Hunters Point Naval Shipyard | San Francisco, CA
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Joy in Repetition
Much has been said about artists working in a serial fashion. I’m not sure I can add anything to the discussion, but I would like to feature a favorite series of mine from Julian Schnabel, “Untitled (Chinese)” from 2004-5.
While you’re perusing these paintings, check out the live performance by Prince, “Joy in Repetition”.
Shuffling the deck
In a previous post, letting go, I had shown how a 14 piece installation, “Bouquet”, turned into several reconfigurations.
In this post I want to share a 15 piece grouping, “Network”. This was a work from 2007 in which I paired equal amounts of encaustic and acrylic panels.
"Network"
“Network” was shown in Nashville, TN in a solo show I had at
Gallery One. Ultimately, it was returned to me. Frankly, at that point, the piece was looking less than I’d like it to. The encaustic panels seemed to have the most potential, so I decided to try to re-work them. After much shuffling, adding and substracting, and re-painting sections, I had a new painting.
Here is the result. A much more fulfilling piece, in my opinion.
"Square Dance"
Writing this made me think of permanance/impermanence, flux/stability, and how we discern reality. The paintings creation and being represents a specific place in space and time. But does it really? How easily “Network” morphed into “Square Dance”. How many other things in our lives that seem so fixed are actually in a state of change? Certainly our perceptions and judgements change, sometimes as dramatically as night and day.
From There to Here
This is a post about one way that an artist’s work can evolve and develop. I produce paintings in a serial fashion. A previous piece informs the current one. There are always threads that weave their way through my work. While I’m trying to refine and articulate my vision, eventually there comes a point where I think I’ve perfected it. This is the good news/bad news. I think I’ve already stated the good news. The bad news is, OK, now what? As I’m definitely not interested in repeating myself, variations are devised to explore the nooks and crannies of my idea. This struggle is ongoing, but there are times that seem to be inflection points. I’ll explain. This painting was finished in the first weeks of the year.
At the point of finishing this piece, I gave myself the challenge to switch mediums. Besides encaustic, I’ve worked in oil, acrylic, and various print and drawing mediums. I had been doing encaustic exclusively though for five years, so a switch was a big deal. In any case, I had few, if any plans and decided to just let the medium lead me.
Without trying to explain how these paintings happened, perhaps I should just show them now and offer some comments at the bottom.
After painting for so many years, I have many techniques, images, and themes to draw on. About five years ago I started using line as more of a grid image. The lines developed curves, which had other meanings. In the course of working on this new series, I thought about line in a broader context. That is, to let them imply shape. The earthiness of the texture in the paintings support the idea of physicality as well.
Meanwhile, tomorrow I could turn on my hotplate to work on some encaustics, and who knows what might happen?
Where you draw the line/ Chiharu Shiota
Because I’m drawing again, thoughts about line have really been on my mind. By expanding how we think about line, a greater significance is given to it. An artist, Chiharu Shiota, extends drawing into space, merging the viewer, the drawing, and the overall environment. The physicality of the installations are a wonderful balance to the meditative quality they evoke.
This video is of her recent show in Paris and has her talking and working.
Whether she is connecting objects to space,
Or, by just defining space, the work becomes simultaneously transcendent and visceral.
Given her background with body installation art, I wanted to include these three performance pieces. All of the elements; the artist, the environment, the medium, imply to their meaning and purpose. But more importantly, meanings go begging for new definitions.
Letting go, getting back, & letting go
One of the first things a creative person is confronted with is “letting go”. Making a work that is our very body and soul and then sending it off with the likelihood that you’ll never see it again is tough.
For me, the answer is that making art is automatically a sharing process. Am I painting to accumulate nice things to look at? No, of course not. They are my body and soul, but they’re meant to been seen by others. OK, so out the door they go.
This is a little story about letting go of a certain painting, “Bouquet”.
"Bouquet" 14 encaustic panels 10x10 ft.
I had long wanted to do a large scatter shot type installation. In 2009 I did this piece for a solo show at Andrea Schwartz Gallery, San Francisco. It was returned to me after the show.
I let it go again in 2010 for a show at NuArt Gallery, Santa Fe. This time in was hung in two groupings. One of the larger panels did sell.
Late in 2011 the remaining 13 panels were returned. Under the scrutiny of time, my work can appear to improve or diminish (in my mind). Fortunately, many of the panels really excited me. For many days, I had fun combining and performing slight reworkings. I ended up with three new pieces, two of which are now happily hanging in our home.
- bouquet 09-11a 8x20in.
bouquet 09-11c 20x44in.
bouquet 09-11b 12x30in.
So, for the work to continue, it’s about creation and letting go. A simple thing, but so crucial.
More thoughts about line, and Richard Serra
Since returning to figure drawing after a long absence, I’ve been thinking more and more about line. I wrote in my last post about expanding the definition of line. But yet, the drawn line keeps confronting me. It does make sense, since I’m in the studio every day to create. After the initial thought phase (time line?), the actual creation starts with a line, or at least a mark.
In addition to drawing again, I’ve begun a new series of paintings in a different medium. I can’t help but think that this will also play into further exploration of line. At the least, there will be an attempt to use this new found interest in a way that informs and enhances the work.
Related to this topic, the sculptural work of Richard Serra comes to mind. Here is an example of line that assumes a very physical presence. Granted, that a 100 ton steel sculpture will always have overwhelming presence. But to me, it’s the delicately curving, arching lines that posses the real power. Distancing ourselves by just looking at the photos, this idea becomes apparent.
