Wednesday, September 17, 2008

One Last Note Before I Go...

Since this site is about selling paintings, I would say this: "The Annotated Spitzer"--perhaps the greatest, most interesting, most giggle provoking painting in my annotated series--remains available for sale.



I mean, how could you possibly not buy this painting? Bidding starts at $15,000. Send an email to gvraymond@gmail.com.

Likewise, "The Annotated Fed," which is also good clean fun. Given the current climate, I may drag him out to Wall Street for some more annotations.



In any case, I don't need as much for Big Ben. Make an offer.

The blog is now closed

The purpose of this temporary blog was to facilitate the sale of "The Annotated Fuld." Because this has been accomplished (off the street for $10,000 Tuesday afternoon), we are now closed for business.

That said, please click through to my permanent, ongoing blog--yearofmagicalpainting.blogspot.com. It will feature the final images of Big Richard plus all the other stuff that goes into being a highly eccentric chronicle of my quest to become the preeminent portrait painter of the 21st century.

Thank you, and good bye.

Monday, September 15, 2008

End of Day One

This is "The Annotated Fuld" at the end of a day of annotations. It's a bit difficult to differentiate between the green (for LEH employees) annotations and the general public's black, but if you double click and look closely you will be fine.



Two annotations of note can be seen here:



On the left it says "This Sucks. I'm going Kiteboarding." In the interest of honest reporting, this may be two separate annotations. Regardless, the sentiment holds.

On the right it reads "You are a coward."

Wow. I said to the guy "Thanks for participating" and he stared at me and said "Thanks for the painting."

So I'm thinking, within this tiny set of parameters, that life is good. That, plus somebody threatened to beat me up earlier in the day. I think he was drunk, and I think I could have taken him, and we were surrounded by cops so the whole thing was probably moot, but the urge was to call the guy back and explain to him why, when all is said and done, one hundred or so of his compadres will have annotated this thing, for good or for bad, and between 20 and 30% will have thanked me for the opportunity.

I'm a firm believer in the healing power of art.

Tomorrow I will be back in front of Lehman Brothers from roughly noon to roughly 3. If the fit seizes me, I'll pack up and drift down to Wall Street. Otherwise, I'll devote Wednesday to the Wall Street area.

Recent Annotated Paintings...

For a number of reasons, "The Annotated Bear" most reflects what is going on with the Fuld painting.   If you use your imagination, you can envision "The Annotated Fuld" being as full of annotations as Big Jimmy.  I can assure you it will be in a couple of days.


Media interest in this painting was extremely high.  It even ended up on the front page of The Sun...


But the painting people ask me about most is "The Annotated Spitzer."  It still holds the record for most annotations (@350) and, interestingly, remains unsold.  

If you are interested in this painting, please contact me at gvraymond@gmail.com.




Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Annotated Fuld



"The Annotated Fuld" is a portrait of Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld.

I will be exhibiting it outside Lehman Brothers headquarters, as well as at selected locations in the Wall Street area, throughout the week. This is a temporary blog designed to facilitate the sale of the painting.

This will be my eighth annotated painting, following Rupert Murdoch, Eliot Spitzer, Jimmy Cayne, Ben Bernanke, Barack Obama, John McCain and Anna Wintour (of all people). The idea behind the series is to paint the subject during a particularly interesting or controversial moment in time and then offer passersby a chance to comment on the surface of the canvas.

I usually inscribe the first annotation. In this case I went with "I am Spartacus." I'm thinking the over/under on how many variations of No, I am Spartacus is fifteen.

"The Annotated Fuld" is also for sale.

I used to sell my paintings on eBay, but that proved unsatisfactory. If you would like to make a bid, send me an email. My address is gvraymond@gmail.com.

My paintings range typically sell for as low as $3,500 to as high as $15,000. You never know, so I would urge you to make any bid you like. Not only will I not be offended--hell, I'll keep you posted as to the status of your bid throughout the week.