artist
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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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The Missing Record
It’s curious how our minds work — how some desires are repressed, curtailed by social convention, or what we might call social suppression. But before we dig deeper into that, let me tell you a story. Our story begins in the early 1980s with Heidi Berg, a young singer navigating New York’s folk scene. She…
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My Dad was a Monster and I loved him deeply.
On Christmas Day 2024, my father passed away at the age of 85. He was, in the truest sense of the word, a monster—but not the kind that lurks in shadows with fangs and claws. He was the kind only a father can be: imposing, untouchable, a presence that overshadowed everything around him. And I…
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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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Is this Art? My kid can do it!
In the midst of social gatherings, I often find myself exercising restraint when the topic of art arises. It’s a subject as delicate as the threads of a spider’s web, akin to the impassioned realms of religion or politics. Unlike the latter two arenas, where opinions flow freely like a torrential river, discourse surrounding art…
Carlos Fentanes 