New York to Key West

Why a trip from New York City to Key West?

Many famous artists, presidents and other celebrities have been irresistibly drawn to Key West for the inspiration it provides. They have returned year after year to pursue the fishing, light or pilgrimages of other special elements of the rich environment.

The creative trend began shortly after Key West's settlement in the early 1800s, with the arrival of John James Audubon. During his visit, he added 19 new species to his monumental work, "Birds of America." Audubon was followed by Winslow Homer, who created his well-known series of marine watercolors, and by Frederick Remington, known for action-oriented paintings and sculptures. Even former president Dwight Eisenhower was moved to begin painting during a sojourn to Key West in the 1950's. The literary world contributed the talents of Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams and many Pulitzer Prize winning writers to the creative legacy of the island.

Therefore, in the grand tradition of the migration of these artists, Mark T. Smith made his modern day “Pilgrimage to Paradise”, originating from the art capital of the world, New York City, and driving down the eastern seaboard to Key West, Florida.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I embrace the universal, the archetypal, those things that speak to the movement and energy within each of us. That is why I choose to participate in projects like the Cow Parade (New York City, 2000). It is the main reason I came up with the idea to drive a PT Cruiser to my art opening in Key West. Instead of art being sequestered in museums, I’m trying to bring it out into the open, where everyone has as chance to see it.

I painted two Chrysler PT Cruisers. I drove one to the opening in Florida. This hand painted art piece was then auctioned for the benefit of a charity called OPERATION SMILE. For more information about this charity you can link to http://www.operationsmile.org

PILGRIMAGE TO PARADISE

The Pilgrimage to paradise was composed of three components.

First is the hand painted Chrysler PT Cruiser. This automobile is more than just the means of transportation – it was a vital piece of the exhibition. The rolling artwork set the tone for the trip - colorful, fun, and full of life – it will bring the exhibition to the entire East Coast. The Cruiser was the largest piece of artwork exhibited in the show. It is the rolling connection between the islands of Manhattan and Key West. You can view a color sketch of the PT Cruiser at the following location: http://www.marktsmith.com/keywest/PT.jpg

Second, the puzzle. The puzzle will be a sculpture of the island of Key West designed to fit perfectly into the rear cargo area of the Cruiser (with the rear seats removed). The sculpture is made up of eleven separate pieces. Each piece was shipped in advance to an artist in each of the states that the Pilgrimage will pass through. Each artist hand painted their state’s puzzle piece. As the Pilgrimage continued the puzzle was be completed. The eleven pieces of the puzzle represent the states that the PT Cruiser traveled through and the eleven district neighborhoods on the island of Key West. Several of the stops were at grade schools, high schools and college campuses.

The puzzle literally connects all of the states together, and is a testament to the depth of talent along this route and in this country. Each puzzle piece is a unique shape. Each piece of the puzzle exhibits the talents of an individual artist; therefore, the completed puzzle represents many different schools of thought and a wide variety of techniques.

Third, and most importantly, was the exhibition at The Gallery on Greene in Key West. The show included approximately 20 new paintings and 20 new drawings by Mark T. Smith. These paintings all dealt with the subject of a modern pilgrimage and were stylistically consistent with the hand painted PT Cruiser.

ABOUT THE PUZZLE & Raffle

The GRAND PRIZE in Operation Smile raffle is a puzzle made up of original art, entitled "Pilgrimage to Paradise". Each artist designed a unique puzzle piece representing one of the states along the US-1 route from New York to Key West. All pieces of the puzzle interlock to form one large work in the shape of the island of Key West. This puzzle and its frame have a value of $15,000.

Among the artists who contributed is Peter Max, who painted the state of New York puzzle piece. Imagine owning an original Peter Max for the investment of $50, the price of a raffle ticket. And the best deal is if you buy 5 tickets for $250, you get the sixth one for free. Final drawing will be held in April, 2011.

Mark T. Smith

Mark T. Smith, Pilgrimage to Paradise Centerpiece
Side 1, Side 2

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Smith moved to New York City in 1986 to study at the Pratt Institute. After graduating from Pratt, he made New York City his home until June 2004. He now divides his time between Washington, D.C. and Miami, FL.

In 1990, Smith received his first commission from the Walt Disney Company. The project involved the creation of a poster for national distribution announcing the 19th birthday of Walt Disney World.

Throughout his 20s, Smith made his living in New York City as an iconoclastic artist known for his highly recognizable paintings. Corporate patronage helped Smith become an increasingly recognizable figure in the crowded New York City art world, and his patrons included the likes of MTV, Pepsi, AT&T, Budweiser, VH-1, Taco Bell, and many more. The distinctiveness of Smith’s work culminated in the national Absolut Vodka campaign in 1996, entitled "Absolut Smith".

His artwork has been displayed in the U.S. and abroad, and on the walls of discerning collectors and the collections of celebrities like Jay Leno, Neil Diamond, and Elton John.

He also hand-painted a pair of PT Cruisers that were commissioned by Daimler-Chrysler that were driven across the U.S. and exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival as part of a worldwide promotional tour. One vehicle was auctioned for the charity Operation Smile to a private collector, and the other is in the Walter P. Chrysler Museum’s permanent collection in Michigan.

Since moving to Miami from New York City in 2004, Smith has participated twice in Art Basel, as well as other solo and group gallery exhibitions.

In 2009, Smith was chosen as the first artist to "Paint on Pink". He painted on pink material recycled from the Pink Project, the art installation that launched Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation New Orleans. The artwork created from this project and all of the proceeds were donated to Make It Right, whose purpose is to help "residents of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward rebuild their lives and community in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."

Smith was the master mind behind the Key West puzzle concept. He picked up and delivered all the pieces in an epic journey from New York to Key West (see upcoming post describing this adventure!) Smith also exhibits at Key West's Gallery on Greene.

Peter Max

Peter Max, New York
Side 1, Side 2

Possibly the most famous living artist in America Max's art work was a part of the psychedelic movement in graphic design. His work was much imitated in commercial illustration in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He works in multiple media, including oil, acrylics, water colors, fingerpaints, dyes, pastels, charcoal, pen, multi-colored pencils, etchings, engravings, animation cels, lithographs, serigraphs, ceramics, sculpture, collage, video, xerox, fax, and computer graphics. He also includes mass media as a "canvas" for his creative expression.

Max often uses American symbols in his artwork and has done paintings and projects for Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush. Recently he created his 100 Clintons, a multiple portrait installation whose images were used through the four days of the Presidential inauguration. More recently, Max completed his fourth Grammy-Award poster, redesigned NBC television's symbolic peacock, was appointed as the official artist for the World Cup USA 1994 and created a "Peace Accord" painting for the White House to commemorate a historic signing.

His artwork is currently on the walls of CBS's The Early Show where his newly created installation of 44 Obamas, commemorating the 44th President of The United States, was debuted.

Roberto Parada

Roberto Parada, New Jersey

"I was born in 1969 and raised in northern New Jersey in a town called North Arlington, which was not a scenic place but it did have a great view of the New York City skyline. I eventually journeyed over that skyline to Brooklyn, New York to study fine arts and illustration at Pratt Institute. Upon graduating in 1991, I went head first into the editorial illustration market. My early clients ranged from The National Review to Playgirl magazine. At this time I was working in acrylics and repeatedly changed and updated my portfolio to target more portrait illustration assignments. Things dramatically changed for me and my career with a phone call to the great illustrator, Tim O'Brien. I felt the need to distinguish my work from what was out there and being an oil painter himself, he gave me the confidence to make the switch to oils instead of the water based mediums I had been working with. The work and the clients followed once I began refining my style with oils. These clients included Esquire, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and Time Magazine to name a few. Living in New York at this point, I entered the fast pace and demanding world of weeklies and monthlies and loved it. My life in illustration now is dedicated to bringing about a greater conscious understanding of the dangers that exist in some of the materials we work with and still be able to create great artwork."

Luciana Abait

Luciana Abait, Florida

Luciana Abait is an Argentine painter and photo-artist who has lived and worked in Miami and now lives in Los Angeles. She draws inspiration from these tropical surroundings. Her latest series are underwater shots of swimming pools, doing for them with photography what David Hockney did with painted canvases. The artist presents her works like paintings, developing her photographs in shades of aquamarine on canvas and painting over the surface with clear gel. In addition to her canvases Abait’s underwater compositions are presented as light boxes. Each work draws the viewer into the peaceful world which exists beneath the surface.

Terry Newitt

Terry Newitt, Delaware

Terry Newitt's splashy watercolors have graced the Delaware Valley for many years. With great regularity, Terry visits Ireland where, on location, he paints a thematic series of seaside vistas. (His work sells very well in Ireland). He has an advanced degree from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He teaches art at the Delaware College of Art and Design, Archmere Academy, and the Delaware Center for the Contempary Arts. In 2004 Terry was acknowledged as Delaware's Art Educator of the Year. His recent works have excited the art community. In an semi-abstract and vibrant mode, Terry captures the graceful underwater dance of blue crabs, koi and lobsters. The results are colorful and mysterious, as if the viewer is peering into the water's depth. Terry considers his many First Place and Best in Show awards as the preface to his most valued "Art Educator of the Year Award."

Warren Linn

Warren Linn, Maryland

Warren Linn has exhibited and produced illustrative work for major magazines, newspapers, recording packages, and corporate clients since 1968. He illustrated the children's book Happy Birthday Frankie by Sarah Weeks, did a 156 ft. mural for CBS Records, is included in The Society of Illustrators 200 Years of American Illustration, and numerous Society of Illustrators and American Illustration Annuals. He has exhibited work in gallery venues over his entire career, working comfortably in both the fine-art and applied-art realm. Linn's work is represented in the Art Institute of Chicago's Print and Drawing Collection and numerous private collections. He taught at Parsons School of Design for 16 years where he was the recipient of a Distinguished Teaching Award. Linn joined the faculty of the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2001.

James P. Kerr

James P. Kerr, North Carolina

James P. Kerr was born in Buffalo, NY. He studied with the late Lazio Szabo, a prominent portrait painter, and Carl Illig, a noted landscape painter. He has taught painting and drawing since 1970. James' bravado stroke is direct and colorist. The inspiration for much of his work is from scenic locations in New England, Florida, the Caribbean, and North Carolina.

Responding to the vibrant colors of nature, James has developed a high key palette. Landscapes and coastal scenes, streetscapes and beachscapes of Delray Beach are frequent subjects. He is also influenced by the earthy tones of New Orleans nightlife and jazz musicians.

James displays his interest in the human form through figurative works, and studies of human activity. Nudes, fishermen, and tropical market scenes offer a variety of subjects.

Exhibiting for over 25 years, James P. Kerr has had more than 20 one-man shows throughout the United States. Collectors continually seek his oil paintings. He is represented in hundreds of private and corporate collections, including the Wachovia Bank and Trust, RJR Nabisco, Glaxo Wellcome, Bank of America, and MBNA.

Hiro Sakaguchi

Hiro Sakaguchi, Pennsylvania

Born in Nagano Prefecture, Sakaguchi grew up in Tokyo and in his twenties came to America to pursue scholarship in the fine arts. A resident of Philadelphia since 1990, he obtained a Bachelor's degree from The University of the Arts and a Master's from The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, developing a style evidently influenced by Western academia and Japanese animation in both technique and subject matter.

Sakaguchi's raw, unfinished renderings in watercolor and graphite impart a distinct sense of fleeting observation, often devoting attention to mundane subjects in a way which may invoke an aesthetic sensibility of traditional painting and poetry. At the same time, Sakaguchi creates a dreamlike, fictional atmosphere by presenting an unexpected arrangement of familiar objects. Amidst common streetscapes, buses motor along inverted roads in the sky. Planes flow in a congested stream with a lighthearted meander. A giant airship hovers over town in apparent celebration – a Final Fantasy-esque speculative fiction grounded in provocative observations of the non-fictional world. Imparting no overt praise or criticism, these dreamlike visions of speculative landscapes are given merit by a seemingly innocent mode of observation.
I depict fishing tackle and gummy worm...
Gummy worms are associated with tackle...
It is about making eye candy for viewer.....

My other works can be seen
www. Seraphingallery.com

Art Valero

Art Valero, South Carolina

Born in Mexico City in 1967 and moved to the United States in 1972.

"Like all artists I developed a fascination for art at an early age. Through the encouragement of some teachers I began taking studio classes at Lock Haven State College at the age of 12 unfortunately this only lasted 2 years and I am self taught otherwise. I won a scholarship, but decided not to take art classes and left after a couple of years to make it on my own in New York. In 1993 I became friends with the popular Illustrator Dave Cutler and was introduced to the world of Illustration. As soon as I realized all I needed was a Fax and a phone to conduct business I decided to get out of the city and moved to Charleston, S.C.

I was first published by the Washington Post in 1994 and soon became a regular with the LA Times. I’ve had some great opportunities over the last 15 years and have since been published in Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Australia, China, and throughout the United States.

Over the years some companies have bought the originals and my work has become part of their corporate collections. including three painting acquired by Karecters Design Group in Canada that originated from a phone card campaign and six painting from a brochure acquired by Hale & Dorr, one of the oldest law firms in the U.S. I’ve had paintings turned into billboards and large office murals and in 2003 I was asked to participate in a traveling art show that selected one artists from each state along the east coast that started in New York and ended in the Florida Keys Gallery on Greene. I currently live and work in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. with my wife and three children."

James Malone

James Malone, Georgia

Versatile, prolific, retired graphic artist, cartoonist, writer and painter, James Hiram Malone is the founder and director of Laughing Trees, Inc., a non-profit, volunteer oriented organization operated out of his office, studio, and gallery/home in Atlanta, Georgia. Born on March 24, 1930 at the onset of the depression in Winterville, Georgia. Malone tried to attend "White" Atlanta's High School of Art but was denied admission. Instead, he joined the U.S. Army, and his military career spanned over a nine-year period. 
Malone left the military and demanded entrance again into Atlanta's High School art program. Barred the second time, Atlanta's High School offered him a voucher to attend an art school up north. At Detroit's Center for Creative Studies Art and Design College, he earned his Associate of Arts degree.

Before leaving Michigan for Atlanta, he spearheaded fundraising for the landmark African American History Museum; recorded the 1967 riots in paintings, cartoons and writings; created Michigan Chronicle Newspaper's cartoon, "Brother," and "I'm Dreaming of Colored Christmas" greeting cards. 


Malone was hired by the Atlanta Journal Constitution as an advertising graphic artist, then promoted to senior graphic designer. He created the cartoon panel "Malone's Atlanta", and a literacy guide, (Say) "Simply Apply Yourself".


Among the books Malone has authored are Brother, No Job Dad and Grandma Sarah's Closet. His publications include the Ralph Syndicated Comic Strip and the Living Longer Comic Strip. He has written lyrics for the songs, "Homeless Hope" and "Willie Lives in the Street" to bring attention to the plight of the homeless and "Talk to Your Child" to encourage parents' participation in the lives of their children. His poetry is in the book Word Up. Two of his paintings Faith Moves Mountains and Down Yonder serve as a background for the movie Snow Dogs. His cartoons are published in numerous publications. 



An ongoing exhibition of Malone's artwork is at Teaching Museum South, Hapeville, Georgia. 

Malone is divorced and is the father of two sons, Andrew Ralph and Matthew Martin, who reside in Michigan.

Rita MacNelly & Beezy Bogan

Rita MacNelly & Beezy Bogan, Virginia

Rita MacNelly and Beezy Bogan are collaborating artists who have merged sculpture and painting for 25 years.

Their work begins on the street where they sketch and photograph subjects. In their Richmond, Va studio they transform one reality into another as plaster and winterstone create forms and paint defines them.

Inspired by the rich mixture of culture that appears on the byways of Key West, Bogan and MacNelly's sculptures tell a story.

They have exhibited in Key West at the Gallery on Greene since 1997 and the Key West Museum in 2008. They are in the collections of the Virginia Commonwealth University, The Massie Cancer Center and the de Padredes Institute for Womens Imaging.