The Jazz Bakery Virtual Gallery presents visual artists whose work has been inspired by jazz, portrays jazz musicians, or is painted by visual artists who are also fortunate enough to be jazz musicians. All featured art work is available for purchase and through that support, patrons will contribute at least 20% of the purchase price to the nonprofit Jazz Bakery.
| Luc Leestemaker Launches Jazz Bakery Virtual Gallery |
 Click on image to view virtual gallery. THE JAZZ BAKERY has long been a supporter of the visual arts and over the years has featured artists such as Bryan Ricci, Sachi Kato and a host of other emerging artists in its longtime Helm’s Bakery home in Culver City, California. “It is the responsibility of all of us lucky enough to work in the arts,” said JB Artistic Director Ruth Price, “to support each other.” Now that the Bakery is searching for a new permanent home, it will continue to feature outstanding visual artists on its website Virtual Gallery and has upped the ante by asking respected painter Luc Leestemaker to show some of his most recent paintings in its inaugural exhibition. Leestemaker, a Dutch American artist whose paintings are collected by celebrity clients such as Whoopi Goldberg, President Bill Clinton and jazz musician Charlie Haden, is the antithesis of the long-suffering artist fighting for survival. In addition to exhibiting extensively in galleries and museums around the world, his lyrical abstract paintings can be viewed in the permanent collections of the Miyako Hotel in Tokyo, the Omni Hotel in San Diego and the Four Seasons in the Bahamas. He writes books, (His new book, The Intentional Artist, available in February 2010, describes the process of finding or renewing one’s creativity), and he takes pride in seeing his work in movies such as “Shopgirl”, “Spiderman”, and “Bringing Down the House”. Leestemaker’s interest in jazz goes back for decades. He is committed to the future of the Jazz Bakery and has pledged to donate 20% of any income from paintings purchased by patrons who discover him on the Jazz Bakery website to the Jazz Bakery’s capital campaign fund. His friendship with Charlie Haden, a Bakery favorite and collector of Leestemaker’s work, resulted in his design for Haden’s Grammy Award-winning album, “Land of the Sun”.
Winner of the 2005 Grammy for "Best Contemporary Latin Jazz" Album of the year The music CD "Land Of The Sun" by Charlie Haden; transcriptions of compositions by a number of Mexican composers, was recently released. Famed jazz composer and musician,Charlie Haden, a collector of the artist's work, asked Leestemaker to listen to the recorded music, and create the artwork for the CD. Land of the Sun (La Tierra del Sol. Charlie Haden, Gonzalo Rubalcaba). Verve / Universal 0249820825
Other contemporary musicians with whom Leestemaker has collaborated include Canadian composer Vincent Ho. Ho, inspired by Leestemaker’s art, composed “Four Paintings by Leestemaker” a contemporary classical composition for strings and piano, which was performed at a number of international music festivals. "The Intentional Artist" |
