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Archive for September, 2011

Origin

Posted in Early Paintings, tagged on September 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I was asked recently when the Red Chair that is sometimes used in my paintings first appeared.  I really wasn’t sure how and when it found its way into my vocabulary of images so I decided to look back in my files.  The very first images of the Red Chair that I can find so far appeared in early 2002 in a group of very small pieces.  The three above were all just over an inch, maybe an inch and a half square in size.   Just a few little guys that seemed to strike a chord with me.

I don’t know why they showed up at that time.  We, as a nation , were in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and I know my work was affected by the collective psychology of that time. It was hard to have it not affect something that often reflects one’s feelings.  Perhaps, it was an unconscious symbolization of the chair  to represent what I felt had been lost from that turbulent time.  I can’t honestly say for sure.

The middle piece above was an early hint at the dark blue work that defined that year for my work, which also featured the Red Chair in several pieces.   These pieces were framed and sold separately although I think this group would have made any interesting little trytych.  I really like the way they all relate to one another, how they convey smoothly from one to another the emotion of each. 

It’s a small beginning for something that has gained such importance and meaning  in my personal visual vocabulary.  Maybe I should consider them as acorns that grew…

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Lake Eyre

Posted in Neat Stuff, tagged , on September 18, 2011| 2 Comments »

In the latest National Geographic magazine there is a great photo essay by Australian photographer Murray Fredericks.  It is a series of photos that Fredericks made on and around the salt flats that make up Lake Eyre, a vast ( the largest in Australia)  and most often dry lake in central Australia.  He would camp for several weeks at a  time, alone in the harsh and barren environment as he waited for the conditions to change and create absolutely stunning images of pure space.  Nothing but a horizon and color.  There are vivid colors and combinations caused by the atmospheric cinditions and a bit of sporadic  rainfall that are simply beautiful.

There is a great spiritual feel in this work although Fredericks claims that was not his initial aim in pursuing the project.  He simply wanted to photograph a landscape in pure space.  One interesting thing he mentioned is how during the many weeks he would work alone in the desolation of the space he never felt alone yet sometimes when he back in the cities, having a drink at a bar, he feels very alone.  It’s a sensation I have felt in the studio and in the forest.

This body of work very much speaks to what I was seeking in my own work when I began, an extension of things I had written where I tried to describe such vast and empty spaces.  Spaces that allowed for pure thought and sensation.  I still use this feeling of absolute wonder at the grandeur of space in my work although I’m not sure I have ever caught it in the way Fredericks has with this group of photos which is just stunning work.

There is a documentary of this project by Murray Fredericks called Salt which aired on PBS’ POV last year.  I missed that but am looking for it now.  You can see a trailer for this documentary by clicking on this link: POV – Watch Video | Salt: Trailer | PBS.

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Mambo!

Posted in Music, Video, tagged on September 17, 2011| 4 Comments »

I have a great diversity of music on my iPod and sometimes I will forget some of it until it just pops up when I’m shuffling through.  One artist that sometimes shows up with a great blast of horns and that funky Cuban beat is Perez Prado, one of the original Mambo Kings from the 1940’s and 50’s. 

 It’s not a name many people, especially those of my age and younger, know or remember and the music seems from a time and place far removed from today.  It has age on it but whenever it comes on, especially when I’m driving, it raises my heartbeat just a bit and I find myself driving just little faster.  Makes me wish I could mambo just a bit and raises memory flashes of being a sixth grader dancing the cha cha in gym class with a shy little girl whose name evades me at the moment, both of us awkward and nervous.  Ah, if it had only been the mambo instead of the cha cha.

Here’s a bit of Prado.  It’s his Mambo #8.  The male dancer here is famed Mexican actor Resortes (Adalberto Martinez) who is primarily known as a comedian and a dancer.  He appears in a lot of Prado’s films of his music.  Little known factoid:  Resortes originated the Moonwalk made famous by Michael Jackson.

Anyway, it’s the last Saturday of summer.  Here’s a little bit of heat  for you.

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Anomalies

Posted in Early Paintings on September 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I’m always surprised at how observant people are about my work, how they will be attracted to details or pieces that were one-of-a-kinds and hold onto that image long after it has been pushed into the far recesses of my mind.  It’s sort of like making an offhand remark and forgetting it but the person who heard it holds every word clearly in their memory.  I know I’ve had that sensation where I remember every detail of a moment or conversation that the other person has long forgotten. 

I had such a conversation this past weekend at the gallery talk  in Alexandria when I was approached by a couple who talked about a small piece from several years before that had a row of telephone poles along a road descending to a far horizon.  I have done only two or three of those paintings over the many years so I was somewhat surprised to hear their admiration for this small group of work, one that I have thought about resurrecting now and again but just never seem to get to. 

 I do so few that I couldn’t even remember the last one I had painted and decided to go looking for this anomaly.  Giving a quick scan through my images from the past several years I found nothing.  I knew they were small pieces so they might require more detail and more time to inspect the files.  This could take a while. 

Scanning through, I was surprised at some of the paintings and how distinctly different from my typical work they were.  The piece above, Time Flows, is such an example.  It is unlike anything I have done before or since.  I remember the texture on this piece as being very extreme, with deep pits that would catch and hold the pigment.  Painted for my 2007 show at the West End gallery,  it drew a lot of attention and was acquired quickly by a longtime collector so it didn’t stay around long enough for me to really live with so that it might become part of my regular painting vocabulary. 

 It simply came and went.

I always stop and look at this painting when I come across an image of  it, both with a bit of admiration and with wonder because it seems to have come from somewhere in myself I don’t remember or recognize.  It is a pure anomaly, one that I can never recreate.  And maybe that’s the way it shold be and remain.

Now, to find those telephone poles…

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The Age of Anxiety

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on September 15, 2011| 2 Comments »

We would rather be ruined than changed

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.

 

–W.H. Auden

Epilogue, The Age of Anxiety

*******************

These words were written by poet W.H. Auden in the aftermath of World War II in his Pulitzer Prize winning poem The Age of Anxiety, a work that later was translated into music in the form of a symphony by Leonard Bernstein  and ballet by Jerome Robbins.  I didn’t know much about this work when I stumbled across this short passage and I don’t suppose that its acclaim or history have much to do with the the thought it provokes. 

Reading these four lines immediately brought to mind the transitional phase we’re moving through.  It is a time fraught with fast moving change and many of the things we held onto as absolutes seem fragile and illusory now.  It probably felt much like this to many of those who lived through the war years of the 30’s and 40’s, as though you were attached, with no control at all,  to the back of an angry beast who is rampaging.  All you have to hold onto is your fear.

It seems like many of the groups vying to gain power over the direction of this rampaging beast of a nation lend creedence to the words above.  They fear and despise the idea of change, even inevitable change, and would rather see the whole shooting match go up in smoke rather than alter their illusions of what we once were or what we could be in the future.

I know this sound somewhat cryptic and I don’t want to blurt out the obvious here right now.  Just a thought that rose from the four simple lines above.

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The Bond

Posted in Uncategorized on September 14, 2011| 2 Comments »

This a new painting that I recently took to the Principle Gallery.  Called The Bond, it’s a 7″ by 17″ image on paper.  I had a number of people comment on this piece this past Saturday, really drawn to it by the simplicity of its design and the contrast of the reds and oranges.   It does have a bold silhouette on the wall.

 There is also an obvious emotional element that seems to draw people to this painting in the limbs of the two trees come together and seem to grasp one another.   This symbol of connectedness resonates within many people and that, coupled with the warm tones of the sky, make this a really inviting tableau for the viewer to enter.

It’s a satisfying piece for me, both as the painter and a viewer, so I’m always pleased when a painting strikes others in that same way.   Sometimes a painter never really knows what sort of reaction a piece raises in people so it was great to hear that The Bond was reaching out to people so quickly.  All I could hope for a piece of mine.

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A Couple of Folks

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, tagged , on September 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I’ve been pretty busy as of late so there are some websites that I like to check out regularly that I haven’t visited recently.  One of my favorites is Candler Arts, a site out of the Atlanta area that features American folk art, oddities and eccentricities.  Along with their accompanying blog, they always have something that really is quite interesting and often quite beautiful as well.  I finally stopped in yesterday and found a couple of folk paintings that really clicked with me.

The one above is signed by a Laura Doyle, a name that I couldn’t find anything about with a quick check.  This piece really has a certain sense of rightness and rhythm, one that really captures my fancy.  I like the depth into the picture frame that the moon and horizon create here.  The bony trees and gray skies make it feel like a darker, colder version of the Peanuts comic strip’s world.  It really works.  Someone recognized this as it has sold.

The other painting is this piece from the 1890’s of a young man with a huge slice of watermelon.  It’s not a great painting but it has a certain flair in the way the boy’s grinning face is painted .  He reminds me a bit of Alfred E. Neuman, the mascot of Mad Magazine.  With the preoccupation of that big slab of melon I can imagine him uttering Neuman’s  “What? Me worry?” catchphrase with ease.  Just kind of a neat piece.  Still available for sale, too.

Check out Candler Art or their blog sometime.  There’s always something to pique your interest.

Now, back to work.

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The Lion in the Sidecar

Posted in Music, Neat Stuff, tagged , on September 12, 2011| 1 Comment »

I came across this photo on the Facebook page of  a band called Goliath in Transit, a name which would be a fitting title for the photo as well.  Since seeing this photo yesterday morning, I keep coming back to it in my mind.  It’s such an amzing photo, full of  odd wonder that makes me imagine different scenarios for this setting.  It is, of course, from a fair or circus from the first half of the 20th century and is from an attraction called the Wall of Death.  This particular race on the aforementioned wall consisted of a motorcyle, a go-kart (you can just see the exhaust fumes at the bottom of the photo) and a hot rod with a lion in an attached sidecar.  I can’t tell what emotions the lion was experiencing on this particular ride but in my mind I see him devouring the driver of the hot rod as soon as it comes to a stop. Justifiable homicide, I would think, but a great photo nonetheless.

 One of the aspects of being shown in a gallery for a long time is keeping up with the many people I meet through my work, following the changes that take place in their lives. 

 Sometimes there is sadness, as when those folks who collected my work as couples separate and divorce.  It’s an odd thing because I often don’t know these people very well but I always feel terribly for them, probably more than I do for closer friends and family who have went through the same situations.  Perhaps it is because when I meet and get to know them a bit I see and remember them as couples, united when they choose a painting for their life.  It often seems like such a strong bond to me that I am shocked and saddened when I find that they have split.

Other times, there is pure tragedy as I found out this past weekend in Alexandria when I discovered that a person who I looked for at every show had died in a small plane crash.  She and her husband ( they later split which is part of the sadness talked about above) were some of my earliest collectors in Alexandria and had purchased some of my personal favorites, always seeming to have a knack for picking them from the group.  She was a lovely lady that really seemed to bring a spark with her.  I last saw her last year and she seemed  genuinely excited and proud  for how far my work had come, as though she were observing my progress with the eyes of a proud mother.  It was hard to not feel great warmth for her.  So her death brought a deep groan in my gut and I was saddened that I, nor any others,  would never see that joyous face again.

But there is often also good news that lifts my spirits and one of the members of this band is part of that.  Mikey Mattice is a prodigious guitar talent who I came to know a bit through the gallery when he would come to events as a young teenager with his dad, also named Mike.  Mikey had a striking appearance that begged to be painted, containing an ethereal quality that seemed to keep him apart from everything that surrounded him.  A very special aura, I suppose it could be called. His dad asked me to to do a portrait, something normally not in my repertoire, but as I said, he had a look that should be painted.  He sent me a group of photos that really captured Mikey’s special presence.  I tried and just could not capture what I saw in those photos.  I still periodically look at the photos and hope to someday do something that does Mikey justice.

You could always see that Mike’s mind was captive to his music.  He’s in his final year at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and this band, Goliath in Transit, is one of his many projects.  He has a number of videos online showing off his virtuosity ( a favorite of mine that really shows off his chops is his cover of the Maps & Atlases’ song  Stories About Ourselves which can be seen here) and seems destined for some pretty big things, given the evident dedication he has.  I will be watching with great interest.

Here’s a song called Velvet Skies from the band Goliath in Transit.

 

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Before…

Posted in Biographical, Early Paintings, tagged , on September 11, 2011| 6 Comments »

Back home, safe and sound.  Sweet.

First, many,many thanks to everyone who came out to the Gallery Talk  at the Principle Gallery yesterday.  You were a great group and made my time in front  of you  very easy and enjoyable.  I hope I was able to pass on somethings you might not have known or answered whatever questions there may have existed.  If not, let me know and I’ll try to rectify that. 

I could talk much more about yesterday’s talk  and how much I appreciate those who attended but I guess I should at least way in on the obvious part of this date.  It’s, of course, the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks .  I’m sure there’s not a soul out there who hasn’t been made to remember this fact by the almost constant coverage by the media over the last several days. 

In yesterday’s talk, I tried to avoid mentioning this, wanting to provide some sort of diversion, but somehow ended up talking about it anyway.  I think it came about when I was trying to explain how much the support and energy that I received from these folks over the years had transformed my life.  It reminded me very much of a feeling I felt on September 10 in 2001, the day before the attack.

It was a spectacular late summer day with hints of autumn in the air, a pure blue sky and a sun that was softly warm but not harsh.  Purely pleasant.  I remember walking around my pond that day.  I was at the point in my year when I was done with shows that I was going to do for the year.  Both had been wildly successful, beyond what I ever expected, and  I finally had a bit of time to relax and really think about this as I strolled around the pond.  I thought about how different my life was now, in 2001, than it was ten years before.  I had felt myself  a lost soul at that time, living a purposeless life with little prospect of doing much with it.  But over the years, art had come into my life and everything was different.  I found a form of expression, began to see clearer those things that were there in my life that had always been there and were core to my existence but I had somehow overlooked as I stumbled around in prior years. 

I found myself and a reason for living.  As I stopped by the pond with that clear sky above, it all struck me on that day, that September 10.  I felt myself the most fortunate man in the universe that day.  My life felt as complete and satisfying as I could imagine and I was filled with an overwhelming sense of appreciation for my good fortune.  I had trouble believing it was my life I was indeed living.

Of course, within 24 hours that feeling disappeared in the smoke and devastation of the events of that day.  It’s taken ten sometimes awful years to somewhat approach that feeling again and yesterday, as I felt the warmth of that group,  I talked about this feeling and my appreciation for them for allowing me to regain that feeling.  I don’t know that I made it clear but one doesn’t always speak easily about matters of grace.

The painting at the top was painted on that day and reflects very much the fullness and contentment I felt for my life at that point.  It is filled with that sense of peace and grace I hinted at above.  It came to be titled Before…  

There was a strange twist to this painting.  I always number my paintings so that I can more easily record and track them over time.  The serial number for that painting was 99-911.  I did nothing to make it fit this way, and in fact didn’t even recognize this number’s relationship to the date until some time later.  Just an eerie coincidence.

It  is a painting that I deeply regret ever letting go and though I know that the folks who now possess it have their own deep feelings for this piece, they will never know how much it still  lives with me, how much it reminds me that day, that September 10th when life seemed as good it could be and how rare and fleeting that moment can be.

Thanks again to everyone from yesterday.  Have a good and peaceful day.

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Gallery Talk In Alexandria

Posted in Uncategorized on September 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This is a new piece, Exit Strategy, that is part of a group of work that I’m delivering to the Principle Gallery today when I’m there for my annual Gallery Talk at 1 PM.  If you’re in the area, stop in at the gallery on King Street and join the discussion. 

 I’ll try to keep it interesting.  Promise.

Yesterday, I had a Hank Snow song.  Here’s another, one of his most recognizable song, Movin’ On,  except that it’s a vintage performance by the early Rolling Stones, from 1964.  I guess 47 years ago makes it vintage. It feels different from Hank’s version but that the way it should be.

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