Today I received from Beijing, China two magazines that featured my art work. The first is New Vision October edition, 2009. The second is HeArt Magazine, published by the art group that is hosting my gallery show in Beijng, China, April, 2010.
Below I have posted the pages from both magazines. This is the translation of what was written in New Vision Magazine:
Feminist Art Movement began in late 1960s, along with the western Feminist Movement, female artists started using art, as their weapons, to defend their female dignity. The famous American artist Judy Chicago was one of the examples. “The Dinner Party” was a representative artwork of the Feminist Art Movement. In the 1990s, Feminist Art has been entangled together with Postmodern Art, and finally became an integral part of the Postmodern Art theory. Differed from this last movement, this time, women artists began to determine their own value from the points of politics and “social return”, to consider more of their special artistic status as female artists.
Few of the present day female artists express their art through the political or historical themes. They are more likely to start with the experience of their daily lives, perceptively to express their sentiment of nature and life. The methods they prefer to use are cotton, wool, soft and lightweight materials, by way of winding, weaving or any other way to express the detail and careful psychology of women.
Peggy Guichu is an American artist. American Feminist Art has been developed successfully and has become more diversified, instead of the traditional view of gender dualism. Her works are more of the sense from her own life experiences, expressing the feelings in her impressions is an expression of the Feminist Art. By way of using the correct colors and fantastic forms, she always put her thoughts of life, which she has gathered through her life's journey into her art work.
“Overflowing”, she said, “I see this as the overflowing of abundance with rushing water forced through the narrow passageway of life and spilling over the edge, not wasted, but being carried into the next life.” The red colored mountain, the colorful watermark, the water waves formed by the rushing water, the timeless and endless river, refer to the steps of life, being enveloped in a magic dream. Such an emotional form of expression is her way to change her feelings over to the actualization, an explanation of life, the image of her real experience.
“Martini Anyone”, a creation after a comical parody of what one sees and feels after the consumption of alcohol. The beautiful flower and the feeling of floating on water are all her interpretations of what she sees of others in their intoxication.
“Ladder”, she said this work she saw as a journey in the path of life moving up, where we can take a short rests on each ledge as humans access spiritual knowledge, then continue to move forward, to explore, till one reaches the top, and further to be raised again into another world.
These works are in form of abstract. Wassily Kandinsky said that his abstract paintings were a way to express his inner feeling of the nature. He thought paintings and music had certain internal consistency. Peggy said,” Creating my paintings is like composing music, the formation of a chorus.” As she has pureed so much of her personal emotion in her paintings, she feels that those collectors who have bought her paintings hold her secrets. She feels as if she has lost something so precious to her. “My wish is that those that buy my paintings will have the same connection as I do. See the magic, hear the symphony, allow the light to reveal the secrets of my soul.” We can say that her paintings are very typical of the female artist. More emotional expression, more private in the nature, more fantastic temperaments, and soft cotton like objects frequently used. All those features come to the identity of our female artist, Peggy Guichu’s works. Whether she consciously or unconsciously used them, they are all the suitable features for her expressions.
Whether it is a quiet or dynamic image, being peaceful and beautiful, are permeated with meaning in her works. The beautiful flowers in “An Offering”, she said,” A gesture of good will and peace to Mother Earth.” In “Peace”,she said, "The original image of a waterfall becomes a white colored large majestic bird, carrying articles of peace to offer the world." In “Watching Over US” is interpreted as the sun above the earth, the cloud formed into human faces expressing happiness, refers to the Mother and Father of all that watches over us on earth. “Is It Too Later?”, the blood flowing from the eye is an expression of the concern for the condition of the globe. “Rose Pods”, expressed in the nine rose buds surrounded by pods represents the 9 word Zen Prayer. The roses grace the prayer with beauty and love. The prayer floats on the eternal waters of life carrying peace and contentment to the world. “Unity”, represents the connection of all there is.
Females, their grasp of the world is balanced and peaceful. Just like what Jia FangZhou said (critics, curator, being involved in ShangYuan Art Center), female artists may not have more interest in the political, historical, philosophical themes, but they show great interest in nature, life, humanity as well as survival related topics, to demonstrate a special love and care.
Privacy of emotional expression, pure picture on works, fantastic visual images, including her love to the world, these are the spirit of Peggy Guichu’s paintings. Being a female artist, she feels the world from her real-life experiences, with her female born care for this world. The female factors in her works are not the gender dualism in the confrontation, not the fighting for the status and social labels of female artists, but all of humanities happiness and blessings.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Why I Would Never Recommend Jezebel's Gallery
I've been sitting here beating myself up for feeling so sad. I really didn’t have anyone to talk to about this thing that happened to me today. I am feeling so alone. And all I can do is cry. Then it occurred to me that there are people out there that might understand. Artists like myself that put their hearts and souls into their art and not until they know it’s the best they can do can they put their names on them. These are our babies, our creations. Like children some are better than others, but they are family.
So when I agreed to let Jezebel’s Gallery show these paintings, I hesitated. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave them there, but this gallery came with a good reputation and the location wasn’t in the art district of Santa Fe, NM, but it was considered to be the second art district in the area. Madrid, NM. It felt like the first time I sent my kids off to camp. Happy but already missing them.
I know I’m an emotional person. Some say too emotional. But I’m connected to my paintings. Ask Denise because she couldn’t understand why I cried when I left them. She was so excited that I had been accepted into this gallery and said that artists waited years for just the chance to show in this gallery. I should be on top of the world. But I loved those 6 paintings that I dropped off. I had them framed before I gave them to Jezebel’s Gallery. They looked their best.
Two years later, seriously no communication with the gallery. Times are tough, but they weren’t when I left the paintings. But they didn’t sell. I got an email saying how much Jezebel really loved my paintings, but because they hadn’t sold to please come and pick them up.
Okay. That was fine. I didn’t know why she couldn’t pick up the phone like a real human being and call me, but I called her to tell her I understood and needed to make arrangements for shipping. When I did call, she wouldn’t come to the phone. I had to relay my message between her sales girl and her, knowing that she was standing right there because I’d say something and less than ½ a second she’d be back with Jezebel's answer. It was just strange. There was no reason for bad feelings. No angry phone calls or emails. I understood that it was time to move on. I wasn’t at all angry. The only time I actually heard from her was when she asked if she could lower my price and I agreed. But for some reason she wasn’t comfortable talking with me.
I needed to know the cost of shipping the paintings because I live in Phoenix, AZ and I wasn’t up for the drive to New Mexico. This was September 20, 2009. Her sales girl said that Jezebel would get back to me. So I waited two weeks and emailed asking if they had gotten the amount of shipping yet. I got an email back that they would figure that right up and get right back to me. So I waited another two weeks. I emailed again, but this time I said to just go ahead and mail them C.O.D. which is what they had wanted to do. All I wanted to know was how much it was going to cost. You know, so I could find some money to pay it. No reply. So I waited another two weeks and wrote my last email. It's now November 2nd. I asked Jezebel what she needed from me in order for her to ship my paintings. I was still very polite, not angry. Just business.
Jezebel took offense for some reason and the next thing I know I get a call from Miguel from Jezebel’s saying that he needed my credit card number and $150.00 to ship the paintings. So finally it’s going to be over. No more cat and mouse game from these people. I was happy. He said they would be here on Thursday.
It didn’t occur to me that I should have asked for a receipt for my $150.00 or a copy of the shipping invoice. It was my fault that I didn’t insist that I know how much insurance they put on the shipment to cover for damages. I stupidly assumed that they would know to do this. None of this occurred to me because Jezebel is a glass artist. She ships glass all the time. She knows that you need packing material in a box with GLASS.
I got my paintings today. They had wrapped the paintings with paper, stacked them on top of each other. All of them different sizes, threw in some more loose paper and shipped them. Every piece of glass is shattered. The matting is sliced. I’m not ready yet to try and tape the glass together enough so that I can take out the paintings because they could easily be damaged, too. Oh, and one of the paintings wasn’t even in the box. I don’t know where that painting is.
So I called. Of course, I couldn’t talk to Miguel who wrapped the paintings. He wasn’t available. I had stopped asking for Jezebel a long time ago. The sales girl asked me to take pictures and she would get back with me. Of course she didn’t.
But the question I have to ask is why? Why couldn’t they have done a better job and gotten my paintings back to me in the condition I left them in with this awful gallery. Why? What would the benefits to them have been to be so vindictive? What do you think my chances are of Jezebel’s Gallery reimbursing me for damages? I know, you’ll get back to me.
So when I agreed to let Jezebel’s Gallery show these paintings, I hesitated. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave them there, but this gallery came with a good reputation and the location wasn’t in the art district of Santa Fe, NM, but it was considered to be the second art district in the area. Madrid, NM. It felt like the first time I sent my kids off to camp. Happy but already missing them.
I know I’m an emotional person. Some say too emotional. But I’m connected to my paintings. Ask Denise because she couldn’t understand why I cried when I left them. She was so excited that I had been accepted into this gallery and said that artists waited years for just the chance to show in this gallery. I should be on top of the world. But I loved those 6 paintings that I dropped off. I had them framed before I gave them to Jezebel’s Gallery. They looked their best.
Two years later, seriously no communication with the gallery. Times are tough, but they weren’t when I left the paintings. But they didn’t sell. I got an email saying how much Jezebel really loved my paintings, but because they hadn’t sold to please come and pick them up.
Okay. That was fine. I didn’t know why she couldn’t pick up the phone like a real human being and call me, but I called her to tell her I understood and needed to make arrangements for shipping. When I did call, she wouldn’t come to the phone. I had to relay my message between her sales girl and her, knowing that she was standing right there because I’d say something and less than ½ a second she’d be back with Jezebel's answer. It was just strange. There was no reason for bad feelings. No angry phone calls or emails. I understood that it was time to move on. I wasn’t at all angry. The only time I actually heard from her was when she asked if she could lower my price and I agreed. But for some reason she wasn’t comfortable talking with me.
I needed to know the cost of shipping the paintings because I live in Phoenix, AZ and I wasn’t up for the drive to New Mexico. This was September 20, 2009. Her sales girl said that Jezebel would get back to me. So I waited two weeks and emailed asking if they had gotten the amount of shipping yet. I got an email back that they would figure that right up and get right back to me. So I waited another two weeks. I emailed again, but this time I said to just go ahead and mail them C.O.D. which is what they had wanted to do. All I wanted to know was how much it was going to cost. You know, so I could find some money to pay it. No reply. So I waited another two weeks and wrote my last email. It's now November 2nd. I asked Jezebel what she needed from me in order for her to ship my paintings. I was still very polite, not angry. Just business.
Jezebel took offense for some reason and the next thing I know I get a call from Miguel from Jezebel’s saying that he needed my credit card number and $150.00 to ship the paintings. So finally it’s going to be over. No more cat and mouse game from these people. I was happy. He said they would be here on Thursday.
It didn’t occur to me that I should have asked for a receipt for my $150.00 or a copy of the shipping invoice. It was my fault that I didn’t insist that I know how much insurance they put on the shipment to cover for damages. I stupidly assumed that they would know to do this. None of this occurred to me because Jezebel is a glass artist. She ships glass all the time. She knows that you need packing material in a box with GLASS.
I got my paintings today. They had wrapped the paintings with paper, stacked them on top of each other. All of them different sizes, threw in some more loose paper and shipped them. Every piece of glass is shattered. The matting is sliced. I’m not ready yet to try and tape the glass together enough so that I can take out the paintings because they could easily be damaged, too. Oh, and one of the paintings wasn’t even in the box. I don’t know where that painting is.
So I called. Of course, I couldn’t talk to Miguel who wrapped the paintings. He wasn’t available. I had stopped asking for Jezebel a long time ago. The sales girl asked me to take pictures and she would get back with me. Of course she didn’t.
But the question I have to ask is why? Why couldn’t they have done a better job and gotten my paintings back to me in the condition I left them in with this awful gallery. Why? What would the benefits to them have been to be so vindictive? What do you think my chances are of Jezebel’s Gallery reimbursing me for damages? I know, you’ll get back to me.
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