Fine Arts Resources & Link Exchanges

The links in this section are to web sites outside Natural Abstraction. Before you go anywhere, if you liked what you've seen, click here to Bookmark this site and put it in your 'favorites' folder to ensure you can get back (Netscape users push Ctrl-D). Web rings (or net rings) are special kinds of links that only link similar kinds of sites. For insance, if you were to click on the "Abstract Art" web ring on the rings page, you'd only be taken to abstract art sites.

"On Photography", Susan Sontag's 1977 book, is probably the best work on the philosophy of photography ever written. It also may be the only book on photography published in the last 50 years not to have a single photograph. It's available at Amazon.com

The Hunger Site Help end world hunger. Feed people with a click of your mouse-really. What could be easier than that? Visit daily.

Mount Diablo Interpretive Association This organization provides information about Mount Diablo. Go the web site, and the mountain, if you can.

The National Arbor Day Foundatio n I've always thought it a shame that hippies who mutated into yuppies hijacked Arbor Day to create Earth Day so they could cash in on it. You're better off planting a tree than watching corporate sponsored dancing bears and drinking mono sodium glutinate filled fruit smoothies. Visit the National Arbor Day Foundation web site, then get your hands dirty. Plant something that may live a thousand years, or blooms for only a few hours its whole life, because it is life, and it's magical.

World Wildlife Fund The WWF's official web site. There's not one picture of Hulk Hogan, but be prepared to get bashed over the head anyway, not with a steel chair, but their unique brand of wildlife preservation.

National Audubon Society Mr. Audubon discovered birds and introduced them to the world. "Birds, world. World, birds." (Please excuse the homo-sapien-centric slant of that description, equating humanity with the world.)

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Frank Lloyd Wright wasn't just a sublime artist, he was one of the finest philosopher's of any time. If you haven't read his "A Testament," you owe it to yourself to do it. It's one of the best books on philosophy ever writtin. Though long out of print, you can often find a copy at Amazon.com

Sierra Club As fond of nature as I am, I'm not actually a member of this group. In my opinion they have strayed from the course, and spend far too much time worrying about political correctness, and nowhere near enough time actually hugging trees. It's worth a visit to their site anyway.

Ducks Unlimited is what the Sierra Club should be. While I'm not a hunter (and won't eat ducks or any other flesh), I'm impressed with this group because they're one of the only environmental groups that puts their money where their mouth is. Instead of whining about how the government should protect wetlands, they actually do it themselves. Since the 1970's they've gone out and bought hundreds of thousands of acres and preserved it.

More links Takes you to page 2 of my links, which has mostly links to general directory and links pages, while this page will hold the art and other VIP links.

Vividweb If you found this web site via a search engine, you can thank Vaughn Lambird of Vivid Web. He's a close friend and has given me great assitance in getting used to a Windows computer, and virtually all aspects of getting a web site up and running, then seen. If you'd like to get on the web, and don't feel like making it a do it yourself project, Vivid Web is a full service web design company.

idic Productions When I'm not taking photos, I've been known to engineer sound. I've been working with idic since its inception, and lucky enough to work with its founder, Rene Perez, for more than seven years. He's even been nice enough to give me "co-producer" credit on a few of his songs. Rene's achievements are even more amazing when you realize most of his songs are recorded and mixed in half a day or less- A&R people take note. You can also hear whole idic songs at farmclub.com.

csoka.com This links to Frank Csoka's online art gallery where he sells the elegant etchings of his late father, Stephen Csoka, the flowing, colorful paintings of his wife, Wendy Csoka, and the sculptures and paintings of George Gach. Frank Csoka was quite generous with his time and knowledge advising me about the basics of approaching the web as an artist.

Athina Pazolli may be modern abstract art's Yang. Her paintings are shocking, vibrant, electric, and alive. Her drawn nudes are more muted, even subtle, but still vibrate with an incredible, almost neurotic energy.

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA This is it folks, the 600 pound gorilla of the art world that you've heard so much about. They have more money than they know how to spend, so buy everything, but don't have enough parking so nobody can see it. Maybe they can fund my next sculpture. I call it "Parking Lot." Not only is it a work of art, you can park 6000 cars on it.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA A tip for popular shows- buy your ticket online and you can bypass the lines, go directly to the "will call" desk, then walk in.

The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia Thanks to Stalin you can still see Germany's art treasures here (and a lot they "aquired," too). Just don't ask, "What has he done for me lately?"

The Louvre, Paris, France And if you look carefully through 3 feet of glass, you can see that famous "no eyebrows" painting.

All Original Art is a directory of artists, "dedicated to bringing exposure to contemporary artists and generating interest in original art work." -their words.

Artelaide Another Australian site, calling itself the premiere web-site for emerging artists in Adelaide, South Australia.

Artlinkz is a new resource for artists, buyers, galleries, museums. They brag they will be offering complete online resource for artists. We will have to watch them.

Platinotypes.com A new online photography gallery based on the philosophy of Alfred Stieglitz, and his famous Gallery 291.

World Artist Directory Guess what this is? They claim exclusivity, listing only 25% of those who apply. I probably wouldn't have applied if I'd know that, but they accepted me and my membership might impress the culture vultures.

The Worldwide Art Gallery This site calls itself the, 'All things art site- art history, art directory, and art education resources.' They feature contemporary Australian and international art.

World Wide Art Directory This site calls itself, 'an indepth gateway to arts information on the World Wide Web.' It does seem to be fairly inclusive.

Storymania has a directory of artist divided by category, including Cartoons, Graphic Art, Illustrations, Paintings, Photography, Sculpture, and Art Resources.

Masters of Photography I don't like the way this site is designed. It's slow, and commercial, but it has a nice collection of online photographs from some of the true geniuses of early to mid 20th century photography.

Andrew Slayman proves that old school, large format photography hasn't died. Don't miss his wonderful series on Maine.

Audrey Sebastian paints haunting figural abstractions that are difficult to categorize- even her muted works can be described as sharp, and precise. There's not a wasted stroke anywhere.

Carl Slater is a multi talented, multi format abstract artist- he seems to have figured out the essence of photography- there's material for art everywhere, if you just bother to look- or close your eyes, because the material for art is outside, the essence inside.

Carolyn S. Goodridge is an abstract painter whose paintings have warmth, heart, and even occasional humor. They're worth more than a casual look.

Connie & Bob Dornberg create modern impressionism with tremendous scope. Their work is based on impressionists of the past, but moves briskly into the future.

Daniel Steinberg is another Northern California photographer. His photography evokes an almost zen-like nothingness, as if he's photographed what's not there.

Dina Goldstein is an engaging photographer with a good eye and journalistic style. She leans mostly towards commercial work, with some documentary as well.

dmbaltzer.com This is David Baltzer's web site. David is an old friend and sublime painter. His work is truly is a cut above the rest. He's also been known to travel to third world countries and build churches in his spare time- but I think he's just angling for sainthood. I'm only sorry he resisted my suggestion to name his site That'sNoDumpTruck.com, based on a comment about one of his paintings by a would be critic at his first major show.

F�bio Cembranelli's Galler y F�bio is a painter who specializes in one of my favorite subjects, flowers. He does formal still life after still life that transends the stereotypes of the subject, taking on a wonderful light and life of their own.

Fr�d�ric Karikese's Gallery Fr�d�ric has some interesting fine art photography with wonderful tonality on his site.

Jonathan's Fine Art Photography This site is a bit "busy" for my taste, but the photography is good, and it offers useful information for the photographer.

Joesph Marek Fine Art Photography Joesph Marek's photography, particularly his black and white night photography, is worth a look.

June Harwood's Gallery June paints ethereal abstract landscapes, that like so much art is difficult to explain with words. Her earlier, hard edged works, can be seen here.

Kelly Moore When I first saw Kelly Moore's paintings I thought, "Picasso is back." Upon closer inspection they style is quite different, but the affect is amazingly similar.

Yvette Peters' abstract paintings, though many are representational, offer flashes of abstraction and a bold but sensitive uses of color. Check them out.

Krzysztof Smyk's Photos Nominally, these pictures embrace nearly every photographic clich� I rail against- the only difference is, they work. They�re good. They move without pandering. Anyone who wants to take �traditional� �documentary art� photographs should study these.

Leon Engelen Leon paints stunningly real animal subjects. They have the vibrations of the old masters, yet there's something decidedly modern about them.

Ace Riley is another abstract painter. His work is original, and difficult to pigeonhole. It has a "contained organic," or "controlled organic" quality to it.

Vincent Romaniello may be modern abstract art's Yin. His work is soft, ethereal, and atmospheric. Secure them well or they'll float away.

Mirko Cavalli This site links to Italian abstract painter and sculptor Mirko Cavalli. He's doing interesting work. It's worth a look.

Lynne Taetzsch is another abstract painter who defies conventional description. "Folded introspection" is the best way I can describe her work. You really have to see these paintings to believe them.

Maurizio Chelucci A photographer with an incredibly diverse portfolio. Don't miss his sand and gravel photos. They're subtle, but wonderful.

Merlin Emrys People who say abstraction died with Pollock should take one look at "Inner Landscape 1" or "Painted Cave," to see that not only has it survived, but grown.

Mike Kious Abstraction, of course, is the abstraction of reality. Most abstract artists carry abstraction to the point that reality dissapears, leaving only its essense. Mike blurs it slightly. It gives his paintings a strong anchor.

Sigurd's Gallery All I can say is you have to see some these paintings to believe them. I sense Dali's influence here, but carried in a new, almost formal, direction.

Natalie Merchant's Gallery Songwriter/singer Natalie Merchant is also a graphic artist of impressive resolve. Her work is kind of Thomas Hart Benton meets renaissance neoclassicism. See for yourself.

Nick Chaldakov's Photography Gallery Nick does a bit of everything. Naturally I'm attracted to his fine art abstract work, but he also does realism, portraits, travel, landscapes, and he has an interesting gallery of digital work as well.

Natural Abstraction is this gallery. If you've come directly to this links page, take a moment to check out Barry Massoni's abstract and near abstract photography.

Rochelle Blumenfeld's Paintings Rochelle specializes in Judaica and Abstracts. Naturally I'm partial to her abstract work, which has a cubist edge to it that adds real bite. Her works seem to leap off the canvas- or tear through it. She also has a series of dance inspired paintings with more than a hint of the spirtual in them.

Saelon Renkes Photography has handpainted landscapes and still lifes that are quite subtle and interesting, and a lot more besides.

Shawn McNulty paints with a strong, linear style. Though his work is undeniably modern, the nearly square format of many of his recent paintings produce a Klimtian landscape feel- they stand like Sumo wrestlers. His prints have a slightly Warholian take.

Tim Leary No, not the drug chugging counterculture guru, Tim J. Leary, artist. Tim says, "My paintings examine the curves, angles and colors that make up our visual universe." I've got another description- linear cubism, and advice for the viewer- pay attention to the subtly, that's where the art lives.