Category: Boston

Eddie Bruckner Installed as New Board Member of the Wellesley Society of Artists

1/3/2022

At the November 18, 2021 meeting of the Wellesley Society of Artists, the board voted to accept and confirm the 2022 slate of officers for the 2022 Board of Directors.

Eddie Bruckner will be joining the Board as the Communications/Publicity Director. Nancy Treves, president of the Wellesley Society of Artists said, "Eddie's enthusiasm and skill set is a much needed asset to WSA and I look forward to working with Eddie."

Click Here To Learn More About The Wellesley Society of Artists

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Blogging About Painting Electrical Boxes in Boston

9/25/2020

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I love Public Art because it's Art for Everyone. It's art that you often didn't plan to see or experience. It just happens. You're walking along the street and all of a sudden you see something that makes you smile, perhaps take a photo of it, or even a selfie with a post to Instagram.

My latest Public Art Project, The Greenway PaintBox At Atlantic Avenue & State Street was completed in September 2020 and is located along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, just steps away from Boston's New England Aquarium at the corner of Atlantic Avenue & State Street. Here are some photos of the final design...

I painted this box during an interesting and unusual time in history, during the Covid-19 Pandemic. At the time I started painting at the end of August, restaurants had re-opened with mostly outdoor seating. The electrical box was situated in front of the restaurant Provisions, so there were a lot of people enjoying the summer weather eating outside, while they watched me paint. Many people stopped to ask what I was painting, or to tell me "good job!" Some people asked to take photos with me and the in-progress box! Boston Ducktours even posted about it on their twitter and other social media accounts.

Commissioned by the City of Boston and the Boston Art Commission, the public artwork features images of the spectacular and unique architecture of the New England Aquarium, the MBTA Aquarium Train Station Entrance, and one of the famous Boston Duckboats.

The artwork highlights my signature style of bright colors, bold lines, and the illusion of mosaic tile, with the goal of making people happy when they see it as they walk through Boston. The painted electrical box took over 65 Hours to paint from start to finish from August 30th through September 12th, 2020.

To see more photos of this project and read more about it, CLICK HERE.

A video highlighting the making of the PaintBox is available and posted below in this Blog post as well as on Eddie Bruckner's YouTube Channel. You should subscribe to the Eddie Bruckner Fine Art YouTube Channel and follow Eddie on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date!

In 2017, I was commissioned by the City of Boston’s Public Art Commission to paint an electrical box near Fenway Park. I’ve also completed a second electrical box with a Boston Marathon Theme along the Marathon route in Natick, MA. "Music, Love & Rock 'N' Roll" for the GuitARTS! Public Art Project was commissioned by Music Drives Us and The Boch Family Foundation. #JumpNatick was commissioned by the Town of Natick, Natick Center Associates the the Natick Center Cultural District with support from the American Planning Association (APA), Americans for the Arts (AFTA), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

You can check out all my Public Art Projects by CLICKING HERE.

I’m excited about the actual process of creating public art and/or installing the artwork on location with observers and participants. My artwork is about having fun, bringing a smile to people’s faces, and at the same time, providing a unique way of experiencing some of our most familiar objects, places, or people. I view my artwork as a visual representation of happiness, love, and the beautification of physical space and I love how Public Art achieves this goal and reaches so many people. My hope is that the public will personally connect to my art and enjoy the experience.

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Eddie Bruckner Featured Instructor in Needham Community Education's "Instructor Spotlight" Series

9/10/2020

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It was so nice to hear that Needham Community Education wanted to feature me in their latest Instructor Spotlight. In addition to teaching private art instruction, I also teach Acrylic Painting, Pencil Drawing, and Colored Pencil Drawing (and more!) through Needham Community Adult Education. Here is link to the Instructor Spotlight...
http://www.needham.k12.ma.us/UserFiles/Servers/Server_64429/File/Community%20Ed/Eddie%20Bruckner%20Spotlight.pdf

For More information about Private Art Instruction for kids and adults, please CLICK HERE.

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The Davis Museum

1/13/2019

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Over the past few months, I had the opportunity to participate in a three-part series of talks with the curators of the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, located in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

I saw a variety of prints created from the 14th century through present day. I also learned about the printmaking process, and using woodblock engraving to create prints.

Christiane Baumgartner's prints were featured through this past December in an exhibit titled "Another Country" which was really amazing.

Christiane Baumgatner is a German artist, and this was her first museum exhibition in the United States. The work on view featured these large, amazing woodcuts, as well as photoengravings, aquatints, and photogravures. She works with images from television and film. She would take photographs of her television screen, often of war documentaries and use them as a starting point for her woodcuts. The helicopter image below is her artwork called "Manhattan Transfer," which was my favorite.

"Manhattan Transfer", Woodcut on Kozo Paper by Christiane Baumgartner. 4 Detail Shots are Below.

Detail

Detail of the Helicopter's Rear Wheel/Landing Gear

I also had the opportunity to view some of the Davis Museum's permanent collection of wonderful artwork from artists such as Andy Warhol, Louise Nevelson, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, and Al Held.

"Woman Springs" 1966, Oil on hollow core wooden door, by Willem de Kooning

"Brillo Box," 1964 and "Campbell's Tomato Juice," 1964, Synthetic polymer paint and screen print ink on wood. By Andy Warhol

Louise Nevelson's "Dream House V" 1972, Wood painted black.

"Quattro Centric XII" 1990 by Al Held

"Untitled", 1951 by Lee Krasner.

"Untitled (Small Composition)", 1949 by Jackson Pollock.

I'd definitely recommend a visit to The Davis Museum, located on the campus of Wellesley College. for more information, please visit their website: www.wellesley.edu/davismuseum

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M.C. Escher At The MFA Boston

6/4/2018

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M.C. Escher is one of those artists that I find utterly fascinating. The Museum of Fine Arts Boston curated a wonderful exhibit called, "Infinite Dimensions," which recently closed on May 28, 2018. I first came across the Dutch artist M.C. Escher while shopping for posters to hang in my college dorm room! I saw his amazing Tessellation drawings and was hooked!

"Day and Night" Color Woodcut, 1938.

M.C. Escher was a skilled print-maker who produced amazing works of art that experimented with space and time, geometry, artistic composition, playing around with values in a drawing, capturing reflection, and so much more. This particular Escher exhibit is the first exhibition of its kind in a Boston museum featuring original prints and drawings. The exhibit consisted of over 50 of Escher's masterpieces, most of which were under-appreciated by the mainstream art world. I even learned that M.C. stands for Maurits Cornelis Escher. Escher loved Tessellations, arrangements on a two-dimensional surface of shapes that interlock without gaps or overlapping. The majority of Escher's prints are woodcuts, which he preferred for the art he was personally creating.

In the artwork "Day and Night" shown above, Escher explores the balance between two dimensional and three dimensional forms. The black and white birds in his woodcut are flying in opposite directions, morphing into a landscape below. Escher plays with the ideas of symmetry and contrast. The right and left sides of the paper are mirror images of each other. The white birds appear over a nighttime landscape, and the black birds appear over a daytime landscape.

For those interested: A Lithograph is printed from a flat surface, most often stone, where the artist would draw on stone with a greasy crayon. The stone after being treated so that the crayon will work with the printing ink on it and the stone surface is kept wet to repel the ink. A Woodcut is a relief print where the artist carves into a wooden block to create areas that are raised that will hold the ink that will be printed. A Linocut is a relief print made by gouging and cutting a piece of linoleum, then inking it, and printing it. Linocuts are preferred when printing flat areas of color since the linoleum has no grain as compared to wood. Some of Escher's works are Mezzotints, which is a labor intensive process, so Escher stopped doing it soon after starting it!

Shown here above, are two studies for "Drawing Hands" (shown below), completed around 1948 with graphite pencil. It's fascinating to see how these hands are drawing one another into existence. The two hands are in a never-ending state of drawing and appear to be bringing life to the other. On a technical note, it's very cool to see how Escher depicts the tendons and veins of the hand with only slight changes of value in light and dark.

Escher's lithograph "Bond of Union", shown here to the right, was created in 1956 and shows two spiral images, a woman and a man united in one endless strip.

"Reptiles" is a lithograph Escher created in 1943 depicting reptiles emerging from a tessellation drawing, crawling across books and other objects, and then disappearing again into the flat image on the paper. Perhaps this is a narrative for the cycle of life. So creative! I love this one a lot.

Escher's work translated into album covers from the group Mott the Hoople in 1970 and later Ian Hunter's studio album in 1975.

Self-Portrait, Lithograph, 1929.

"Sky and Water II" Woodcut, 1938.

In the Self-Portrait shown above, it's interesting to note that it is a very serious drawing that has a tremendous amount of detail in it. However, there are a lot of abstract elements in this Self-Portrait such as his wavy hair.

Many of Escher's works of art focused on impossible structures. They are akin to optical illusions, where the buildings seem to violate the laws of gravity and physics.

"Waterfall" Lithograph, 1961.

"Ascending and Descending" Lithograph, 1960.

"Relativity" Lithograph, 1953.

"Print Gallery" Lithograph, 1956.

The theme of Reflection appears often in Escher's work. Below the distorted perspective of a room is captured in the reflection of a silver sphere. And shown below, in "Eye" he captures the reflection of a skull.

"Hand with Reflecting Sphere" Lithograph, 1935. (Here on cream woven paper)

"Hand with Reflecting Sphere" Lithograph, 1935. Escher experimented with how the different the image would appear on various types of paper. (Here on silver paper)

"Eye" (6 Progressive Proofs) Mezzotint and drypoint, 1946.

Detail showing the skull image of "Eye" (6 Progressive Proofs) Mezzotint and drypoint, 1946.

"Puddle" Color Woodcut, 1952.

"Circle Limit III" Color Woodcut, 1959.

"Double Planetoid" Color Wood Engraving, 1949.

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The Harvard Art Museums

5/20/2018

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I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, MA. I highly recommend you check it out as they have a wonderful and varied collection of artwork from earliest times to the present.

The Harvard Art Museums are actually comprised of three art collections; The Fogg, the Busch-Reisinger, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. The three were combined in a beautiful space designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The Museum's literature stated that it is their hope that their collections and unique spaces inspire new ways of looking and thinking about art for all visitors.

I started out off the main atrium to explore the European Art of the 19th and 20th Century and the Modern and Contemporary Art galleries.

I came across this painting to the right by Paul Cezanne called, "Study of Trees." It is oil on canvas and is from the early 20th Century. When I think of Cezanne, I often think of impressionism, delightful landscapes, or beautiful bowls of fruit! This painting demonstrated Cezanne's role in connecting 19th Century Impressionism to 20th Century Cubism. I love how the trees are represented here because he was able to depict depth using diagonal shapes and brushstrokes that hint at movement and depth. There are dashed lines that define the tree trunks on both sides of a country road. It's no wonder why Harvard has this painting as part of its collection; Although it's not as well-known as Van Gogh's "Starry Night" or Monet's "Waterlilies," it's one of the most important paintings from this time period and the history of abstract painting.

Pablo Picasso's "Still Life with Inkwell" Oil on Canvas, c. 1911-1912. Picasso applied cubism to the traditional still life.

Pablo Picasso's "The Pomegranate" Oil on Canvas, 1911-1912.

Here is Willem de Kooning's 1937-1938 Oil on Masonite painting titled, "Untitled (The Cow Jumps Over The Moon). I learned that de Kooning was trained as a commercial artist and his artistic styles move back and forth between abstract and figurative methods. This painting below is one of his earlier works, which reminds me of Joan Miro's work to some degree. His later artwork, for which he is more well-known, is more gestural and epitomizes the abstract expressionism movement.

Georgia O'Keefe, "Red and Pink" Oil on Canvas, 1925. Perhaps an abstraction of flower petals.

Vincent Van Gogh's "The Blind Man" Watercolor on paper mounted on canvas, 1903.

Joan Miro in his painting to the right titled, "Mural" made in 1935 plays with the idea of surrealism. Animal-like figures are seen here on an oddly shaped background with areas of pure, flat color.

If you haven't seen my blog on Barcelona Art, there is a ton I included on my visit to the Joan Miro Museum. Click Here to read my blog on Barcelona Art!

You wouldn't know it based on the type of artwork he became famous for, but the painting below is by the artist, Roy Lichtenstein. "The Capture of Roanoke Island" was painted in 1953, well before he developed his pop art comic-book style of art.

I came across several sculptures by the artist David Smith. For those of you who read my blog about the Downtown Art Scene in Los Angeles, I included a David Smith sculpture. You can read it HERE!

I learned that due to a generous donor, the Harvard Art Museums have the largest and most complete collection of David Smith's artwork than any other museum in the world. David Smith lived in Indiana and Vermont and although he began his career as a painter, he created many many sculptures. In the photo to the right, Smith's sculpture, "Flight" that was created in 1951 and depicts birds in flight. What's interesting is his use of both welding steel and casting bronze, and his process to paint the former and patina-ting the latter.

David Smith's "Detroit Queen" Bronze, 1957.

David Smith's "Doorway on Wheels" Steel with Paint, 1960.

Three Untitled works of art by David Smith created in 1959.

David Smith's "Birthday" 1954, "Books and Apple" 1957, and "Bird" 1957. All Sterling Silver.

I stared at this painting below "Grazing Horses IV (The Red Horses), painted in 1911 by Franz Marc for quite a long time. Not because I love horses, but rather it struck me as fascinating. Franz Marc painted horses a lot, and was known for his preoccupation with animals. I learned that this particular painting was actually his first work of art to enter a museum's collection, the same year it was made. What struck me was his use of unnatural colors in a very natural scene. It's hard to see in the photo, but I was intrigued with the use of bright red in only one or two spots on the horses.

Here to the right is one of my favorites... Piet Mondrian's "Composition with Blue, Black, Yellow, and Red," painted in 1922. Many people have commented that much of my own artwork reminds them of Mondrian's artwork. In this blog article from the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, I discuss this in greater length. CLICK HERE to read that blog article!

Claude Monet's "Red Boats, Argenteuil" Oil on Canvas, 1875. This painting is notable because x-rays of this painting show that Monet reworked this painting a few times.

Georges Pierre Seurat, "Seated Figures, Study for A Sunday Afternoon On The Island of La Grande Jatte" Oil on Panel. 1884-1885. This is one of about 30 oil studies made in preparation for his masterpiece.

Henri Matisse, "Geraniums" Oil on Canvas, 1910.

Max Beckman's self-portrait in 1927, "Self-Portrait in Tuxedo" Oil on Canvas.

Gustav Klimt's "Pear Tree, 1903, later reworked by the artist. Interesting to note that Klimt chose to use a square canvas, which at the time was not typically used for landscapes.

In the Foreground, Alexander Calder's "Little Blue Under Red" c. 1950 Painted Steel.

Three Sculptures: "Head of a Woman" by Aristide Maillol; Degas' "Grande Arabesque, Third Time, modeled c 1885-90, cast after 1920; and Charles Despiau's "Seated Man, Statue for the Monument to Emile Mayrisch" c. 1930.

To the Right:
Jackson Pollock's "No. 2" mixed Media on Canvas, 1950.

No 2 is an example of Pollock's fully developed paint-pouring/splatter-painting/dripping techniques.

He put raw, un-stretched canvas on the floor and worked from above, pouring, dripping, flicking, and spraying paint onto the surface of the canvas. The movement shown here is a record of his bodily movements as he produced the painting.

Franz Kline's "High Street" Oil on Canvas, 1950. It's made with House-painters' brushes and inexpensive enamel house-paint.

Mark Rothko's "Untitled" Oil on Canvas, 1947. A precursor to his well-known, iconic style, of two or three tiers of brightly colored rectangles.

Below is Jasper johns' "The Dutch Wives", encaustic on canvas, created in 1975. If you haven't read my blog article on the Jasper johns retrospective exhibition at The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, you can find it HERE.

Josef Albers' work here below shows his thought process of how art is a type of research. With the same format of squares within squares, he tested a vast array of color combinations; He took all this research and theoretical findings to publish his book in 1963, "Interaction of Color," which is an essential resource for art and design students to this day.

Josef Albers: "Homage to the Square: Against Deep Blue" 1955 and "Homage to the Square: Four Greens" 1964. Both Oil on Masonite.

Auguste Rodin's "the Walking Man" Bronze, created around 1899-1900.

Above is Richard Serra's "Untitled (Corner Prop Piece) created in 1969. It's a sculpture comprised of a lead plate and pole and an example of minimalism and the use of industrial materials in fine art. Serra makes use of the room's architecture including the walls and floor, essential to the sculpture.

Claude Monet's "Red Mullets" Oil on Canvas, painted around 1870. I love this painting as it's so different from a typical Monet landscape, or waterlilies painting.

Here are three painting studies by John Singleton Copley, all painted in 1787. I learned that the city of London commissioned the artist to create a large painting commemorating Britain's victory over the Spanish and French at the Siege of Gibraltar in 1782. These portraits are character studies and experiments of his in composition. Looking at this from a contemporary art perspective, I love how the portraits are "unfinished."

Below is a wonderful painting from a German artist that I was unfamiliar with named Corinne Wasmuht. It is titled, "50 U Heinrich-Heine-Str." oil on wood and created in 2009. The painting is a portrayal of Berlin's Heinrich Heine Street subway station and its surrounding neighborhood. It's hard to tell scale from photographs, but this is a huge painting and it's scale immerses the viewer, but the paintings various perspective points and different scales of objects also disorient the viewer. It's really a magnificent painting and I can see why it was gifted to Harvard's Busch-Reisinger Museum.

Ai Weiwei's "258 Fake" created in 2011 features 12 monitors that show 7,677 photographs taken between 2003 and 2011

Below are some fascinating samples taken from the Forbes Pigment Collection. Edward Forbes was the director of the Harvard Art Museums from 1909 to 1944. During his tenure, he traveled the world, collecting a large number of pigments for the library. Today, the Pigment Collection contains more than 2,500 samples that are beautifully displayed in cabinets on the 4th floor and are used to this day to help identify pigments used in historical artworks.

I came across this wonderful, short video on the Forbes Pigment Collection that was created about 2 years ago. Check it out!

Inventur--Art in Germany, 1943-55

The special exhibition at the Harvard Art Museums was titled, "Inventur--Art in Germany, 1943-55" and focuses on modern-period artists who remained in Germany during World War II and the Holocaust. The exhibit runs through June 3, 2018 on the 3rd Floor of the Museum.

The artwork in the exhibition is in some way, a representation of the individual artist's response to Nazi censure, which prevented artists from exhibiting and/or selling their artwork. I found it fascinating that the exhibition was called Inventur, meaning inventory, because it is a collection of the artist experience for over 50 artists.

With Hitler's rise to power, there was a major government-driven effort to align individuals and organizations with the doctrine of the Nazi State. Many teaching artists lost their jobs. The well-known art school, The Bauhaus School of Art and Design, was closed under Nazi Rule. Artwork that was not approved of by the Nazi State was coined "Degenerate Artwork." If artists chose not to leave Germany or were not permitted to leave Germany, they had no choice but to create art privately.

Hans Uhlmann's "Male Head" Steel sheet, 1942.

Ernst Wilhelm Nay's "Embers" Oil on Canvas, 1951.

Thomas Grochowiak's "Technical District I, Blue" Oil on Canvas, 1951.

Jeanne Mammen's "Falling Facades (Berlin Ruins), oil on cardboard, 1945-1946.

Konrad Klapheck's "Typewriter" Oil on Canvas, 1955.

Fritz Winter's, "Figuration in Front of Blue" Oil on Canvas, 1953.

Willi Baumeister's "Large Montaru" Oil with synthetic resin on board, 1953.

Willi Baumeister's "Growth of the Crystals II" Oil with resin and putty on board, 1947/1952.

For more information about The Harvard Art Museums, please visit their website: www.harvardartmuseums.org. I definitely recommend visiting the Museum as you're in for a wonderful experience!

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Boston Voyager Magazine: Flashes & Strokes

3/17/2018

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This past week I learned that I was being featured in Boston Voyager Magazine in their article titled, "Flashes & Strokes: A Tale of Two Mediums." The article celebrates artists working in both traditional and digital mediums. You can view the article HERE!

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Boston Movie Premiere of Blood Circus

1/28/2018

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A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being invited to the movie premiere of the film, "Blood Circus." It was a wonderful evening which featured a red carpet reception, celebrities, interviews, and a screening of the new film. I really enjoyed the movie! It's a gritty fight action film featuring Tom Sizemore, Jamie Nocher, Kevin Nash, and Vincent Pastore.

For the Boston Premiere of Blood Circus, which will be held on February 8, 2018, the red carpet event will also feature a silent auction with signed movie posters and more! A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a wonderful charity called Donated Dental Services (DDS). DDS provides free, comprehensive dental services to vulnerable populations, including the disabled, the elderly, and those who cannot get public aid. This program operates through a volunteer network of over 15,000 dentists and since its inception in 1985, DDS has surpassed $330 Million in donated dental therapies and has impacted the lives of 117,000 people nationwide.

For the Boston Premiere, I created a new original acrylic painting for the silent auction. The painting is 24" x 36" and was created specifically for this event. The painting features the name and tagline of the movie in the same styling as on the official movie poster. A photo of the movie poster is included here to the right.

The public is invited to attend the Boston Premiere of "Blood Circus" but seating is very limited and tickets need to be purchased in advance online. CLICK HERE for more details about the event as well as to purchase tickets. I hope to see you there and bid on my painting for a good cause!

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Illuminus Boston

11/4/2017

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Two years ago, my wife and I stumbled upon an amazing event happening in Boston near Fenway Park. It was Illuminus Boston, and we were completely blown away at how much fun it was to experience incredible and unique works of art. All of them used light in spectacular ways for an immersive experience in this public art event.

This year, I made every effort to attend Illuminus Boston, which was held this weekend in the Downtown Crossing and surrounding areas part of Boston. It was a great night, and the artworks were equally terrific. I've posted photos from a number of the exhibits but here are some highlights.

Perhaps my favorite exhibit was one called "Depth Compression" by Callie Chapman. I believe another performance art piece was done in conjunction with this exhibit called "Public Displays of Motion." Depth Compression basically took imagery of the sidewalk and projected it in a compressed format, duplicated, and at a 90 degree angle. The effect was very cool. There were three dancers with bright colored wigs that made various dance and body movements along the sidewalk that were then projected behind their performance. Perhaps you "had to be there" to get it, but it was very cool. Trust me.

Another exhibit was a projected movie showing dance, with a live DJ, which turned into a live Dance Party in the middle of Washington St. in Downtown Crossing.

One of my favorites was a collection of abstract video imagery created by several artists projected on the facade of a large downtown building. I've seen a similar type of thing before in Sydney, Australia, several years ago.

The event was Friday November 3, and Saturday November 4, 2017 from 6-11 pm, so if you missed it already, be sure to catch it next year!

Below are some of my photos, but I encourage you to check out illuminusboston.org and also look it up using the Hashtag: #illuminusboston

Walkling back to the parking garage, I passed the "Obey Giant" by Shepard Fairey, which I had to take a photo of for all my street art loving fans! Enjoy!

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Matisse in the Studio and the MFA Boston

5/1/2017

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I had the pleasure of visiting the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, which is always an incredible experience. There are always new exhibits to see as well as a chance to see some of one's favorite works of art since visiting last.

Henri Matisse, perhaps one of the most famous artists in the world, was the subject of a fascinating exhibit. The "Matisse in the Studio" exhibit pushed the limits of how one experiences Matisse's work. Having seen his artwork countless of times at museums all over the world, including visiting the Matisse Museum in the south of France, I've never quite have seen artwork presented in this unique format.

Henri Matisse was an artist who revolutionized 20th Century art. This international exhibition examines the critical importance of the objects in Matisse's studio and how they influenced his creative process and finished artwork.

The exhibit has a number of thematic sections that each focus on different stages of his career as an artist. Matisse didn't limit his work to one medium like painting or sculpture, but also did many drawings, cut-outs, collages, prints, and more. What makes this exhibit particularly fascinating is that the artwork is presented next to the objects that helped inspire Matisse's creativity and served as subject matter for much of his work. Matisse found inspiration everywhere: In sculpture, in a chocolate pot, textiles, furniture.

In the painting here to the left, "Goldfish and Sculpture," Matisse presents the bronze sculpture below of a quintessential feminine pose from the history of European sculpture.

Below, the pewter jug served as inspiration for the painting below. You can see how the curved lines of the jug, the waviness, are imitated in the lines of the background tapestry, the woman's robe, and the actual jug he painted as a vase of flowers. As you can see in the close-up photos below, the wavy lines are not painted on, but Matisse rather scratched the paint off the surface of the canvas. This reminds me of how I used this technique in some of my artwork. You can see some of those paintings here and here.

Show above is a table that appears in the painting to the left. And below is a female torso Roman sculpture that Matisse used to create the "Formes, Plate IX" for the illustrated book "Jazz". Matisse used cut paper as its own medium. He also uses Guache paint on paper that he cut and pasted on canvas to create "Mimosa" and "Panel with Mask". The movie, "A Model for Matisse" discussed the relationship between Matisse and his longtime friend and nun, Sister Jacques-Marie. Their relationship began when she started working for him as his nurse, but later she often served as a model for Matisse's most famous artworks. The nun also helped paint the paper that Matisse used for his cutouts. The sister was instrumental in helping Matisse design the Vence Chapel (the Chapelle du Rosaire), one of his greatest accomplishments in his career as an artist. The two large cutouts were designs for the robes that the priests were to wear while celebrating Catholic Mass.

The "Matisse in the Studio" exhibit runs from April 9, 2017 to July 9, 2017. For more information, please visit www.mfa.org.

Make Way for Ducklings
Another special, but smaller (one room) exhibit that runs through June 18, 2017 features the art of Robert McCloskey. Anyone who has visited the Boston Public Garden or has read the beloved children's book set in Boston, "Make Way for Ducklings," knows Robert McCloskey's artwork quite well. This unique and very "Boston" exhibit is a retrospective of his beautiful illustration work for "Make Way For Ducklings" as well as other famous children's books such as, "Blueberries for Sal," "Time of Wonder," and many more.

"Make Way For Ducklings" is a story about a family of ducks who stopped Boston traffic by making their way to the Public Garden. Originally, McCloskey wanted to illustrate the book in color, as shown in the colored pencil draing below, however due to the high costs of color printing at the time, the editor chose to print the book with brown ink.

There is a beautiful bronze sculpture model on exhibit (Shown in the photo to the right). Commissioned in 1985, artist Nancy Schon created the full-sized Make Way For Ducklings sculpture that has been delighting visitors of all ages at the entrance of the Boston Public Garden at the intersection of Charles St. and Beacon St.

Art of the Americas. Level 3
Below is just a few snapshots I took during this visit to the MFA, some of my old favorites as well as some new favorites. Below from are some wonderful photos of Piet Mondrian's work, "Composition with Blue, Yellow, and Red," Georgia O'Keefe's "White Rose with Larkspur No. 2," Joseph Stella's "Old Brooklyn Bridge" large, oil on canvas painting, Pablo Picasso's sculpture, and his "The Bull" series completed in 1945 and 1946.

Also below are two of Jackson Pollock's incredible paintings, along with a close up shot of his drip-work, splattering, etc. and lastly, I've included a piece by Charles Sheeler titled "On a Shaker Theme" and an incredible work of art by Stuart Davis, "Apples and Jug" where he takes the traditional still-life and transforms it into his modernist universe, with elements of cubism and even of advertising imagery.

Charles Sheeler, "On a Shaker Theme" Oil on Canvas 1956

Stuart Davis, "Apples and Jug" Oil on Composition Board, 1923

Contemporary Art
In the Contemporary Art galleries, two pieces struck me on this visit. One is Carmen Herrera's, "Blanco y Verde (#1)", Acrylic on Canvas. Originally from Havana, Cuba, Herrera studied painting in New York. The simplicity of the forms here was really striking. I love the exactness of her straight lines, and her minimal use of color. We don't know if there is a background or a foreground, and we almost lose our-self within the painting completely. Carmen Herrera recently had a retrospective exhibit of her work a the Whitney Museum of American Art a few months ago.

Andy Warhol's beautiful and dark statement with his silkscreen on two canvas panels called, "Red Disaster." I've included a close up, so the image that is reproduced multiple times on the right canvas panel is clear. You will see that it is a photograph of an electric chair at New York's Sing Sing Prison, that was originally published in newspapers around the time of the Cold War and accusations of treason against people at that time. His repetition is often accredited to his feeling that people spend their lives seeing things, but not really observing them.

Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross
This powerful exhibit recently opened in March and will be on view through July 30, 2017.

“Memory Unearthed” is a very moving exhibit that provides a rare glimpse of life during the Holocaust. Holocaust Survivor, Henryk Ross took this incredible display of photographs of life inside the Lodz Ghetto from 1940 to 1944.

Henryk Ross was confined to the Lodz ghetto in 1940 and enlisted by the Nazi regime as a bureaucratic photographer taking photos for Jewish identification cards, for propaganda materials, etc. Secretly, Henryk Ross documented the horrible living conditions and persecution of the Jews under the Nazis. Ross his the photos and negatives before the last of the Jews were sent from the ghetto to the Auschwitz and Chelmno death camps. The photos seen in this exhibit survived because Ross buried the photos and negatives hoping to provide a historical record of the persecution of the Jews.

All the photos were very powerful to see. However, there was one piece of artwork that I found completely incredible and breathtaking from an artistic perspective. I've included the photo below. It is actually a modern print from an original 35mm negative, depicting Ghetto police escorting residents for deportation. The image itself and the unfortunate and horrifying circumstances in the photo are very compelling. But beyond the face value of what is happening in the photo, you can see that the negative is partially destroyed, burned, or deteriorating. From one perspective, the visual piece of artwork is quite beautiful and striking. And from another perspective, it is quite ugly, off-putting, sad, and even symbolic. This exhibit helps us Never Forget the horrors of the Holocaust and its victims of persecution and death.

Overall, this was an incredible visit to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. With every visit, there are new things to see, experience, learn, and explore.

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Play Me, I'm Yours: Street Pianos Boston 2016

10/6/2016

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Touring internationally since 2008, "Play Me, I’m Yours" is a unique public art installation by British artist Luke Jerram. Over 1,500 pianos have been installed in more than 50 cities worldwide, from London to Paris to New York to Hong Kong, with the simple invitation "Play Me, I’m Yours." This amazing, international public art project has already reached more than ten million people worldwide. The Celebrity Series of Boston brought "Play Me I'm Yours" to Boston in 2013 and has now done it again in 2016! It's been a real honor to have been selected through the jurying process as one of the 60 artists for the 2016 Boston Street Pianos Exhibit. After spending the summer painting, 60 Pianos for the "Play Me, I'm Yours" installation will be on the streets of Boston September 23, 2016 to October 10, 2016.

I wanted to create a piano for Street Pianos Boston because I love Boston and I love public art. I believe there are incredible opportunities to use art to represent Boston as one of the world’s best cities; a city that has a vibrant and thriving arts community that adds to the inherent value of everyone living here or visiting Boston.

The Play Me I'm Yours Street Pianos exhibit is something I've admired since I first saw it a few years ago in 2013. When I first heard that "Play Me, I'm Yours" was coming back to Boston, I was very excited about the opportunity to paint a piano for this project. My artistic style is about fun, bright colors, using the illusion of mosaic tiles, and bold lines, and I believed that my art would complement the exhibit really well, drawing people to the pianos and interacting with them on the streets of Boston. It was a real honor to have been selected to be a participating artist.

I was excited about Street Pianos Boston because it would be my first public art project. My art is loved by people who have my art in their homes, but I also believe that my art has a place in the public realm; my style lends itself for large murals, even sculpture, in public places as well as in corporate office settings. I'd love to do more in the public realm so that art can be accessible to everyone.

Being part of the Celebrity Series of Boston Street Pianos exhibit was particularly meaningful to me because I realized how much I enjoy the process of creating public art and am excited about the possibilities for other terrific public-domain art projects in the future.

When I first began to conceptualize what my final piano would represent, I really wanted to embrace the goals of this wonderful project of the Celebrity Series of Boston and Luke Jerram’s vision. My piano was painted with the same enthusiasm, fun, and engagement, celebrating the great city of Boston. My plan was to make my piano uniquely “Boston” by using my signature style and showcasing some of the wonderful landmarks or icons of the city of Boston. I also wanted to highlight the spirit of the arts community, both visual and performing arts. Music as a theme was also something I wanted to convey in my artwork. The piano features the Citgo Sign, the Boston State House, the Red Sox logo, the Zakim Bridge, the MBTA, Boston area maps, bold colors, the illusion of mosaic tile and musical notes.

The Piano Before

There's been some great press in the Boston Globe, which features my piano:
-Boston Globe: 60 pianos to pop up in public spaces around city
And also some great articles:
-The Creators Project: 60 Eclectic Street Pianos Ask to be Played Throughout Boston
-NECN: Street Pianos Back in Boston
-Celebrity Series videos and blogs: https://vimeo.com/celebrityseries http://celebrityseries.org/blog/

It took me 150 hours to complete the piano, which included sketches, measurements, sanding, priming, applying gesso, underpainting, actually painting, touch-ups, and three coats of 2 types of varnish and polyurethane. I really enjoyed the process of painting the piano in the shared space with other artists; it had a reality TV show type of feeling, which I really liked. A video of the making of the piano is here to the left.

After all the pianos were completed, the Celebrity Series of Boston hosted two pre-receptions for the artists, their families, Celebrity Series staff, donors and friends to visit the pianos in the space they were created in and enjoy all the incredible pianos before they hit the streets. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet all the artists, see their finished creations, and celebrate the staff that organized the project so well. On a personal note, it was an incredible experience to hear the piano I painted being played for the first time.

Here is a video medley of three pianists who played my piano at the pre-receptions!

The September 23, 2016 Street Pianos Boston Kickoff Event and Press Conference was a wonderful moment for the City of Boston as well as for me as a professional artist.
Having Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh participate in the event as well as artist Luke Jerram was wonderful. It was also terrific to have my friend Robert Beal of Related Beal join me at the press conference. Robert Beal recently purchased a painting of mine that featured the Citgo Sign, which inspired me to incorporate the Citgo Sign into the design for the piano. I delivered the painting entitled, "Let's Meet At The Citgo Sign Before The Sox Game," to Robert Beal's Boston office and then made my way to the Boston Innovation & Design Center to begin work on the piano. I have always loved Boston's Citgo Sign and I've made it a subject of some of my paintings since 2003. Located in Boston’s Kenmore Square, the Citgo Sign is beloved by people across the country and around the world. The Citgo Sign is held in particular high regard by Boston sports fans: Boston Red Sox players are enticed by the “C-IT-GO” sign as they hit home-runs over the left-field wall (also known as the Green Monster), and Boston Marathon runners welcome it at the 23rd mile mark.

Boston Artist Eddie Bruckner posing with Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

Michelle Wu, President of Boston City Council Plays Gershwin at Press Conference

Eddie Bruckner with Robert Beal

Mayor Martin J. Walsh with Luke Jerram at Press Conference 9/23/2016

Celebrity Series of Boston Staff with Eddie Bruckner's Piano at Press Conference 9/23/2016.

Eddie Bruckner with Ron Poster

Eddie Bruckner with Gary Dunning, President & Executive Director of Celebrity Series of Boston

Eddie Bruckner with Luke Jerram

Some of the artists who painted the 60 pianos with Luke Jerram at Press Conference 9/23/2016

On September 24, 2016, I hosted an event at City Hall Plaza that featured the Boston Bruins Organist, Ron Poster, playing my piano. We even did a Facebook Live video, which as of this blog posting, has over 6,000 views! The video here is a short clip of Ron Poster at the event.

Priscilla Liguori of WEBN-TV interviewed me and others about my piano and the Street Pianos "Play Me, I'm Yours" exhibit. The news-clip can be found here to the left:

It was an incredible honor to have a front page news article written by Emma Murphy of The Needham Times/Wicked Local's September 22, 2016 issue. My piano was also featured in the Boston Herald!

Boston Herald 9/24/2016

More videos of the Piano being played can be found on the Eddie Bruckner Fine Art YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCamBWngXFOwL9AZhBjoy24A

And more photos and videos can be found on the Street Pianos website: www.StreetPianos.com Look for Downtown Boston: City Hall Plaza.

The hashtag for the project is #streetpianosboston if you'd like to follow it on social media.

I am very proud that my painting/piano added value to this city-wide, public art and performing arts exhibit. It was really special to see Bostonians, visitors, and tourists enjoy playing all the pianos that were created for this wonderful project. The piano will be at Boston City Hall Plaza through October 10, 2016.