Markus Ray’s “Art Look”

Albrecht Dürer Shaped My Sensibility I was 17 or so in 1971, 500 years exactly after the birth of Albrecht Dürer. I grew up in Mount Vernon, a small town named after George Washington’s estate, on the banks of the Kokosing River, amidst the rolling hills of central Ohio. We were 40 miles [...]

In My Own Back Yard I am particularly fond of the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art, which is a 33 minute walk from my front door. Essentially it is in “my own back yard.” The East Wing, designed by I.M. Pei (who also designed the pyramid entrance to the Louvre in Paris) […]

In the Best Bookstore in the World As you all know from my last commentary I am in Love with Estonia. There are many reasons. One is that the best bookstore in the world is in Tallinn, and Sondra and I love to hang out there, have a coffee, peruse our favorite books (many in […]

Ten Days in Tallinn Sondra and I were in Estonia for ten days at the end of our European Tour. Tallinn is one of our favorite cities in Europe, mainly because it has preserved its “Olde Towne” to the charm of the 13th Century. (Complete with elevators and modern conveniences, mind [...]

A Day in Ghent We went to Ghent last Monday with Geert and Fabienne, our close friends here in Belgium. To say it was a “lovely day” is an understatement of huge proportions. The atmosphere was clear and the gentle breeze was blowing a cool relief amidst an early June day of crystal [...]

What I Love About Vermeer We started our European tour in Amsterdam. We arrived there two weeks ago, and I cannot remember an easier hop over the great water to Europe. We were met by our friend Monique at Schiphol Airport, who took us to our apartment in the center of Amsterdam at De Hallen. [...]

A Master of a Different Medium I was never into Andrew Wyeth, any more than I aspired toward Norman Rockwell. Neither formed my standard in art toward whom I would copy and emulate. Rockwell was an illustrator of Americana scenes in the Saturday Evening Post. Andrew Wyeth was considered more of [...]

My artistic lineage I am in the artistic lineage of this man—Philip Guston. I must say, “I own it.” He was my “teacher’s teacher.” Philip was a Jew. My teacher, Stephen Greene was a Jew. Phillip was born in 1913 in Quebec, before the first Great War. His parents [...]

Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was also the owner of General Foods Corporation. (Wikipedia) She had an Estate here in Washington called “Hillwood,” where she [...]

This is a commentary “About Seeing.” As an artist, it is one of my principle actions in life—to look. And what is it I see? As a painter this involves a translation into a very specific and rarefied picture plane, using paint or charcoal or what have you, onto a window of expression [...]