meet RICHARD VYSE ...a perennial

While we are onthe subject of menswear, I thought it fitting, pun intended,  to post this interview..... 

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

As I’ve said countless times, the internet has given us a slew of wannabes, might be’s and could be’s but it is the genuinely talented who remain on top of their game regardless of their followers, likes or tools of creativity. As I just read elsewhere this is the year or the era of the perennials, not the millennials, not the generation Z and some such initials or monikers but of the boomers who have maintained and experienced a level of excellence through the decades. Not only have they continued on their paths but they have expanded their skillsets to embrace the times and pave new ways and directions for the future of all créateurs. 

click image to enlarge

These verifiable perennials have evolved and with their evolution comes new ways of communicating or expressing their talents. Richard Vyse is a perfect example of this; He started doing retail advertisement sketches before photography became the preferred advertising medium and has since evolved into painting and other mediums with a particular fascination these days with the male form. What is astounding is that no matter the expressive means/tools/medium he has chosen or the subject matter, Richard is a beacon whose talents have shone brightly year and after year despite the changing times and trends. We are blessed that this man could not “age out” because his formidable talents and his chosen profession are not subject to age.

click image to enlarge

Richard is a celebrated, published and recognized artist who has been and continues to be exhibited and sold internationally; he is not some faux artiste of the Instagram era whose only claim to fame is followers and likes ….  so here he is in his own words and look out for his next show …QUEER MOODS…The Art of Richard Vyse … February 1-3 2019 ... info below

click image to enlarge

Jeffrey Felner: Can you sort of tell us how you arrived at your present status meaning what lead you to your decision to become a painter?

Richard Vyse: As a child and through high school I sketched fashionable women, first as a hobby then as a profession and now many years later I feel free to express my gay sensibility with erotic MAN ART. My imagination takes over after years of working on crushing deadlines where I produced fashion artwork to each department store and print vehicle while adhering to their meticulous specifications for advertising and fashion magazines. My now potent freedom, with an undercurrent of discipline and experience, I can fully express my creative erotic artistry which is now focused on the male human form.

click image to enlarge

JF: Your work has a distinctive look which I assume is your signature; how did you arrive at this and how do you keep it so consistent?

RV: After studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology and School of Visual Arts

in Manhattan and teaching at Pratt in Brooklyn, I can  now hone in on creating Man Art in China marker, Chinese ink, watercolor or acrylics. My art can have a different look depending on the medium. I am always creating alternate ways to keep my art modern with contour line and spontaneous brush strokes to capture a moment and a mood.

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

JF: If you could invite any 5 people to dinner... who would they be and why?

RV: Although inviting dear interesting friends who have passed would be my first choice here are five famous people that I think would be interesting to dine with...

Alfred Hitchcock (wonderful stories), Dali Lama (spiritual guidance), Maya Angelou (the sound of her voice with words of wisdom), Oscar Wilde (to be gay in his time and his brilliant words) and Michelangelo (to learn about creating David and his art).

click image to enlarge

 JF: If you could choose any collaboration or assignment, that would it be and why?

RV: Mine is to celebrate and collaborate with other LGBT artists creating in diverse mediums to exhibit at the Leslie Lohman museum in Manhattan.

click image to enlarge

 JF: Let’s speak of social media and its advantages and disadvantages as well as it being a path to self-fame; how do you see it from both points of view and why

RV: The positive outweighs the negative for me using the internet.

The internet is now my gallery. It is where I present my Man Art on Facebook, Instagram and many gay art sites that lead to international sales of my art.

The internet is wonderful for meeting many artists from all over the world and

discovering new art every day. I also collaborate with many international guys/models/photgraphers who do selfies that I interpret into portraits or nude art. My art gets international exposure when I am featured online in Mascular magazine UK, Noisy Rain magazine (Mexico), Character magazine, (France), Jack the Lad magazine, (UK) and The Advocate, (USA).

click image to enlarge

QUEER MOODS

The Art of Richard Vyse

John Emmett Connors

Prince Street Project Space

127b Prince Street , NYC, NY

February 1-3 2019

www.manartbyvyse.blogspot.com

Mel Odom: celebrate GORGEOUS

40 years of Art, a celebration … Mel Odom: Gorgeous

Mel Odom by Robert Mapplethorpe

For those who missed the glory days of printed media it can be said that some of the greatest artists and illustrators of the 20th century were hatched and represented on a regular basis on an international stage; It might have been l’Uomo vogue or Blueboy, Linea Italiana, Interview, when it was of the moment, or GQ when it was the bible for menswear. Illustration and the artwork of artists like Mel Odom, George Stavrinos, Richard Bernstein, Antonio Lopez, and Tony Viramontes was everywhere including your daily newspaper when illustration was the preferred visual method of advertising especially in newspapers. Those years were explosive and life altering in so many ways that none of us could have ever predicted.

click image to enlarge

Mel Odom’s Illustrations during the Seventies and even today are unique in style and immediately identifiable. Besides his stunning technique they have a mystery and mood that transforms the viewer to magical sometimes surreal place. Mel is iconic within the Illustration world.”  Richard Vyse, illustrator, artist, portraitist

click image to enlarge

I have known Mel as an acquaintance for most of those 40 years so it gives me great pleasure when my peers can be lauded and celebrated for their accomplishments and of course when I get to interview them. One of my favorite expressions is that one has to look back to see what’s ahead and so with that in mind, here is Mel Odom in his words…..

BTW: The opening reception for “Mel Odom: Gorgeous” is January 10 from 6 – 8pm at 508 W 26 St. ste 9C …..  dan@danielcooneyfineart.com

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

Jeffrey Felner: Can you sort of give us a brief run down as to how you arrived at your present station in life; you

Mel Odom: I grew up in a very small town in North Carolina. My father was a mailman and had a tobacco/peanuts farm with his sisters.  My mom stayed home and took care of my older brother and me.  I had a good life there with friends, playing in the woods and enough alone time to play with dolls and draw.  Drawing was my favorite thing to do.  My being able to draw became my identity throughout my school years and when I went to college to study illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University. I was fortunate enough to live in London for a couple of years after college studying music and working on an illustration portfolio; life in London saved me from being a total hick when I moved to NYC. 

NYC was very kind to me and I got illustration work right away. I met interesting people and managed to climb the publishing “food chain” from lurid skin magazines to more established ones like Playboy and TIME.  I worked for several years with Blueboy while exploring my personal sexuality in print as well as in front of the whole world. I suspect my work ethic saved me from the excesses of New York City but even so, I left a portion of my hearing at Studio 54 from nights spent on the dance floor. In 1980 my commissions to illustrate book covers led me to become the go-to artist for the burgeoning genre of gay literature; dozens of covers, then for all sorts of fiction followed … I had an actual career.

By 1991, bored a bit by illustration, and in need of an all-consuming passion, I designed a fashion doll for adults, “Gene Marshall’, a fictional movie star of the 40s and 50s.  She was launched commercially in 1995 and within one year she was second only to Barbie on the newfangled Internet. She was a huge success and occupied my time to the exclusion of illustration, except for illustrations of Gene.  She was a lot of work and a lot of fun and after ten years with Ashton-Drake Galleries, Gene changed companies for five beautifully fashioned years with Integrity Toys where she “retired” in 2015.  Truthfully, I was afraid that if I didn’t return to my drawing and painting then, I might never go back to it.  I loved doing Gene, but the travel and compromise was exhausting.  ‘Coaxed back into pictures three years later’, Gene Marshall returned for five more years in the spotlight as a ball-jointed resin doll with JAMIE show. This past January, appropriately enough at a Palm Springs convention, Gene retired once more ‘to move to a private life in Italy’… or that’s what I’ve decided.

click image to enlarge

JF: If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would they be and why?

MO: Aubrey Beardsley would be my first choice as He’s always been my favorite artist. He was a genius, flat out and His influence on modern art is just being understood. He produced a lifetime’s worth of work by the time he was twenty five. I would LOVE to invite the amazing actress Cate Blanchett, and seems likely to be an equally amazing person; she’s funny and brilliant without being grand about it. Georgia O’Keeffe though I imagine she would be fairly quiet but intense. I think the other two guests might be my now deceased parents because I have so much I’d love to tell them … or Oprah, she’d be a blast to meet and talk to!!!  or Idris Elba!

click image to enlarge

JF: There is another part to your life besides the art can you explain and expand on what that entails?

MO: I have a great private life; my husband and I spend weekends and holidays together, sometimes weeks together. We maintain separate residences as I’m good alone since I need it to work. My husband Charlie and I have been together for 25 years and married for five. We really love being together; he’s from the Bronx and I’m from Mayberry so we’re very different in a way that works. Having amazing friends is something that enhances us both. 

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

JF: If you could collaborate on any project of any kind with any one of your choice, who and what would it be and why?

MO: I want to work with a brilliant book designer who can create a book of my life’s work. It’s been decades since the last one and I’d like to be involved with the process of building a monograph that is a more a comprehensive examination of my oeuvre.  I always hear a clock ticking!

click image to enlarge

JF: I’m curious to know what your feelings are about social media, the upside and downside, and what it’s breeding in terms of the so called famous and influencers?

MO: Well, you’re reading this because of the Internet, so how bad can the Internet be? We don’t know yet.   I was rather reluctant to embrace social media, but once I did, I starting reaping rewards for doing it and meeting interesting people I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. It can be a good thing…or the opposite.   I just try to not let it suck up too much of my time.  I’m happier drawing or doing something in the real world.

 Every generation has its own form of new celebrity.  When I was a kid it was TV stars, they were the new media stars, not quite movie stars but more familiar and ultimately more powerful.  Sort of like Internet stars of different varieties, they’re in your home. Hell… they’re in your lap! 

I like people who make and do things, artists and creatives.  I don’t follow much of anybody who’s just famous for being themselves; unless they possess incredible beauty … I’m always up for that. Today’s Media is a totally different world than we once knew. 

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

Daniel Cooney Fine Art is pleased to announce the first gallery exhibition of illustrator Mel Odom’s drawings titled Gorgeous. The exhibition will consist of approximately 30 small-scale drawings primarily created in the late 1970’s-80’s on board and vellum. These meticulous drawings are executed in pencil, dyes and gouache. Exhibition dates: January 10 – February 23, 2019

www.melodomart.com

www.danielcooneyfineart.com

Richard Haines at DANIEL COONEY/FINE ART

Today is all about a gentleman who has elevated the art of fashion illustration and taken it out of the sequestered design rooms of fashion and brought this art form to the public via GQ and The NY Times, Prada, Barneys, Mr. Porter, Dries Van Noten and many more avenues.  Richard Haines is a ubiquitous presence at men’s fashion shows and events all over the world.   As he was once described as “the cool dude with the sketch pad” but this writer would prefer to call him a visual diarist who has chronicled the world of fashion as well as everyday fashion folks through his body of work. 

This week begins a 6 week show of Mr. Haines’ work at DANIEL COONEY/FINE ART gallery in West Chelsea. What more evidence does one need than this to clarify the eternal conundrum of whether or not fashion is art and can art can make fashion its focus.

Below is a redacted interview that I conducted with the illustrious Richard Haines some time ago and yes, the pun is intended.  A little insight into the artist and the man in his own words:

Jeffrey Felner: What is the most treasured possession in your wardrobe?

Richard Haines: I don't approach clothes that way. I treasure art that my daughter did when she was 5 or 6, and a lovely drawing a dear friend left me, but clothes, not so much. 

JF: What is your most sterling trait?

RH: Hmmm, well, I’d have to say my humor. It gets me through a lot, and people seem to enjoy it. I would have said drawing, but that's not really a trait, is it?

JF: What’s your advice to the “newcomer?”

RH: Practice some humility, and life is not like reality TV...

JF: Who is your favorite designer?

RH: That’s like asking for a favorite artist… it's impossible. I love Prada and miu miu-i was in the stores in Milan and was just blown away by the level of execution and vision. I have so much admiration for Marc Jacobs and his creative stamina, and there's Dries,  Lanvin, and Comme  des  Garcons...it goes on. 

JF: In 3 words or less, describe the current state of fashion.

RH: vibrant, chaotic, democratic

www.designerman-whatisawtoday.blogspot.com

DANIEL COONEY

26 WEST 26 STREET Ste. 9C