''Starting tomorrow, for seven days, I'll make a new small painting each day to raise money for NYC Health and Hospitals,'' announced Selfie's SoMe post. ''Receive a painting with the highest bid! How much money can we raise?! Please share and repost this awkward video of me talking directly into the camera! Let's do this.''
The Ballpointer 's special online retrospective of Lennie Mace's ballpoint pen art will continue in December as Decade 2 : 1994-2004.
A comprehensive book documenting Mace's artwork & art life is slated for publication in 2017. The Ballpointer will report its release.
All artwork in this article © Lennie Mace/THE LAB
lenniemace.com presents a tickertape scroll of Lennie Mace artwork.
lenniemacemarket.com presents goods for sale.
weekends between Nov 7—29, 2020 NOW UP
Square Prints group exhibition
HKArts Hong Kong
Prints of ballpoint work by Peter Ross (pictured: Corner) in a charity group exhibition supporting ImpactHK, an organization providing the homeless of Hong Kong with 'friendship, food, shelter, education and employment opportunities'. More info.
BALLPOINTBRIEF by E. Lee posted February 11, 2020
Eeny Meeny Minnie Mace・X・
''Yeah, I went and did it,'' admits A-list ballpointer Lennie Mace about his 2020Year of The Mouse new year card design. ''Something I've always made a point to avoid : referencing pop culture within my artwork. Hate to admit it, I did Disney.'' Mace's aversion lies in what he sees as providing 'free publicity' for corporations who have plenty of money to throw around for the service. The artist's Minnie Mace card art, however—tenth design thus far for a series of what will be a first set of twelve cards—shows apparently his self-imposed rule isn't etched in stone ...
All but the keenest viewers may have missed the many ballpoint pen cameos on screens big and small over the years. Ballpoints are regulars in Hollywood productions, and not just as set dressing...
Six Degrees of Ballpoint Pen
What's with Leonardo DiCaprio and ballpoint pens? Links between the two have accumulated over the years. Let's review some compelling connections, old and new...
NEW Exhibit B: Ballpoint pens share quality screen time with DiCaprio in Sam Mendes' 2009 film Revolutionary Road. Near the end of the film, explaining to his wife (Titanic costar Kate Winslet) about a newfangled computer his company is producing, DiCaprio sketches its basic design onto a napkin in ballpoint to show her. (DiCaprio or stunt hands?) And...
May 21~ 2020 NOW ONLINE
Biophilia group exhibition
Sugarlift VIRTUAL/online X
New ballpoint linework by Kai & Sunny (Skyward Force, 2020, detail pictured) in a group exhibition of 20 'leading urban contemporary artists'. More info.
Submissions to The Ballpointer are welcome and encouraged but, by doing so, you are authorizing the use and publication of of any texts and/or data provided. Having said that, let us know you're out there.
Any art school grad with hopes for a career knows publicity is key. It's art school curriculum: Making Oneself Marketable. The art world is too crowded to make a life of it otherwise. Linking oneself to a charity, a move straight out of The Publicists' Playbook, projects integrity. Unfortunately, that move is also so worn that its use as a publicist's modus operandi has become transparent to anyone actually paying attention. This is not to throw shade at the institution of charity, itself; only at those who might exploit it for product placement. Mister Selfie's 'please share and repost' is telling. Translation: help boost my SoMe numbers! And 'awkward video of me'? Self-effacive scripting by a master manipulator gunning to go viral.
Art-illiterate FF&FFs don't know any better; a perfect crowd in which to install oneself as Savior, where merely appearing charitable will suffice. Trendy types pushing lifestyles, or merely appearing to — movie stars, rock stars, politicians, especially would-be art stars — come across as egocentric to the Waltons crowd, so charitable pursuits score points and turn the dubious into darlings. The teflon protection of charity. Damned be any detractors; as the accused would never admit to their altruism being anything less, accusers come out looking like Meanies. Benefactors often deflect suspicion by asserting they're 'not taking one penny of it ', but here's an equation one need be neither Einstein nor Picasso to grasp: art + charity x publicity = priceless.
So here we are, full-blown pandemic. Families around the world are losing loved ones, jobs or both. Everyone is suffering. But wait, here comes DaVinci the Deliverer to the rescue! And all we have to do is ... buy one of his paintings? It's already self-important of anyone to consider oneself Thy Deliverer. Making one's product a factor, promoting it with a SoMe announcement prompting people to 'repost', and packaging it as an outstretched hand to charity shouts 'spurious!'. Minus any one of these factors, potential Meanies might not feel inclined to say anything, but, faced with such an overt act of orchestrated opportunism, how could a Meanie hold his peace and not post a SoMe comment in response?
Convenient thing about social media: one can simply ignore, delete or block detractors. Publicists will have you ignore, delete and block; not getting caught up in a public debate which may endanger one's own saintly position is also in The Playbook. Better yet, let oblivious FF&FFs defend you. In the case of one Meanie's critical SoMe comments — unwelcome, no doubt, but a valid opinion expressed in a polite manner (as polite a manner possible ; truth is not always pretty) — out of left field come two FF&FFs hurling insults like guard dogs barking in Master 's defense: 'raising thousands of dollars' bark bark 'talking shit' bark bark 'desperate' bark bark bark 'bitter' bark bark. As the FF&FF tag team sees it, Meanie was also 'using someone with more success (doubt it!) and a larger platform' for attention. The teflon protection of charity, indeed. Meanwhile, not a peep from Selfie.
Exhibit E: DeNiro, meanwhile, was again in close proximity to ballpoints in 2013: in Luc Besson's The Family, parodying his famous mobster portrayals in films by... Scorcese ! As reported here, the son of DeNiro's character is shown using a 4-color Bic at school, as are all other students in his class. The film, by the way, was executive-produced by none other than... say it with me: Scorrrceeeseee ! To be continued...?・
Bowler hat. Spotless sneakers. Vanity ballpoint pens. Ad nauseam social media (SoMe) sketchbook 'selfies' and name-dropping of passé celebs who's kids Mr. Selfie himself has drawn in ballpoint. That's all part of an I-Me-My equation indicative of a person making calculated moves. The branding of oneself. So why should anyone be surprised that credibility might be questioned when Selfie suddenly deems it so important to help a purportedly cash-strapped health care organization not by simply making a donation and calling on others to do the same but instead making the purchase of a Mr. Selfie painting part of the equation (minimum bid $200), targeting family, friends and facebook followers (FF&FFs) who themselves may be cash-strapped?
In defense of a Ballpointer colleague, a few thoughts about art, publicity, and questions of motive when charity joins the two...
Oct 17—Nov 29, 2020 NOW UP
Sergo Ballpoint Pen Drawings solo exhibition
Aimé Césaire Cultural & Social Space Paris, France
New ballpoint work from a new face on the ballpoint scene: Serge Noël 'Stylographiste'. More info.
Listings published courtesy of The Ballpointer, space permitting.
Something you'd like to see? Something you'd like us to see?...
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Google archives all of their Google Doodles. See their animated entry dedicated to László Bíró as originally 'aired' on September 29.
The Ballpointer memorializes László Bíró by permanent inclusion in our artist registry on the BULLPEN page, with a drawing by Bíró, himself, proving him to be the first to test the creative application of his invention.
Photo of Bíró and Google Doodle graphics © respective artists.
Exhibit C: Ballpoints made a dramatic cameo in Martin Scorcese's 1995 film Casino. As reported here, a gangster played by Joe Pesce repeatedly jabs one into the neck of a bar patron who insulted Robert DeNiro's character, who quietly watches. As you may know, DiCaprio in recent years has replaced DeNiro as Scorcese's go-to leading man, filling roles which would've once gone to the veteran. For example...
Exhibit A: In Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, DiCaprio plays a career con man. As reported here, ballpoint pens were among the tools of his trade, used to alter the fine printing on bank checks. The Leo/ballpoint link was an isolated incident at that time, so no suspicions arose. But...
It's presumptuous (naive at best) to think that one's 'thousands of dollars' raised is anything more than a drop in the bucket, or of consequential help, to a system in need of billions. I'd be happy to donate 'thousands' if I thought it would make a difference in cases like this, without having to buy (or sell) a thing. Hopefully those 'thousands' get to the intended, but Selfie's charity du jour has the government and other agencies to turn to. ('Health and Hospitals', by the way, is itself a corporation.) Health care workers having a bad month on the job? How about the rest of the world, fending for themselves with no one to turn to for help? Pandemic-level charity is best left to Bill Gates or the Elon Musks of the world. Prompt McDonald's to donate a penny from the sale of every burger to the cause. Then you'd be closer to something actually beneficial in getting what's needed to those who need it, and Selfies can leave their Selfie paintings out of it・
Postcards, prints & Lennie Mace ''SMALLS'' available for viewing & purchase at lenniemacemarket.com.
¥10K Hō-Ō Phoenix new year card art (above) © Lennie Mace.
Below: actual Japanese ¥10,000 note showing original engraving.
July—December, 2020 NOW ONLINE
The Mediterranean group exhibition
The Curators London, UK (X)
Two ballpoint pen mini masterpieces (one pictured, cropped) by the Italian artist Alberto Repetti are available for view and purchase in this Mediterranean Sea-themed exhibition. Repetti's are the only ballpoint works of 10 artists selected from 400, and are recommended buying for those in the market for their very own Mediterranean 'view'. GO NOW.
NEW Exhibit D: In Scorcese's 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio uses ballpoint pens to gauge sales skills in two scenes which bookend his character's nefarious story arc. Early in the film, he hands a ballpoint to an old pal: ''Sell me this pen.'' The friend grabs the pen: ''Do me a favor, write your name down on that napkin,'' he snaps back. ''I don't have a pen," replies DiCaprio. ''I rest my case,'' the friend cockily retorts. Hosting a sales seminar in the film's closing scene, DiCaprio asks several front row attendees the same: ''Sell me this pen.'' None fare as well as the old pal.
Since 2014
BALLPOINTBRIEF by B. Neufeld posted February 11, 2020
'Busy ' Signal・X・
Disappointing news from Japan: master ballpointer Lennie Mace has cancelled the Ballpoint Summit group exhibition he was curating in Tokyo, which was set to take place during the city's upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics. Mace is still notifying participating artists, so if you fall into that category but have yet to hear it from him, spoiler alert : Read on and/or expect a message from Mace any minute now ...
INKBLOTTER last revised November 14, 2020
Ballpoint pen artwork & more, now on display or coming soon.
Support the Starving ARTS, Ballpoint and Otherwise.
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BALLPOINTBRIEF by B. Neufeld posted April 19, 2020
Pen ance?・X・
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