greatest American painters. She was a pioneer of modernism, known for her paintings of skyscrapers, animal skulls and Western landscapes, but most especially for her enchanting paintings of flowers, now a deeply ingrained … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Bisexual Renaissance Artist, Benvenuto Cellini

By Stephen Rutledge on November 4, 2021 3:03 am

Self-Portrait November 4, 1500 - Benvenuto Cellini: "When the poor give to the rich, the devil laughs." Artists are not always "nice". Artists (especially famous artists) are not what you'd call "ordinary people." Paul Gauguin deserted his wife and family in … [Read more...]