'How This Unique Art Challenge Began'
One cold night in January 35 artists from around the South Bay gathered at the historic La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes, California to take part in a unique challenge, to create a work of art based on a randomly selected title. The challenge was the brainchild of Bondo Wyszpolski - arts writer for Easy Reader and Peninsula Magazine. We now are having 45 artists on board.
Photo by Tony LaBruno
Courtyard entry at La Venta Inn
Bondo framed.
Photo by Bernard Fallon
Bondo Wyszpolski -
“I wanted to see various local artists try their hand at something different, something they might not ordinarily do, and the title each artist received would, I hoped, push them along in that direction. A piece might be "successful" if somebody seeing it said: "Oh! I didn't know you did work like this" - referring to subject matter or style. I’m reminded of a quote by Karl Ove Knausgaard: "Art lives by transgressing boundaries, by going beyond what everyone has agreed to see and think." Would our selection of artists rise to the challenge and astonish us?”
​
Dan Dempster takes his turn at the wheel.
Photo by Tony LaBruno
Each artist stepped up to spin the Wheel of Fortune and receive their title. They then spent the next three months laboring to create a work of art that reflected the theme of the title they received. The results of this unique challenge can be seen here on our gallery page.
Bernard Fallon, artist and MC for the evening -
"Hit ‘pause’ on what you are known for. Many of us experiment in the studio and express things that we don’t reveal to others. Of course gallery owners don’t want you to change your style because they are pushing your brand. This is an opportunity to show your work from the back office filing cabinet."
AYTWIT at PVAC 2021
AYTWIT at PVAC 2021
AYTWIT exhibition at the Malaga Cove Library 2022
AYTWIT @ Palos Verdes HomeTour 2022
AYTWT Artist Stephen Mirich and Bernard Fallon of @ MUCK art show 2023
AYTWIT exhibition at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center 2023
AYTWIT exhibition at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center 2023
Bradley Webster, Debbie Giese, Bondo of AYTWT @ MUCK art show 2023
AYTWT artists Tom Redfield, Debbie Giese and Publisher of Peninsula Magazine Stephanie Cartozian
@ MUCK art show 2023
Artist Bridget Duffy and CEO Farrell Hirsch of Muckenthaler Cultural Center @ MUCK art show 2023
AYTWT artists @ MUCK art show 2023
More information on Previous Muckenthaler Exhibition
​
“Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?”
A Galvanizing Art Challenge based on titles inside Fortune Cookies.
​
This show was conceived in 2019 when arts writer Bondo Wyszpolski surveyed a group of paintings on display and noted that most of them had fairly standard subject matter rendered in fairly standard style--pets, piers, tidepools and sunsets. He commented that if one pulled on the tails of these and other artists by urging them to try something out of their comfort zone, then perhaps something exciting or unusual would emerge. But how could this happen? By giving them unusual titles which would become the basis of their paintings.
In January of 2020, 35 visual artists gathered at La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes Estates, courtesy of Karen Wharton, to spin a wheel of fortune, upon which were attached a constantly replenished supply of fortune cookies. The usual fortune (romance, travel, an unexpected inheritance) had been removed from each cookie and replaced with a random title (created by Bondo). Spinning the wheel to find out which fortune cookie was theirs was like combining Chance and Fate. The title in each cookie was to be the title of their work.
There were two requests: that the artist not veer into the abstract and that the completed masterpiece vary from what the artist was known for. Throw the public a curve, in other words. Most of the artists willingly complied.
The idea was to attract a wide range of artists, without regard to their level of accomplishment, who were game for trying something new. That was the primary consideration. If Thomas Kinkade had wanted to paint like Vermeer, and Vermeer had wanted to paint like Thomas Kinkade, both might have been invited. Who knows?
After the original dates of the exhibition were postponed, Palos Verdes resident Brad Webster suggested to Bondo that they extend the “challenge” a step further with songs based on the artworks. Bondo wrote lyrics, Brad composed music. Today, most of the pictures have been “set” to music, and this is one more aspect that distinguishes “Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?” from the typical art show. And you’re here to enjoy both the art and the music. What could be better?
This exhibition is evolving from its original showing at the Palos Verdes Art Center in 2021 and the Malaga Cove Library Gallery in 2022.
​
Bernard Fallon | Bondo Wyszpolski, Curators
Debbie Giese, Coordinator
Karen Wharton | Joy Gonzalez, Communications
Fei Alexander | Robin Cowels, Website
Brad Webster, Music and Song Composer | Lyrics by Bondo Wyszpolski
A Special Thank You to Bridget Duffy (A Muckenthaler Descendant)
​
And a Special Tribute to all the Artists who created the Artworks for “Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?”​​
Art Exhibit at The Muckenthaler Cultural Center
