The Woolff Gallery in London released a short film about my portrait art, assemblage art. Produced by Woolff Gallery. Directed and Edited by Prano Bailey-Bond.
You can also see the film on my Facebook Page and share it with your friends.
Woolff Gallery YouTube Channel
Today started out like any other weekend . . working in the Studio. However, this Saturday would prove to be more special than most.
Mid-morning I noticed an incoming call from the Woolff Gallery London. My first thought was “Bet I know why Nick’s calling?” We’re exhibiting my portrait art at SCOPE New York next week and he wants to know if I’ve finished my current piece.
Typical. As an artist, I never want to be bothered by interruptions to my creative process. Or, at least, that’s what I tell friends and family. But . . when you’re living the “Life of a Full Time Artist” . . answering your agent’s phone call just comes with the job.
I was already apologizing that I hadn’t shipped the next piece when Nick’s enthusiasm overshadowed everything I was saying. He was so excited that he couldn’t speak good English. One of the patrons of Woolff Gallery had pinged a post that my junk art was “Liked” by the Saatchi Gallery on the Museum’s Facebook page.
Wow! What a big deal.
The Saatchi Gallery is one of the world’s most prominent Art Museums and a noted London gallery for displaying critically acclaimed contemporary artists. In fact, it is located in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in the heart of London. So, to think that anyone associated with the Saatchi Gallery would have ever heard of Zac Freeman’s portrait art simply blew my mind. Suddenly, I couldn’t speak good English either.
Some Saturdays, I wish I had a real job. I wish I had the day off and was hanging out with friends. But this Saturday . . it feels pretty good to be living the “Life of a Full Time Artist”.
Oh well, back to work.
For the past 4 days a film crew from London has been here at the studio shooting a documentary film about my assemblage art. Although they were long days, it was an absolute blast. I believe the release date for the film is in a couple of months. I’ll post the film here and on my Facebook Page when it’s published.
I am currently showing at the University of Mary Washington Galleries (UMW Galleries) in Virginia. My artwork “Jerry” was published on the cover of the exhibition catalogue.
Details of the exhibition:
REDUX: Repurposed Materials
The exhibition runs October 26 – November 30, 2012.
Preview reception on Thursday, October 25, 5-7pm.
Located at:
University of Mary Washington Galleries
(duPont Gallery)
1301 College Avenue
Fredericksburg, VA 22401-5300
:: link to UMW Galleries website ::
:: link to UMW Galleries exhibitions page ::
My artwork “Steve” has been published in, and on the cover of, an art book titled “Launching the Imagination, 4th edition” by Mary Stewart. Published by McGraw-Hill in January 2011.
:: link to textbook on Amazon ::
Here’s the passage from the art book;
Closure is the mind’s inclination to connect fragmentary information to produce a completed form. In Zac Freeman’s Steve (10.7), we must visually connect hundreds of washers, screws, and other hardware to create a man’s face. Closure makes it possible to communicate using implication. Freed of the necessity to provide every detail, the artist or designer can convey an idea through suggestion rather than description. When the viewer completes the image in his or her mind, it is often more memorable than an explicit image.
My artwork “Steve” has been published in an art book titled “The Art of Seeing, 8th edition” by Mary Pat Fisher and Paul Zelanski. Published by Prentice Hall in January 2010.
:: link to art book on Amazon ::
Here’s the passage from the book;
Art forms no longer fit neatly into the traditional categories. We live in a period of great experimentation with all media, and some artists are introducing media and art forms that have never existed before. Often media are mixed, crossing all previous boundaries.
In his large mixed-media collages such as Steve (5.33), Zac Freeman has mixed a great range of non-art “media”: found objects such as used computer printer cartridges, nuts, bolts, washers, screws, rivets, computer circuitry, bottle caps, and candy tins. He chooses them for their values and then glues them accordingly onto a board, building up a riveting work that is an unexpectedly realistic portrait when seen from a distance.
The artwork for Absolut Vodka shipped out to Portugal yesterday and I am taking the day off. I cleaned up my studio yesterday while waiting for the shipping company to arrive. I always like to clean up the studio in-between art projects. It just feels right to me. I don’t like to have any junk pieces (my medium) laying around from the previous artwork because a new artwork has a fresh thought process behind it.
I crated the Absolut Vodka artwork early this morning and am waiting for the shipping company to arrive for pick-up. Packing/crating involves bolting the artwork to the crate by screwing through the back of the shipping crate directly into the wood canvas of the artwork.
Once the artwork was ready for shipping I continued to work on the piece while it was in the crate. I kept making small tweaks to the artwork up until about 4pm when the shippers arrived.
It’s Sunday and the Absolut Vodka artwork has to be done because shippers will pick it up sometime tomorrow. I have to assume they may come early. I blended up the nose area, completed the mouth, and did the entire bottom row of the artwork that makes up the chin and neckline.
It’s about 1am and the artwork is finished. Here the canvas is prepped and placed on a higher bench. I’m about to paint the canvas sides black and sign the back. Finally done after a very long work week. I got approval to move forward with this piece on 2/28/11, had 20 days to finish it before the due date, and ended up working 94 hours this last week to finish it in time.
