Georgia artist Thomas Arvid has amassed quite a following for his stunningly realistic paintings of cork and bottle.
By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Food Critic
Published November 2, 2005
[Paintings: Thomas Arvid]
WEEKEND OF WINE
Safety Harbor Wine Festival: Wine, food and entertainment on six blocks of Main Street, 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday. Wine samples purchased by tickets to benefit charity. (727) 724-1572.
Reception for artist Thomas Arvid, 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Syd Entel Galleries, 247 Main St., Safety Harbor. Free. (727) 725-1808.
Painter Thomas Arvid will be at a wine and canape fundraiser for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse, 4322 W Boy Scout Blvd., Tampa. Tickets are $25 and available from Syd Entel Galleries, (727) 725-1808.
In the last decade, some wine fans have added a new name to their cellars and dining rooms: Georgia artist Thomas Arvid.
Arvid paints detailed scenes of wine bottles with grand labels such as Caymus, Cristal, Latour and Lafite, yet the settings are invitingly casual with scattered corks and unfinished drinks, executed with the gleam of photographs. Larger-than-life glasses seem ready to spill on the viewer.
Arvid has spawned a cult as rabid as those for Screaming Eagle or Thomas Kinkade, but Arvid collectibles are more scarce. Each of his 50 paintings is reproduced on canvas in limited editions of 325 giclee prints that sell unframed for $600 to $3,000 for the largest, more than a yard tall; 35 of the series are now sold out.
Syd Entel, one of a dozen U.S. galleries that represent Arvid, will host the artist this weekend during the Safety Harbor Wine Festival. He discussed his art in a telephone interview from his studio in Kennesaw, Ga.
Is all red wine the same color?
Absolutely not. It takes a lot of time until you see how pinot noir has more orange in it and big red zinfandels have this purple-black.
Red is a very difficult color to paint, especially something as rich as wine. In photography, red absorbs light. It's better to paint from life.
Do you leave a bottle of Silver Oak open for several days while you paint it?
That wouldn't be fair to the wine (laughs). After 14 years I'm pretty familiar with the wine. I can look at it and my mind remembers how to build the colors, subtle browns, oranges, blues. It's kind of like wine tasting. There's a huge span of flavors.
Why so little white wine? Don't you like it?
I love white wine. With the weather we have in Georgia we go through a lot of nice cool white wine. I have a done a few Champagnes. With white wine, the liquid is yellow, the bottle is clear and then you have the wood.
With red wine (you have) a green bottle and the wood, there are these huge color shifts. You have glass, the liquid, the foil and then the oak table top and a big cork. To make that contrast you have to have the woods.
Ever painted cheap wines?
Absolutely. Somebody paid me $14,000 to paint a $9 bottle of wine because it's a favorite (Evolution No. 9, a white blend by Sokol Blosser in Oregon).
Why would someone pay so much for a painting of wine instead of buying more wine?
We always say the only way to make a bottle of wine last in someone's house is to immortalize it in a painting. There are stories to tell in seeing a bottle of wine that's open with corks on the table. Wine doesn't have to be shown on an altar. I like showing it being consumed.
It's turning cooler. What reds are you drinking?
Due to the whole Sideways thing, I'm pushing pinot noir on my friends.
I also like Flora Springs' Toad Hall wines like Bodacious; it's half cabernet and half petit verdot. And Anderson's Conn Valley Right Edge, which is cabernet franc and merlot.
Do you paint anything other than wine?
When I first started, I painted everything. You have to have a focus if you're going to collect collectors. I started working on American red icons: Converse high-tops, Radio Flyers, crushed Coke cans. People enjoyed then and I was touching them in a positive way.
When I started to paint red wine, I sold it right off the easel.
