June's Artist X: Mark Castator

The identity of June's Artist X revealed: Mark Castator

I met Mark a few years ago and have enjoyed getting to know him and learning his story. What is immediately evident when you meet him is that the man is an artist. He looks like an artist and, more than that, he lives like an artist. He reveals that he got his start after taking a sculpture course in college, a requirement that he was not initially excited about but found so intuitive and exciting that he immediately switched his major and never looked back. Mark has earned his living doing decorative and architectural steel pieces, but for years he has made the commitment to follow his passion and create art that is meaningful to him.

Mark's pieces can be found at Walker Fine Art in Denver and Winterowd Gallery in Santa Fe.

An Artful Gathering Space

A few years ago I was working with a client who develops residential apartment complexes. The target demographic for a particular complex of theirs in the ballpark district of downtown Denver was the young professional set, and so their design reflected that niche's preference for clean, modern style and abundant amenities for group gathering. We ended up selecting three of Artist X's "tower" sculptures to place in the outdoor lounge area. They are clean and architectural but also somewhat gritty and industrial, much like the area of the development. As he describes them: "Each open piece of pipe and tubing is a window looking out into the world...the sculpture becomes a constantly changing perspective in light, line, and shadow".

Tools of the Trade

Sometimes an artist's supplies are traditional: watercolor paints, sketchpads, charcoal pencils, sable brushes, etc. Often these are supplemented by more inventive tools. Where the general population might see a spatula as a baking utensil, an artist sees something that will scrape and manipulate paint. You and I stir fry up bok choy and shrimp in a wok; June's Artist X uses one to create the rounded forms for his "Moons of Jupiter" sculpted forms.

Here is a first look at his artwork. This:

Helps make these:

Friday Freestyle: Plugging Polo

Is your knowledge of the sport of polo limited to the divot stomping scene in "Pretty Woman" and the Ralph Lauren ads with a hunky Argentinian named Nacho?

Well, aside from briefly dating a polo player in college, mine was too...until I attended my first Denver Polo Classic last year. What an event!

This year's Classic kicks off tonight with a black tie gala, and the Sapiro Art Consultants team is pleased that we will be in attendance as corporate sponsors. We have contributed to soliciting some great artistic donations for both the live and silent auction and look forward to seeing how much money the items raise for the Denver Active 20-30 foundation, funds that are ultimately distributed to over some of the 50+ children's charities they support in our community.

In my opinion the best auction items are unique and offer an experience in lieu of just an off-the-shelf item. Barbara Baer, a talented local sculptor with whom I have done numerous projects, is offering something that fits in this category. The successful bidder of her lot tonight will win the opportunity to collaborate with Barbara and our team in the creation of a custom piece for home, office, or garden. It will be a hands-on process, and the patron is encouraged to bring images of other art pieces, architecture, poems, quotations, etc. to inform the concept. It's going to be great fun.

Below are some pictures of some of Barbara's larger public pieces:

Dabbling in Gel Transfer

June's Artist X has been drawn to sculpture as a primary medium since his student days at the University of Houston when he studied under Bob Boland. It is the medium for which he is known and the medium with which he makes his primary income. But, like most artists, this guy likes to dabble. Creative inspiration can come in many forms, and recently he has been experimenting with some other art forms.

Here are some gel transfer pieces in his home. The first is the image of a classic car on a dilapidated wooden pallet. The second is the same image, albeit brighter, on a flat panel. 

Here is where you can find out more about this technique and how it works: http://youtu.be/833_lPJ050Q.