Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding

Friday, June 12, 2009

WILDLIFE ART JOURNAL


Back in 1988, when I decided to try to make it as an animal painter, my work had never been shown in public and I was as ignorant of the outside world of wildlife art as it was of me. The task of changing that reality seemed daunting, but I had a secret weapon at my disposal. Wildlife Art News was a bi-monthly periodical that featured articles about artists, exhibitions and the natural world. Like most of its ilk, it was almost offensively shy about being offensively denigrating, but I couldn't have asked for a better window through which to peer and plan my attack. New clues to understanding this world were offered with each issue and myriad opportunities for the aspiring wildlife artist were enumerated before me. Before long, the whole staff became good friends, both professionally and personally. Without the nice coverage they gave my work, I would likely be scrubbing urinals instead of typing this post. In the early oughts, the publisher, Bob Koenke, retired and sold the magazine, which moved from being a labor of love to one of commerce, and ultimately mailed out its final issue in the summer of '07.

After nearly two years of absence, frequent Wildlife Art News contributor Todd Wilkinson has launched an online journal to fill its vacant niche. Todd, whose work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Christian Science Monitor, etc., and has published a number of books, including Science Under Siege, expects this new publication, WILDLIFE ART JOURNAL, to be broader in scope than was its predecessor. He hopes to showcase more iconoclastic artwork from artists working in every part of the globe. So far, it appears to be off to a nice start.
_____________________
illustration: LANJAK DAWN (2009) acrylic 20" x 30"

4 Comments:

Blogger sfox said...

Isn't that just the best news! Finally, we've got a "trade mag" again.

2:28 PM  
Anonymous suz said...

carel - thanks for the tip on this. i was so sad when they quit publishing. i signed right up!

suzanne larson

9:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hate these paintings. You need to take art lessons. This composition is terrible and the orangutang looks like it's going to be ill.

3:10 PM  
Blogger Steve Bodio said...

Todd is a good guy- we knew him in Bozeman-- and I wish him luck (and have subscribed). I think he is angling to do a piece on Tom Quinn's new limited ed book, which I wrote text for.

And isn't it interesting that nasty remarks are always "anonymous"?

5:48 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home