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George Bates

@bates_george

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Took inspo from Zep’s-The Ocean for this year’s @seahearnow STOKEHENGE/Ocean theme

Singing to an ocean, I can hear the oceans roar…

Yes. ✨🌊👥👥🌊✨ by @bates_george

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14 days ago

So stoked for this years giveaway board for @surfriderjerseyshore

If you are attending the Sea Hear Now festival please swing by the Surfrider tent and with a small suggested donation you just might win this board.

Special thanks to my friend @bates_george who applied his artistic genious to the board. And to my friend @shydogdesigns for the gorgeous piece of Zebrawood for the fin. by @bates_george

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15 days ago

When I finally got home on 9-11 there was a message on my answering machine from the New York Times Op-Ed editor Peter Buchanan Smith-“You know what the topic is, just keep drawing and sending in images…”. Here’s one of several that ran in the months following.

That day we had been in Rockaway Beach since sunrise as it was one of the best days for surf (next image The Box). Around 8:45 we heard the crash, saw the trail of smoke, as it was perfect offshores, but had no idea what it was. At one point a surfer paddles over to another sitting next to my brother and tells his friend “You were supposed to be at work today in the towers, they just fell”.

In the subsequent weeks we were encouraged to go about life as usual, incredibly difficult, but my incredible artist friend Jim who was also a firefighter down at ground zero had his art opening as planned. As I recall he said this and only this about the site and the experience to us “It IS Hell”, and we went about the evening & our lives as normally as we could. He’s posted, for the first time ever, his images of working at ground zero @jamesaustinmurray , chek it.

25 years later, this day still kills me every year, if you were there, u know. Hearts go out. by @bates_george

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23 days ago

For: FEAST / Opening this Fri. Sept. 11. 6-8pm @oysterpointwalls

Title: Signal 11 (2026)
Media: Mixed
Dims: 12x8x2”
Frame: Walnut w mahogany splines, milled & made by the artist

On view through Nov. 2

2026 @monmoutharts Annual Member Exhibit

#theworkgb #monmoutharts #oysterpointgallery by @bates_george

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24 days ago

For: (Not) A Surrelist Show / Opening Fri. Aug. 14th @over_the_moon_art_studios

Title:
Kindred In Kind Unaware In Constancy (2016)

Dims:
26x34x1.5”

Media:
Mixed

Frame:
Walnut with mahogany splines, milled and made by the artist

#theworkgb #overthemoonartstudios by @bates_george

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2 months ago

Received this lovely notebook from @bloombergdotorg featuring the Stepping Into Tomorrow asphalt art project we did in collaboration with @artworkstrention several summers ago.

The Asphalt Art initiative is a fantastic worldwide project with an incredible roster of artists & approaches to make streets safer and more inviting.

A 2022 safety study found that after asphalt art was introduced to challenging intersections, there was a:
• 50% drop in traffic crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists
• 27% increase in drivers yielding to pedestrians with right of way

#theworkgb #bloombergphilantropies by @bates_george

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2 months ago

For @parlorgallery “Ice-Cream Parlor” show opening Sat. Aug. 1

Title:
Rousseau (Douce Harmonie)

Media:
Mixed

Frame:
Walnut with mahogany splines, milled & made by the artist

Dims:
6.375x 12.5

#theworkgb by @bates_george

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2 months ago

Consider submitting, always an interesting show and fantastic opening.

@monmoutharts invites artists to submit works exploring the theme of FEAST as part of our annual member exhibition to be held at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, September 4 – November 2, with an opening reception on Friday, September 11.

With FEAST, we invite artists to submit work that examines themes of indulgence, consumer culture, ritual, identity, appetite, inequality, pleasure, and longing. We encourage you to consider both literal and metaphorical forms of consumption: what we crave, what we value, and what shapes our relationship to material and symbolic abundance.
While a lavish tablescape certainly fits the theme, we’re equally interested in unexpected interpretations. Think beyond the plate. Consider a feast for the eyes—work that captivates, delights, overwhelms, or satisfies through beauty, abundance, or excess.

We welcome diverse perspectives and a wide range of media, including painting, drawing, mixed media, sculpture, textiles, and photography.

This year’s exhibition will be guest curated by Tova Navarra—award-winning artist, writer, educator, and author of more than 30 books, including the upcoming New Jersey Artists Through Time.

Exhibition Dates: September 4–November 2
Location: Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank
Opening Reception: Friday, September 11 by @bates_george

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3 months ago

Partial installation—2of3 sculptures for the “Rio” three-part @valleymetro proj., which also includes the Operator Building art panels. The sculpture on the opposite bridge will be installed later this month—Woman in a Flower Field, composed of stories shared by community members and references the many conversations about the unique local experince of “the field’s fragrance flowing into your car as you drove past”.

Always looking for where research, interviews, and committee priorities overlap. Many conversation referenced the area’s historic citrus groves—esp. Navarro groves—and the fragrance of orange blossoms mixed with flower fields created lasting memories of South Phoenix.

The committee identified the orange groves as an iconic touhstone instilling warm memories, and the early Lowrider cruises through the citrus groves & flower fields. Orange Trees as homage to the area’s agricultural heritage, immigrant workers, and shared community experience.

These projects emerge where research, local stories, and community priorities intersect, revealing what is unique and authentic to each site.

During a visit to Maxine O. Bush School, invited by teacher/committee member @venessachavezart , we asked students about favorite local memories. Many described sitting in the back of a pickup truck with their families at South Mountain, watching the sunset and the tower lights—lights that remind them of home, family, and community, a vignette is woven into the sculpture’s foliage and echoed throughout.

Fabrication by Phoenix legends American Fiberglass—known for their custom car work—with @clarkeriedy as Lead Sculptor, and staff of local craftsmen, the work reveals details differently as light changes. New vignettes emerge after dark, and the translucent fiberglass adds unexpected surprize through their interpretation of the design.

A quieter detail is the presence of the Hohokam people-“those who have gone”, who lived in the region from 300–1500 CE. The sides of the trees reveal profiles, acknowledging their enduring presence while also honoring the countless people whose contributions shaped South Phoenix but often remain unseen. #theworkgb #valleymetro by @bates_george

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3 months ago

Friday.

Phot cred: @bates_george
Board cred: me (At least the cool one is me)
Boardwalk cred: Allenhurstville by @bates_george

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5 months ago

Live with Art, it makes Life more livable:

Please join us for the Splendid Unended
Print Sale & Closing Party / Sat. Mar. 28, 6-8pm
@oysterpointwalls

THE OYSTER
POINT HOTEL
146 BODMAN
PLACE
RED BANK, NEW JERSEY
Ellen Martin / OPG Gallery Curator @ellen_martin_curator

Img 2-3
George Bates
@bates_george
#theworkgb

Img 4-5
Stephen Byram
#stephenbyram

Img 6-7
Colab tryptic print btwn Stephen Byram & Warren Linn

Img 8-9
Warren Linn
@warren_linn

Prints are a fantastic way for the casual collector to have a work of art from an artist they’ve come to love. So many of you expressed loving Warren Linn’s work but consider that owning actual art from artists whose works are held in museum collections can often be unattainable to the casual collector.

Warren will have quite an array of stunning prints on hand at the closing party in addition to myself and other artists in the exhibit including: Jill Carlock @jill_carlock / Scott Szegeski @scott_szegeski / Scott Massey @leisurelabor @nohawk_studios

With more to be announced.
Be great to see you all again!
#oysterpointgallery #oysterpointhotel by @bates_george

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6 months ago

A bouquet for all.

WIP with American Fiberglass/J B Donaldson Co. and lead sculptor Clarke Reidy @clarkeriedy for Valley Metro PHX.

Next image shows the original concept rendering and first color application for 1 of 3 sculptures. The bouquet will sit about 13’ above the bridge it rests upon and represents the complex & inspiring history of the local flower fields & the surrounding community.

During research for the project I walked into a hair salon conducting interviews for the project, and an older woman who was skeptical on the transit project, and my intent as an artist from outside of the community, reluctantly agreed to speak after I assured her that it’s fine if she’s not a fan of me or the transit project. I asked that there must be something she’d like to share as she’s obviously passionate & protective about her love for the area & community. She then spoke at length about how she loved the early friday Lowrider cruises that would begin through the fragrant flower fields, filling these works of art on wheels with the flower field perfume. Cruising to the local radio sets programmed for these event she explained was like a communal dance, the full sensory experience of poetry in motion, in itself.

#theworkgb #americanfiberglassphx #jbdonadsonco #clarkereidysculptor #valleymetro by @bates_george

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8 months ago