In my last entry here, I wrote about talking to a couple of art classes at a local high school. I took a number of unframed paintings, something I normally don’t do because I really prefer that my work is always shown in a finished state with frames and mats, if the piece is on paper and going under glass. I’m a big believer that the work should be shown in its best possible setting in a way that there is no distraction away from the focus of the work itself. But I wanted these kids to be able to see the work in a more basic state, closer to their own work and experience. The same way I see it in the studio.
There was one piece that was partially done, the composition completed in red oxide as was the sky, a swirl of many colors around an eye-like sun (or is it a moon?) One of the things I wanted to do with this piece was to pass it around the class and allow the kids to get a better sense of the tactile nature of it. I wanted them to be able to run their hands over it, to let the texture of the surface register on their hands. This gives you a different sense of the work, no longer feeling like a distant scene but more like an object to hold. Just looking at art from a different perspective sometimes changes our perceptions of it.
That painting, a 20″ by 24″ canvas, is shown at the top in a more complete state, now titled Hypnos. The focus of the piece is definitely, for me, in the spiral colors of the sky. It reminds me of one of those pinwheels that cliche hypnotists might use on a crummy TV show. But it doesn’t have that goofy factor and indeed has the effect of pulling in your attention in a mesmerizing manner.
This piece has changed quite a bit in the day since it went under the hands of those kids. Mainly, the colors have deepened and transformed from the flat hues of the initial layers to ones that give it added depth and form above the texture of the surface. I think there’s a nice harmony here, a quietness in the abstraction of the forms that plays well to the title. But the texture of the whole surface is the attraction for me.
I think I’m going to finish this up and go run my hands over it right now…
Redtree Times 
I think it was a stroke of genius to let the kids get so up-close and personal to your painting. When I received the painting I won, I was amazed at how different it seemed in real life. The added depth and texture gave a sense of the artist behind the art – a human hand had added or removed those layers of paint. Especially in a digital world, passing around a real painting is a priceless experience.
Your comment about a human hand adding the layers really struck home because I think that is the basis for that tactile sense that I am looking for. I like seeing the hand of the artist in the work, need to see that evidence of their presence in the work. Thanks, Linda.
On Fri, May 17, 2013 at 8:27 AM, Redtree Times
The skies in this piece and the one previously presented in your blog have been mesmerizing – just wonderful!
Thanks so much, Loni. I always enjoy reading your comments!
Gary,
Love this one! I love the movement and energy of the sun’s rays. Enjoyed reading today’s entry.
Lin
Linda Gardner Director/ Owner
West End Gallery
12 West Market St.
Corning, NY 14830
607.936.2011
Email: info@westendgallery.net
Website: http://www.westendgallery.net
Blog: http://www.westendtalk.wordpress.com
_____
Thanks so much, Lin. I am really enjoying the little groove I’m in at the moment while getting ready for the two upcoming shows.
“Hypnos” comes from the Greek, meaning “sleep. and that is the sense it has in many of the words in which it is used. My take was that the sun is setting (“going to sleep”) and that night (the time for sleep) is coming. (As a species, we do seem to have an ongoing love affair with sunsets, and I wonder if it is a physiologic cue.) There is also the reality/dreams, real/unreal, safe/dangerous dichotomy that can be read into day/night. and light/dark. The movement in this piece to me is that he sun just seems to want to sink down, and the sky treatment feels like a cloak of light that the sun is drawing around itself as it leaves the world, taking the light with it.
“the sky treatment feels like a cloak of light that the sun is drawing around itself as it leaves the world, taking the light with it”– I like this description very much.
Gary,
As this painting found a home in our living room, I can safely say there is not a day that goes by that we don’t stop a bit and look into it.
The fact that you let students experience it makes it even more special to us. It seems like ages ago, but we taught chemistry at the US Air Force Academy and know and appreciate the value of letting students use all of their senses, even if it does sometimes create a mess.
Thanks.
J. and D.
I am so pleased that you getting so much pleasure from “Hypnos” and also that you appreciate the idea of letting the students run their hands over the surface. I think it gave them a greater sense of what a painting could be, how the unique texture under this painting added a dimension of feeling beyond the scene. All my best to you!