I just received word that my painting “War Child” was selected for The Peace Project which is being put on by The Whole 9. In addition to being selected, “War Child” also won the Peace Maker Award, which is one of the highest honors.

The Peace Project is an international collaborative art competition and exhibition created to connect peace-minded individuals everywhere.

Artists from around the world submitted work that expressed their vision of peace. 150 pieces were selected from over 700 submissions spanning over 30 countries. The selected pieces will make up a mosaic that will be exhibited in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

To select the participating artwork and highest honors, The Peace Project turned to a very esteemed panel of judges.

Karen Blessen Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist

Sylvia Laudien Gallery Lecturer & Educator, Guggenheim and MoMA, New York

Claudia Hinterseer Managing Director, NOOR Photo Agency

Gail Gaynin Founder & Principal, Morgan Gaynin

Frank Meo Photographer’s Representative, New York

Mark Balet Founder & Creative Director, Mixed Business, New York

Peter Clothier Novelist, Art Critic, and Blogger

The Peace Project exhibition dates are as follows:

Los Angeles — Opening Saturday, September 25, 5:30pm – 10:00pm (runs through November 6)

Gallery 9

6101 Washington Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232

San Francisco — One Night Only, Tuesday, November 9, 6:00pm – 10:00pm

Meridian Gallery

535 Powell Street

San Francisco, CA 94108

New York – TBD

To find out more:

http://www.thewhole9.com/thepeaceproject-info.php

About my painting, “War Child”

In 2009, I was selected as the Featured Artist for New York’s Freedom Week. I painted the portraits of people who have been greatly affected by have their freedom robbed from them. One of my subjects was of Emmanuel Jal. Emmanuel Jal is a former child soldier turned musician/peace activist. Instead of me telling his story here, you should see it yourself. The documentary “War Child” is the story of Emmanuel Jal. Here is a link to the movie’s website http://www.warchildmovie.com/.

I painted Emmanuel’s portrait while painting live at Heist Gallery in New York City.

The New Breed of Artist

For centuries, artists have been stereotyped as complex individuals who search for deeper meaning; usually resulting in isolation. I have met a lot of artists in my day who fit that stereotype perfectly.
We are living within the information era, where people can figure out the name of a song by touching an icon on a digital screen that is housed within a shiny black hand-held device with a fruit illustrated on the back.
The ability to reach out to billions of people globally within seconds has forever changed the way an artist can market him or herself.
One of the most popular e-marketing/branding tools out there today is Twitter. I am not going to explain what or how twitter works, because if you don’t know what it is then you are probably not reading this article either.

Personal conflict about Twitter: How narsasistic must you be to think people actually care about what your doing or thinking at all moments of the day? Well, over 500 people care about what I am doing. (Note that 500 people is pretty weak in the world of Twitter)
Shameless self-promotion: Follow me on twitter @jeremypenn

I met a fellow artist, Borbay, through twitter (@Borbay). Borbay inspired this article because I  believe artists should observe his methods of self-marketing. He uses these new forms of communication to promote his artwork and his brand. Yes, I said brand.
In a time where artists named Banksy & Mr. Brainwash are becoming household names, we might have no choice but to become a brand.

Personal thought: Warhol sought to destroy brands with repetition. Maybe Banksy is the “Wizard Behind the Curtain” who is birthing all these street artists in order to kill off……?

Borbay is not a street artist nor is he anti-establishment. He is a fine artist out on the street. For many, their creative zones are their studios. For Borbay, it is the streets of New York City. He isn’t wandering the streets at night with a bucket of wheat paste, spray paint, and some stencils; he is a day walker. His canvases are actually canvases. Borbay is best known as a location artist; painting the iconic architecture of NY’s most famous buildings.

Personal thought on Borbay’s work: What I find most interesting about Borbay’s work is his attempt to immortalize the inevitable death of newsprint by using collaged headlines as his backdrop. His paintings are vibrant, fun, and demand your attention.
The intention of this article is not to promote any particular artist’s work, but rather to use an artist who masters self-promotion as an example.

Borbay was always an artist, but like most of us, he was working a day job to help pay the bills and support is passion to paint. He was working in the marketing/advertising industry, helping build corporate brands.
Having helped cultivate identities for growing companies, Borbay decided to depart the ad world and begin investing his time into building his brand as a full-time fine artist.

His look, a meritage of Ted Nugent, Elvis, and Zach Galifianakis, is his logo. You might not like his style, but he will leave an impression on you.

Borbay and I are similar in that we both wake up very early and treat our art as a full-time job.
His mornings are full of communication with the world using new media marketing techniques such as tweeting, writing/replying to emails pertaining to his art, and blogging.

While it is just “another day in the office” for Borbay, he is hammering his name and image into the art world. Much like you can recognize the Pepsi logo, some are starting to recognize Borbay.
At first, I felt as though his approach at being a full-time artist was very commercially driven, but getting to know him, I see that he is simply evolving into something larger than himself.

While a lot of us hide behind our art, he is very comfortable being an extension of his art.

If I was his art consultant, I would be concerned that the perception would be that his work can become an accessory to the brand of Borbay.

I genuinely don’t believe he is concerned with the public perception. If there was a rock standing in between the artist and the art world, many artists would paint a pretty picture on that rock in order to win it’s approval. Borbay would break right through it and pave his own road. Where that road leads, only time can tell.

He is a new breed of artist not for changing a technical approach to painting, but because he is a self-marketing machine conforming to only one law, the law of inertia.

You can view Borbay’s work at: www.borbay.com

Here are a few stills of my artwork on Discovery’s “Construction Intervention.”
The Discovery Channel contacted me back in February and asked if they can use my artwork to redesign the interiors of struggling businesses. It was a great experience. My artwork was used in a beautiful new wine store called “Botta Di Vino” located in Red Hook, Brooklyn,

“War Child” was selected out of 1,583 submissions to be exhibited at the First Annual Wide Open Art Show.

The Show’s theme is an exploration of the concept “wide open.”  Both meanings of the statement will be presented through the works’ at the BWAC exhibition.  The concepts of being “wide open” to love, freedom,  etc. will be displayed, along side works showcasing what it is to be “wide open” to corruption, exploitation, etc.  Overall the theme of the show will present both the dark and light sides of  what it is to be “wide open.”

The piece was selected by:

Anne Strauss – Associate Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Nicholas Baume – Director & Chief Curator, Public Art Fund, NYC
Mark Hughes – Director, Galleria Lelong, Chelsea, NYC
Bill Murphy – Associate Professor & Gallery Director, Printmaker & Painter, Wagner College, NYC
The opening reception will be: Saturday March 13th, 2010 1-6 PM

The show will be open: March  13th- 28th, 2010 weekends 1-6 PM

BWAC is located in Red Hook, Brooklyn at 499 Van Brunt Street

For more details: https://www.wideopenartshow.org

Here is the Invitation from the BWAC website:

This painting has a lot of personal meaning behind it. It was done in a transitional moment in my art career and it embodies my love for experimentation. It was produced by compiling 20 layers of oil stick and a top coat of sumi ink. When the sumi ink was 1/2 dry, I coated the painting in shellac and lit it on fire. When the fire was out, I encapsulated the entire painting in clear epoxy resin. I left everything inside the painting and it is never getting out. However, you will see areas where the painting is trying to break through it’s crystal coating. This painting was a lot of fun yet very dangerous. I can’t see myself doing another one like this until the weather turns and I can open up the windows.

This painting has been in the “work in progress” stage for a while now. I finally felt it was ready to be released and considered finished.

The painting is entitled “Young American”. This painting was inspired by David Bowie’s rise to success and his conflicted journey to the United States of America.

Dimensions: 48″h x 32″w x 2″d

Acrylic on Birch