A bet is a bet. On the day of the Olympic Ice Hockey final, I challenged the Stanley Cup Keeper to a wager: “if the USA wins, you have to arrange for me to do a painting of the (Stanley) cup in-person… if I lose, I will do a painting of the maple leaf and post it on my profile for a month.”
The second portrait in my series following Jay-Z will be Kanye. To prepare, I hung out with some H.A.M.’s last night. The location? Jeremy Penn‘s studio. The event? Four Loko, hip-hop beats and three artists slinging paint. After the jump, a quasi-Kanye study and some atelier shots.
As a lifelong Mets fan, I had a tough time with the demolition of Shea Stadium. Sure, it was ugly, had poor seating, limited vendors and was essentially an amphitheatre for airplanes — but it had winning memories.
It took me two years of being a full-time artist to understand how a single painting could span multiple years. Sure, some large-scale works just take time. Others, like in the case of the Metropolitan Museum of Art — I simply looked at it for 18 months and simply determined it was finished. After the jump, the full process as written in 2009.
Shawn Corey Carter at birth, Jay-Z upon arrival. A man who crafts, packages and delivers words by units of millions eventually becomes the message.
2010 kicked-off with a new title — Time Out New York’s Most Creative New Yorker… and a broken fibula.
Vegas. It is one of the sexiest words out there. Say it out loud, Vegas. It’s Fear and Loathing, Swingers, a Hangover, Sin, Money, Heathen lifestyle = hotness. Here is a small painting of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, and below, a shot of my gorgeous fiancé.
The emails began flooding my inbox — Elaine Kaufman, the beloved proprietor of Elaine’s had passed away. Moving into my 386 square foot “two bedroom” Upper East Side apartment in January 2004, I was riding high on a Woody Allen kick. Imagine my surprise when, after watching Manhattan, I walked two blocks and found Elaine’s.
My beer league goalie Ken Devine recently proposed to his lovely lady named Erin, who is from Wisconsin. Prior to their engagement, I offered to lurk in the shadows of Belvedere Castle to capture the moment on camera. Initially, Ken said that would be “creepy”, but after speaking with Erin’s Mom, he realized photos were probably a good idea.
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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