Product Description: Though beloved by millions around the world, black velvet paintings have too long been relegated to the shadowy backrooms of art history. Black Velvet Masterpieces celebrates the best and worst of this kitschy yet sought-after artform, showcasing the most mind-blowing paintings from the Velveteria museum, home to a rotating collection of more than 1,200 crying Elvises, troubling clowns, naked ladies, dogs playing poker, celebrity and presidential portraits, black light psych-outs, and the just plain weird. Complementing 300 reproductions of these tactile masterpieces are a unique history of the medium tracing its roots from ancient China and Japan through Victorian England, the South Seas, Southeast Asia, and the Americas, and a step-by-step exploration of the tricky art of painting on this luxurious fabric.
More Velvety and Revolutionary than a Czech Dissident in 1989 This is the most important book on art to appear since Aristotle's "Poetics"! Sure, the real-life noms de reality of the Velveteria's curators are Carl Baldwin and Caren Anderson, but the breadth and depth of their contribution to modern appreciation of art put them more in line spiritually with the Renaissance Medici family - for, like the Medicis, they know talent when they see (or in this case, feel) it. Like all true art patrons, they make art appreciation an art in and of itself, and have had the pizazz and wherewithal to pluck otherwise unheralded auteurs such as Richard Bustamante, Ce Ce Rodriguez, and "Juanita," from the slums of obscurity and put them in the sparkling art-world penthouse that is this book. This book has more entertaining photos in it than J. Edgar Hoover's secret files, circa 1968, but what will surprise the uninitiated is that it also is full of more wacky, wild, and woolly stories than the Warren Commission Report! Carl and Caren are true characters, and their passion for their art and each other comes through in spades here. They have a lust for life, a gift of gab, and a knack for picking the very best in Unicorns, 18-Wheeler Jesuses, nude Polynesians, Mexican Banditos, and Cigar-Smoking Filipina Hill Tribe Women. The Velveteria is the type of place the word "psychotronic" was invented for, and this book is the type of thing your credit card was issued to buy - that is, if you have a smidgen of coolness (and money) in you. Carl and Caren have done their part to make the world a weirder, cooler, freakier, more mind-expanding place - have you?
Absolutely Fantastic! This wonderful book opened my eyes to the people and talent behind these mainly overlooked pieces of art.
My initial impressions of velvet painting was that there probably wasn't much past the standard clowns and snarling Elvis. While that's what I was familiar with, this title brought to life an entirely different group of artists who produced artwork that I found to be both surprising and stunning.
I truly enjoyed the writing style, the wonderful color photographs, the story behind building this collection and the way the book was broken into subjects make it a pleasure to thumb through. The actual velvet cover was simply the icing on the cake!
Well done!
Gorgeous Photos The full color photographs - approx. 200 - are gorgeous and are almost tactile in the way they convey the lush texture and rich color of the velvet paintings. I also enjoyed the authors' writing style: chatty and interesting, covering everything from the history of velvet painting and painters to the authors' personal collecting stories. So...great photos, great writing, and a front cover artfully decorated with black velvet - makes the book itself a bit of a Black Velvet Masterpiece!
I was also lucky enough to visit the authors' Velveteria Museum in Portland and can attest it's well worth the trip.
Beyond kitsch While most people think of neon paint and goofy subject matter, the collection of the Velveteria runs the whole spectrum of black velvet painting from tropical nudes to quirky clowns, sad eyed children to black power homages, shimmering landscapes to dead rockstar tributes. This book collects them for your viewing pleasure along with a thorough intro & history of the art, as well as a how-to instructional. Even the cover has velvet on it. A fun book for your bookshelf or an even better gift. When in Portland, OR visit their museum.
Be astonished and delighted! Almost everyone has a story to share about black velvet. The stories that authors Caren Anderson and Carl Baldwin share in their book will both astonish and delight you. Black velvet isn't just for Elvis! Sure, this compendium delivers the standard kitcsh but there are also some wonderful surprises: lush landscapes, luminous figures, and truly skillful painting techniques. Anderson and Baldwin invite readers to appreciate how the works of artists such as Leeteg, McPhee, Tyree, and Rodriguez transcend the mosh pit of clowns, banditos, and poker dogs. The design by Reed Darmon is clever and the photographs pop from the pages. A wonderful addition to any home library or a terrific gift for your favorite art snob!
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