Testimonials: In this day and age, that means Email
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I put your comments into this section at the top of the list as they come in, therefore what you see below is going back in time to 2003 when my first attempts at a web site were going out. Anyway, your comments:
● I was just reviewing your webpage. WOW! You must have the world's
most comprehensive artist's webpage. The new format looks great. I don't
know where you can find the time and energy to do that and paint as much
as you do. On one hand it is inspiring and on the other it makes me look
like I am standing still.
Actually, the primary reason I went to your site this morning was to
see the twins. Daphne loves babies and if there is anything better than
a baby it is two babies. Our youngest daughter has just informed us that
she is pregnant. If all goes well, there will be one or more babies in
our future.
Again ------- your webpage is almost as spectacular as your
paintings.
● I have never really appreciated Abstract Art before, but your work is incredible.
● I stumbled across your website and was really impressed with your work.
● I'm interested in your process, how you create your fractured
compositions and then paint them so photo-realistically. Do you have it
completely composed before you start painting? Really extraordinary work and
what a huge body of work, too. Congratulations on such an accomplishment and
all your sales...Your process is fascinating. Somewhat similar to mine with
the multiple layers and studies done in Photoshop, the premixed colors and
multiple applications of thin paint, though you've taken your compositions
to a much greater level of complexity that is mind boggling and thus very
engaging for me.
● I visited your site and was thrilled to see your work. It is quite
daring in composition as well as technical understanding, not to mention a
unique view of our surroundings. ● I looked at your website. This is an amazing body of work! I like most of it but most of all I like your drawings, the abstract ones like Bikini... but also the ones you did on your travels, and how wonderfully you caught the atmosphere of the places.
● I have been following your work for a few years now, as I find it inspirational and exciting. Always something new!
● Your work is a wonder, and your life is a blessing. Thank you for your art and your architecture, thank you for sharing the beauty you create. ● First look at your art, I decided that you are a photographer manipulating space. Curiosity got the better of me. It led me into reading about your life. Then it was understandable that it was possible to create your art. Your art has the magic of your life, congratulations! ● I love all your work! The influence of the Bauhaus and the Golden Section is apparent in every work! ● I can only dream of owning one of your pieces. ● Paintings arrived a short time ago, safe and sound. I thought your web site was very good but the paintings in person are fantastic. The colors are great very vibrant. I can't wait until I can get them on the wall. I will fill you in more when we get them home and out of the box fully. I look forward to seeing your future work. ● You are not going to believe this. I get the call yesterday stating the painting is in New York at the customs department at JFK. I faxed back the paperwork. Today, the doorbell rings and it is DHL with the painting. Who knows where this painting has been. I thought it had taken a permanent ASCENSION. No, I did not have to pay any tax. I do love the painting. Just some wonderful colors, details and forms that all of your paintings have. I believe I have told you before, your paintings that I have are the type of paintings that you just don’t hang on the wall and they become a backdrop and go away. Your paintings are alive with personality and appear different every time that you look at them. They change with the light, the angle you look at them, even the mood that you are in. I even like the balance and amount of the black. The only portion that I don’t care for is the guy in the white shirt on the right. He seems to draw too much attention. Maybe I will get used to it. When you are in San Francisco next time (which will probably be never), bring your brushes and we can paint his shirt. Thanks for the wonderful addition to my office. ● Guess what? I received a call from the Customs Department at JFK yesterday stating that they had a package for me from France. They needed some additional information from me before they could release the package. They emailed me the attached forms to fill out, which I faxed them back. It is basically giving them the Power of Attorney to clear the package for me in Customs. The person that I talked to on the phone said that they had to go through this process because the value of the package is over $2000 USD. You might keep this in mind in the future, although you want to keep the value high for insurance. They also said that, this is not the reason that it has taken so long and didn’t know why. According to him, they had just received the package. I will let you know when I receive the painting. I have not cashed your check and will void the check. ● Hope you're well. Thought you'd enjoy seeing the painting in the loft. I'm attaching some snap shots. The three little box frames to the right in the close up of the loft sleeping area are also yours - the computer images you were doing before you left OSU.
● I was a student at OSU during the mid-late 70's and missed your influence. However I am now glad to be able to view your prolific and varied production via the web. I too am an architect who paints, draws, and seeks expression and invention beyond the built environment. I also grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and had my eyes opened to the wide world through architecture school. Stay healthy and keep up the good work.
● Sorry it has taken me this long to get back with you. Your painting and sketch arrived in great condition and I am very pleased with them both! I haven't gotten them up in frames yet but am excited none the less. Thanks again. For the future, there are several others I have my eye on and by this December will be making another serious look. ● What fantastic work. Awesome is the only word which comes close. Or possibly awesomely prolific. I am astounded by the quality and breadth and depth. And to then have it exhibited on the most provocative web site I have experienced (or browsed). You make it hard for people with egos (or at least self confidence) to hold their heads up. Damn!! As a person who has never even made it to Stillwater (only Seattle, Alaska, Urbana, Selma, Pullman and Starkville, Mississippi); I continue to wonder what is in the air out there. My abilities and senses have been tweaked and inspired over a lifetime by Oakes from Stillwater. For me it started with Dick Williams and Bob Wright. You are now pushing that Stillwater legend to unbelievable levels. Thank You!!! ● C'est arrivee! Looks great, just like on the internet only better. Would have made a great history sketch for George's class! I'll take it to the framer tomorrow, after I take it home and show it to Sandy. Only thing missing is the intense yellow of the mustard or rapeseed or whatever that crop is that was in bloom in May the two times I've been to Chartres. Thanks, keep up the good work and the good life, ● I do want to pass on my aging admiration for your most recent paintings, my preferences being: Lost in Haze (a classic work, really, really powerful, a museum piece), Matador (the composition within the square and variations of textures is very appealing to me, yet illusive at the same time), and Maison Vaison (the subtle, yet memorable visual portrait that lingers from our having been there, and a need to get back to). All are beautifully executed as always, and deserve a permanent home, where your talents can be appreciated and enjoyed. Keep up your inspiration and the brushes at work. ● Phenomenal work, Bob! I particularly like "Lost In The Haze". Provence certainly seems to inspire you!
● Beautiful, provoking, compelling, a new
dimension.
● Profound seems appropriate as well.
● Great work Bob! and thank you for keeping me on the mailing list! I really like the pool toys and shadows, I think it's my favorite... ● ...too cool, you inspired me in college and you inspire me at 40. I really like the new stuff. I use to play with photography collages, there is an artist out there (several) that do this, but NONE in acrylic, that's the irony in your work. fun fun. ....very spiritual! ● WOW!!! Really wonderful work and the web site works well. We are still on dial-up out here in the boonies where we don't even get cell service, so the time to load is slow, but the effort and time was/is well worth it. The work is going back to the "slips and shifts"? Beautiful, but it surprised me as I thought you were getting loose again like years (60's?) ago. Both techniques are wonderful and you do both well, don't take me wrong. Just a surprise, and a pleasant one at that.
● Nice work!!! I'm wondering if each layer , image or grid has a significant
meaning relative to the image or is it a graphic tool to create an aesthetic?
I just now realized that I never answered this question.
Sorry, I will. Heatly ● The French air must be doing you good, as your recent paintings are just superb to my aging, but still critical (or cranky) eyes. They seem to blend some of my favorite earlier painting concepts you mastered so imaginatively, but now are on current canvasses that reveal the beauty and complexity of your region in the South of France. Voila. The paintings express a visual attachment to where you are, and what is so inspiring about "the place" that J. and I have come to love ourselves. Your paintings are the ultimate way to recall the moments and the place. Damn, I feel like your paintings are so fresh and masterful, they should be in museums not only in France, but everywhere. J. and I visit museums often and see what is considered "art and architecture" anymore, and I wonder who the gods in charge of beauty and substance really are. It's not the curators, but maybe the collectors, who will see the depth in your work, within a very classical compositional history that great painters pursue. Keep it up! ● I have just spent the last 30 minutes going through your site and looking at your painting images. There is a fascination about them that is not evident elsewhere. It has been a pleasure looking and examining and trying to analyze them. It appears that you may be close to "finding the solution" that so many painters are having difficulty with all the time. ● They are absolutely beautiful!!! ● I especially appreciated "Place to Dream". The way you captured the light and played it against the shadows magnifies the brightness of the day, and the coolness of the shade. ● I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future, and hope that your work is gaining the recognition it deserves. ● Very interesting work....the concept is like a contemporary pixilated cubism. The effect for me was like questioning how I see things. Looking forward to seeing where this leads you. May the muses keep at your side! ● I enjoyed viewing your new work, "On a Mission" and "Butterfly Lady" are great! They are bringing together the vivid color contrasts that I admire in the most abstract works with the depth and energy of the street scenes. They bring back memories of the markets from the time I spent in Europe and remind me again that I need to find time to visit again soon. The smells from the markets are some of the most vivid memories I have. ● Your new paintings look good as usual. You have a great eye for composition. Your paintings should do well in juried exhibitions, should you ever want to try that routine. ● Your series on the Assisi stairs was the abstract quality in your painting that I find enduring. It alludes to other things, as in a Vermeer, without saying more. The viewer reacts, engages, and has to ponder some greater seduction. Really nice work Bob On the other hand, the paintings from reality with the twists and turns on your canvas are superb. Your view of Nyons' old town is one I believe I recall. ● It has been many years since I have last had the privilege to speak with you. The Internet is an amazing tool. Instant communication...a constant stream of information...overwhelming to the point of complacency. Then there are days when you hit a site that snaps you out of the "Information Coma". I am glad to have found your site, for it strengthens my thesis, that you sir, are the single most influential design mentor I have ever had, or ever will have. In the five years since I have last seen you, I have embarked on a journey of endless potential and sudden disillusionment. I have no wish to bore you with my thoughts and philosophies concerning the profession of architecture, but to summarize...I still believe in the power of design, composition, expression, and function. I believe in Architecture...not necessarily the profession. I have you to thank for my unwavering foundation of belief. You were the mentor that pushed me to the edge...the edge of my potential. You taught me that serious art took serious thought and work ethic. That by focusing on the basics of composition, simplicity, functionality, expression, and color theory, I was really focusing on everything that mattered...nothing basic at all. By telling me when an idea was shit, you were actually pushing me upward, not putting me down. I had you as a professor in more studios than anyone else. And that's not including grad school, where you were again instrumental in my development. You did all this for me even as you were dealing with your own life. And that is just in terms of Architectural Education. In 1999, I finally realized that you are a mortal man...just like me. I stopped seeing your influence through the eyes of a developing student, and that's when my understanding of your influence started to take shape. By late 1999, you were already in France, and I never got to tell you anything. You are still a major mentor for me, your teaching still courses through my veins, as it does through many of your students. You example still propels me forward. You would probably scoff at being called an example, but you are. Always the mentor, and you probably don't even realize it. I have no idea what the future holds, except I'm moving to the middle of nowhere, for no reason in particular, and I am looking forward to the uncertainty. So as I am about to begin on a new chapter of my life, I would like to say: For your continued presence in this world, your influence which knows no bounds, and your web site that serves as a window to both the past and future for me... Question: I've got to know...how much French do you speak? Wait, don't tell me, I prefer to guess and chuckle. Keep your compositions strong, your wine glass full and your beef burnt! ●I really enjoyed your website. You are probably aware that many of the images are upside down, but they still look good.
● I'm very excited about 'Stairway to Heaven'! I just need to find a special place to hang it. It has a very strong focal point just like 'Rio Tera Secondo'. Something one of my college professors taught me. It also has a lot of interesting forms and shades. Again, like 'Rio Tera Secondo', it is very striking and will look interesting from afar and close up, in dim light and bright light. ● Just checked your website----it is a fabulous!! ● You never cease to amaze me! A very nice site for something your not completely happy with (no black....). ● I don't know if you'll be shipping any art to Michigan any time soon- but there are a couple of Heatly screen savers on computers here! ● Good to see the web site up - a very important step. The Bio is a nice touch. I enjoyed seeing your new work. I really latched on to the Townscapes Series. I felt an interesting time shift applied. ● The drawings are excellent - very impressive (contrast is so nice). ● I heartily recommend transforming some of your studies that include people as a focus into paintings - for instance, the drawings that you had done with people and an architectural backdrop could give way as amazing paintings. Some of the studies are extreme in the use of image shifting/scaling, but such is the need for studies. ● Fantastic work as usual. ● This work is quite wonderful and I have passed it on to the ACSA office to see what they can do. Congratulations. ● Bob: You are giving the word Atelier its real meaning. Your work is WONDERFUL! ● Your web site is terrific and its contents really fabulous. ● I hope you get some sales and the network grows as people forward this to others. PLEASE keep me on the mail list. ● As to your work, I am knock down awed with your 2002 and early France work. The subjects, fabulous colors and compositions are wonderful. Can I afford one? I was both surprised and pleased to see the 2003 work. It harks back to the Stillwater things and those were wonderful. Do they reduce your productivity? Those as I recall were really time intensive. Don't get me wrong, I like them A LOT, just being pragmatic as always about marketing inventory. On the good side is that I think they may be more marketable to a wider audience. Just a friendly crit. ● AWESOME STUFF--- something to admire...and strive toward, for sure I especially like "Prelude" ● The guy sitting next to me really likes your work. The guy below... not so much. ● I like it. Did you notice the multiple signatures on "Color in Provence" and the fact that they allude to multiple possible orientations of the piece on the wall? ● That's really cool work, even on a small screen, you can tell that. I wish I had an art budget right now, but alas, must buy furniture for home first. I'll hang onto this website for sure. ● It is a bit flat, 2 dimensional, some of them have very decent composition despite this. There is not much organic color. I think that is bad personally (simply opinion). They appear, because of this, to seem as if they were squeezed out of a tube. None of his paintings seem free, but rather contrived in some way out of what he thinks people will think is "good" and "strange" (you can replace strange with interesting). He doesn't blend colors, just puts the pure colors down, his lines are too straight with rectilinear blocks of colors; he once must have been an architect. ● If you ever show in NYC, let me know, I would love to check out your work up close. ● I think your website is beautiful. I especially like the new "urban" series. As I looked through the work I kept thinking, "My God, this guy is working his ass off --so much for retirement!" ● I just received 'Stairway to Heaven'. As expected, it is fabulous. They attempted to deliver it last Friday, but there was nobody here to receive the package. I couldn't wait until Monday for the delivery so I went to AirBorne's warehouse on Saturday to pick it up, but they could not find the package. The driver did not code it in when he attempted the delivery. I waited a couple of hours while they were trying to find it. They then told me that I would have to wait until Monday (today) for them to attempt the delivery again. Great work Bob! ● I'm embarrassed to not get back to you with some thoughts about your web pages. They are formidable. Very easy to negotiate. Pleasing to the eye for us visual creatures. Can't add much more to what you've done so well already. OK now, before I have too much wine before Jacquie rolls me into bed, here are MY selections for your best paintings of all those on your web pages. Take into consideration that my eyes are getting old and your work is getting to be even more refreshing than it always was. From your web galleries, my compliments to numbers 4, 10, 14, 21, 29, 31, 35, 43, 47, 48, 51, 56, 62, 63, 71, 72 and 75. For whatever reasons, I responded to these the most amid the wonderful paintings you do Bob They look terrific and should sell. ● We had some great critics by the pool at the vineyard you were staying at. ● I absolutely love your paintings and drawings. and I have been painting since coming back from Europe... Thanks for the inspiration! ● These are my favorites..... and without a doubt I love every one of your black and white drawings! ● You claim to be an amateur but the website is very good. I find it easy to navigate and very well put together. The best aspect of it is that the content is everything. I do quite a bit of internet research, consultant companies, product information, etc. and there are a lot of bad sites out there, yours in not one of them. The work you are doing is worthy of the international audience it will now have. Direct sales from the artist to the patron is not only the future but I feel the only viable way to sell. Efforts have always been made to eliminate the middle man between the artist and consumer and the internet gives us our best chance yet. ● wow wow wow, I forget how special that school really was (is?). ● Your website is great, I like your view on art, ever changing, ever evolving, seems like you have rediscovered a lost passion. The digital age (I like the satellite dish on your house) has opened a whole new form of art (fun to play with), ALSO opening avenues for the traditional artist to show their work. ● NOW BACK TO YOU, hence why I like what I see, your website paints a picture of a place I would like to be, my favorite place in all of Europe. ● Painting with your shirt off, hell maybe everything off! ..he he he, in a little French villa near the "sea" (and/or hills), finding that medium that sets you off from all the other artists, something with passion. I like your nudes thrown in among all the other stuff, all those things that are beautiful in this world. I'm very impressed, I can only hope I still have that passion at your age (don't mean to make you feel old) ● It looks wonderful! Simple yet very elegant This site is so wonderful, I can just spend hours enjoying your work. Keep alive your vision. Thanks so much, Bob. And my words can only can only haltingly express what your paintings so graphically represent. I am really excited about the painting. It will be my first art purchase since buying the new condo. Thank you again for your website. ● I just had to tell you that your new stuff is awesome!!! Number 68 and 69 are fucking awesome...no pun with #69 being fucking awesome!!! I enjoyed browsing through your site. ● I love your site ● you are doing exceptional work! ● I think that the student ARCART gallery will be a great addition to your website to not only show off a different array of work that you have influenced, but bring more people to the site as a marketing tool. I find that your townscapes are my favorite as well as a couple of the abstracts (skim the myriad potentials of blue, and balls on the first catalog). Your abstracts have a great vibrant / colorful feel to them. Your townscapes do mimic the style that you had in Stillwater a couple years ago. I think that the site is easy to travel through, the only thing I might recommend would be to put the price on the enlarged version of the painting next to the name when you open it so you do not have to write down multiple numbers then go to the catalog price sheet and find it. Not a big deal, it is just a personal preference, there were so many that I was interested in, that I was having to write down all of the numbers from each catalog, then search for the price. I would like to buy some of your work, ● I think you have done wonderful things with your paintings, I have always been thoroughly impressed with your work Your online gallery looks marvelous. I looked and I really like the work, especially the more monochromatic ones. ● Your new work is great and quite inspirational ● I don't know why, but I did not expect to see such color in your work. I think the light in France is agreeing with you. ● Just looked at the web site. WOW..... double WOW. Makes me want to watch you work. I'm really intrigued by the townscapes and your evolution of the "fractured" nature of the viewers focus. The texture is finer than the early explorations of this that I remember from your computer investigations. Really wonderful. How big are these typically? Also loved the pencil drawings. Again, wondered how big they are. I'm sure it says there on the site and I was just enjoying the rapid move from piece to piece and not paying attention to all the details. ● Lovely stuff. My favorites are the more architectural black and white and brown ones...apparently, since most of them have sold, I'm not alone in that. ● Your website is AWESOME! ● All of the paintings are wonderful. My favorites seem to be the Townscapes. They really challenge the eye in an appealing way and add a certain mystery to the scene. ● I'd love to see how Study 11 develops. The flower would I think add a lot of "heart" as you say, almost automatically, along with the "mind." The other Townscape studies with a deep background are very appealing. I really like the bright abstract paintings in the gallery too. ● I have truly enjoyed looking at your work. ● I can see the progression that you've made through the years. ● I also really enjoy the "Four hundred and nine days of sunshine". There is something about it that I find soothing. Take what the gentlemen said about your use of color and straight lines with a grain of salt. You can't help expressing who you are and your past experiences definitely play a large part in how you view, analyze, and communicate your thoughts. I for one like what you've done and can see the progression. ● From what I see, I am impressed with several pieces. I'm enjoying the Townscapes. ● In short its an array of interesting works in your gallery and ARCART is an idea that shall be supported by all of us as it is a traveling voice from the past that resonate through time carrying all ideas and creativity that may fruits and hatches at any moment in any given time through out the time line of a vast journey to the future which is marking our existence. It is incarcerating to think architecture just creating space define by objects. I support your idea of traveling in realm of ARCART (as yourself traveling through one of its province, PAINTING). GOD CREATES WITH CREATIVITY WITH SPACES FOR US TO EXPERIENCE GLORIES AND VILIFICATIONS. Travel to the provinces of creativity to create and experience the spaces. I had my eyes on some of your works, which I would let you know later. As which one that I would acquire. ● I have quickly breezed thru the website and intend to look at it more closely before I give you feedback. At first glance, the work looks wonderful. The challenge was going back and forth between the images and the catalog text describing size, media, etc. I get why you did it that way. It would be more user friendly all together. It's the difference between using keynote numbers on a sheet of drawings and just writing the note with an arrow. ● Your web site looks great, easy to navigate and the image quality looks good on my monitor. It's like going to amazon.com for me, everything I see I want to buy! I'd really like to have a "nine-square" of some of the acrylic on paper pieces….someday. ● We really like the two paintings we bought in 2001, we move them around and rotate them and it's like having new paintings. ● It's awesome. I think you've improved since OSU :) Your city scapes are really nice. Loved the contrast. Guess my favorite like many others I read is the Stairway to Heaven. I also really liked the Sun series. The colors and composition I thought were awesome. I'd love to see one of those in real life as opposed to on the monitor. I've been showing your work to the folks at my firm. ● But I must say some of your work just really made me smile... I really enjoyed it. ● As always its been a pleasure to see and hear how your passion for art has evolved, and I do mean evolved. I can remember those first few pieces and how you completely converted your office into your painting studio back in the mid 80's (shit I'm old!). ● I have shown your work and website to a handful of people here and they have been impressed. I am just waiting for them to show me how impressed with actually purchasing your work. I will let you know if I have any real buyers soon. ● I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the website - it is VERY easy to maneuver and one can quickly jump to another point of interest. Of course the Townscape series appeals to me - reminiscent of "Last Light" that hangs in our dining room. ● I very much enjoyed the Fall in Provence and Terra series. I wish I had more formal education in art to discuss your work more intelligently with you. I do know what I like - I think the organic forms and colors of Terra appeal to me more so than the other series, while the rich colors and more geometric shapes of Fall in Provence seem to have that inevitable energy of change you use to describe the work. ● I had to send a thank you message for making my day. Wonderful work. I am a designer held prisoner in the profession of architecture and spend my nights painting and am very inspired by your paintings and story in general, it reminds me of a quote from my favorite poet: "It would be a tragedy to spend your whole life desperately wanting to be something that you already were all along." - D.C. Berman. ● I've been checking your latest out on the website for a while now. Really incredible stuff, man. ● Now to the most important part: your work. It is stunning! The Townscapes are magnifique, continuing a great tradition of yours. (They are also quite popular, it seems!) The use of bold color in many of the recent works is powerful. I vaguely recall that everything seems more vibrant under the Provencal sun. ●I have always been very impressed by your artwork, and I am very interested in purchasing at least one of your paintings. ● I don't know you...but hell of a great web site. Primo job. ● WOW!!!! Your web site is a work of art in itself. Your work is exceptional. ● I hope that you don't mind that I have been using your paintings from your website as backgrounds on my computer (at home as well as at work). They are beautiful...you inspired me to paint again...really like the hill town paintings--the shifts in the image, to me, start to imply a change in vantage point and position--really cool! I like the transparency and intersections exhibited in your more abstract ones too...it challenges how your mind associates the objects and their position... it makes viewing an active process...you are truly inspiring... ● Your paintings are fabulous! I keep looking at them and looking at them. Continue the good work and I hope you sell all of them. Your web site is very well done, I'm sure you had a hand in it. ● I appreciate you including me in the contents of your web site. I think that your site will draw an increasing amount of attention as the word gets around. It is a powerful visual statement, not to mention informative. More than any I've seen, it makes the viewer feel that they are really seeing the artist. That may be partly because you have been so comprehensive. I have always admired your graphic skills. That is why your students were consistent winners in competitions. You taught (or should I say coached) them that simplicity can be a most powerful visual statement (or maybe I should say simplified complexity). Your knack for attracting and keeping the eye of competition jurors will likely serve you well in attracting and keeping the eye of potential patrons. It looks and sounds simple but to most of us it is hard to do. This new look at your work has inspired me to look closer at my own work. I tend to try to communicate too much and by doing so, weaken the visual impact of my paintings. ● Your paintings look like esoteric maps... I mean, sometimes You come to a kitchen and look for a spoon ( for example) on a table.., but can not find anything.. Then You come back and see that this spoon always was there. Many ways, many realities. ● Fabulous work . Love those streetscapes!! I have already linked to your site as you’re work is spectacular. ● Bob, I love what you said about your postcard paintings - coming from the heart, not from the head. I also love the self-exploratory journey you've taken. It seems that I'm constantly changing my style, exploring other mediums. Maybe it's my personality to always be on that journey of exploration. Nice to meet a fellow traveler. ● I am delighted with your work, and hope to use examples of it, if I may, to help explain abstraction to my students.
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