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Archive for the ‘Recent Paintings’ Category

No Funk Zone

Posted in Personal Mythology, Recent Paintings, tagged on June 15, 2011| 1 Comment »

I’m officially declaring this a No Funk Zone.

In the past, I’ve written here of a sort of letdown, a sort of glumness or funk that occurs in the aftermath of even highly successful shows.  It’s no stranger to me and I’ve talked to other artists who describe the same thing happening to them.  It most likely results from working so hard to meet the deadline for a show, having everything so geared up for a specific moment so that when it has passed a void is left.  A new purpose and immediacy must be found quickly to fill the vacuum left.

However, I’m finding that this hasn’t been the case after this most recent show at the Principle Gallery.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I am already deeply immersed in my next project, my annual show at the West End Gallery.  That gives me a sense of purpose and a target at which to shoot.  It leaves little time to mope around.

But I’ve had this same show after the Principle show every year for eleven years now and I have fallen into a funk several times after the first show.  But this time I ‘m back in the studio with a renewed vigor, eager to work and feeling oddly upbeat.  It feels good but worries me a bit– I’m not used to finding myself in this territory.

I have no good explanation for this mild elation except that perhaps this last show has made me feel somewhat more confident in the direction the work is heading.  I often speak about validation of ones work and perhaps that is what I’m feeling.  I have often lost confidence at certain points over the years, as was the case for a period of time coming into this show.  It’s a self-doubt that creeps in and nags incessantly, making me question every move I make as well as the validity of my work.  So when people respond in a way that you hoped they might, seeing the work as you wished them to see it, it validates what you yourself see there.  The self-doubts turn to self-assurance, which is energizing.

That’s the best rationale I can offer.  I’m trying to not overthink this.  I just want to enjoy this moment and take full advantage of the energy it supplies because I know all too well how quickly it can be gone, replaced by those questions and doubts.

So for now, welcome to the No Funk Zone.

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Show Night

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged on June 10, 2011| 5 Comments »

Well, tonight’s my annual show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  Called Now and Then, this is my 12th solo show here which has given me a real sense of how things normally go, which really provides a certain level of comfort as I wait for the show to open.  I’ve documented this over the past few years here on this blog. 

 While I do get a little antsy,  I always look forward to seeing some of the many, many people I’ve met here over the years.  I maintain that I have the best group of collectors anywhere and it’s always great to get to speak to people who see something in my work, to both listen and to express my appreciation.  I only wish I had more time to do so.

So, if you’re in the Alexandria/ DC area, feel free to stop in tonight at the Principle Gallery.  The opening runs from 6:30 to 9 PM.

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The Wonder of Now

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged on June 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I call this new painting, an 18″ by 25″ piece on paper, Worlds of Wonder.  It’s a piece filled with color and rhythm and an optimistic outlook.  When I say optimistic here, it’s a viewpoint based on focusing on the wonders that surround us everyday, things that we have failed to notice by either dwelling too much on nostalgia for the past or fear and pessimism for the future.  Basically, living in the now and seeing it for the miracle that it is.

We often view the past by filtering out all the unpleasant aspects.  I have used the example here before of the current Russians who have come to view the era of Joseph Stalin as some sort of golden age in their country’s history despite the death of millions of Russians  killed by the man and his policies.  Many, many aspects of their lives are infinitely better in the present day yet there is still a nostalgia for a tyranny of the past where all the  negative memories from that time have basically pushed to the far recesses of the mind.

And while we take away the negatives as we look back, we tend to add them when looking forward to the future.  We fill our minds with countless possibilities for the future, most of them nightmarishly based on our greatest fears.  The future is a boogeyman for many of us.

But ultimately the future will probably not be as bad as we fear and the past was probably not as wonderful as we remember.  We learn from the past, plan for the  future and live in the now. 

And that’s what I see in this painting.  The crops are planted for the future.  The road brings us from the past to this point.  And the tree under the golden sky represents us taking it all in at the present time.  Balance in the world, balance in time. 

 Now is the time to make the present as good as we will remember it in the future.

This painting is, of course, part of my new show, Now and Then, that opens Friday at the  Principle Gallery in lovely Old Town Alexandria.

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Mission

Posted in Biographical, Influences, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , on June 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity.

——Viktor Frankl

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The words of Viktor Frankl, the WW II concentration camp survivor who went on to greater fame as a psychotherapist and author, seemed to ring true for this square painting after I finished it.  I saw the Red Tree here as one that finally saw its uniqueness in the world, sensing in the moment that with this individuality there came a mission that must be carried out.

A reason for being.

I think that’s something we have all desired in our lives.  I know it was something I have longed for throughout my life and often found lacking at earlier stages.  I remember reading Frankl’s book, Man’s Search For Meaning, at a point when I felt adrift in the world.  I read how the inmates of the concentration camp who survived often had  a reason that they consciously grasped in order to continue their struggle to live.  It could be something as simple as seeing the ones they loved again or finishing a task they had set for themself. Anything to give them a sense of future.  Those who lost their faith in a future lost their will to live and usually perished.

 At the time when I read this, I understood the words but didn’t fully comprehend the concept.  I felt little meaning in my life and didn’t see one near at hand.  It wasn’t until years later when I finally found what I do now that I began to understand Frankl’s words.

We are all unique beings.  We all have unique missions.  The trick is in recognizing our individuality and trusting that it will carry us forward into a future.

I’ve kept this short.  There are many things that I could say here but the idea of finding one’s mission, ones meaning, is the thought that I see in this piece.  This paintings is titled The Moment’s Mission and is 11″ by 11″ on paper.  It is part of the Principle Gallery show that opens Friday.

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Ratio Decidendi

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged on June 6, 2011| 6 Comments »

This is one of the larger paintings,a canvas at 20″ by 60″ in size, from my show Now and Then which opens Friday at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria,VA.  The title of this piece is Ratio Decidendi, which is a legal term that translates to “rationale for the decision.”  I’m no legal nor Latin scholar but this basically indicates the deciding factor that the Court uses as a basis for its ruling, the whole precept behind the rationale for its decision.  For me, that more simply translates to the reason behind ones views and actions.

I may be twisting the true meaning of the term here but it seems to me that all of our actions and reactions are based on our  rationale of our own perspective and beliefs.  All argument stems from the distance between what we believe to be true and what other see as true.  Everyone believes that their viewpoint is the correct one and they act accordingly.

I see the action of this painting, the blowing of the red tree, as a purer, more natural translation of the term.  All actions in nature are basically based on truth.  The wind doesn’t deceive.  The rain and snow don’t cloak themselves in half-truths.  Rivers don’t rationalize.

So, in this piece, the wind blows and the tree sways.  The wind can only do what it does and the tree can only react in one way.  They are what they are and that is the truth.

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The Weak In Between

Posted in Biographical, Recent Paintings, tagged on June 3, 2011| 5 Comments »

Well, the show for this year’s Principle Gallery show is delivered.  Everything went smoothly yesterday and I was home by late afternoon.  The only thing for me to do now is wait for the opening next Friday.  I know that this is something I’ve written about here before, this time in the interval between delivery and the actual show. 

It’s always filled with a lot of mixed feelings.  There is relief that the work is done, that I have completed a task.  But that’s usually countered by the fact that the opening is still ahead, that there is still some work to be done. Now, it is relatively pleasant work, standing around and talking about paintings.  It certainly beats the hell out of some of the things I’ve done as work in the past.  But it is work.  A required task.

The time is also filled with creeping doubts about whether the show will be received well.  There is an almost schizophrenic swing between feelings of complete satisfaction and excitement in the work I’ve done and feelings filled with dread that I’m seeing things in the work that others won’t, that the work is too directed to my own sensibilities and won’t translate to others. 

This usually leads to a questioning of why I do what I do and why anyone would be even casually interested.  I mean, I smear paint on canvas and paper in my house in the woods.  Is there any real importance in this?  I’m not saving lives, not actively helping or serving people, not building truly useful objects.  I can think of an endless list of things people do  that might actually be of more importance in the overall scheme of things, from researchers looking for bits of data that might lead to cures for deadly diseases all the way through to the person who fills my popcorn bucket at the movie theatre.

But despite this, it remains important to me and this makes me care about the work I do.  It has a purpose for me, at the very least, and if someone else finds something in it that makes it important for them as well– well, that’s simply a bonus.  A little extra gravy,  if you will. 

So, as you can see, I have the ability to make what should be a perfectly pleasant week into a neurotic nightmare.  It’s just an occupational hazard and, while it sounds somewhat tortured, it has just become commomplace in my life.  And that’s okay.  It’s what I do.

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The piece at the top is also a new painting for the Principle show.  Called Connecting Light, it’s an 11″ by 11″ image on paper.

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Empowered

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged on June 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This new painting, another from the Principle Gallery show, reminds me in many ways of the piece shown in yesterday’s post.  This 10″ by 20″  painting, titled Empowered, feels like a core example of my work over the past decade or so. 

While yesterday’s painting, Night of Wonder,  had the elements that were staples of my early work, this piece shows the evolution of the last several years. It still has the icon of the Red Tree as well as the addition of the Red Roofs that began appearing around 2002.  The clouds in the sky have started making sporadic appearances over the past years as well.  Night of Wonder was also painted in the more liquid reductive method, one where paint is liberally applied then pulled off to reach the desired color and tone,  that marked almost all of my early work whereas Empowered  is an additive piece with layers of paint building up to the final surface.

But I think this piece also speaks well to the core of what I hope to say with my work, or at least what I think I want to say with it.  I sometimes think that what I am trying to express is still beyond me and my conscious intellect.  But what I do see in the work and wish to build upon is the idea of empowerment and self-reliance.  The idea of the individual making full use of whatever capabilities they possess and finding their own place in this world is probably the main expression in much of my work that I hope comes across to the viewer.

  I know from personal experience how it is to feel out of place and uncertain of my own abilities, how it feels to be living a life that doesn’t feel intended for you.  To feel as a sailor lost and rudderless in a hostile sea, with no idea where safe  landfall may be.  I want my work to counter that feeling, to create a safe haven in sight so that those of us still afloat see that there is possibility in themselves.

I don’t know.  That may be asking too much from paint smeared on paper or canvas.  But I can try and that effort is the important thing.

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Night of Wonder

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged on May 31, 2011| 3 Comments »

I’m in the last few days of finishing my work for the show that opens next week, June 10, at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria. VA.  I’m sealing frames and wrapping the pieces for safe transport to the gallery later this week.  This is always the time when there are alternating waves of relief and anxiety.  Relief in knowing that the work is done and that I’ve did all I can for this show.  Anxiety in the fear that it won’t do well, that I’m seeing something in the work that won’t be evident to others. 

 This is somewhere around my 30th solo show so I’m somewhat used to these mixed feelings by now and don’t panic when the anxiety hits.  I know that I’ve given maximum effort and it’s out of my hands.  I can’t control the response.  

The anxiety, like most things, will pass with time.

I’ve tried to create a mix in this show with some new looks and some pieces that are easily recognized as being part of my visual vocabulary.  The piece shown above, Night of Wonder (15″ by 20″), is such a piece.  A very simply composed piece, it has many of the elements that have been part of my work for many years.  The archetypical Red Tree, perched atop a distinctive nob of soil.  The exposed  and somewhat irregular edges.  The two blocks of color separated by a thin white break between them.  Dense color and a viewpoint with the eye-level set at the same height as the horizon. 

I think they all come together well here and give this piece the sense of quiet wonder that I hoped for– quiet but not bland.   It has bite , if that can be used here as a measurable quality, and that is what makes this piece come together so well.  

It also has a solidness of feel that helps quell the anxiety of preparing for this show.  It is like an old friend who I know will stand up well for me when I need it.

And that is saying a lot.

 

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Serene One

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged on May 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This week I’ve been heavily focusing here on new work from my next show which opens at the Principle Gallery on June 10th.  I was going to move to something other today but as I sat here contemplating what to write about, this piece just completely swallowed my attention, making me forget about anything else.  I suppose that’s as strong a sign of validation for a piece of work as anything.

This painting has a feeling of total contentment for me.  Nirvana.  In fact, I call this piece,  a 14″ by 24″ image on illustration board,  Serene One.   

There’s a wondeful golden glow to this piece, a radiance in the surface that I often hope for in my work but seldom feel  is completely attained.  It’s not something that I can produce at will.  It just shows itself periodically, a tantalizer, a glimpse of where the work might take me if only I put myself- mind and spirit- completely into it. 

This search for this  radiance is not unlike the quest and desire for the actual serenity it represents.  That may be the greatest benefit of my job as a painter, the fact that it allows me to search for this contentment in my work, the same sort that I seek in myself. 

I could say much more about this painting but I think what I’ve said is enough.  This piece is well beyond my words.

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Origins

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged on May 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Origins is the title that came forward in my mind for this new  painting from the Principle Gallery show, which opens June 10th.  It’s a  small piece, 5″ by 7″ on paper, that recalls some of my earlier Archaeology series pieces, particularly the ones that focused more on the strata rather than the artifacts. 

Origins is primarily painted in shades of sepia with some grays and blacks.  It is highlighted with a thin greenish tone in the grass and a deep orangish sun above, touches that push out well from the sepia background, giving a pop to the piece.

The title, as I see it, refers to the relationship between the sun and the grass, as well as the tree which connects them in the scene.  The very beginnings of life, the start of yet another cycle of existence.  The layers below the surface represent the generations and ages that have come and gone before, now buried together out of sight.  The surface is the present,  for the living, unfettered by the past.   The tree, and its limbs that move in many directions, represents the potential of youth.  The freedom of the now.

The grass at the base of the tree symbolizes an urgency of existence, being pulled upward by the feeding sun, feeling fresh and vibrant while knowing its time is limited here. The pale tint of the larger grassy area is a pulse to me, faint but becoming stronger.

As I’ve stated many times before, these are what I see after the fact.  When I’m painting, these things are not in mind at all.  At that point, it is all about balance and rightness and rhythm.  The outcome, the what-wiil-be, is undefined.  It’s like being a reader of tea leaves- before I can read the leaves the tea must be made.

That may not make sense to anyone but I think I know what I’m trying to say.  And for the moment, that will have to be enough.

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