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Archive for October, 2008

What a Time It Is

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, tagged , on October 9, 2008| Leave a Comment »

 What a world…

Stock markets crashing, bitter vitriol and the worst part of our American soul comes forward in ignorance and intolerance.  My blood pressure rises and I need to be reminded of the common bonds and ideals that trump hatred and anger and make us proud to call America our home.  Help me out, Uncle Walt…

 

America

 

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear'd, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair'd in the adamant of Time.
           ---- Walt Whitman

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Red Chairs in the Trees

Posted in Influences, Technique/History, tagged on October 7, 2008| Leave a Comment »

       During every show I inevitably get a number of questions about the meaning of the Red Chair especially when it’s suspended in a tree.  For anyone interested, I will pass along how the chair came to be aloft.

Growing up, we lived in the country in a large isolated house with an old barn across the road.  One summer when I was 8 or 9,  I came across a dead woodchuck laying next to the barn.  As the summer progressed and he dried out, a vine passed through his body and by summer’s end was suspended a few feet in the air.  To the eyes of a 8 year old this was something magical.  I was struck by the power of the earth to reclaim its creatures.  Everything seemed very ephemeral after that…

The idea of a tree growing through an object such as a chair, which is very representative of human existence, is a continuation of that early fascination.  It wasn’t until I had painted several pieces with the hanging chair that I began to also see the symbolism of the empty chair, which in some cultures represents the recently deceased.  That is what I see now– the family members who have passed on.  Again, this is my interpretation of this work.  I enjoy hearing what other people see in the work because many times it’s completely different from what I see but just as valid.  I often look at some pieces in a whole new light after hearing a new view.

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Solitary Man

Posted in Influences, Video, tagged , , , on October 6, 2008| Leave a Comment »

This is a short film featuring some paintings I have done featuring a lone character that inhabits my world, often seen from a great distance.  It also features the song, “Solitary Man” from the late-great Johnny Cash, a hero of mine for over 40 years.  His “American” series is one of the great pieces of self-expression I’ve ever heard, seen or felt.  His was a truly unique voice in American music and he remains an influence…

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Show Aftermath

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on October 6, 2008| Leave a Comment »

     Well, I got home yesterday from attending the opening of my show at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  It went very well which kind of surprised me given the state of the economy and the tense mood that seems to grip our country.  Perhaps people were looking for a little respite from the chaos…

     As always, the highlight for me is meeting the people who turn out, learning how they feel about the work, and getting to hear a bit about their lives although the problem with this kind of event is that I don’t get to spend more than a few moments with anyone. This, as I note in the last posting, always makes me worry that I might cut someone off or appear rude.  I hope that was not the case.  

It was good to see folks who were my last exhibit at the Kada in 2006 and catch up a bit.  I also met many people for the first time such as Anne Z. from Cape Cod who flew in for the show.  I am always blown away by such actions on the behalf of my work and extend to her and many others a great deal of gratitude.  Again, I wish I had more time at these openings to spend more time with such folks as Anne.

I also had a chance to meet Jessica and Scott Allen from the Cleveland area.  It was such a real pleasure speaking with them for a time.  Scott shared a poem from Rumi that he thought described what he felt in the work.  He sent it to me in the comment from the last posting but I will pass it on here:

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
And I intend to end up there.

— Rumi, thirteenth-century poet

Thanks, Scott. I feel extremely fortunate to get to meet folks like this.  Also, I want to send out my warmest thanks to Kathy and Joe DeAngelo of the Kada Gallery.  Their warmth and friendship is a treasure for me.  Thank you both for a great time…

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Show Day

Posted in Technique/History, tagged , , on October 4, 2008| 3 Comments »

“The Time Has Come”  Opens Tonight at the Kada Gallery

 

 

       Well, today I’m off to Erie, PA for the opening of my show, The Time Has Come at the Kada Gallery.   I’m always a little nervous on the day of a show,  worrying that the work won’t strike a chord.  But at the same time I’m looking forward to meeting the people who have watched my work over the years, to get their feedback on what they see in the work and to give them a little more information on the why’s and how’s of what I do.  I have really enjoyed meeting the many different people who have approached me at shows over the years and feel very privileged to hear their stories. The feedback from these shows give me a lot to think about when I’m isolated in the studio.  They encourage and inspire me on the days when nothing seems to be working and they give me a lot of reassurance in the knowledge that there are people out there who have connected with the work.  When you spend as much time alone as I do, it’s nice to know there are eyes out there who know and accept your work.

 

     At these exhibitions, I feel I have a certain responsibility to the people who attend.  I’m always honored that someone has taken time from their busy life to come out to see my paintings and talk for a few minutes and feel they deserve my full attention.  I often fret after a show that I didn’t get to spend enough time with certain folks or that I came off in a way I had not intended.   What I  mean by that  is that the art that takes on any importance in someone’s life does so because of what they see of themselves in the work.  This creates a unity with the work and is often quite a strong bond.  Now, if I, who have created this work, am glib or dismissive or inattentive and rude the meaning of the work changes to that person.  I may not  be explaining this well but I know this to be true.  It happened to me when I was a 17 years old aspiring writer  and went to a talk with a world-renowned author at a local college.  I listened intently and afterwards went to a reception, eager to get some advice on the career I desired.  He was rude, dismissive and half drunk.  I left and to this day have never read another word by the man.  Everything I saw in his work bcame worthless.  

So that is always in my mind at these events.  To me, it’s a rare and miraculous thing to have someone connect with my work and to that end I try to be as open, honest, and available as possible to the folks who take the time to come out to a show. 

Well, that said, I’m off…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Dark Planet

Posted in Favorite Things, tagged on October 2, 2008| 1 Comment »

Yesterday, I heard from writer David Terrenoire who writes a blog, A Dark Planet, the only one that I read on a regular basis.  It’s smart, irreverent with a hard edge,  and timely and I encourage anyone, especially those with any fondness at all for noir fiction or film to check it out.  I often find myself laughing out loud (sorry, no emoticons here.)   How can you not like a guy who lists The Big Lebowski as his favorite film?   The Dude abides…

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Strange Victory

Posted in Influences, tagged , on October 1, 2008| Leave a Comment »

One of my favorite poems and an influence on a number of my paintings:

 

Strange Victory

 

To this, to this, after my hope was lost,

  To this strange victory;

To find you with the living, not the dead,

  To find you glad of me;

To find you wounded even less than I,

  Moving as I across the stricken plain;

After the battle to have found your voice

  Lifted above the slain.

                                                                                                 —  Sara Teasdale

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Blue Entreaty

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged on October 1, 2008| 1 Comment »

  I delivered the Kada Gallery show yesterday.  It’s always a bit of a relief to finally get the work to the gallery but there’s also a little remorse in knowing that there are pieces that you will never see again.  This is a small painting from the show, titled “Blue Entreaty” that fits into that category.  Even though it is small, it is full of feeling.  It will be a piece that I will be sad to leave my hands.

  It’s funny.  When you first start showing your work, you want every painting to sell because you see it as a form of validation that your work has value and therefore you have value as painter.  But after time has passed and you realize that your work does have real value, you secretly hope some pieces don’t sell, that they will come back to the studio to stay. 

  But most of the paintings are destined to leave and there’s something exciting in that as well, trying to imagine the places where they will end and the people who will look upon them.  The work lives on in that way and for me, that’s fulfilling because my work is about reaching out to people and communicating our common bonds.

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