Art Gallery
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You have Started to Smell like Ketchup
Your ketchup is leaving a bad smell in your pantry. When was the last time you poured ketchup on your food? Was it with Thai takeout or French fries? I bet it was the second. You pulled out a bag of McCain’s frozen fries, tossed them in the microwave, squeezed ketchup on top, and started…
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Should You Keep Trying of Giving Up?
The struggles of submitting for Art Calls. Here I put my reflections about being artist and showing up
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Why People Don’t Buy Art: The Stories We Tell and the Rituals We Keep
For most people, the morning is a ritual of familiarity. My grandfather used to read the newspaper while the radio droned the morning news, offering him a constant stream of updates to critique over breakfast. My mother, more focused, restricts herself to the local news—traffic, weather, maybe a fire or two. My wife, in contrast,…
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Love Conquers All, another story about censorship
In 1602, Caravaggio completed Amor Vincit Omnia, or Love Conquers All. It was the kind of work only Caravaggio could create: Cupid, standing with arrows in one hand, seems to tread casually over symbols of human accomplishment—armor, a lute, a lined notebook—suggesting that love supersedes all human endeavors. The painting was an instant sensation among Rome’s…
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Congratulations, You’re Now Officially an Artist!
“Dear Carlos Fentanes, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for entering this year’s International Artist Awards. We are pleased to inform you that your artwork has been shortlisted at this stage. Congratulations!” Every now and then, I get a message like this. It’s official—I’m an artist! A little thrill. A…
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The Silent Demand
I know it seems odd, as if taken from an episode of The Twilight Zone, but I assure you this was real. It began in the quiet solitude of my studio, where I was immersed in the creation of a life-sized charcoal drawing. My focus was razor-sharp, the deadline looming large. I couldn’t afford distractions.…
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Swinging for the Fences
Embracing Failure in the Pursuit of Success In the grand theater of Major League Baseball, a batting average of .250 is par for the course, while the lofty .400 club remains an exclusive enclave for the most extraordinary of players. A batting average of .500, however, is the stuff of myth—no player has ever reached…
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Ethics and Art: A Tale of Social Media Woes
Ethics, the elusive butterfly of the modern age. What is it, and how does it impact us? More importantly, how does it mess with my work as an artist? This concept is as abstract as a DeKooning painting and just as slippery. You can’t grab it and hold onto it for long; it’s free-spirited and…
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Unintentionally Censored: The Artist’s Struggle with Instagram’s AI
Over the past month, I’ve embarked on a seemingly Sisyphean task: scrubbing my Instagram account clean of any posts that the platform deems non-compliant with its vaguely articulated guidelines on sexually explicit material or something along those lines; I can barely remember what they call it anymore. Each day, without fail, Instagram flags around five…
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Nude of the Green Room (Homage to Bacon)
Crafting a statement for a painting can be a daunting task. What do I wish to convey? How best to articulate it? Will it resonate with viewers? These questions swirled in my mind as I embarked on this artistic endeavor. Recently, I had the privilege of showcasing my work at an Art Show of Miniatures…
Carlos Fentanes 