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The David Leonardis Report #19
28 February 2008 Send To a Friend
Ladies and Gentlemen I’m Back!
I know you missed me and the truth of the matter is that I missed you all too. After my show at the DLG RIVER NORTH featuring Lea Pinsky and her fantastic paintings of Wonder Woman I scurried on down south to work on the Howard Finster Vision House with two generous individuals who offered to help out on the all expenses paid trip for free. Walter Fydryck is one of my top artists at the DLG who not only hangs the art for my shows he’s been to the HFVH 5 times. Zack Ward is a hat designer extraordinaire. Give Zack a call for some cool custom hats which are great for any season. (773)301-9471
Well the Museum is coming along nicely and I’m looking forward to the new work and progress ahead of us. By summer there will be a suite for overnight guests to rent out. We are also working on a second guest suite as well. The HFVH Bird House project is something that I’ve been looking forward to since we began the restoration of this landmark location in August 2005. Sections of the house that had to be gutted have been saved in order to recycle them into birdhouses. The birdhouses are going to be built by students and skilled workers together in order to teach everyone the value and lesson of recycling and hard work which will yield beautiful art. Everyone participating in the project will get their names on the HFVH in perpetuity. Something I make available for $120 or your hard labor at the HFVH. It’s a great gift. Give me a call if you’re interested. The birdhouses will be sold and the proceeds will help continue the mission of the HFVH. WIn Win! Now on to my recent Chicago exploits.
January 25th I saw the Bulls play the Charlotte Bobcats. Without Luol Deng and Ben Gordon they lost. Feb 12 and 14 I checked out the Bulls a couple of more times. The Bulls split that week. I’m going again on Friday so the Bulls will have the chance to even it up for me. It’s fun to go see any professional sports team play but it’s always better if they win more then they lose when you go. I thought you would be happy to know that the Chicago Blackhawks won last night (2/27/08) against the Phoenix Coyotes. A couple of good fights and I had a good look at the one goal the Hawks made for the win. The Blackhawks fans are really loyal. It’s a sea of red jerseys. There are tons of couples and groups of single girls and boys. I would say Hawks games are a little known mingle spot. You know for sure you have something in common with who ever you’re meeting there. It seemed like there was less ego there. Like I said everyone is psyched about the Hawks so they leave a lot of their ego at the door. A very refreshing experience.
Let me start telling you about how over-the-top awesome the New York Dolls show at the Double Door was. David Johansen aka Buster Poindexter has still got it going on. This guy is pushing 60 and belting out the hits and putting on a great show. It’s obvious when a band is really in to their performance or if they’re just getting their fat cash fast. Silvain Silvain is one of the other founding members and the crowd loved him. Silvain sang a tribute to the late great Johnny Thunders. The Dolls played for a full two hours and they really gave it their all. I shot several awesome videos and as soon as I can have them available to you I will. Theresa can you hear the crowd clamoring with anticipation and excitement about seeing the new videos?
It was definitely an Old School crowd. I saw a few people I haven’t seen in years and a few regulars on the cool scene. Nick from Earwax Cafe (1561 N Milwaukee Ave, 773-772-4019) was there with his lovely wife. I just ate at Earwax recently with Roger Herring my favorite Guest Expert. Nick is so old school in Wicker Park he’s like the James Bond of Wicker Park. Wait. That’s how Nick described me. Nick is just super cool I guess. Half the reason you buy anything is the energy of the person you’re buying it from. Not to mention he has a bunch of tasty vegetarian dishes on his menu. Wesley Kimler was there too. Wesley is one of Chicago’s more well known artists. He makes really cool grand scale abstract paintings. I am of course known for the Pop Art that I sell in my Galleries. Of course I’m not someone who limits myself by titles. I like all good art. I lean more towards painters when I bring in new artists. My Mother being an artist and working on her BFA in the 1970’s is one of my huge influences. Speaking of my Mother, she has created 2 whole new series’ of birdhouses and boxes. They’re hand drawn and really detailed. The first series is an homage to Howard Finster and his art work. The second is a series of Wonder Woman boxes. Mom has also made a Speed Racer and a Racer X painting. Look for several shows of paintings with a Speed Racer theme in my upcoming DLG schedule. My Mom has a huge collection of art in her house and as I say the great artists collect. That way you have many influences to bring out your artistic talent. When an artist tells me that they don’t collect art that’s not their own, I’m baffled by that. Not to leave out you collectors either, please remember that the great collectors rotate their collection. And don’t even get me started about lack of space. Build an art rack damn it! This is art collecting and your chance to be a even better, more well rounded person we’re talking about here. Please take this seriously. The fate of everyone you interact with depends on it. What kind of art do you think George W. Bush collects. Sorry. It is an election year. While I’m at it though, how about a big toast to optimism and our future Black President. If anything is for sure the change Barack Obama is talking about bringing is definitely going to come after he is elected President next January. I have no idea what that change will bring but it will absolutely be new change.
I remember when George W. started his second term and I was almost in denial about waiting another 4 years to have a Democrat as President. Well I saw on David Letterman last night that there’s 327 days to go until the new President is elected. I choose to be optimistic about our domestic development during this upcoming Presidency. More Art For Everyone! More fun and entertainment too!
Anyway I felt a little disconnect being gone so long and I wanted to really let you know I’m back and here to stay. CUBS season is a month away and I’m already calling up my married with children friends and giving them notice so they can get time off from their respective wardens. I need to go to 30 CUBS home games to break my Single Season CUBS Home Game Attendance Record (SSCHGAR). I’m pretty confident. It’s turned into a part time job and I know people like hearing about it and not to mention when the CUBS win it’s good for the economy in Chicago. You know what that means right? People buy more Art when they’re happier and all of a sudden everyone is a happier, better, more well rounded person and that’s a beautiful thing.
I’m going to the Bulls game tomorrow so I’ll let you know how that turns out next time. It’ll be soon I promise.
Once again I would like to thank you very, very much for reading.
DL
