Isolation (1994) — Coming to West End Gallery
All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.
–Federico Fellini, The Atlantic (December 1965)
This morning, I am continuing the series of looking back at some of my earlier work. Most have never shown before for reasons that I often cannot remember. Sometimes it’s obvious that they just are not that good. Other times, I scratch my head now because I think they’re solid, unique pieces.
Perhaps my criteria for judging them at that time was different or maybe it has evolved and what I see now is different than what I saw then. I honestly don’t know.
The piece above is titled Isolation and is from November of 1994. I had already experienced my Eureka! moment by that time where I recognized the direction in which my work would head. I have to laugh now when I see the signature done in pencil. It was still a few months before I would begin showing my work publicly for the first time at the West End Gallery and I was still refining the look and style of the work, even my signature.
The fact that it is signed but had never shown indicates that thought it was a coin toss at the time, that I thought it was worthy of going out on its own. Looking at it now, I think I erred in not showing it. I am not positive, but I believe that I was unsure about the cobalt blue in the sky. As a watercolor, it is a heavy, dense color that often leaves a lot of sediment on the surface, especially in the way I was using it. I was uncertain if that would be distracting or wrong. I still worried a bit then about what people might say. Now, that blue density in the sky is something I am thrilled to see, something I sometimes still to replicate and usually fall short in doing so.
The tone of the piece was like much of the work from that time in how it reflected what I was feeling back then. It was about quiet and distance. The colors all contrast off a dark base, much darker than most of my work at the time which another reason why I was unsure of it then. I see it as a strength now. Probably the thing that attracts me most is the use of negative unpainted space in the path and in the distant hills, something I seldom employ now. The hills do have a thin transparent layer of paint but it still is much like the path when contrasted with dark, density of the fields and the sky.
I think it’s a strong piece now. Maybe it was more advanced than I gave it credit for at the time and I needed to grow into it? Maybe.
Whatever the case, it definitely feels like a piece of me. It has an autobiographical feel. I tend to agree with the words above from Federico Fellini, that all art is autobiographical. That a certain point any person in the creative fields can look back and see their life embroidered throughout their work.
Here’s a song from an album, Lowe Country, that pays tribute to the songs of Nick Lowe. I chose it because the song, When I Write the Book, fits the autobiographical theme in more than one way. The song itself deals with the theme in a way but the album cover features one of my early paintings. It is from the pre-Red Tree era, back in 1998. The owner of the painting, an executive with Hollywood Records in California, bought the painting online from the West End Gallery around 2000. In the years after that he transitioned to Austin, Texas where he formed Fiesta Red Records in 2012. One of his first productions that year was the album featuring Americana artists performing Nick Lowe songs. The painting was favorite of his and became the album cover.
I didn’t find out until a while later when the son of the owner of Kada Gallery in Erie came across the album while living in California. He immediately recognized my work and called his mom who called me. Though they didn’t acquire permission initially, Fiesta Red had credited me on the album and we quickly worked things out to my satisfaction.
This version of Lowe’s song is from the Unsinkable Boxer, which is a collection of several of the artists from the album. The song and the album cover always make me happy now. The cover for the vinyl version looks great.
Feels a bit like a pearl of mine.
FYI: The small painting shown at the top, Isolation, is going to be included in this year’s Little Gems exhibit at the West End Gallery, that opens Friday, February 6.
Redtree Times 