An art blog by Sam Botkin, a.k.a. Unwiredguy, a.k.a. the artist Saml, and probably a.k.a. a few other names too.

CONTACT by EMAIL: unwiredguy@live.com

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Shamliri's Swan

Shamliri's Swan
SHAMLIRI'S SWAN, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.

The Moon, The Swan, And Magdalena

The Moon, The Swan, And Magdalena
THE MOON, THE SWAN, AND MAGDALENA, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in.

Before The Beginning

Before The Beginning
BEFORE THE BEGINNING, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in.

Camila Vs The Ant

Camila Vs The Ant
CAMILA VS THE ANT, oil on canvas, 16 x 12 in.

Beneath The Full Moon

Beneath The Full Moon
BENEATH THE FULL MOON, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in.

Yo y Mi Gato

Yo y Mi Gato
YO Y MI GATO, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.

Mama Iguana

Mama Iguana
MAMA IGUANA, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.

The Girl With The Blue Curl

The Girl With The Blue Curl
THE GIRL WITH THE BLUE CURL, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.

Man-eating Iguana, Playa Los Muertos

Man-eating Iguana, Playa Los Muertos
MAN-EATING IGUANA, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 x 1.5 in.

Un Día en Playa Los Muertos

Un Día en Playa Los Muertos
UN DÍA EN PLAYA LOS MUERTOS, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.

El Plato Vacío (The Empty Plate)

El Plato Vacío (The Empty Plate)
EL PLATO VACÍO (THE EMPTY PLATE), oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.

Spilt Milk

Spilt Milk
SPILT MILK, oil on canvas, 16 x 20 in.

Artist, After The Fall

Artist, After The Fall
ARTIST, AFTER THE FALL, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in.

Morley's Banjolele

Morley's Banjolele
MORLEY'S BANJOLELE, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.

I Dreamed I Saw A Crowd Of People

I Dreamed I Saw A Crowd Of People
I DREAMED I SAW A CROWD OF PEOPLE, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 x 1.5 in.

Tumbling Through

Tumbling Through
oil on canvas, 30 x 24 x 1.5 in.

Living, Playa Los Muertos

Living, Playa Los Muertos
oil on canvas, 48 x 64 x 2.5 in.

Hot Day in Costa Rica

Hot Day in Costa Rica
oil on canvas 24 x 30 in.

Honeymooners

Honeymooners
HONEYMOONERS, oil on board, 24 x 30 x 1.5 in.

Troubled Dreams

Troubled Dreams
TROUBLED DREAMS, acrylic on board, 24 x 30 in.

Artist and Model

Artist and Model
30 x 40 x 1.5 in, oil on canvas

Last Month's Art Show

Last Month's Art Show
LAST MONTH'S ART SHOW, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 x 1.5 in.

ART WAS DISPLAYED DURING NOVEMBER 2010

ART WAS DISPLAYED DURING the Fall of 2010 at the Paseo Studio, Gallery One, 2927 Paseo.


Flow

Flow
oil on canvas 30 x 24

Detachment

Detachment
DETACHMENT, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in.

61

61
oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in. (completed on my birthday!)

Farm Girls At Night

Farm Girls At Night
oil on canvas, 30 x 24 x 1.5 in

Breanna and her Big Spotted Dog

Breanna and her Big Spotted Dog
oil on canvas, 24 x 30 x 1.5 in.

Tommy and Two Tanangers

Tommy and Two Tanangers
oil on canvas, 30 x 24 x 1.5

Rock Climbing Beneath a Lizard Sky

Rock Climbing Beneath a Lizard Sky
oil on canvas, 40x30 in

Father and Son

Father and Son
"FATHER AND SON", oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in.

La Rubia

La Rubia
LA RUBIA, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 x 1.5 in. SOLD

ART FOR SALE

NOT YET...... ART FOR SALE. TO VIEW SALES GALLERIES, CLICK HERE.

Sandy's Magic Dog

Sandy's Magic Dog
SANDY'S MAGIC DOG, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 x 1.5 in. SOLD

Illegal Immigrants In Love

Illegal Immigrants In Love
oil on canvas, 30 x 40 x 1.5 in.

Ms Omo

Ms Omo
oil on canvas, 30 x 24 x 1.5 in.

Twee Hawn

Twee Hawn
work in progress--the lips are too red

What is art?

There are those who think of art as something to decorate the walls (as with certain paintings), or to kill time (as with certain works of literature), or in general to make one's world more lovely. I think otherwise. Art is not by definition pretty, or decorative, or even nice. Art is, by my definition, a dynamic process the result of which is life becomes more meaningful. Art does more than "be created." Art itself creates. Art begins with the artist, who puts the words on paper, or the paint on canvas, or the music and thoughts into a song--whatever the medium may be--but that is not what makes it art. If one walks past a work of art, or hears the sounds of a work of art, the creation process continues. The observer of true art cannot simply smile and move on. With true art, the observer must stop, and think, and react, and change. Art creates a new experience, a new understanding, a new expanded universe. A society that restricts or censors its art is restricting its own growth, its own existence. A person who limits his/her exposure to art is stifling the very nature of that person's life, the process of growing and learning and discovering. Life holds secrets that are never learned by the cautious, by the afraid. By involving oneself in the dynamic process of experiencing true art, one expands reality, one makes the world a bigger and much more meaningful place. Life is art. Art is life. It's the complexity of life (and art) that makes it worth living.
--- Sammy.......3/26/2009

Art by Saml to be publicly displayed...finally!

In March, 2010, the artist will display many of his paintings at the Paseo Art Space gallery, 3022 Paseo, north end of Paseo district in Oklahoma City, (that's near NW 30th Street and Walker), in a solo exhibition tentatively titled "The Evolution of an Artist." At the current time, none of his art has been shown publicly in the US. There are a few of his paintings--small, dust-and-grime-covered, nearly forgotten, from a few years back--hanging at the open-air beachside El Restaurante Malecón in Puerto Vallarta, (it's the tree-encompassed edifice in the painting below), and one nice painting of his strange Pelícanos once hung in the PC Cafe on Olas Altas in Puerto Vallarta--until it was stolen. The show at Paseo Art Space will last the month of March, with a public opening set for the evening of Friday, March 5, 2010.

View from Rosita 303

View from Rosita 303
oil on canvas, 3 panels, total size 16x52 in

My Artist Statement for Paseo Show, March 5, 2010

The Evolution of an Artist – A show by the artist Saml

--Sam Botkin

I am an artist who has until this point in life (March 2010) kept my creativity to myself. I taught high school math for a career, during which time I produced art in private to maintain my equilibrium. Since my college days, I made decisions regarding my life that allowed me time and feedom to be creative. It took me 35 years to understand those needs, to realize that in fact I am an artist, a person who must go beyond the limits imposed by reality. I love producing musical art; I have written thousands of pages of novel manuscripts; and I have spread gallons of paint on smooth surfaces, just to see what might result. When I retired from teaching in 2008, I decided to take my paintings public. Sixteen months after that decision, here is my show.

My official creative training is minimal. I did take a couple of art classes at Oberlin College, graduating in 1970, but that effort was dampened by the turmoil of the sixties and the Vietnam war. (I did develop my signature during that period...the artist Saml.) Otherwise, I have trained myself. I was greatly influenced by a humanities course I took in college, where I researched a report on the expressionist art movement of the early 20th century, from Klee and Kandinsky to Picasso. Klee was my favorite, but I was proudest of Picasso. He was a magician with his art, and it was his originality as much as his art that I most admired.

My art itself has evolved greatly over the years. For many years, I painted when the mood struck me, painting images from my dreams, or my imagination, using acrylics beginning in my college years, then switching to oils once my methods matured. Ten years ago, I decided to take my painting more seriously, and for a painfully long time, I worked at "getting better" by reproducing lovely depictions of real life, lots of beach and park and street scenes of the people of Mexico. More recently, I liberated myself from those social demands, and I have now returned to producing images from my fantasies. I have learned a great deal by watching young people create their art: i.e. my seven-year-old niece, a girlfriend’s five-year-old daughter; and in the past few years I have worked hard to develope my innate desire to paint like a child.

I was inspired in this past decade by the art and artists in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, specifically José Marca and Rogelio Dias, two artists who paint confidently with uninhibited expression. I became friends with Marca and gained from him an understanding of the patience required to produce an intended result on canvas. I learned through an intermediary (the gallery owner who displays his art) of the turmoil lived by Dias and expressed in his art, and I found a kinship there that pushed me to exploit my own inner chaos.

It does not bother me if my art sometimes offends. For those who are offended, just shake your head and move along.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Whew!!

106 today. Past week, much the same. Next week, much the same. Gives me a headache just thinking about it.
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