It’s been a year of major growth
for International Artist Day.

by Maurice Cardinal

Since the IAD’s inception by founder Chris MacClure in 2004, we have steadily gained momentum and visibility in our mandate to celebrate the contribution artists make to society.

When the IAD first launched, Chris would scour the internet looking for a smattering of artists who celebrated alongside of us. Today, the numbers are overwhelming when you go online to see all the artists and galleries in all the cities around the world who do something very special on our official day of October 25. It’s a date Chris chose that pays homage to Pablo Picasso, a visionary artist who has done more for contemporary art than anyone.

Picasso literally revitalized contemporary art and brought it into the mainstream.

The internet is overflowing with International Artist Day celebrations this year in cities like New York, London, Mumbai, Beijing, and all the little bergs and art communities in between. We love everyone who shares our exuberance and respect for art, so let us know what you’re doing to help promote the cause.

The IAD celebrates all forms of art, from painters to performance artists, and this year we are holding up our glasses as a toast, and extending our welcome to mixologists throughout the USA!

Creativity is the name of the game in the art world, and anyone who can stimulate our senses, whether two-dimensional visual, movement through dance or music, or … gastronomical through food and drink, we salute you … Cin Cin!

We are honored this year to lend our name to an ART FORM CONTEST launched by the Van Gogh Vodka people and CHILLED magazine, who want to celebrate the creativity of mixologists in each state from coast to coast in America. Van Gogh Vodka also chose one of the world’s most famous artists to celebrate their brand, and to literally bring creative “SPIRIT” to the world of art.

We’ve humorously played up the “Picasso meets Van Gogh” element to bring attention to a national celebration occurring today regarding the culmination of the contest in Charleston South Carolina at the Principle Gallery where the winners will be announced. Stay tuned! There are cash prizes and a double shot of prestige for the mixologist, or as Van Gogh Vodka coins them, BARtists who create the most interesting libations that are flavorful, colorful and designed as a work of art.

We also tip our hats to multi-skilled artists like Marilyn Hurst, a painter and writer who has constantly contributed to the IAD since its inception. Marilyn helped founder Chris MacClure in the early years as they worked together to define International Artist Day – Marilyn and Chris are married to each other. Marilyn recently posted a blog about artist Frank Arnold, well respected international figurative artist, and discussed with Frank the unconscious process of creativity and what it really means to reach into and beyond your collective souls for inspiration.

Chris, a romantic realist painter, and Marilyn just opened a new studio in White Rock with Brent Heighton. We’re all looking forward to seeing what they produce out of this new creative space.

It’s been an incredible year for me too, Maurice Cardinal, IAD co-partner with Chris. Over the last six months I’ve been exploring what blockchain and cryptocurrency bring to the worlds of art. Blockchain and smart contracts are the business tool artists have been hoping for since the inception of the internet. It’s the last piece to the puzzle. Blockchain allows all types of artist to place their art online without worry of it being infringed or illegally copied and sold. Blockchain helps artists get their work in front of interested and qualified buyers in an easy,  secure and affordable way.

It’s a new way for a new era that is proving promising for artists as well as galleries.

Galleries this year around the world are also adopting blockchain and cryptocurrency strategies because it substantially reduces their operating costs and gives them access to a market that previously was insanely and infamously elusive.

An artist I work with, Doriz Anderson just hung four new pieces in the brand new Art Couture Gallery in White Rock. The canvass above, “Join the Party” was painted after Doriz took a closer look at the artistry of the cocktails created in the contest, and literally felt inspired to join the party.

Jenny Xu, Art Couture Gallery owner and curator, has graciously made space on her walls for four of Doriz’s abstract figurative paintings, including Join the Party.

Jenny  has a rolling hit with her new gallery that showcases exemplary art to our seaside community – with pieces ranging from an affordable three hundred up to sixty-thousand dollars. Jenny seems to already have the attention and respect of local Asian collectors, and is quickly becoming the west coast stage for incredible pieces by highly respected Chinese artists like Xiaoyang Yang, who sold a piece recently, Flourish of Life, at auction for over $1.7 million USD. The Yang image at the left, Tea & Zen hung at Art Couture last month for a very modest $60K.

All of a sudden our little seaside town of White Rock at the ocean, has slipped quietly onto the international art scene in a prestigious way. Look for illuminating openings and events at the Art Couture Gallery in the coming months.

Today is October 25th, 2018, our official day of celebration at International Artist Day, so get out and visit an artist’s studio or art gallery, or go online and buy a piece of art, or … at the very least stop an artist on the street (everyone knows what an artist looks like haha) and buy them a drink or dinner to thank them for the contribution they make to society.

Happy International Artist Day in 2018!

By Marilyn Hurst

Frank Arnold is an abstract figurative painter and sculptor. His work is haunting, bold, bright, and imbued with allegorical symbolism. It is also dark and pulls obliquely from his unconscious – abstract intellectualism personified.

Frank has also produced two books, the first, “Frank Arnold Speaks” is a bilingual, English and Spanish biography reflecting back on his youth as an adopted child, and on his life experiences and the impact it’s had on his artwork.

His second book, “Your Creative Imagination Unlocked,” is a collaborative with depth psychologist, Dr. Jim Manganiello. It’s an exploration of his own creative process with observations and hypotheses by Manganiello respective of Frank’s work as well as that of other abstract artists, Cy Twombly, Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and Banksy. His book explores the deeper mind and how art can be a path to rediscovery of creative imagination. Frank was born in Long Beach, California, raised in the San Joaquin Valley and now has galleries in California and Mexico.

Frank graciously shared his time with us, and his personal insight into the creative process.

When did you get into the fine arts and what inspired you to do so?

It all began for me with a love of color. As a child I won a flower arranging contest at the fair. I was so taken by all the colors and the possible combinations. I have to think that was the true starting point for me.  I got into fine art in school. That was back in the days where if you talked too much, give you more art classes. “Put Frankie in art class because he talks too much.” I was kind of board with school, but my daydreaming fed my creative side and I grew to love art.

Did you ever paint traditionally or figurative work, 
or did you plunge into abstraction right away?

I was classically trained in realism, both painting and drawing. What I found, aside from the fact that realism is a lot of hard work, is there are so many rules to follow. I wanted something to come from my soul. At first I was painting from my surface mind and it was all about me. As I began to work from my deeper mind, I began to feel something was coming to me from another place, something I call gifts from my soul. I can’t explain the source, but it guides me through my process.  The way I describe it is … I go to a place where no words are spoken, a place where there is no sound, no smell, even my sense of touch goes away. I am left in a bright place where things seem to be given to me. It’s a wonderful place where I feel I can do anything; a place that I am so grateful for because I can see.

Why did you choose San Jose del Cabo Baja Mexico as one of your studios?

I have been in love with Mexico ever since I was a kid and people always think of it as an arty country. They love and respect art. There were only a few galleries in all of Los Cabos when I first came here. I felt pulled to the area for its beauty and the people and the sense of community. Now it’s become such an art Mecca for Mexico.

Has living in Cabo San Lucas changed your art expression from living in Fresno USA ?

As my art comes from within, I have to think it is affected by where I am. What keeps my interest is the work which I feel is coming from my soul, the deeper mind work over which I really have no control. I think so much of it is really messages for other people. I have seen this played out in my gallery so many times when viewers to react to the images. It’s humbling for me to see.

 Do you have one sentence that would define your philosophy in art?

If anyone’s art moves you for a moment, then it has done its job.

Chris MacClure – IAD Founder, and Frank Arnold