Uba Owl

2010-01-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

Alterrealism

I have been thinking a lot about the manifesto.... it came to me that the shortest way to put into

words what I was looking for is to say that the times we are living in are time of transition similar to

the change of Copernicus discovery - we are moving from a linear to a non-linear way of thinking.

It is a transition that will finally bridge Western and Eastern philosophies. We will find ways to

do it, and I believe some philosophers are working on it. What we are doing, is creating a

community to have a platform to work on it together.

2009-12-26T12:38:00.000-08:00

December 25th.

I am working on a new series of paintings, and for a little bit longer, will not tell what it is. There are 8 paintings.

Steve and Josh sent me a logo for Alterrealism, and I like it a lot. I also noticed, that the term is beginning to pop up on other artist's web sites..... I better speed my our 3 - year in a making project. So often people come up with a similar ideas at the same time....

Holidays

2009-12-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

We have been through some rocky times. George had a kidney stone that got stuck , and he was in crazy paint for 9 days. Finally Doctor Turzan did a surgery. Even after, there were a few attacks. Everybody says it is worse than childbirth.

Good news is , my friend Majka got a clean bill of health. She does not need to do chemotherapy.

Hip hip hurrrah!. Now, get back to painting Majka! No excuses.

I sent a Holiday card with a painting that I re - worked this summer. I got some beautiful comments. Here is one, from Paul Pauper of Form / Space Atelier in Seattle.

Your painting reminds me of a silent film by Jean Renoir, 1927 : Charleston

Parade (Sur un air de charleston). An inexplicable moment comes in the film

when these winged heads are talking on the telephone to a charleston dancer

and a blackface explorer. As I said, inexplicable. But that was the Jazz

Age and everyone was soused to the gills on bathtub gin. I commend your

thoroughly original painting. Thought-provoking.

alterrealism

2009-11-24T20:27:00.000-08:00

It is so exiting to start the alterrealism adventure! Working with Steve Yamaguma and Joshua Peterson, the movement members, we are making progress , working on a definition and a manifesto. It has been two years since I came up with this idea, and not being good with words, started asking for help in verbalizing the idea. More to come.

Here is one of my latest paintings. I have been working a lot and have a series of about 9 paintings. I will post them when I finish the last two. I feel very exited about it. Mable Yee and Sylvia Paul are coming this Friday to see them. Can't wait to hear their comments.

I don't even now how to describe my feelings about finding out that my best friend Majka has a lung cancer. I was 17 when we met.... and life was exiting and endless. She had a surgery, and is doing OK. Lucky it was caught early. She is a wonderful painter, and the best friend one can have.

2009-05-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

A portrait of my daughter who is turning 18 in July. She is going to college next year. The most exiting and innocent time in life.

2009-05-10T21:17:00.001-07:00

George and I went to pick up Gloria Steinem from Belvedere. I read a lot about her online,but it does not tell one much. We brought her to UC Berkeley campus for her first appearance at 12 p.m. and listened to her speech, and the conversations she had with a couple of young women. One of them was very moving - she was asking what she can do in order not to follow into the steps of other women in her family - her sister is an escort, her mom alcoholic: no money to go to school and no help from anybody.

Gloria is a wonderful, unassuming, generous, beautiful person. A teacher and a guide.

Dolores Huerta

Yuri Kuchiyama

Mable, Tameeka , Sylvia and I went to visit Yuri at her place on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland.

She was so curious about who we are, each one of us. Asked follow-up questions if she wanted to understand better. Mable talked with her about the speech for the Four Legend event .

She is the most humble yet fierce person I came across. Passionate and compassionate. I feel lucky to have met her - she is 94 years old!

2009-05-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

I was asked to paint four paintings to honor those women and their work. I am posting 2 of them today and write more about it tomorrow. It was such a great experience.

The Four Legends of Feminism - Gloria Steinem, Eileen Hernandez, Yuri Kuchiyama and Dolores Huerta
"Passing the Baton"

Sunday, April 26, 2009
UC Berkeley More than 350 women and a contingent of supportive men came to engage with each other and start a new national pipeline of multicultural women leaders in business, politics, and media. From ten-year-old bloggers from an all-girls middle school in Oakland to 80-year-old activists as well as stay-at-home moms and college students, women came from across the country to join in the first Engage Her Multicultural Women's Leadership Conference April 25-26, 2009

Gloria Steinem as Goya's princess Alba.

Portrait of Eileen Hernandez

2008-12-30T14:17:00.000-08:00

2008-12-28T17:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!!!!

A tree house behind the house....

It has been 6 months since I started working on the house. A day before Christmas, I cleaned up my studio . I am painting again.

Our solar electric panels are working. EPA wood burning stove got installed in a dining room, and it is great to read a book in front of the fire.... exterior painting is completed. New double pane windows installed. Skylights are finished inside, and light in the studio is great! Before, I could not paint without lights, it was too dark. We need to finish radiant heat up there, and the storage we built for George's treasures.

I will ad some photos soon.

To my friend Majka: you are my best friend and always will be. Do remember that you will be able to paint too. You have a talent. I will put photos of your work on this blog. Do not give up. There are sunny days for you coming. Do zobaczenia - moze latem!

2008-10-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

I have been talking with a friend that lives in San Louis about Sarah Palin. I told her that a mother of a baby can work and should work if she wants or has to. As a vice president of United States , her situation is very different. She will have no time for a child.

I she decided to have a child, she should have waited until it is in school. Once one has a child, it is a priority for the mother . A woman can work, or often has to work to provide for family. Leading the country is a huge responsibility and very very different than a management position.

My friend called me a racist. My answer is - a baby needs mom way more than a dad. A working mom can quit any time. One does not quit being a vice-president. What would doctor Laura say? To her, every mom should stay at home. Did any one asked her that question on the radio? Seems that every body is quiet about this issue.....

My friend said that as a manager in a large company, she is the only woman there and experiences a lot trouble from men. It has nothing to do with this situation. Where at stake is a well being of millions of people, a mother of the baby is not a good candidate for leading the country.

As a woman and a mother, it is my opinion. I am deeply worried.

2008-09-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

It is almost October....I have been working on my house for three months now. Completely underestimated the project. And most of the time, I have no help - the remodeling cost is almost twice what I hoped it to be. The roof is completed - and I only worked along to make sure the boys will not goof or ignore things that should be done. We have 8 new skylights!

Finally, my studio has a great light. Quite a transformation from what it used to be. There were a few bumps along the way - Oren and Hugo fell off the roof, followed by the skylight they were installing.....

fell of 3rd story roof! I still have nightmares . I was there, watching them go down..... and no one got injured. A miracle. Including the skylight.

A lot happened besides the construction - I will write about it later, It is my new adventure with Engageher.org

2008-06-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Here are two more images.... the top one is something that I saw walking my dog in behind the Albany race truck. The lower one too - part of it, anyway. It took me a year to bring the image forth into canvas. Any comments?

2008-06-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

I like a lot the above image. I should not say I like it, since it has a hostile, interrogation like atmosphere.

I painted this one crying..... a fight with my teenage kid.

2008-05-15T12:50:00.001-07:00

One interesting news is that my painting is on a way to Beijing Biennale 2008.

It opens on July 8th. 14 American artists were chosen to participate. I have not decided yet if I will go for a reception.

I am planning to remodel my studio. The roof is in a bad shape, and I am looking into solar panel

installation and a roof ridge skylight ( studio is so dark!). It will be a busy summer.

On November 8th, 2008 I will have a reception of my show at PII Gallery in Philadelphia.

I am looking forward to it.

Show at Vintage Berkeley

2007-11-15T21:24:00.001-08:00

Al Gore

2007-11-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

Most people who chose a career in the arts feel or have felt passionate about an idea. They may have been energized towards accomplishment by their vision.
I admire those with the will, talent and discipline.

I strive in my life to remain idealistic. It is a struggle to avoid being cynical or pessimistic at times and to combat this tendency I work vigorously and keep positive
role models in my mind. One of the greatest role models out there today is Al Gore. His dedication to his family, and his plans for dealing with monumental world issues are inspiring. His efforts to be a spokesman for humanity needs to be supported.

today's mail

2007-10-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

I received a letter today - here it is:
re: Uba Owl

Who is this strange creature?
I have never known
A topsy-turvey nymph
Hiding behind a Kabuki mask
Long hours of back-breaking work
Brief years of tea
Child-like goggles, suppressed passions
The wonders of nature. The power of colors.
Youth betrayed by fidelity
A funny banty hen survivor, a pugnacious mutt
A rat in formal attire who sired a tribe
Miles between, but some things are constant
A new identity?
Does she pan for gold?
I think not
She pans for her soul
On silent wings
Fly

ALTERREALISM

2007-09-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

Many of the paintings I do are remembrance of dream state experiences. A

world, while in it, that feels as real and vital as this one. There, we are able

to soar, or move invisibly, even breath underwater. There, we can go

into the future or return to the past. We can converse with our ancestors, we

can see our children grown. We can take risks we’d never undertake here.

We see objects and creatures that make no sense physically and although

They’re uncommon, they are also familiar.

There are in some parts of the universe, colors unknown and winds so

forceful you lie glued to the ground. This place is remote, still I go there

every night and I know that you probably do too. I’ve never met a person

who doesn’t dream. With the paintings I am attempting to depict the

essence of the events encountered that I can recall upon waking. It is an

exercise that inserts me into another state, neither fully here nor there. There

are three separate worlds for my senses. I feel fortunate to travel through life

this way.

map

2007-09-17T10:14:00.001-07:00

This is a map that any of my friends can put their location on. Lot's of fun

http://www।buddymapping.com/edit/dashboard?mapurl=ubaowl

2007-09-15T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here's Chocolate the chicken
with one eye
and half of her head gone
who can't fly
yet she never gives up
and here's why
cause you eventually win
if you still try

alterrealism

2007-09-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

A lot of people keep asking how would I describe the style I paint in? I thought about it a lot and came up with a unexpected answer: alterrealism.

The term comes from two words: alternative and realism. What I paint is an alternative, my own vision of the world we live in. I will talk about it more: writing is not easy for me and it is a difficult subject.

Going back to painting, I am working on a series of paintings inspired by Cirque du Soleil. Below is the last painting

It is oil and collage on composition board. Size 40" x 40".
I had a lot of fun working on it.

My first post

2007-09-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

David Winer, The father of blogging , encouraged me to start a blog. It took me 6 months to collect enough courage , a few computer classes, and a new website for my art.
My web site address is http://www.ubaowl.com

I would like very much to get comments about my site, and to answer any question about my paintings.