 "Your Decisions Matter" (2020 No.2, state 7), oil on canvas, 52x55½ inches {"It's essential that you believe as if your decisions matter... reality isn't important; what's important is your belief..." - Ted Chiang, "Exhalation", 2019} When does simplification become too much? Am I simplifying? Clarity is an act of decisiveness; Simplification is an act of divorce. That which appears simpler is often more complex. Complexity is a measure of profundity. Simplification is a measure of ease. This painting, "Your Decisions Matter", is complex; it is profound, albeit simpler in color scheme and its number and kinds of forms. Mark Rothko understood profundity; he made, to the unobservant eye, seemingly simple paintings. I leave you with a great painting by Mark Rothko.  Mark Rothko, "Blue & Grey", oil on canvas, 1962  "The Doctrine of Liberty" (2019 No.1, state 7), oil on canvas, 66x59.5 inches {"I believe there is a golden thread which alone gives meaning to the political history of the West, from Marathon to Alamein, from Solon to Winston Churchill and after. This I chose to call the doctrine of liberty under the law." -Anthony Sampson, "The Changing Anatomy of Britain", 1982}  Drawing 02·02·2019, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches The constant back and forth is not second-guessing; It is guessing! Try this! Is that right? Yes! No! Maybe? Yeah, that's it! There is a lot right about both the drawing and the painting I show today. The drawing I call "done." The painting, "The Doctrine of Liberty", requires several more sessions. There are little things in "The Doctrine of Liberty" that bother me. Also, there are big things that bother me. Little things, such as the vertical ochre-colored strand on the left requires more tactile touches in order to better animate its accent. Big things, such as the many value and color relationships that need to be revisited, enhanced so as to bring full power to the entire image — this image is in need of total integration through contrast of values within the overall play of its dominant atmospheric color. And so it goes...
 "Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 19), oil on canvas, 63x66 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"}  Drawing 10·27·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Jumping into a pit of obstacles, hazards and rewards, is the means to success in sport and in art-making. I found I can act well when challenged by multiple possibilities, some leading to success, some leading to failure. This is problem solving. This is the activity of art-making. This is the activity of sport. Art is engineering and athletics combined. It is physical, and it is mental. Yesterday I leaped into a drawing. For a while I felt lost. I had created many possibilities. For a while it felt confusing and chaotic. There were moments when I thought it best to abandon the drawing. I did not. I was rewarded. I found order within the chaos I had launched. This success by challenge is a great thing; it brings vitality. If the result is success, then trust in one's abilities are bolstered. More challenge will follow. It is a practice I will continue.
Burnt Norton is now very close to complete. The tweak is on! Burnt Norton shall now be completed with minor alterations in color, line, and form.  "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"}  Drawing 09·11·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches 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.
 "The Intervening Tick" (2018 No.6, state 6), 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}  "Along for the Ride" (2018 No.7, state 1), oil on canvas, 57.5x49.5 inches) {"The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful consideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that — well, lucky you." - Philip Roth, "American Pastoral"}  Drawing 07·22·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches The painting, The Intervening Tick, is nearly complete. One more session and it will be done. I have declared Chocorua (2018 No.6) complete. Moving-on is the real news. In 1977 my greatest mentor, Philip Guston, wrote, "So when the 1960s came along I was feeling split, schizophrenic. The war, what was happening in America, the brutality of the world. What kind of man am I, sitting at home, reading magazines, going into a frustrated fury about everything — and then going into my studio to adjust a red to a blue? I thought there must be some way I could do something about it." Guston did do something, the thing an artist can do; Guston made a series of Nixon Drawings. Guston also began making emotion-driven, figurative paintings and drawings. Another Philip has always engaged me. Philip Roth continues to be in my thoughts. I never met Philip Roth, but he was Philip Guston's good friend (see photo, below). In 1978, the year the photo was taken, I was working with Philip Guston. He was my artistic mentor. The two Philips are with me today. In my head I constantly hear Philip Guston's encouraging words. I am reading Philip Roth's writings. The painting I began yesterday is aptly titled from a few lines Roth wrote in his novel, American Pastoral. I am apolitical. I am a pure artist; however I feel the tension in America. Guston must have felt similarly in the 1960s and 1970s. I will continue to go to my studio, adjust my colors, adjust my forms, adjust my compositions, but I cannot help but realize my art is a response to the country and the world in which I live. My art is, I believe, appropriately expressive.  Philip Guston and Philip Roth in Woodstock NY, 1978  Philip Guston, drawing from the "Nixon Drawings", ink on sketch book paper, 1971  Philip Guston, drawing of Henry Kissinger from the "Nixon Drawings", ink on sketch book paper, 1971  Drawing 12·19·2017, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches There are multifarious ends facing me. One has immediacy. The idea of my mortality and eventual silence is the scariest. My here & now involvement in the End of the Year celebrations, and holidays, is the most demanding. I am a social animal, as well as a spiritual/Intellectual/emotional one. I have family. I have myself. Conflicts arise and overwhelm. Particularly at this time of the year, during this particular Ending. The process is not pretty; perhaps the outcome will be. I am trying to make here & now work well for me and for the people in my life, friends and family. I need generous amounts of time in the studio to feel comfortable with myself. Recently that time has been compromised, reduced by the many preparations to celebrate. Hopefully the celebrations will diminish my conflicts. Best I can expect is my memory will be altered by their success. I hope good memories will not make them too ugly to repeat.
Yesterday I made one drawing in one hour. It is informative. I want to pursue the simplicity of its central form. Soon a painting will come that takes this simplicity as most important. Look at the painting 2017 No.13 in reproduction. It is difficult to see it well in this small form. In the studio this painting sings. It is large, a width of 71 inches (180 cm). There are also problems in reproducing color and value. I made a postcard of 2017 No.13; its image looks cramped in a 5x7 inch format. To get attention, for people to wish to explore my art more fully, more correctly, and in person, I have to get their attention. This will be done best if I make a few works that reproduce well in small formats, such as on a 5x7 inch postcard... always nice to have a new goal.  "2017 No.11" (state 15), oil on canvas, 52x54 inches  Drawing 09·21·2017, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I am always hoping I am good enough to do it all in one fell swoop! Not yesterday! The painting 2017 No.11 is better than the day before, but the yellow creep onto the largest form in the composition requires a pullback. That will happen tomorrow. I think that will be the end of it. This painting does require a few other touches (besides removal of the excess yellow). That should be easy. The difficult work is done.
Yesterday's drawing tests a few new ideas. I still think (as I wrote in yesterday's blog post) I am exploring ideas that may instigate a new painting, which should begin shortly.  "2017 No.12" (state 5), oil on canvas, 76x61 inches I am feeling much better about the painting 2017 No.12. So much so that I am just about to declare it finished and move on. This is difficult to do without allowing at least one day for intuitive differences of opinion. I think this is today. I have been struggling recently with the creep of figuration. It is returning to my work. I struggle because I get conflicted because of my desire to animate compositions based upon the purity inherent in non-representational composition. The force of the principles of art carry a painting when no representation is present. When representation is present a secondary layer of viewer engagement occurs. Purity of form, color, composition, linear movement, and the artifice of light, begin to compete with an involvement that is reference to the real world of figures and representational forms. Yesterday I heard a short interview with Morton Feldman. Feldman was an American composer (1926-1987). He continues to be a major figure in contemporary classical music. Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers, which included John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown. Feldman's works are characterized by notational innovations that he developed to create his characteristic sound: rhythms that seem to be free and floating; pitch shadings that seem softly unfocused; a generally quiet and slowly evolving music; recurring asymmetric patterns. His later works, after 1977, also begin to explore extremes of duration. Feldman's music is incredibly fascinating to me. This goes to my self-query in regard to purity in composition. Ultimately, I follow my intuition. I am not going to intellectually rule out figurative and representational if its creep into my art continues. Morton Feldman said he could not help himself, even though critics found his work difficult to comprehend. Mostly, critics found listening to Feldman's music an intellectual chore.  Drawing 09·05·2017, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches  "2017 No.5" (state 2), oil on canvas, 55.5x56.5 inches Something is very right about the painting 2017 No.5. I do not think it calls for more. It sings, it is full of light, its color play (both local and atmospheric) is joyous, and the composition is balanced while simultaneously off-kilter. What could be better? At this point I do not know. Glory, glory, Hallelujah! Te drawing is a study for the painting. I cannot follow a formula. Although this drawing resembles 2017 No.5, it is different, albeit informative.  Drawing 03·05·2017, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  "2017 No.5" (state 1), oil on canvas, 55.5x56.5 inches The light and airiness of my new painting is an immediate reaction to the questions I asked during the finishing stages of the previous painting, 2017 No.4. My questions pertain to color, both local and atmospheric. I admit, one of my crutches, when in query, are the works of Henri Matisse. In Matisse's best work he handles the nuances of color, the competition between the insistence of local color versus the insistence of atmosphere, better than any painter I know. Light dominates in 2017 No.5, as it does in my favorite works by Matisse. Similar Matisse (looking broadly at his oeuvre), I do go back and forth with my concerns, ricocheting from the dominance of form to the dominance of color. In 2017 No.5 color is winning. As examples of my influence I reproduce a work by Matisse and one by the Bay School painter Elmer Bischoff. FYI: The entire Bay School, which included Richard Diebenkorn, was greatly influenced by Matisse's play between local and atmospheric color.  Drawing 03·04·2017, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  Henri Matisse, "Notre Dame in Late Afternoon", oil on canvas, 1902  Elmer Bischoff, "Figure in Landscape", oil on canvas, 1957 |
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September 2020
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