My New Painting!

An art wholesaler came to my work building for a couple days last week to display and sell his art.  He had some really nice original paintings that were painted by his sister in Bali and then shipped here by boat.  I hate spending money on mass produced generic art work, which is why most of my walls are still empty.  I think maybe from some of the pictures I've taken, you can see a huge painting on my wall - it's kind of the only decoration art work I have right now.  A friend painted it and even though he's not an artist or anything, it's still original!  Well his wife is a celebrity and she worked on it as well, so maybe I can resell it one day... hehe.

So I took the opportunity to get one of these unique paintings last week.  At first I wasn't sure if it would go with my place, but I love it now!  The colorfulness of it definitely brightens the place up and gives it a very interesting look.  My walls are a tannish color, which I think looks fine with the painting.  Unfortunately I haven't put it up on the wall yet so I don't have a picture of it hanging up.  It's going to the space above the couch in the living room.  But I did take a picture of it when it was displayed at my work building.  Here it is!

The wholesaler guy told me that his sister painted it based on a photograph he took at the Borobudur Buddhist temple in Indonesia (one of the 9 world wonders).   Being a wholesaler, he takes her paintings to different art galleries in LA, and they always sell really well, especially the monk ones.  But of course if you buy it from the art gallery, the price will be $1000-3000.  He was willing to sell this one to me for $250 which I think is a great price for any original art work, let alone something this unique and big!  The painting is about 4 X 3.5 ft canvas.  It took her a week or so to finish it, but she refuses to sign her paintings because the culture there is different - people do not want to draw attention to themselves.  So apparently, some guy bought 5-6 of her paintings from one of the galleries here, and signed his own name on them!!!  Wow... that's pretty shady.  Maybe I should sign my name on it too and proudly display it as my own work!  Hahahaha.  Kidding, of course.  I can't believe someone would outwright steal this poor Indonesian woman's hard work!

So anyway, this seller has a permanent studio in Venice.  Maybe I can stop by some time later if I feel like I need another painting!