Yesterday was truly a day of work. I did make one drawing. I feel insecure about its quality. Mostly I began preparations for marketing my art. Last Friday (10/14/2011) I received the just published advertising post cards. This swung me into full gear in terms of organizing my advertising. So yesterday was about re-tooling my website, MEHRBACH.com, and designing the stationary and envelopes which will be used to send out the oversized (6 X 8 inch) post cards to art galleries in New York City, Boston, and Chicago. On Wednesday afternoon (10/19/2011) the new version of MEHRBACH.com will be uploaded. It will include a comprehensive Pictorial History of my art (these web pages are under construction—a few of the pages will be viewable, but this vast endeavor will take weeks to complete). I will go to New York City to market my art on November 18.
Yesterday I began to act upon my need to start a new painting. Yesterday's two drawings are visitations to ideas which drive my art, but are not new or novel. They were in the realm of "practice," not like swinging my bat at live pitching in a real game. More importantly, a stretcher was chosen for a new painting. I will place the canvas upon it today. I have two new paintings in mind: (1) Interaction between several people at a table, and (2) Interaction between a fantastic insect and a person, again at a table.
It is happening to the "Occupy Wall Street" protestors. Yesterday it happened in my studio. I do not wish to compare the profundity of these two activities, but I do recognize that desperation drives focus and focus clarifies expression. There are days I have limited time in the studio, for one reason or another. On those days the limited time causes me to focus. It is an artificial kind of desperation, thus very unlike the real desperation of the "We are the 99%" who are calling for changes in America's economic and political structure.
On Fridays I have been spending the morning in a class dedicated to Japanese Film. Yesterday I saw Akira Kurosawa's profound drama, "Rashomon," which unfolds as four witnesses to a rape and murder report their versions of the attack, leaving the viewer to decide what really happened. The descriptions of the same event have more differences than similarities. This idea of dissimilar versions of the same event is expounded by the "Occupy Wall Street" protestors. The lives they have led over the last four years is vastly different from those who obtained financial bonuses as they wended their way through the same period of time. In some ways, my work speaks to this incongruity in living the same event. Yesterday's drawing shows four people in the same room at the same time. Each is experiencing a different emotion, each living dissimilar lives within the same event. I am finding my "average" way of behavior. This is not easy, as being an artist implies an openness to life style and direction. However, there is ingrained in my DNA, and the knowledge I assimilated from my environment, a manner of understanding and seeing. This is my "mean," as in the mathematical "average." Am I saying one cannot escape his or her destiny? Matisse said, "When confused, look back to the impulses in your earliest work." He was saying it is best to look to your earliest, and simplest, natural impulses when solving complex problems. I believe we are constantly adjusting our impulses based upon our ongoing experiences. Viewing the "earliest work" helps in times of confusion, but it is only basic knowledge, and is incomplete.
Yesterday I revisited the painting "Two Men" and drawing #3 of 10/12/2011. I also made two additional drawings. I really do not understand. I went away on Monday, enjoyed a warm and sunny day on the beach. Tuesday was a bummer; I felt lost and out of focus. Yesterday was Wednesday, and it began with me feeling depressed. I then made drawing after drawing; with each I felt better. It got better with each drawing. By the end of the day I felt so good that I was energized into late evening. Last night I slept sporadically. I awoke several times in excited anticipation, like the night before Christmas. This morning I awoke very early (4 a.m.) with great optimism. I have six drawings to show you. The first was begun on Tuesday October 11th and finished yesterday. The rest (five of them!) were begun and finished yesterday. Yesterday was an incredible journey.
No, I did not get to the beaches of Maine yesterday, but I did make art. Today I will go to Ogunquit, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean. Yesterday in the studio I revisited the painting "Two Men." There is a new feature on my web site, MEHRBACH.com. The page Paintings of 2010 & 2011 exhibits all paintings, both complete and in progress, worked on during the last year. "Two Men" is there in its previous state, and dated "In Progress, June 2011." So I have not revisited this painting in 4 months. A lot has happened since June; I have learned a lot. You can see this in my one day revision of "Two Men." It is much better. I did not touch the man on the left, but the man on the right is completely re-painted (except for his right hand—on viewer's left). I am reveling in my newfound ability to find satisfactory solutions. Before yesterday this was an uncomfortably unsolved painting, labored upon for weeks, but in one day it took a big leap toward solution! I am feeling good; time to go to the beach!
Yesterday's drawing is also a good one. Its form-wrapping complexity displays my skillfulness in comprehending and rendering layered forms. Unbelievable as it seems, in the middle of autumn, today will be hot and sunny on the Maine beaches. I predict I will be on the beach instead of in the studio. But nothing is certain, except that which has already occurred. And that which has happened is often remembered, transformed, and understood in ways quite different from one person to another. This is a reason to paint, and a reason to keep a daily blog. Like a diary I am documenting the facts of the day. As much as possible this is a visual diary, and the limitations of verbal description are replaced with the limitations of visual description. Obviously I am writing NOW, so this is only partially true. But, I digress...
Yesterday I revisited the painting "Flood #1." It was a good revisit. My understanding of the brushstroke as creator of nature, inspired by knowledge of nature, was fortified. The two drawings also gave me great satisfaction, particularly #2. Measured by my sense that I am making art which represents all I know and feel, it was a very good day in the studio. Last night I had a strangely vivid dream. I was in a complex, multi-layered factory, but I was not one of the workers. I was free to play among the gadgets, pipes, wires, and large machines. Up and down ladders I went, into and out of seats which sat in front of control panels. I wandered throughout a world painted in grey tones. I was just having fun, exploring this elaborate, monstrously original, world. I felt comfortable there, in the dream, in the multiplex. This dream was a boost to my morale as I move toward more complex paintings.
Yesterday was Friday, and Fridays have become a day to watch Japanese Films. I did get into the studio, but only accomplished one drawing. This drawing was important in approach, as I felt my way through it, abandoning myself to its needs. The forms are more felt than embellished. As example, take a look at the hair of each figure; barely scratched in yet effortlessly real. So the accomplishment of yesterday was a dream, corroborating my direction, and a drawing, telling me I can feel my way there rather than intellectually force my way there. In this latter idea, Willem de Kooning is a mentor. In my continued homage to de Kooning I again show a painting of his, Fire Island, 1946. The grey aura of my dream was analogous to the world exhibited in the Japanese films I have seen in the last two weeks. Both of the films were in black and white. Most important of these was "Woman in the Dunes." This film takes place in an incredibly dream-like landscape. I feel great kinship for its expression through allegory and mythology. It is similar to the ambition of my art. Who knows? It feels right. Even I find the painting "Holding Rock" surprising. What is happening? Can this painting continue to be called "Holding Rock?" No matter, as it is a visual object which requires no particular title. However, I will refer to it as "Holding" from now on.
Yesterday was a very good day in the studio. The painting "Holding" took a large leap, and the two drawings are inventively formed, nicely composed, and emotionally interesting. I do not know where I am going, but I am moving. I have been tired the last couple of days. My being fatigued is usually a result of great effort. So I must tie together the recent changes I have made in approach, as seen in the paintings "Holding Rock" and "Flood #1," and also in the recent drawings, including the one posted today. I made just one drawing yesterday. In any case, the one drawing is one of risks and challenges limits. Move on...
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April 2024
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