Last night, I went to a pretty amazing art show.
Masha, Dustin, and Matt are friends of mine. I recently met Masha and Dustin, but Matt has been a friend for years. We were drinking coffee and repairing our lap-tops over at Big E's, which is between Ringling and New College, and Masha came up to us and told us that Mike Pukac was having a show in downtown Sarasota and we should stop by and check it out. We had to finish repairing our laptops (they were in 50 pieces) but said we'd drop by once we were done. We actually wound up having to give Masha a ride because her other friend's car broke down.
In any case, I was expecting what I tend to run into at art shows - artwork that is very interesting, and very good, but doesn't necessarily speak to me beyond "Hey, that's a good composition and this person is a great artist". That's not what happened, and I'm very glad.
Mike's paintings are gorgeous. Some paintings are powerful, others are pretty, but these were gorgeous. I love art, but I'm not normally the sort to rant and rave about it... everyone has their moments, though. The vivid colors, iridescence, and dreamlike quality of the paintings are amazing. It was difficult to keep from reaching out and seeing if my hands would enter that world, like dipping your hands in the water in a puddle; I wanted to swim in them. He is experimental with his paint, but he backs that up with a lot of skill. If you get a chance to see some of his paintings in person, seize it, because photographs and scans are never going to do it justice.
During the past few weeks, I've been discussing arrangements with a friend of mine in Palm Bay - I've been planning on going over there to do a series of paintings. The apartment here doesn't have the space, and since I'm currently crashing with my mother, who is a neat freak, I don't know if either of us could deal with the stress of the inevitable explosion of canvas and acrylic paint. The show I went to last night was certainly an inspiration, a testament to how vivid a painting can be. I'm not quite the master and can't come close, but it's enough to know that it's possible.
