Often when discussing the art of Jesse Miller the topic veers towards his more avant-garde tendencies. Today this is not the case. This is a plein air painting by Jesse Miller done in the canyons of Laguna Beach looking out onto the Pacific Ocean. He painted this particular piece for his mother.
Personally, I find the layers and perspective to be familiar and accurate to my journeys into the Laguna Hills. The ocean seems to hover in the distance between the hills and the hazy sky.

Yesterday this piece of Jesse Miller's was sold to a private collection in Irvine, California. They are very excited to get it to their home and coordinate the proper lighting on the piece. It is called the 'tree of life'. My favorite part is how the same blue looking glass gives off different reactions for the ocean and horizon. The ocean blue leaded glass on the bottom left, leaves a ripple effect on the wall behind it. While just above in the blue sky, the glass leaves a clear smooth blue against the wall. I also feel that this is one of Jesse Miller's most ambitious carvings to date. He has done larger scale but, there is something beautiful and simple about carving a piece of tree into a tree. Truly, this painting, along with a handful painted since, represent a new level in Jesse's work. He is painting from the same mysterious place but with a stronger and sexy, more confident energy.

When I first told Jason Monet of my plan to have him paint a long skinny piece he laughed at me. He wanted to know who had the nerve to tell him at nearly 70 years old that he needed to paint a size and shape other than the ones he had come accustomed to. I told him that it was for my mother and he said, "Your mum?" "Give me two days to think about it." I told him that she already had the spot picked out and everything else was up to him.
Soon after he informed me that he had found just the spot in a friends new garden. Days later this magnificent piece was finished and titled 'Nancy's.' It rests in a perfect spot to the left of her entry room where it gives a dramatic reception. Many people are impressed by this piece of Jason Monet's. The question now is will I be able to entice him into a repeat performance or will 'Nancy's' remain a one of a kind among Jason's work.

This is a really cool piece from a private collection in Costa Mesa, CA. It is a Jesse Miller titled 'Hollow Tree'. Notice how this painting is the same upside down and right side up. Click on the image to enlarge it and look at the detail in the roots of the trees that needed to be perfectly reproduced. There are slight differences in the trees and waves but each side has its own special intricacies. Jesse Miller takes great pride in every tree he paints and these two are no exception. He also takes great pride with working with trees as this hand carved frame proves. Few other artists are currently as comfortable with the combination of avant-garde self expression and elegance.

'Yuki' lounging in Jason's garden. Many of Jason Monet's portraits occur in this very garden and in the same hammock. Yuki looks very satisfied with herself. She has a look of confidence as if she knows a secret that she isn't telling. Beautiful light, and shade give way to hammock and garden colors dancing across Yuki's skin.
This garden is in Ubud, Bali and that is in a rain forest which gives even this small, well kept garden a nearly jungle feel with the diverse types of grass and leaves.
I like the juxtaposition of colors with the bright red and turquoise of her nails and pillow in the foreground with the strong purple lines of the hammock, while the multitude of different greens, blues, yellows and oranges decorate the background foliage. Also in front is the pearl white of her bracelet, eyes, necklace and blouse.

This is one of my favorite pieces. It is a Tiki from Maui, Hawaii. The wood is from a Monkey Pawed tree off an old sugar cane road on Maui. On top is Lono who represents the attributes of peace, love, feast and festivity. Mona Hoa is on bottom and has the attributes of protection, well being and $money$. The Hawaiians believe there is only one God but the various Tikis represent the different attributes of that one God.

At times Jesse Miller paints experiments with concepts to an absurd non-logical extreme. He does this to better understand the function of that concept in juxtaposition to his macro understanding of painting in general. In this process, Jesse Miller is constantly educating himself and growing as an artist. In the mid 90's he took his first canvas to the complete extreme and it was christened 'Untitled'. It is a three-panel piece with extraordinary post-surreal visions. There is a boundless energy of unlimited potentiality that drips through this entire painting.

This is the close up of dead center on the middle pannel of Jesse Miller's 'Untitled'. Look closely in the upper center. Coming out of the wave curl to the left side, is an Indian in full ceremonial headress. His mouth is open and he is facing to the right. Notice how the light beams coming off the sun and planets to the left, transitions into ripples in the water on the lower right. The center bottom is the upper portion of photo 2.
This lower section is very strong from up to 90' away! It has countless shapes and faces that seem to morph right before your eyes. How many do you see?

I just love this painting by Jason Monet, Amed Sunset. It is aprox. 3'*5' or 90*140cm. Painted July, 03. He claims that he only paints what he sees! Wow I would love to see through his eyes for just one sunset.
Colorful visionary Jason Monet!
Enough said!

In a previous post I mentioned my favorite guitar player was Jeff Richman. One of his new projects is this band called Chatterbox. It is a funky jazz project put out by Ascending Records. It is a grooving mix of tunes half of which were composed and the other half were on the spot improvisations. With this album Chatterbox is making a strong play for the 'jam band' scene.
The album art is an original drawing by Jesse Miller. Keep an eye on Jeff Richman, Jesse Miller and Ascending Records because all three are some of the best you have yet to fully experience!!!

Not much needs to be said about this painting by Jason Monet. Of all his most impressive works I feel that this piece could easily hang next to any of the great masters in a museum. The focal point is simple and elegant, three pink flowers. By contrast the background is a mess of vine and shadow that creates quite a contrast without distracting or repressing the strength of the composition. With this piece alone I champion Jason Monet as post-impressionist master.

One day in February 2000, my friend Sabi from France told me we were going to Yogyakarta (Yogya), which is in central Java, Indonesia. With not much more information I was off to Yogya. We went to Joglo Jago, which is home, and studio of Gono, who is the youngest child of the respected senior artist Bapak Sudarso. Sukarno has an important place in the artistic history of Indonesia. He was one of the founders of Institute Seni Indonesia in Yogyakarta, and also founded a group called "The Peoples' Painters", back in the sixties. This included many now legendary artists. Bapak Sudarso's paintings are included in the Sukarno Collection, part of which is currently being exhibited in Jakarta. Sudarso is famous for his portraits of women and his eight children are all painters.
Gono or Sudargono is a tremendous painter in his own right. He was classically trained and studied portraits and landscape and experimented with surreal as well as abstract painting. What he does now is his own brand of super energized surrealism.
During my stay he had a show in town and I was able to view lots of his paintings and subsequently his many moods. Also, I was on national television in Indonesia talking with his wife Tuti about one of his paintings. Unfortunately I never saw it and don't know if they translated my critique into Indonesian. To make a long story short this is how I came to purchase 'Dance' 1999 Gono, which is the painting in this blog. More to come on Gono in the future...

This is one of my favorite pieces of art ever. It was a birthday gift from Jason Monet titled 'Happy's'. We sat in his porch on my birthday while he painted and I played him guitar. Recently, someone offered to buy it but there is no price that I will accept for this painting. I hope to use it someday for album art or on a website dedicated to my music. If you look closely one can see my leg tapping as I play. Also, I love the racial ambiguity of the piece. Jason Monet gave me one of my best birthday presents ever and it makes me want to spend my day overseas every year!

Many of Jesse Millers paintings are extreemly in your face. It can be overwhelming at times to be in the presence of his art. Most of his pieces demand your attention. That is one of the reasons that I like this print. All that is Jesse Miller is in this painting but it doesn't scream for your viewing. The aptly named 2 for 1 is very subtle in its dual personalities of landscape. This is available in a limited edition run of 50. Yes it is more subtle but Jesse puts all of his energy into the two landscapes for the price of one. Another great feature is that each print has the artists personal touch in the framing. Brilliant!!!

Besides being an art lover I am passionate about music. My favorite musician is a little known jazz player named Jeff Richman. He is surounded by a virtual whos who of famous jazz and studio musians in every project he touches but,
as of yet he is not a household name. He has worked on movies and television and traveled the world working with
various groups. My favorite work of Jeff's are his last two personal albums. His 12th solo album aptly titled Jeff Richman
One Two, and the self titled album with his new band Chatterbox. Both are groovy funk jazz masterpieces. Check him
out at:
Jeff Richman's Official Site

Before JLGalleries existed I was extreemly interest in art and paintings. I began my collection in January of 2000. Not long after but still pre JLGalleries.com I sold my first painting. It was not my intention at the time to sell art. Still a friend had seen a January 2001 purchase and asked for help aquiring their own Jason Monet painting. So I showed them a picture of this boat painted on January 4th at Padang Bai's main cove and they loved it. This developed into more requests and I decided that my hobby would make a great career. Thus, the birth of JL Galleries.