Art Appreciation In China

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to give a conference for the US Consulate in Wuhan, China about art, which I titled Introduction to Western Art Appreciation. It was a great pleasure and honor for me to give this presentation to the general public. I focused on a very brief history of Western pictorial art (I had to condense over 40,000 years in less than 60 minutes), and that was probably the greatest challenge. I also gave a list of famous museums that should be on everyone's bucket list, as well as the top 10 works of art (according to variety of contemporary sources) and basic museum tips/etiquette. I had a chance to present some of my own current works, which are reconstructions of Old Master paintings (one of Caravaggio's St. Jerome, and another one of Luis Egidio Melendez's "Bodegones." I consider myself an eternal student of art, and even though I have taught myself to paint like Caravaggio, I don't deem myself worthy to hold his brushes or mix his pigments if I were his pupil. I make mention of Caravaggio because this is what I am calling my budding local art club: "CLUB CARAVAGGIO." Perhaps this will be the subject of my next blog entry.