Isn't That Cute? NOT!

Suvo: What's wrong with your dog?

Street Guy: Waddya mean?

Suvo: That dog is drugged, he can hardly stay upright.

Street Guy: He's on antibiotics

Suvo: Ya know.... I see what you do to that dog. You give him a pincerlike squeeze from behind to make him sit or lie down. I'll bet that hurts. Can you take off his glasses?

Street Guy: He's fine

Suvo: I saw you draggin' him the other day. He's not happy with you. Here's some dog food. I'm gonna be watchin' this dog.

Street Guy: Kiss my ass!

Suvo: Oh yeah !, well........... you can.........just do what I say! Okay? ( weak ending, Suvo is NOT a tough guy)

The St. Augustine Record thought that this guy's exploitive act was cute enough to put his photo on the front page.

Update: We haven't seen him in awhile but we believe that the dog has been rescued ....see this story from Ocala. After checking with others, it was confirmed, this is the guy.

Thank You

The benefit sale for our legal expenses was an unqualified success raising over $1000. We thank everyone who stopped by on a beautiful Sunday. Soon our attorney will file in Federal Court to overturn an illegal ordinance that bans us from downtown St. Augustine. The decision here is far reaching, covering the entire Federal Districts in Alabama, Georgia & Florida.

We Might Have Cupcakes !

Click on poster and copy as a reminder

The small group of artists who have been illegally exiled from public spaces in downtown St. Augustine can only be described as a textbook example of a "grassroots"organization sometimes referred to amongst ourselves as Art In The Market but more often we are referred to by locals as Plaza Artists in reference to the Plaza de la Constitucion which can be called the nation's first (1573) public space.


We are fighting back with limited resources. Our losses in County and Circuit Courts have only reaffirmed our zeal to have the Federal Courts here recognize what Federal courts elsewhere has recognized., that visual art has full Constitutional protection and display & sale on public property is a right guaranteed.

This is an expensive battle both in time and money. The City of St.Augustine taps into it's 50 million dollar annual budget to pay outside attorneys, overtime undercover police, court time and jailers to prosecute us. We refuse to be victims and have been preparing to be plaintiffs in The Federal court against the administrators of The City of St. Augustine. Unfortunately there appears to be a "shadow government" of businessmen who instruct the city servants to use taxpayer funds to seemingly protect their own interests against what they perceive is a threat to them......that's us.....the artists. Citizens do not want this. We are certain that citizens do not want their hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting a resolute group of artists.

We are raising money to pay for the preliminary fees to get into Federal Court. The case is ready now and we need to file it. Garage sales are more successful than art sales so we are having one. If you have "rummage" to donate call 904-315-2563 or e mail plazanews@mail.com and maybe that will help us.

St. Augustine Artist Depicts Pensacola

Dean Quigley on today's front page of the Pensacola News Journal Local News

The first four of ten commissioned paintings will be on display for the visit of King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain next week for the city's big 450th birthday. STORY

Dean displayed this painting in the plaza on new Year's Eve. Someone asked to buy a print and Dean reluctantly quoted a price after refusing to do so twice. He was promptly arrested by the undercover police officer, handcuffed and taken to the St. Johns County Jail.

Public Be Warned !

Where 'd It Go?

We were sent the top photo recently with no reference to it's location. Previously, we published the photo circa 1923, of Henry Flagler's good friend Dr. Andrew Anderson whose benevolence gave the city of St. Augustine it's few public art sculptures such as The Ponce De Leon bronze, The American Legion flagpole base and the birdbath in the Plaza. He commissioned the lions for our bridge completed in 1927

The old photo shows a maquette of one of the giant lions that graced the western entry to the bridge. It sat on the balustrade of the front entry to his home ,Markland still there on King Street. It's interesting to note how much Dr. Anderson's pet dog has a lion like look.

The sculptor was the Italian Raffaello Romanelli whose family still casts bronzes in Florence.

So what happened to the porch lion? Is that it in the photo on top? It appears to be in a grocery store display. We don't know if it is paper mache or stone. It kind of matches the lion pedestaled on the northern end of the bridge entry. History detectives.....can you help?

If we are incorrect with any"facts" please let us know

Peter Max,Chagall et al.

Cruise ship art auctions often bank on the customer’s lack of education of art in general. Do your homework BEFORE you buy artwork. The auctioneer should not be the one providing you all the information on the piece. Research, research, research. Remember: the cruise ship does have Internet access. Potential buyers should do some on-line research before bidding. As with any marketplace, knowledge is a powerful tool. LINK

We in St.Augustine have seen the "land pirates" in some faux fine art galleries (We finance) here in town using the same tactics.

More Bare Breasts!

There were these two guys, artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid. They wanted to find out something that true artists really do not want to know. The question they wanted answers to was "What do people like in a painting?". In order to be Thomas Kinkaid successful, wouldn't we pursue this? Here in touristic St.Augustine we know artists who keep pumping out the same paintings over and over again. Hey! ya gotta eat right? One artist we know considers himself a "factory", unaware that Warhol beat him to it 35 years ago. Robert Torchia wrote in his book The Lost Colony that it was the proliferation of the tourist images and the discouragement of the contemporary that prevented St. Augustine from being a "real" art center.

The dishwasher sized painting above is the result of Komar and Melamid's polls for the United States. Thirteen other countries were more or less scientifically surveyed over a period of years.

Although some minor variations existed, the majority of people worldwide preferred a painting of a realistic landscape with blue as the predominant colour. In the U.S. , green comes in a close second. Americans surveyed also wanted an historical figure portrayed in the painting .Wildlife over domestic animals and walking contemporary figures in a group are also desired.

Link here to see the results from other countries.

Does anybody know where I can get a painting of the St.Augustine lighthouse? ........................Just kidding.....................there are as many paintings of the lighthouse around here as Commissioner Jones' got turtleneck sweaters.

"Don't Go There?"...

Last week City Commissioner Errol Jones stopped by one of our artist's displays set up on the edge of the downtown district. While parked in a "No Parking" zone for over an hour he presumably wanted to debate free speech with the artist. When the artist said that our group will not be sent "to the back of the bus". This was Jones' reply

"Whoa! DO NOT GO THERE". replied Commissioner Jones who is African American.

Like it or not Commissioner, this banishment of artists from the city is a civil Rights issue. No abstraction should be required. As an African American of a certain age in a southern town we have no doubt that you have experienced deep prejudices and have seen them overcome and hopefully more progress will come. Let's be clear here.CIVIL RIGHTS covers more than black and white issues and you do not own the mantle of St. Augustine's "Civil Rights guy".

Your understanding of Artist's Rights go no further than what the city attorneys tell you. You have consistently voted against our efforts to exert our rights. It is to our dismay that your circle of understanding of our civil rights issues is so limited.