Category: Biomorphism

Fear of the Robot

10/26/2022

Drawing 10·25·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

My fear is about forms looking extremely derivative, as if they were meant to represent known objects. Sometimes that is my intention. Mostly, I wish to use form to animate space, to energize, to emotionalize my compositions. In the case of this drawing, I believe I have gone too far toward the recognizable. That was NOT my intention.

Finding Meaning in Simplicity

10/20/2022

Drawing 10·19·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Arrival at the Middle

9/7/2022

Drawing 09·06·2022, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches

I call now the middle of my journey. This lesson in life, in Art, is I had to arrive at the middle before I could take a step toward full, self-realization. This drawing is important; it focuses on the most natural to me, i.e., inventing interesting, biomorphic forms. These biomorphic forms are beyond my natural self, they are reality, they have profound meaning.

Digging

7/31/2022

Drawing 07·30·2022, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches

Biomorphism, and humor, are alive and well within me/without me. Dig it!

Wonderful Biomorphism

7/30/2022

Drawing 07·27·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Ontological Biomorphism?

7/16/2022

Drawing 07·15·2022 No.1, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Drawing 07·15·2022 No.2, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

Removing the Murky

9/18/2017

"2017 No.12" (state 8), oil on canvas, 76x61 inches

I would like to declare the painting 2017 No.12 complete, but never say never. In fact, 2017 No.11 remains on my painting wall; yesterday I looked at this previously "completed" painting. Now I believe 2017 No.11 needs an alteration, i.e., removal of a little murkiness in thought and deed. I will probably give 2017 No.11 a bit of a re-do tomorrow. For now, I believe this one, the one in front of you, is complete. (A note about reproduction: That top border band of blue/black of the painting reproduced here today is darker in the actual painting. When photographing this painting I tried to adjust the lights that were used to illuminate the painting. In my adjustments I could now remove some of the surface sheen. Thus, the top border, which is darker in value, is reflectively grayed in the reproduction you see before you.) Please note the playfulness of the frame created by the dark border: it changes in value, as well as in width, consequently it also changes in its artifice of depth. This is new in my work.

Yesterday's drawing continues my query into biomorphic abstraction.

Drawing 09·17·2017, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches

The Defeat of Sight

7/31/2016

"2016 No.14" (state 5), oil on canvas, 67x58.5"

Usually I group my drawings into a gallery setting. Not today. Yesterday's drawings deserve to be seen alone, not next to one another. They are complex. I have often questioned the efficacy of complexity. At times I believed my work is too complex, thus disturbing the viewer. I do not believe that is the case with yesterday's drawings. Am I fooling myself? Am I getting away with murder? I actually believe I am defeating the coherent planer world, not murdering it. For the first time I feel my work is bolstered by the achievements of Paul Cézanne and Georges Braque. To show you what I mean, please look at the two reproductions of paintings by Cézanne and Braque (below my work). Cézanne and Braque has a propensity toward complexity, as seen in these reproductions of their work. Strangely, I do not feel "influenced" by either Cézanne or Braque. Their work supports mine without competition. They are who they are, and I am who I am.

Before I go, I should write something about the painting "2016 No.14", which is now in state 5. It took a good turn yesterday. It is in a battle with itself. A battle between structural complexity and emotional simplicity. It is being solved. It also is successfully dealing with my recent concern of Biomorphic distraction.

Drawing 07·30·2016 No.1, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches

Drawing 07·30·2016 No.2, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches

Paul Cézanne, "Mont Sante-Victoire Seen from les Lauves", oil on canvas, 1906

Georges Braque, "Still Life with a Metronome", oil on canvas, 1909

Slow day after Tedeschi-Trucks & Allstars.

7/17/2016

Last night, did not get to bed till 2am. Went to blues concert: "Tedeschi Trucks Band", "North Mississippi Allstars", "Los Lobos". Good stuff! 2am is really late for me. Today I am dragging. So won't write much. I do need to say... Yesterday's two drawings exhibit the dichotomy of my dilemma. Both contain forcefully three-dimensional forms, but the first is definitely biomorphic (looks like dismembered ant on box), while the second's forms are definitely non-biological. I greatly prefer No.2. Yeah. I'm learning.

Less bio more geo.

7/14/2016

"2016 No.14" (state 2), oil on canvas, 67x58.5"

Too high a level of biomorphism bothers me. I believe strong biomorphism forces the viewer to think of animals and insects and extraterrestrial aliens (as depicted in films), rather than clear-sightedly being involved with composition, color, and forms. I want the viewer to visually dive into my art, be consumed by its reality. I don't want the viewer to think about external references. I want them to be here, now. Is this possible? Not completely. We all live in a world of forms and color. Our references are demanding, both intellectually and emotionally. Those who find spiders an emotional conundrum probably see a spider in "2016 No.14" (although it only has four appendages). I see a form stretching itself, forcing the space into three-dimensions. I am hoping this causes spatial tintinnabulation, making the absence of form ring, as if the air itself is alive. This is me trying to enliven the third-dimension of negative space on a two-dimensional plane.

<<Previous