one of the first newskool believers in oldskool black velvet - so very honored that Trinidad James has a Gil Corral black velvet. the project was from more than a couple years ago, but he recently shared his support in the decor maine article from last year.
gracias, hombre.
So very honored and amped to be supporting this amazing piece of work by our dear friend and amazing artist, Caroline Losneck. I’ll just share her words here, and if you can, check out the kickstarter crowdfunding campaign - I’m contributing work and again, in such venerable company indeed.
I'm excited to announce that today we have launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to help push our film, Living Sound, closer to completion. As you know, Living Sound is a documentary film about trailblazing record producer and executive Ethel Gabriel, an unsung legend in the music recording industry. Gabriel produced more than 5,000 recordings over a phenomenal 40-year career for RCA Records, overseeing a roster of artists as varied as Elvis Presley, Tommy Dorsey, Dolly Parton, Perry Como, Chet Atkins, Roger Whittaker, and Glenn Miller. Despite her prolific career as a record producer and executive–and being awarded 15 Gold Records and a Grammy–she has remained largely unknown within the industry she helped build.
I'm happy to be co-directing the film with Christoph Gelfand and Producer April Tucker. And the film is being made in association with SoundGirls.
I would be so grateful for your support in helping us tell Ethel Gabriel’s story!
You can help today by contributing to our film fundraiser and/or sharing our campaign right here! It's easy & any amount helps fund our independent film: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ethelgabrieldoc/livingsound
Thank you from me and the entire film team,
Caroline and Christoph Co-Directors
April Tucker, Producer, Researcher
Karrie Keyes, SoundGirls
**We are also honored that our film is part of the Women Make Movies Production Assistance + fiscal sponsorship Program.
and this goodness from neoprisme, a french artwork and music magazine.
lots of great images and videos - it’s written in french. so. give it a go with what you know and maybe google translate can help with the rest.
oxoxoxoxo
it’s HERE! in all its amazingness.
john, it’s really beautiful. and such an honor to see your vision realized, and to work with you to help realize this vision. check the blog post just prior to this one for more details.
and the trading cards even come with a puzzle to assemble on the back and BUBBLE GUM ! no nostalgia was overlooked ♥️
gil corral - painting john grant on black velvet, summer 2020. photo by lauryn sophia
last spring. spring of 2020, we had a really wonderful series of phone calls and texts with artist/musician john grant. we talked about black velvet paintings of course, and also growing up the midwest (coco’s formative years were in iowa and indiana), growing up an outsider, growing up going to state fairs and other common experiences we shared. within all of that he shared his vision for the album he was working on and the album cover art that he just knew gil would be the one who could do it with the quality he desired. the result of all of this is not only four pieces of super beautiful, rich, FULL of feeling velvets on one super incredible musical oeuvre d’art, but a warm friendship to boot.
the album releases june 25! can’t wait to get our hands of a physical copy. check out some of what john and his record label did with the images and packaging and all of it, i won’t even try to describe - truly a picture/black velvet painting is worth a thousand words….!
oh and last august, when the lauryn sophia of decor maine magazine was here at the hogfarm taking photos for the upcoming article, gil was working on the finishing touches of john - you can see it in the article - and i’ll add more behind the scene peeks here:
at gil’s easel - in biddeford maine, right before sending them to reykjavik iceland
gil corral - painting john grant on black velvet, summer 2020. photo by lauryn sophia
just finished and delivered these two portraits for a client - such an honor to work with he and his wife. he chose two amazing vintage frames from our collection that i’ve been holding on to for a few years now. as he was describing his hopes for this project i knew the frames would be perfect for the job, and could not be more happy that they went to such an appreciative home.
Rumi and Lorca, beloved furry family members, immortalized on black velvet. and to share some of the patron’s words;
…we are absolutely stunned and overjoyed at the creative, sensitive, beautiful, and accurate renditions of our furry companions.
the time, the care, the focus, the psychological depth! the emotional nuance! i mean, (we) could not be more ecstatic at how beautifully you realized this somewhat eccentric vision. you are a profoundly gifted artist.
WE FRICKIN LOVE IT SO MUCH. thank you so much for bringing this into our lives - julio
apparently Lorca was a little alarmed. Rumi could not be bothered.
new painting. two birds
2021-21
oil on panel
14in x 18in
gil corral
2020-2021
one of my all time favorite pieces by Gil Corral - which is saying a lot .
El Paso : The Pass . The Pass from Here to There. it is very very large and extremely glossy - with incredible details revealing themselves during time spent with it. it has proven almost impossible to photograph - that is until Michael Wilson came for a studio visit and towards the end of our session he asked if there was any work we struggled to document. 🏽why, yes, and how!
.we were introduced via the beautiful folks at Black Owned Maine - thank you, Rose and crew - it was such a fruitful and lovely session - could not be more THRILLED with this and all of the photos from his visit.
please read on this piece and the other work from this show in the artists statement here.
