Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘KADA Gallery’

Show Day/ Black Slacks

Posted in Neat Stuff, Video, tagged , on November 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Well, tonight is the opening at the Kada Gallery, beginning at 6 PM.  I head out later this morning, getting into Erie a few hours before the show.  I usually stop in at the gallery and preview the show, getting a sense of how the work is laid out.  It makes maneuvering the space easier when I’m asked about specific pieces later.  Then I normally go to my hotel for a while to relax a bit until showtime.

Simple.

So my post today is short as I get ready to hit the road.  I thought I ‘d leave you with a bit of upbeat music from the Sparkletones, a late 50’s rock n’ roll band who achieved mild fame with band members who were all under 18 years old.  Their success was shortlived and had faded before I knew of them but they had a small rebirth in the early 1980’s with the release of a compilation that brought them to my attention with their trademark song, Black Slacks.

Light fare, yes.  But loads of energy and lots of fun.  I hope this keeps me humming until Lake Erie appears, looming high on the horizon.

Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

All Is Said…

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged on November 5, 2010| 4 Comments »

Well, it’s the day before my opening tomorrow night at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  This time before the show is one that I’ve written about a number of times in this blog.  All the work is done, everything delivered and hung in the gallery and I’m left to sit and wait until I go and stand before my work.

As always, it’s a time for anxiety even though it’s much less than in earlier shows.  This something like my 29th solo exhibit and I suppose that  this experience teaches that things seldom reach the lower depths of our fears or the highest peaks of our hopes.  That’s sort of the mindset that I take in modulating my expectations for a show.

I really like this group of work.  I guess that is not a startling statement.  What kind of a moron would come out and publicly trash their own work the day before a show?  But I really do like this collection and for some time  have been eagerly waiting to see this group hanging together.  I’ve had them assembled together in the studio but it’s different than seeing them on the wall with space between to reset the eye as you look.  On the wall, they have a chnace to fully express themselves.

So today I will putter around the studio and get ready to get back to work in earnest after this opening.  I have commissions to finish in the next week that I want to get out of the way so that I can jump into some new things with both feet.  I will try to think about those things today so that I don’t dwell on my anxieties or hopes for this show.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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

The painting a the top is from this show, a small (4″ by 6.5″) piece on paper that is titled All Is Said… 

I’ll say no more.

Read Full Post »

Show Statement/ Kada 2010

Posted in Opinion, Recent Paintings, tagged , on November 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There is an opening Saturday night from 6-9 PM at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.    It is for start of my new show which is currently hanging there.  Below is the statement that accompanies that show:

 

Toward Possibility

Kada Gallery, November 2010

 

For this show, I decided to use the title of the painting above, Toward Possibility, to act also as the title for the exhibit. I felt that the tenor and tone of this painting very much represented what I was trying to get across with much of this show, that being a sense of self-revelation and self-acceptance we sometimes find on our journey through this life.

The possibility mentioned in the title is the pure possibility offered in our simple existence and our imagination, the chance to evolve and grow individually and as a people. The possibility of moving beyond the obstacles put before us by our own shortcomings and prejudices to find a place where we can fully express our better selves.

The possibility to simply be better.

That’s not an easy task to accomplish or even attempt in this world. Perhaps that is why my paintings often deal with a landscape that is not solely of this world. One can step back and analyze them with a cool eye and say that this or that element in the painting doesn’t or couldn’t exist in the real world. An orange field or a bright red tree. But my goal and hope is to make them seem possible in the eyes and minds of the viewers, to create a harmony in the colors, textures and forms of the painting that allows them to comfortably assume the reality of the landscape I’m putting before them. To create a world that opens the mind to this and other possibilities.

Just having the knowledge that there is a possibility for a better place and a better self makes the journey that much easier to endure. And that is what I hope my work does in the long run– makes the journey easier.

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

The Guardian Seat

Posted in Influences, Recent Paintings, tagged on November 2, 2010| 5 Comments »

This is a small painting that is part of my show, Toward Possibility, which opens at the Kada Gallery this coming Saturday, November 6.   I call this painting The Guardian Seat and it is a small piece  that measures about 6″ by 6″.

It’s a very quiet scene and a simple composition that depends on the spaces between the objects seen here to carry the emotion and feel of the piece.  When I look at this piece I am instantly reminded of a small story relayed to me recently that fits this piece very well.

I was told of a farmer who worked the fields near where the person who was telling the story grew up.  He worked a group of fields that spread for quite a distance and out among them sat a chair where, at the end of many days, he would sit and just take in his domain, his guardianship.  I can clearly imagine that image of a man sitting on a straight-backed chair with plowed fields spreading out from him in all directions as the sun lowers to the distant horizon across them.

Anyway, after many years of doing this the farmer eventually passed away.  However, the chair remains in the fields.  His family maintains the chair as a small memorial to the farmer.  The person who told me the story said they always look for the chair when they go home.

A more lovely and fitting memorial for a man of the soil, I cannot imagine.

I suppose that is where the title for this piece emerged.  This story gives me the feeling of a man who had a sense of guardianship and love for the land he worked, who felt himself as both keeper and part of the earth.  There is a peaceful dignity to the tale that I hope shows in this little painting.

Read Full Post »

The Question

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on October 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There are times in the lives of many when they find  themselves at a particular point and they move beyond what the everyday has to offer and they begin to question what they are and why they exist.  It may be a question of the spiritual or it may be some internal yearning to be more than they see in themselves.  Whatever the case, they find themselves on the brink of what seems like eternity,  seeking to comprehend the answers that swirl around them.

 A time of questioning.  A time of definition.

That’s the feeling I pull from this painting, a 7″ by 7″ piece on paper that is part of my show, Toward Possibility, which opens November 6 at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  This painting is titled The Question.

There’s a brightness in the colors of this piece that give it, at first glance, a deceptively happy feel.  But the merging lines of the field moving  into the swirls in the blue of the sky tell a more serious story.  Even the tree has this same appearance of simple joy in the way it is shaped but when placed against the light that burns through the blue, it takes on a more somber look.

It appears to be one thing but can be something quite different, depending on how one views it.

I think that’s what I like about this piece, the fact that if one wants to see it simply as a pleasant composition with nice colrs and contrast, it is just that.  But if one desires to see a layer of depth beyond that, one that might echo their own questioning, it serves that purpose as well.

Hopefully, The Question does either of these for someone besides me.

Read Full Post »

Above Cynicism

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged on October 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It’s less than a week before I deliver my show to the Kada Gallery in Erie and it’s also the last week leading up to the 2010 elections so I am filled with dread on two fronts.  The dread that comes with finishing my works and being ready to show is easy to deal with by simply putting down my head and shutting out distractions from the outside world.  It’s also how I’ll try to get through this last week of politicking in the media, with all the mostly negative campaign ads, partisan analysis and unending polling.

It was with this in mind that I titled this painting from the upcoming show.  A 12″ by 24″ canvas with a calm and confident air about it, I titled this piece Above Cynicism.  This piece reminded me in tone of a small painting that I did many years ago that I entered in a regional show.  It took one of the top prizes and gave me the first glimpse that I could succeed with my work.  It was titled The Sky Doesn’t Pity.  The idea behind the title was that the natural elements simply exist and are not subject to human qualities, good or bad.  There is no pity, no shame, no hatred in the sun, the wind or the rain.  They simply are.

Oh, there are times when they seem to punish us, when floods wash us away or snow buries us, but it is only our own selfish trait of defining everything as it pertains to our existence.  The elements only do what they do.  The rain and snow falls, the winds blow and the sun shines.  Without emotion or bias.

That is pure truth.

That’s what I see in this piece.  The central figure is high above the surrounding landscape, exposed to the elements but free from the tentacles of human traits such as envy, hatred and anger.  It is peace in that it is simply what it is. 

 No argument.  No hyperbole.  No politics.

Light fills the sky and clouds trail across it, carried by a cool breeze. It is a moment that is what it can only be.  Perfect.

Read Full Post »

The Thin Shard

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged on October 24, 2010| 2 Comments »

There are particular types of paintings that I do that I sometimes paint expressly for certain galleries where they show more interest for that particular type than other galleries.  One such case is the long, thin sliver paintings such as the one shown here.  This piece, The Thin Shard, is an image measuring 4″ wide by 44″ tall on paper and was done specifically for my upcoming show at the Kada Gallery

I have done a number of these paintings over the years for all of my galleries but Kathy, the owner of the Kada Gallery along with her husbamd Joe,  has always had a personal preference for this tall, lean shape which comes across when she talks with her clients.  As a result, these paintings have always left the gallery fairly quickly.  Whenever Kathy asks what is new in the studio she almost always asks if I have been working on any of these this slices for her.

I started painting this shape early in my career, basically as a way to make use of all the scraps of paper left over from other more traditionally shaped paintings.  As I painted them, I realized that there was a certain pleasure that came from putting together this type of paintiing, from conquering the puzzle of how to create a scene that incorporates multiple elements into such a thin view while still maintaining a certain cohesiveness and natural feel, without the appearance of being contrived.  Creating depth into the piece was also an obstacle that had to be overcome without the benefit of a wide horizon and little room to convey much perspective. 

Then there was the problem of creating the balance in the painting that I’ve talked about in past posts.  It’s still there in each thin painting but it’s a tighter, more organized sort of thing that requires more precision in the placement of each element that makes up the painting.  A misplaced line or a sloppy juxtapostion of colors can be disastrous in such a such a small area with little room for compensating in other ways.  The shape of the painting seems to make the normal puzzles of painting seem larger.

But for me, these barriers create a wonderful environment for the paintings to grow.  The narrowness of the pieces creates its own visual excitement and is a wonderful carrier of color.   When successful, these pieces have an easy feel that allows them to be taken in at once.

I like this particular piece very much.  The color is rich and  and the weighting of the color and contrast, along with focus created by the placement of the moon,  make the eye take in the depth of the piece easily.  The tree breaks mildly out of the picture plane, giving it even a bit more feel of depth and an interesting silhouette.  On the wall, the size of the painting when framed (10″ wide and 50″ tall) gives the piece great visual impact.  It demands the eye, which is ultimately what I hope for all my work– that they have a force that is so vibrant and alive that they reach out from the wall.

I think The Thin Shard does that.

Read Full Post »

Edge of Light

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on October 22, 2010| 2 Comments »

This is a painting I just completed yesterday, an 8″ by 26″ piece on paper, that I’m calling Edge of Light.  It’s another piece that I am showing at my upcoming show, Toward Possibility,that opens November 6 at the the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.

There is a lot that I could talk about in this painting.  It has great underlying texture with swirls of chaotic fingerpaint-like slashes in the gesso.  It has great depth into the picture plane that gives one the feeling of being able to fully enter the landscape.  It has elements I seldom use in the stone walls of the short cliffs next to the water.  It has rich colors and a winding road that pulls the viewer along.

But the element that stands out for me is the balance in this piece between the light generated from the hazy sun that burns through on the right side of the painting and the darkness in the color and shade of the left.  When I look at a painting like this, one that is more horizontal, I always look at it as though there is a fulcrum underneath it, as though the painting were a teeter-totter and it rested on a support which allowed it to pivot upward or downward depending on which end had the greater weight.  What I am trying to do is make the painting on that fulcrum, balancing elements so that it seems to hover effortlessly level above this pivot point.

In this painting, this is all about balancing the light between the two opposing sides.  The greater the light coming from one side, the greater the darkness in the other side.  The darkness on the left makes the light coming from the other side appear brighter.  However, in a wide piece like this, if the the contrast is too great, the lighter side becomes too dominant, too heavy in a way,  and the balance on the fulcrum is broken.  I think this painting has that balance that I’m seeking.

I don’t know if this makes sense to anyone but myself.  Like a lot of things I do, this is a matter of feel and trying to describe how feel works often requires using analogies that may not always make sense.  In the end, I simply paint and if I’ve done all I can with the feel of which I talk, the viewer will easily take in the painting without considering things like balancing on a pivot point.

Read Full Post »

You Are Not Alone

Posted in Influences, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , on October 11, 2010| 1 Comment »

Sometimes there is a coming together of influence and the end product in creating a painting.  Such is the case with this painting, a new piece that is an 18″ by 18″ canvas, that will be going to my next show, Toward Possibility, at the Kada Gallery in Erie, which opens November 6.

I watched a segment on The Colbert Report featuring a song, You Are Not Alone,  from Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy written for Mavis Staples, the legendary R & B/ gospel singer.  The two performed the song and I’ve had it in my head ever since.  During the next few days, as I was working on this canvas, the sound of that song and Mavis Staples’ voice constantly seemed to be pushing this piece along.  It affected how I viewed it as I was painting it and affected the determination of its endpoint, its completion.  It was pretty evident to me that this piece was destined to be called You Are Not Alone.

I like the ambiguity in the title.  It could represent not being alone in the obvious spiritual sense but in the human sense as well.  We all share commonalities in our travels through this life although it often feels as though we are going absolutely alone down our chosen paths.  It’s an important reminder that while our paths might be unique, the feelings that we experience are often the same as others on other journeys.  We react as humans.

This is a very simple painting but there is a lot going on within it, as far as color and texture, that give it the needed depth to carry the mood.  The feeling I carried from the song led me to keeping the composition sparse, with no distant landscape in the background and the Red Tree being the sole focus of the canvas.  I wanted that pure focus in this piece and everything in it pushes the eye to that central figure, creating an atmospheric feel that carries the weight of the painting.

Okay, I’ve said enough.  Here’s an acoustic version of the song with Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy.  Hope you’ll see what I heard…

Read Full Post »

Show Date Change

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on September 21, 2010| 1 Comment »

The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

—Robert Burns

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

I decided to go with the less Scottish version of this verse.  Trying to decipher “gang aft agley” (which is shown here as “oft go awry“) into something coherent this early in the morning just seemed cruel.  But the verse is here to remind us that plans often change desspite our best efforts and intentions.

We had originally planned the show, Toward Possibility, at the Kada Gallery in Erie, Pennsylvania for October 23 but found that there was a very big event at a local museum that would be in direct conflict.  So, at almost the last minute, we switched it to the 16th.  Unfortunately, over the weekend we discovered there were other unforseen conflicts that made the doing the show at that date very difficult.

So, we put our heads together and have settled on a final show date for the Kada show:  November 6.  It’s also a Saturday opening starting at 7 PM.

For me, it’s not a problem to switch the show date to a later date.  It gives me extra time to fine tune the details of the work and possibly have new pieces that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.  The earlier date had me hustling around to meet the deadline.  On the other hand, I feel this is a really strong group of work and  would like to have it in front of people as soon as possible.  But the extra time is good and I feel very comfortable with date of November 6.

So, if you have any plans for seeing this show, make a note of the date change.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »