I like to show my drawings next to one other, in Gallery Format, because they have become so much about exploration of possibilities. It is best to view them contrasted to one another (please CLICK on a reproduction to ENLARGE it for easy viewing).
Right now my painting is also about possibilities. Perhaps that is what it should always be. Where I go is revealed as quickly as I go. This is the manner in which I am now making art. It is exploratory, moment to moment. I am an explorer, walking through a landscape for the first time, without a map. "If I cross that hill what will be on the other side?" I don't know!
Yesterday's drawings are shown in Gallery Format. Clicking on an image will enlarge it! Alternate Title: Eight was EnoughYesterday resulted in a burst of drawings. I was researching possible directions. The outcome is my realization that the possibilities are endless, and they are all valid. This is me questioning a means to self-expression. This is me realizing there are no limits. This is me realizing each work of art can be categorized as "good," or "not so good," to its depth of authentic expression.
Yesterday's drawings are shown in Gallery Format. Click on an image to enlarge it. The images are not titled under their reproductions, but all can be referenced as "Untitled Drawing-01·10·2015", #1 through #9 with the exception that #5 is missing (I miscounted, there never was a #5). The media of the drawings is pencil on paper, each drawing is 11X14 inches in dimension. Finally, yesterday's work spells the beginning of me "just doing it." The necessary skills have been in place for a long time. It is the approach that has now changed. It has changed because of my acceptance that each work I make will be successful, or not so successful. I also accept that the moment of creation is its own validity. Each work is part of the process. Each is a piece of research. None are failures. Each work of art, when introspectively examined, will move me toward greater cognizance of who I am, and how I may best express myself through my art. Insight: My recent work is not about a figurative style being replaced by an abstract style. It is about APPROACH. Yes, that is APPROACH in ALL CAPITALS and in BOLD! I am not about to give up all that I know. I am moving someplace, but it is not about loss or forgetting. It is about discovery and acceptance. The reference to the heart in yesterday's drawing is important. That heart cries out my acceptance of visually known forms. In addition to the heart, the space in yesterday's drawing is not abstract. The drips of Jackson Pollack's work are abstract. Jackson Pollack was vastly limited by his choice of means. He, in the end, performed more as an invalid than as an artist seeking a grand manner of communicating with his viewers. There is little sophistication in Pollack'e oeuvre. Where I go from this moment will be lost and found in the studio, and not in my verbalization of the process. Verbalization is a result of experience and not a precursor of discovery. From the Dictionary: The title is a little bit of abstract language. It fits my mood and the work I am creating. I am very excited. The work fits me. I wonder why I waited so long to come back here. Take a look at the last time I did abstract work at MEHRBACH.com Pictorial History 1987-1993.
I don't care about straight lines on the page, but I do care about getting there directly, without straying too far from an authentic path. Here I am in another struggle to keep on a line to self-expression. This is about clarity and correct measurement, and not about skill and being true to form. Yesterday's drawing feels off. It is too ornate and confusing. It looks like a weird being from another planet is encountering a strange fruit from another planet (the objects may come from two different planets — who knows?).
Today I am back at it again! (Lately, I seem to be loving those exclamation points!!!) Wowie zowie!!! This does make sense to me. Above, yesterday's drawing. Below, a new painting, begun yesterday. Fast and furious they shall come ( that's a prediction!). There is something VERY RIGHT about my present approach, albeit NOT new, but created because of years of practice and preparation. This is definitely NOT a "shot in the dark."
This process is not easy, not at all, and... I wish it were easy! Wishing gets nothing, doing does. The more I do this the greater the force of my insight: I must move away from figuration. Figuration, for me, had become a dead end. I want to express using painterly purity: color, form, composition, surface energy, and light. If I remained fettered to the figure I would have concerned myself with thoughts of physiognomy and anatomy. This diversion had removed me from the direct and the simple, and the possibility of true expression. Authentication of my primary impetus, to find meaning through making art, had become impossible. It is no wonder that it took me so much time, and energy, to complete the last two paintings you can see on my website, MEHRBACH.com, i.e. the triptych and diptych (Untitled Triptych-08·13·2014 and Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014). My time and energy were me seeking true expression. I was a true detective, but I missed vital clues. The struggle to get it right was the major clue, and I missed it! This dumbfounded miss, this failure, had told its own story. I ignored the clue, and went on and on and on. Is this a problem now? Was this a failure from which I learned nothing? No, no, no! I am a better man for it! Today I begin a new painting. Watch me crow!!!
Happy New Year! and... welcome to a year that will be one of transition. Transition is the one thing that is assured. There is an old saying, "Change is the one constant." Well here it is. Yesterday's drawing is an announcement of change, but not the first. If you have been a consistent reader of my blog, you will have seen this coming in the last blog post of 2014. Strange it feels that despite my dedication to figurative art I am very excited about this newly embraced abstract direction. Philip Guston once said to me that I was a painter who enjoyed making objects. Back then I felt I'd rather make human figures. In actuality, I believe I prefer inventing expressive forms more than making human figures. Yesterday's drawing is strangely about both, mixing the human element with abstracted forms. It is obvious that this new path is a long one, upon which I have taken an initial step. More than anything, I am trying to follow my intuition in making images. I am dedicating myself toward personal, expressive satisfaction. The human figure alone was not enough, or it was not correct. I felt it held me back. I so much dedicated myself to human references that I impeded my ability to express with color, form, light, and perspective. My desire to make three-dimensional forms in three-dimensional space is immense. It should not be restricted. Given this idea I am going to follow this path which is intuitively motivated. Hang on!
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May 2024
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