"Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 3), oil on canvas, 55.5x66 inches {"What might have been is an abstraction; Remaining a perpetual possibility; Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory." -T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"} My art is work in process. That is my thought for today. That is all I got... back to work!
"Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 2), oil on canvas, 55.5x66 inches {"What might have been is an abstraction; Remaining a perpetual possibility; Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory." -T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"} I am all over this. Incredible to me, the creator, this game of making-art is in control. My knowledge can be plucked from everywhere; it surrounds me; my brain is on fire; omnipresent are ideas that can be identified as true. This does not make my task faster, easier. In fact the road just got bumpier; my speed has slowed because there is so much I can do with every mark I make. It is much more than marks. It is composition and form and light and color and repetition and pattern et cetera et cetera. Crazy full of possibilities but also crazy specific with solutions that actually make sense. Solutions that speak truly, speak authentically, are several and few. Finding them is my task.
"Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 1), oil on canvas, 55.5x66 inches {"What might have been is an abstraction; Remaining a perpetual possibility; Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory." -T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"} T.S. Eliot's Burnt Norton (1935) is one of my favorite poems. "The philosophical basis for the poem can be explained since the discourse on time is connected to the ideas within St. Augustine's Confessions. As such, there is an emphasis on the present moment as being the only time period that really matters, because the past cannot be changed and the future is unknown. The poem emphasizes that memory must be abandoned to understand the current world, and humans must realize that the universe is based on order. The poem also describes that although consciousness cannot be bound within time, humans cannot actually escape from time on their own." (quote from Wikipedia) The relevance of Burnt Norton to my work is great. I struggle to be here, creating myself and my art; I must deal with my past and the past that is art history. Art is like The Law, it is rich with precedent which must be respected, and assimilated, in order to move toward self-understanding and correctness. The first lines of Eliot's Burnt Norton are, "Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past." Am too ambitious with my Burnt Norton? I left my previous work (Along for Ride) with fear of failure. As I begin my newest painting I simultaneously leave the previous painting. Have I committed Original Sin? I am vainly trying to go places that cannot, must not, be exercised. In my new painting I will stay with the solidly known. I will not stray from my present day truth. To explain this better I quote Wikipedia again: "Eliot believed that Burnt Norton could benefit society. The poem's narration reflects on how humankind is affected by Original Sin, that they can follow the paths of either good or evil, and that they can atone for their sins. To help the individual, the poem explains that people must leave the time-bound world and look into their selves, and that poets must seek out a perfection, not bound by time in their images, to escape from the problems of language." I am not religious; this Original Sin thing is a stretch for me. T.S. Eliot was religious. The concept of Original Sin to me is simple recognition of the deceptive power of previous knowledge, previous success, previous failure. To be successful I must "leave the time-bound world and look into [myself]; [as an artist I] must seek out a perfection not bound by time in [my] images [In order] to escape from the problems of [the images from my past and those of art history]." Yesterday's drawing is much the same. I am trying to codify the pictorial rules of my art. "Although logos is common to all, most people live as if they had a wisdom of their own." I have declared the painting Along for the Ride complete. I am moving on. Along for the Ride is just what its title says it is... I allowed it to pull me in, give me a bumpy ride, call questions at me, force me to investigate with possible answers. I feel it is similar to Pablo Picasso's famous Les Demoiselles d’Avignon; it is what it is; it has as many questions as it has answers; it makes the viewer uncomfortable; it leads me toward work of great substance. I like it. I dislike it. Time to move on. Yesterday's drawing came slow, then rapid. It is a test, research! Along for the Ride is off my painting wall. There's a clear space to place a white canvas. Today! "The Intervening Tick" (2018 No.6, state 7), oil on canvas, 49x33 inches {"Is that where wise men want us to live; in that intervening tick, the tiny slot that occurs after you have spent hours searching downtown for that new club and just before you give up and head back home?" - Billy Collins, "The Present", from "New Ohio Review" 2017} I am a man of intense nuance, questioning each and every stroke of color, form, and light reflectance. Yesterday I completed my last pass upon the painting The Intervening Tick. Regrettably I also looked again at Along for the Ride; I have to call that painting done too! I always see nuances that could be better served. I should move on, so I will, decisively so! Tomorrow I will strip my last two canvases from my work wall and begin new ones. Lessons learned must go somewhere; that somewhere is now, not looking back. This is me counseling myself to begin new paintings.
Yesterday's drawing is me trying to find the next step that makes sense. This drawing is helpful as preparation for the nervous leap I will take tomorrow on newly hung blank canvases. Sometimes an image comes along that is alien to me, its creator. Such is the one I show you today. Yesterday's drawing is an exploratory composition; it is "call and response." It is shallow, low in its 3D-ness; basic in its play of forms. My upcoming paintings are in my subconscious. This must be preparation. I am uncomfortable with the sophisticated image of my recently completed painting, Along for the Ride. Recently I viewed original works by Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Sean Scully, Mark Rothko, Vincent Van Gogh, Edmond Cross, and Paul Cézanne. All but the Cézanne's amazed me with the simplicity of their initial impact. Cézanne's work is different. Paintings by Paul Cézanne often immediately hit the viewer with sophisticated complexity. Myself, I go back and forth between initial impact as complex or simple. I am asking a big question. In all my work I continually look for satisfactory answers; answers that make me feel ease, comfort, and direct communication. Look at my last two paintings, Along for the Ride and The Intervening Tick: one complex, one simple. This bouncing, back and forth, will continue till I find my true home. The road to simplicity does not come easily to any painter. Paul Cézanne never found it. Mark Rothko certainly found it. Who is the better artist? I place my chip on Paul Cézanne. You know it when you see it! Along for the Ride has absolutely completed its ride; therefore declared complete! Yesterday's drawing is wonderfully exploratory. I am, it is, anticipating my next painting (which I hope to begin this week). Enjoy! I am!
Staring at the painting, Along for the Ride, made me doubt its completion. I cannot get to the studio today. Here is an alternate solution, which I achieved using Photoshop. I think I like it better than the actual painting posted earlier today. This will be achieved on the actual painting if I agree with this assessment tomorrow.
Revelation is interesting; possibly deceptive. I accept the painting Along for the Ride as complete. Is it perfect? Possibly; more likely it is the best it can be/thus the best it will ever be. It is knit together by a staccato of marks. My last three paintings contain repetitive marks. This worries me. My next painting will be reluctant to utilize the same methodology. Revelation comes through challenge. That seen, previously revealed, is always more of a question than an answer.
Yesterday's drawing came rapidly. It exploded after the concentration required to complete Along for the Ride. This drawing felt very good during its creation. I am reluctant to judge its merits. It certainly could be a precursor to my next painting. Mostly I needed to run after walking gingerly through the final phase of Along for the Ride. The painting Along for the Ride is very close to completion. It has a major problem. It is in the lower left. It is not the composition. It is the color used to create the shadow on the orange object; it is too dark and does not ring true as representation of the shadow it suggests. This will be fixed today.
Once in a while a painting comes along that is emblematic of knowledge acquired/knowledge questioned. Along for the Ride is such a painting. It is immensely important to my oeuvre. I will proceed out of this painting with greater focus on my own intentions; intentions animated by deeply perceived original consciousness. I discover what I know through actions upon questions; questions that originate from the experience of my existence. Experience is compounded knowledge. Knowledge is a compendium of reaction to experiences; positive, negative, and neutral. |
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May 2024
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