Carl Mehrbach's Art Blog

Three Days of Getting Better

6/27/2022

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"Arena" (2022 No.6, state 7), oil on canvas, 41¼x58½ inches

"Arena" (2022 No.6, state 6), oil on canvas, 41¼x58½ inches

Drawing 06·08·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

I did not get a chance to post for three days; here is the work I did during that hiatus. All good, I believe.

State 6 of "Arena" ended one day of work, me in quandary. I did not understand how to proceed. The next day I returned to the studio, made state 7. I am happy with this solution, but cannot declare it complete.

This drawing interests me. It is fully abstract, references to walk-around reality are vague. It is very much about surface and touch. I believe Mark Rothko would like it, probably Philip Guston too.

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All the Time

6/25/2022

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"Crevice" (2022 No.7, state 3), oil on canvas, 41⅜x57½ inches

This is about revelation because I am painting. "Crevice" is in motion. It is alive and well. It is on it own path. Where is it? What is it? It is time within time. It is becoming because it is being here. Time is fluid. Art is fluid. Without fluidity this painting and I are fastened, pinned to bewilderment.

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Better, Better All the Time...

6/24/2022

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Drawing 06·23·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

It is happening... sticking in there, doing 10,000+++ hours pays off. I am finding the ground on which I live. This drawing is a good one.

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Going, Going...

6/23/2022

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Drawing 06·22·2022 No.1, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Drawing 06·22·2022 No.2, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Symbolic, noteworthy, looks like something I have seen before; this is what I am doing. I am going there, doing it, referring to memory past and present, stuff that visually reminds me. These two drawings are examples of my quest for known and knowing.

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Making the Move Real

6/20/2022

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"Crevice" (2022 No.7, state 2), oil on canvas, 40½x57½ inches

This move is a real one. Symbolism is upon me. Is this, definable, decidable, decipherable symbolism? To my inner self, yes! This makes sense to me. This is not verbal sense. This is internal sense. Things are right in this, my newest painting, "Crevice."

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Going With It

6/19/2022

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"Crevice" (2022 No.7, state 01), oil on canvas, 40½x57½ inches

Thus it begins. I have accepted an idea true to me. This is about symbolic representation as important to energizing my deepest self. I accept it, my images may mystify some viewers, but no matter how perplexing, puzzling, convoluted, mystifying, and unaccountable it may look to some, this is core me. I must do it. The new painting, "Crevice", is such consequential image.

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Symbolic Moments

6/18/2022

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Drawing 06·17·2022 No.1, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Drawing 06·17·2022 No.2, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Symbolism and I go way back, back to my first impulses. I remember being in college, where I was studying Chemistry, but flirting with making Art; I made a painting with people marching up a mountain, marching to the top where a national flag was blowing in the wind. The idea of marching uphill, toward a national symbol, had much to do with the ideas put forward in John Lennon's song, Imagine: "Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion, too." A couple years later I was an Apprenticed Artist in New York City, four years later I moved to study with Philip Guston at Boston University.

I believe I am returning to one of my primary impulses, symbolism. These two drawings are a step in that direction, they are symbolic moments.

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Becoming Whole

6/16/2022

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Drawing 06·15·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

The trend appearing in my work is me grabbing onto meaningful forms residing in meaningful space. I go into into that invented place in order to find meaning and personal truth. This makes sense to my deeper self. It is me recognizing my personal, idiosyncratic wholeness. Yesterday's drawing is a step toward acceptance. In this drawing I see truth in forms and truth in their spatial residence; these entities, and their space and place, reflect personal recognition of reality.

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Delivery & Not Much Else

6/14/2022

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Drawing 06·10·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

The last few days had me distracted by upcoming exhibition of the painting, "Castle" (2022 No.3), which goes on exhibition June 25th at Silvermine Art Galleries in New Canaan, CT (see PostCard for exhibition, below). Consequently, the drawing shown today is interesting, judgement withheld.