Go Curtis! We just heard that Curtis' influence has traveled even further. We received an email from Liza Cowan of Pine Street Art Works in Burlington, VT, that she's not only mounted a Paint By Numbers Show in her gallery, but it was inspired by photographs of Curtis's remarkable work, showcased last year on AT...
From Liz Cowan:
"I run an art gallery in Burlington, Vermont called Pine Street Art Works. We show and sell 20th and 21st century painting, photography, furniture and artifacts from our beautifully renovated old bristle factory. The website is www.pinestreetartworks.com
I'm an avid reader of AT. I love it for the inspiring design ideas and because it keeps me in touch with my former home, New York City. I was reading the blog on October 13th, 2006 when I saw Curtis Robertson's entry to the Fall Colors Contest. He had taken two 1950's Paint By Number paintings and made them into a mural in his apartment. Something about the quality of the painting sparked my interest so I googled Paint By Number and ended up on eBay, where I spent countless hours over the next six months choosing and bidding on paintings.
At first I was going to buy just a few, but they are addictive. After buying 101 paintings out of the thousands available, a show was born. The paintings themselves are charming, and I am fascinated by their subversive allure - the tension created between the pleasure of viewing and the original - and ongoing - horrified responses by the gate keepers of high culture.
The exhibit opened at the beginning of August with 101 Paint By Number paintings, and some assorted PBN artifacts, like a 1958 Mad Magazine cover, and a lot of gorgeous original packaging and ephemera. So far the response has been enthusiastic. There is something about seeing a gallery full of Paint By Number paintings that charms and intrigues all but the most cynical.
The enterprise came full circle when Curtis made a trip to Burlington to see the show. The photograph, at the top of the page, shows him sitting under a version of the Paris cityscape he used for his mural."
The show is on right now until the end of the month and you can read all about it right here.
And here's a house tour of Curtis' home: Inside Out: Curtis' Attention to Detail Will Blow You Away
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
Wow, I also collect paint by numbers, and this show is making my heart flutter!
Way to go Curtis!
view Angie in Montreal's profile
What fun! Wish I could go there. Hooray for Curtis and Liza. My Mom bought me that running horse and foal when I was a little girl. She painted it herself and it hung over our piano.
view Kate (NC)'s profile
I love the chopped off stairs as shelving unit (that he's sitting on). Salvage yard...here I come!
view I Love Upstate's profile
Fantastic! Go Curtis!
view janel's profile
I went to the Pine Street Art Works web site linked and saw an amazing, luscious red chair in the photo on their home page. I'd love it to go with my gray Wave Hill lawn chair - a kind of city mouse/country mouse seating duo.
Having lived through last days of the paint by numbers craze, I'm content to watch. But hats off to Curtis nonetheless.
view Marco's profile
Very cool! Yay, Curtis!
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
(But she could have saved a lot of time and just showcased Curtis' own extensive collection of kits and paintings!)
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
NICE!
Yay Curtis!
view mattplantguy's profile
Way cool!
view wende in phoenix's profile
Bravo, Curtis!!!
view Maureen's profile
Curtis!
I like that staircase too. I've been wondering how I can get a stairlike thing in my apartment for my cat. Hmmm...
view Pixie's profile
yeah! I wanna go to Vermont!
view guido's profile
Yay Curtis! you are soooo cool!
view amy's profile
Hurray for Curtis!
view tin_angel's profile
This looks like a promo for Curtis' new show on HGTV.
view Pixie's profile
Thanks, folks! I'm just now seeing this! Meanwhile, Patrick, it's true, I have a couple of hundred old p-b-n paintings just waiting to become murals for other people, but she actually collecting most of the ones in her show to sell, and part of the proceeds from those sales are going to one of their local animal shelters, which is one reason she chose to include a fair number of the p-b-n's of animals.
Anyway... thanks for the post, Maxwell. Liza Cowan is a charming person, and so is her gallery. If anyone lives near there, or will be going up there, don't miss it, even if you don't make it in time for this show.
view Curtis's profile
Bravo, Curtis! An inspiration for what looks like a fun exhibit and a good cause!
view jimkk's profile
Congrats Curtis!! You look very relaxed.
Congrats to you too Liza! I like the fact that you relish the "horrified responses by the gate keepers of high culture." : )
Love your mini staircase too.
view gekko's profile
What greater compliment than to be an inspiration. Bravo, Curtis.
Oh, and I too am lovin' that staircase as shelf idea.
view J's profile
Curtis: thanks so much for your inspiration and kind words.
Marco: The red chair on my homepage is one of the few things NOT for sale in the gallery. It was made in the late sixties by my cousin, Alan Siegel. He used to be represented by Nancy Hoffman in NYC, but not sure where you can get his chairs now.
The stairs: I found this circular staircase at a salvage place (Mason Bros. in Essex VT.) and knew I had to use them somehow in the gallery. The top to the stairs is in the other view of the gallery, I use it as I kind of mantlepiece, but without an actual fire.
The gallery is filled with all kinds of repurposed salvage: we are blessed in Burlington with three great salvage places, and then there's my favorite sport- dumpster diving.
Thanks - all of you.
view liza from VT's profile
So great to see other people's appreciation of Curtis' genius. He has been re-envisioning and re-working my apartment a room at a time, including some spectacular and innovative combinations of materials. I invite you to have a look at the progress to date. There's not really that much of what was "before", but you can still get the idea:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artycurtis/collections/72157600424482753/
There's still another floor for him to do, so I'm sure there will be more photos in the future, as well. In the meantime, I do feel like I'm keeping Benjamin Moore in business buying so much Aura paint! :-)
view Odile's profile