FRAGMENTS EXHIBITION

[evaldart]

Tech issues, let me try again.

Blake and Evaldart enjoying the view (The Art, that is, NOT Jersey which is out the back window). Lets Go Mets!

[grommet]

You two are cute, sort of like "the odd couple".

[Blake]

Thanks Grommet
New York was a blast, met some great people and it was great to met some of the other members of this forum, thanks for stopping by.
Now that it is over I am taking a few days off, sales were good we raised 34,000. dollars for the charity and there are a couple more offers still in the works so I am hoping for at least one more sale.
I will be travelling to Kosovo in May to see a minefield that Fragments will hopefully be clearing due to two clients who have supported the Fragments campaign.
I will keep you posted. Now allow me to show some more photos.
Thanks to all of you for caring.
Blake
www.blakefragments.com
www.blake.at

[Merlion]

Originally Posted by Blake

.., sales were good we raised 34,000. dollars for the charity

That's very good. New York is the place.

[suburbanartists]

Push to top

[Blake]

We are showing Fragments in London at St. Ethelburga's
Please come down and see the show
78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG

There is a closing party on the 29th of May from 5 to 9 PM
The gallery is open daily from 11 am including weekends and holidays
Hope you can make it.
Kind Regards Blake

[Blake]

Carrying on in the spirit of our campaign, the Fragments collection will continue to raise awareness of the problems caused by remnants of war and fund landmine clearance. In 2007 and 2008, we exhibited the Fragments collection in the following venues where sales of the sculptures helped to clear landmines in Vietnam and to map minefields in Angola, as well as providing mine risk education to civilians in Afghanistan.
• Canada House Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London
• La Galleria, 5 Pall Mall, London
• Chapter House, Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent
• The Smithfield Gallery, City of London
• The London Stock Exchange, City of London
• Haberdashers Hall, City of London, UK
• Chelsea Arts Tower, Chelsea, New York, New York
• Saint Ethelburga’s Centre London, UK
• Studio Monte-Carlo Monaco
• Inner Market Square Guernsey Channel Islands

From a starting point some ten years ago, this collection has evolved into a unique series of sculptures that extends the purpose of my art further than ever before by addressing this serious social concern.
This artwork expresses concern for our future has lead me to create art with a humanitarian purpose.

I call this intentional art in that it contains political and social commentary concerning our society as well as a concept and a purpose “it is working to save lives” and it is speaking not only about our tragic nature, but also of the issue; the global crisis concerning remnants of war.
Intentional art is important not only for its aesthetic value but also for its social impact.
For beyond the literal and symbolic messages communicated by this work there is also a certain beauty and it is within this beauty that we can find hope.

I have deliberately named each of these sculptures after a different type of landmine in order to communicate the connection with the issue and also to illustrate what these remnants of war do both literally and symbolically to the human body and to our societies.

With this series, my art is accomplishing more than just commenting on our society; it has become part of the solution. The cause is a noble one and your support has been the foundation of our success.

This Guernsey Exhibition is devoted to assist Mine Awareness Trust in clearing a NATO cluster bomb strike, delivered in 1996, outside of the cite of Peja in Kosovo.

With this exhibition the Fragments campaign will be finished for this year, we will take up the cause again next year and I will continue to offer the sculpture to assist in this crisis. I thank you all for your confidence.

Kind Regards
Blake

[Blake]

I was not sure if I should post this.
But the Fragments live on
March 05 to April 04 back in New York
The Artists Night is the 17th of March
I hope to see some of you there.

ICO Art & Music Gallery
27 North Moore Street, New York, Ny 10013
info@icogallery.com
www.icogallery.com

[Portoro]

I've put your closing party in my diary - may be able to make that. If not, I will try to visit before that - a great project.

Sam

[Blake]

Thanks Portico
I look forward to seeing you on the 13th of March
at ICO Gallery 27 North Moore Street, New York, Ny 10013

[tobias]

No Canadian dates hey. No wonder you dont live here any more. Great work man.

[suburbanartists]

Originally Posted by Blake

Thanks Portico
I look forward to seeing you on the 13th of March
at ICO Gallery 27 North Moore Street, New York, Ny 10013

The 13th or 17th which is better?

[Blake]

Suburbanartists
The 13th and 14 are the only days that I will be in New York so please try to come for the artists night on the 13th of March or during the day on the 14th.

Tobias
The Canadian date is for The Figure Exhibition as apposed to Fragments and is the 17th of March in Saskatoon.
This is my first show in Canada and will have a few Fragments in Saskatoon but not many. I hope that it is not too cold.
The Fragments will be showing in 2010 I have a tentative date and will let you know as it confirms.
Thanks for asking
Blake

[Blake]

THE FRAGMENTS EXHIBITIONS Continue

Just to let you know that the Fragments are still alive and showing so if anyone is in Northern Canada, don't be shy come in and say hello on the 06 August in my home town of Yellowknife, NWT.

After that we will try to raise some funds for landmine clearance in Cambodia. Siem Reap on the 23th of Sept and 03 November in Phnom Penh. The Cambodian Exhibitions will support a very worthy cause known as The Cambodian Self Help Demining, and The Cambodian Relief Fund (an associated US Charity). This group of de-mineres is lead by a former soldier who laid many mines in Cambodia and since the war ended has been removing them.

http://www.cambodianselfhelpdemining.org
http://www.landmine-relief-fund.com/

I would like to thank all of you for your continued support
Blake

[Blake]

Here in Siem Reap Cambodia
Setting up the next show at Hotel de la Paix in the arts lounge

Very nice hotel, great lounge area it should be a fun opening.
I will post some pictures, they are talking about a real theatrical opening....
Wonderful to be working with professionals

If you happen to be in Cambodia at Ankor Wat please pass by.
We are working to fund some landmine clearance here in Cambodia.

Just walking around I see so many young people who have lost limbs due to unexploded remnants of war. It is so sad

I will post some photos on Friday
Blake

[grommet]

It must be particularly heartbreaking but motivating to see the children.
good luck with your efforts.

[Blake]

Thanks for the support grommet
It is very motivating to see the need for what we are doing here and heart breaking at the same time. I have met some wonderful people who are involved in charitable endeavors of different kinds here.

There are some real characters here in Cambodia, it is a fascinating place.

The temples are mind blowing the sculpture is amazing and it is everywhere.
Ankor Wat is one of the man made wonders of the world and it is easy to see why. The sculpture is beautiful, some immense, and many buddha portraits with this calm expression and feel.

Today is the big day, we will finish the set up and I will speak at 18:30 about the work, I used to be very nervous about public speaking but I have grown used to it, in fact I am looking forward to it.
Here we go... Should be fun
Thanks for tuning in.
Blake

[Blake]

The Fragments Show at Hotel de la Paix Siem Reap Cambodia.
In support of the organization created by child soldier Aki Ra;
Cambodian Self Help Demining.

My thanks to Aki Ra (last photo) and all of those people who have help make this exhibition such a success.

Aki Ra has been nominated as a CNN Hero please go to the CNN Heros site and vote for this amazing man who has given his life to clearing mines in Cambodia.
Thanks
Blake

[Blake]

I am sure that you can't believe I am still showing this work, but it is true!
The twelfth Fragments show in 4 years.
Finally, I am showing in the country that inspired the Fragments.
If your in Hanoi, Vietnam I hope that you will come by.
Blake
http://www.blakefragments.com/

[Blake]

Well today is the day. Yesterday was a private view and we had a very interesting crowd and some important collectors, so who knows!
Interestingly I was going to post something about the show on

www.facebook.com/blakesculpture

and found it is not available here in Vietnam.... censored.

I love traveling and finding out about all this stuff.

I will post some photos of the exhibition here in Hanoi as soon as I can as it is a really interesting show. We pulled out all the stops for this one and changed the direction of the presentation, although we are staying with the underlying idea concerning where the Fragments have come from, I am not talking about landmine clearance.
(I will continue to support the landmine clearance activities of Aki Ra in Cambodia)
http://cambodianselfhelpdemining.org/

I have found that by talking about the tragedy makes the work less desirable to people. Not surprisingly, people don't want to live with a sad story in their homes, they want happy art, so I have changed what I am saying completely, we will see how this works and I'll get back to you.
Stay tuned

[Blake]

The opening is now over and fun was had by all!
The private view was a blast, informal and mostly art enthusiasts and gallery clients, we served great food and nice wine and it didn't go on too late.

The Press conference was the next afternoon and was surprisingly well attended. I spoke to the group as well as individual journalists from 13:00 to 17:30.

That night was the opening, there was only wine and quite a few people came out for it. The Saturday was the "Artist Speaks", which was well attended with mostly artists, but there were a couple of journalists as well. I showed my latest Burning Buddha video and i spoke for about an hour and then had questions and we had an interesting exchange about art, it was great. I got some ideas and hopefully gave out some ideas. It was by far the best of that type of talk I have done yet. Allot of fun and very interesting people attended.

After that I was exhausted as we had dinners each night after the openings and each night for the two days that it took us to set up.

We made a sculpture garden in the gallery by bringing in some tress and laying real grass on the floor. An enormous amount of work but it looked fantastic. (Thank God it did not rain or we would have had mud!)

All in all a wonderful show and a great Gallery thanks to Betty and Michelle Bui and all the staff.

Here are some pictures, the main gallery and then upstairs during the press conference, I am on the left accompanied by the Vietnamese translator.
Thanks for tuning in
Blake

http://thebuigallery.com/

http://www.blakefragments.com

[Blake]

Hello All
The next Fragments show is in Singapore opening on the 04 August at

Collectors Contemporary Gallery
Jalan Kilang Barat #01-03 Petro Centre
Singapore 159349

Of course everyone is welcome
I will keep you informed as the show develops


The Fragments sculptures are an exploration of mankind’s ancient ideas of beauty in human sculpture and how this beauty holds up in modern times, broken by the destructive nature of our history, but nevertheless, intact.

These bronze sculptures stand as representations, not only of the fusion between classical and postmodern art, but more importantly, the period of time in between.

Blake created the Fragments sculptures as representations of great civilizations that glorified war and military expansion. And yet, these are beautiful works of art that stand alone from their historical reference to violence.

Hope to see you there
Blake

[Blake]

Well here we are setting up.
I have done this so many times now I can't remember them all, but each time I find myself as excited as I was the first time.
It is the thrill of seeing it all come together, the wonderful feeling of not knowing what may happen and who you will meet and the anxiety of not know what may go wrong.

[Blake]

And then it is all together

Thanks to Gary and Alvin, Chan and Jeff for all their help
They made it all very easy
Blake

[Blake]

Some More shots of the Singapore Show