After the incredible Urbania ride, words cannot describe how much I enjoyed getting back to painting. I began painting this prior to my collage painting portrait, but it sat idle, unfinished. With time, it has undergone an interesting journey – there was some darkness and this 18″X24″ canvas was the recipient.
The year was 1925, the heart of the roaring twenties. New Yorker protagonist Eustace Tilley (below) had little on his mind other than butterflies and jazz ensembles. That was then. Today, poor old Eustace is out of sorts. The headlines illustrate doom and gloom. Strange new breeds of Three Term Changing Butterflies demand attention… he feels guilty. A rich man in a sea of social decline, afraid of terrorism, wondering who wants to kill him and his way of life.
Continuing on my new collage series, I decided to create a self portrait. With nothing but time – thanks broken leg – I decided to tackle a large-scale, three-by-four-foot format. Here it is, a portrait of the artist as a not so young man – comprised of the printed page, clippings from @TheNewYorkPost – which one day in the near future will no longer be in print, but rather illuminated on a digital screen. Read more
Instead of tossing my daily delivery of the New York Post, I decided to turn them into art. My lady Erin gifted yours truly six 18″X24″ canvases for Christmas, a perfect size for collage paintings in a growing series. This set came to be after I spent some time looking at a piece I made back in 2003 (below) over the holidays.
The New York Post + US Weekly + Acrylic Paint + Californication + Dexter = Christmas Painting Collage. As always, a traditional Borbay Christmas consists of the important ingredients as listed in the mathematical equation above. After the jump, my stream of conscious collage painting.
Sometimes there’s a man. Sometimes, that man spends 14 hours a day sitting on his couch, leg elevated, popping painkillers. That man is me, and this painting, is a 6″X18″ rendering of the Empire State Building. To date, I have done many Chrysler Building pictures, so it was high-time for an Empire.
Following my agency paintings at Headroom Digital and SS+K, Mark Ferdman of Freedom + Partners was kind enough to invite me to their space on 20 Jay Street in DUMBO. It was a four day process that took nearly two weeks, thanks to the weather of late.
Sometimes everything comes together, and who doesn’t love that. Putting out an APB for new painting locations on Facebook, my good friend Conor McClintock and his lady Crystal offered up their downtown Chicago Carriage House lodgings – drinks included. With a place to stay lined up, I managed to secure a plane ticket for $110 – bully.
My final day in Milan lead me back to Brera, to capture it’s namesake Bar. Perhaps the similarities between Borbay and BarBrera drew me to this location? Or perhaps it was the doppio espresso and use of their facilities? Unfortunate fact of plain air painting in the city, if you choose a spot with no foot traffic or facilities, you are asking for trouble.
Today’s Milanese adventure brought me back to Brera, easily the most enjoyable part of Milan I have discovered thus far. After the obligatory two hours search (somehow) I settled on this Via, similar to yesterday’s view, which I enjoyed.
New Paintings. Works-in-Progress. Insider Art Market Information.
Another newsletter? You got that right. I'll honor and respect your inbox, as if it were my own. I endeavor to share everything happening at Borbay Studios & Gallery. No daily updates. No weekly updates. Simply a message, every month or two... updates on life, creativity, and the journey that began on July 2, 2009. Let's be in touch, as the first leg of my quest reaches completion in 2026. From a studio in my 600-foot Upper East Side apartment living room, to a museum collection. Oh, but friend, that is just the beginning. The road is long, and I am looking for cool, sophisticated company to navigate each challenging turn.
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