Carl Mehrbach's Art Blog
  • About
  • Making Art

Trifle or No? Comparison to a Basquiat

10/24/2021

 
Picture
Drawing 10·23·2021, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
Comparisons in Art are difficult; Art's range of content runs the gamut of human emotions. Today I give you a comparison of my drawing from yesterday to a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). This is not an easy comparison. To me, it is apt; it represents my struggle to be true to myself. I am drawn to Basquiat's extreme, forceful content, but...  I am me and he is he.

The one simple and obvious connection I make with this Basquiat painting is its organization. Basquiat slams you into its center panel; he grabs the the viewer with color contrast, as well as formal centering because of content that are complex and patterned shapes. Basquiat painting is a lesson in classical compositional organization. There is no getting around the effectiveness that is centering the viewer's attention through any means possible, which include large forms, strong color, obvious shapes, interesting patterns, and high value contrast.

Picture
Jean-Michel Basquiat, "Untitled", oil on wood slats

Short, but OK, and RE: Peter Saul.

11/23/2015

 
Picture
Drawing-11·22·2015, pencil on paper, 20X16 inches
I spent much of Saturday November 21st looking at, then thinking about, the art of Peter Saul. I saw many of his works, perhaps 30 to 40, at the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, Vermont. It was a retrospective. A friend, who saw the exhibit with me, later called the work, "tawdry." I have to agree. The other person I saw the exhibit with said, "He is acting out, like a spoiled brat." I also agree with this assessment. If you do not know the work of Peter Saul look at the reproduction of one of his works at the end of this post

This brings me to personal assessment of my work. Yesterday I was tired. I limited my time in the studio. The work came easily, energizing me as I went along. I can say this: it bothers me that I do not make art like anyone else. Henri Matisse said something similar. However, it is the work I must do. My own work fascinates me because it is revelatory.
Picture
Peter Saul, "The Government of California", 1969

Upgrade!

10/25/2015

 
Drawings from 10/24/2015, all 20X16 inches, pencil on paper
​I am writing about two upgrades. The first is in my art. The pictorial content of my art has recently expanded in variety ― there is a more brazenly accepted use of imagery. The second is an upgrade in my commercial website (you are currently reading my educational, not-for-profit, web blog, i.e. a .org site). Yesterday MEHRBACH.com added e-commerce! Items available are limited, but will soon expand to offer everything my art has produced, if available for sale. This will include original paintings, original drawings, and high-quality Giclée Prints of every image on the website (plus reproductions of my work you may have seen in galleries, museums, or private collections ― I own copyrights to all of it).

Today's drawings are exceptional. Their images are both representational and abstract, while staying true to my love of three-dimensions being depicted on a two-dimensional surface. These drawings accept my interests. They do not fight my interests. They are introspective, mindful, and revelatory.     

True.

9/14/2015

 
Drawings from 9/13/2015, both pencil on paper, 20X16 inches
It is true. I have discovered that the playful wanderlust of the line, the invention of form, and the feel of atmosphere, appeal to my aesthetic sensibilities. Yesterday's drawings exhibit nascent possibilities. I am excited by the potential, the range of choices, of this action plan.

The problem I now have is my desire to explore has exploded. I do not want to take the time to manufacture stretched canvases. So today, taking a cue from my mentor, Philip Guston, I will manufacture a painting wall designed to tack up canvas straight off the roll. My current painting wall is designed to hang stretched canvases. I have never worked this way before. But, if the plan works, I will be able to place canvas on the wall and begin to paint within seconds. New problems will arise, e.g. how do I store the very pliable, newly painted, canvases, as they come off the wall? I'm going to stop now, as pre-planning never solves a real problem in the best possible manner.

A lot of dreaming going on...

6/11/2015

 
Drawings from 06/10/2015, both pencil on paper, 16X20 inches
I dream every night, a lot! The subject matter of last night's dreams were different. Instead of being a hodgepodge of various scenarios, last night's dreams were dedicated to art, painting in particular. I remember viewing paintings by artists I admire. These were artists I invented. Their art was the kind I am driving toward, but more thoroughly realized. The paintings had figures and forms among abstractions invented through brush strokes and the energetic use of paint.

Accepting art-making as contemplation.

5/25/2015

 
Picture
"Lava" (Painting-05·03·2015, state 8), oil on canvas, 52X60 inches
It is beginning to feel more like contemplation and less like intellectualization. Yesterday's drawing shows me going back and forth between my contemplative-acting intuition and my question-asking intellect. The first drawing is me producing a casually flowing drawing, which ends with an intellectualized, verbal question. This conflict may exhibit problems that occur when the id and the ego are in combat. The second drawing is straightforwardly about combat. The transition from drawing #1 to drawing #2 may exhibit this mental confusion, but it may also be about the world's combative confusion. The strongly male component that instigates present world combat is apparent. Thus the extreme maleness of the figure in drawing #2. Artistically, the figure plays against an abstract background. This is more important to me than any contemporary, or classically mythological, message I am trying to convey.

BTW: Today's reproduction of the painting, Lava, is the closest I have gotten to the original. In yesterday's blog post, Lava's reproduction is too color intensive, i.e. it is more color saturated than the original.
Drawings from 5/24/2015, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches

Asparagus⁉️

2/16/2015

 
Picture
"Asparagus" (Painting-02·14·2015 state 2), oil & acrylic marker on canvas, 52X60 inches
So... I feel like titles are now appropriate, but, as always, I don't want them to interfere with the viewer's emotional and intellectual response to the painting. So... "Asparagus" seems appropriate for this new painting. I think that is a sprig of asparagus the main character is holding.

Reproducing a painting at this stage has its difficulties. The grays of the acrylic marker are more accurate than in yesterday's reproduction, but the colors don't play as well as they do in the real painting. In reproduction there is so much white to consider. As colors fill the canvas the interaction of one color against the other colors will become more accurate.
Picture
Drawing-02·15·2015, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches

Two Days & More Questions

1/23/2015

 
Picture
Untitled Drawing-01·22·2015 #2, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches
Can you see where these are going? I can not! Back and forth, and all around, they go from figurative to abstract. Consistent is their interest in form and composition. The one obvious is my struggle for authentic expression. Most gratifying is their high quality. It is my search for a simple means to accurate expression that forces upon me the letting go of the falderal. These drawings are moving me toward the point, to the reason, for making drawings. This seems odd to convey, but looking back, I believe most of my artistic career, and perhaps most of my career as living being, has been dedicated to activity as education, not activity as self-expression. There is a hump in one's path. It is the impediment to becoming an expressive entity. That hump is education. I don't mean education as simple information gathering. Good education is trial and error, a colloquy of learning. If successful, one's education gives one the means to decipher the particles in the cloud through which we walk in our daily existence. Most of these particles are required for simple sustenance, but it is those of the metaphysical that are really interesting to me. Mere sustenance can muddle, and even obscure, that which is truly important to understanding oneself. It is my job, as artist, to move through the cloud, to inspect the individual particles that are the cloud, to grab and place in my arsenal those particle that sing truly the language of myself. The rest of the particles are there as support, like the sunshine. Without sunshine we could not exist, but sunshine does not express the metaphysical angst that is the reason for waking up every day and screaming, "We exist for a reason!"

Picture
Untitled Drawing-01·22·2015 #1, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches
Picture
Untitled Drawing-01·21·2015 #1, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches
Picture
Untitled Drawing-01·21·2015 #2, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches

Across the great divide.

1/18/2015

 
Picture
Untitled Drawing-01·17·2015, pencil on paper, 20X16 inches
If nothing else, the reproductions are denser, more informative, since I have gone to photographing in RAW Format. I write this because the divide between where and whence and now and here is narrowing, but, as usual, I am impatient. I will take satisfaction anywhere I can get it. That said, there is much satisfaction in yesterday's one drawing. This last sentence may appear confusing, since I have complained about the presence of a divide. Complaints have their degree of correctness. Mine here may be shallow, but it is annoyingly true. I'm thinking about the inherent confusion which I carry because I have a desire to meld my need to continue to think figuratively with my need to express abstractly. Stepping back, observing yesterday's drawing, is informative. The top half of the drawing is abstract in form and in its quality of execution. It felt right to stop with sparsity of line. This barely-rendered, igneous boulder, plays directly over a much more refined image of a reticent, guarded, reluctant man, who cowers in his confusion. Thus an abstract form plays with (and against) the concrete figure. Apt it is. It speaks of me tackling the great divide with wonderment and respect.

WANTED: A straight line.

1/8/2015

 
Picture
Untitled Drawing-01·07·2015, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches
I don't care about straight lines on the page, but I do care about getting there directly, without straying too far from an authentic path. Here I am in another struggle to keep on a line to self-expression. This is about clarity and correct measurement, and not about skill and being true to form. Yesterday's drawing feels off. It is too ornate and confusing. It looks like a weird being from another planet is encountering a strange fruit from another planet (the objects may come from two different planets — who knows?).

Today I am back at it again! (Lately, I seem to be loving those exclamation points!!!) 
<<Previous
    To read my profile go to MEHRBACH.com.

    At MEHRBACH.com you may view many of my paintings and drawings, past and present, and see details about my life and work.

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010


    Categories

    All
    Ability
    Abstract
    Abstracted Reality
    Abstract Figurine
    Abstraction
    Abstract Mythology
    Abstract Representation
    Academic
    Acceptance
    Accomplishment
    Accuracy
    Achievement
    Action
    Activity
    Adventure
    Aesthetics
    Affirmation
    Alien
    Allegory
    All-over
    All Over Composition
    All-Over Composition
    Alphabet
    Alternative Solution
    Ambivalence
    Anamorphosis
    Anatomy
    Angst
    Anima
    Animation
    ANNOUNCEMENT
    Answers
    Anticipation
    Anxiety
    Apolitical
    Appetite
    Approach
    Archetypal
    Art
    Art History
    Artifice
    Artistic
    Art Making
    Art-making
    Atmosphere
    Atmospheric Color
    Attention
    Attitude
    Attractive
    Authenticity
    Background
    Bad
    Balance
    Beauty
    Beginnings
    Bewilderment
    Bias
    Big-sensations
    Biomorphism
    Black
    Blindness
    Boggle
    Border
    Boring
    Brainstorming
    Breakthrough
    Buddhahood
    Business-of-art
    Callresponce
    Career
    Catalogue Raisonné
    Caution
    Centered Composition
    Centering
    Centerness
    Cerebral
    Challenge
    Chance
    Change
    Chaos
    Character
    Circular Composition
    Clarity
    Classical Composition
    Classicism
    Claustrophobic
    Clogged
    Coherency
    Color
    Color Balance
    Color Theory
    Comfort
    Commonality
    Communication
    Competition
    Completion
    Complexity
    Composition
    Compositional Density
    Compound
    Comprehension
    Concentrate
    Conclusion
    Concrete
    Confidence
    Conflict
    Confusion
    Congestion
    Consciousness
    Consequences
    Conservative
    Contemplation
    Contemporary
    Content
    Continuance
    Continuum
    Contraposition
    Contrast
    Control
    Conviction
    Coronae
    Correctness
    Counterpoint
    Creativity
    Criticism
    Culture
    Curiosity
    Cycle
    Cycles In Creativity
    Dance
    Dark
    Darkness
    Deception
    Decision Making
    Decorative
    Default
    Déjà Vu
    Deliberate
    Delusion
    Depression
    Depth
    Design
    Despair
    Destination
    Destruction
    Detail
    Development
    Diagonal
    Diary
    Dichotomy
    Different
    Difficult
    Digital Alteration
    Dignity
    Discipline
    Discomfort
    Discontent
    Discovery
    Dishonesty
    Disparage
    Disparate
    Disruption
    Dissatisfaction
    Distraction
    Documentation
    Dogma
    Doublethink
    Doubt
    Drama
    Drawing
    Drawings
    Dream
    Dreaming
    Dull
    Dynamic
    Dynamism
    Education
    Effort
    Ego
    Elation
    Elegant
    Elements Of Art
    Emotions
    Emotive
    Empathy
    End
    Endings
    Endless
    Endurance
    Energy
    Engagement
    Enjoyment
    Enlightenment
    Epoch
    Equivoque
    Era
    Essential
    Evaluation
    Evolution
    Excellence
    Exhaustion
    Exhibition
    Expectation
    Experiential
    Experimentation
    Exploration
    Expression
    Expressionist
    Extracted Reality
    Facade
    Failure
    False
    Fantasy
    Fascination
    Fear
    Feel
    Feeling
    Fiction
    Figurative
    Figurative Mythology
    Figure
    Figures
    Finality
    Finding
    Finesse
    Flat
    Flat Composition
    Flat On Flat
    Focal Point
    Focus
    Foreground
    Foreshortening
    Form
    Formal Qualities
    Format
    Forms
    Foundation
    Fragility
    Frame
    Freedom
    Friendship
    Frightening
    Frontal Composition
    Frustration
    Fulfillment
    Fun
    Future
    Game
    Geometrics
    Gesture
    Glory
    Goal
    Goldilocks Syndrome
    Good
    Grab
    Grammar
    Grapple
    Gratification
    Grit
    Ground
    Growth
    Habit
    Hallelujah!
    Happiness
    Happy
    Harbinger
    Hard
    Heaven
    History
    Honesty
    Hope
    Horizon
    Horizontal Composition
    Hue
    Humor
    Hurt
    Id
    Ideas
    Ignorance
    Illustration
    Imagery
    Imagination
    Immediacy
    Immediacy Of Purpose
    Immortality
    Impact
    Impetus
    Important
    Impossibility
    Impromptu
    Improvisation
    Impulse
    Incomplete
    Individuality
    Inevitability
    Influence
    Influencer
    Information
    Inherent
    Inquiry
    Insecurity
    Insight
    Inspiration
    Instinct
    Integrity
    Intellect
    Intelligibilty
    Intension
    Interest
    Internalization
    Internal Life
    Intimacy
    Introspection
    Intuition
    Intuitive
    Invention
    Investigation
    In Your Face
    In-your-face
    Iterative
    Journey
    Joy
    Judgement
    Juxtaposition
    Kinetics
    Knowing
    Knowledge
    Labor
    Landscape
    Language
    Law
    Learning
    Lessons
    Lethargy
    Lies
    Life
    Light
    Line
    Little Sensations
    Living
    Local Color
    Logic
    Loneliness
    Longevity
    Lucidity
    Luck
    Madness
    Making Art
    Making-art
    Malaprop
    Management
    Mandate
    Mantra
    Manufacturing
    Marks
    Masters
    Mastery
    Mathematics
    Maturity
    Meaning
    Mediation
    Meditation
    Mental Health
    Mentor
    Messaging
    Metaphor
    Metaphysics
    Methodology
    Milestone
    Mimic
    Mindfulness
    Misconstrued
    Misdirection
    Modus Operandi
    Monumentality
    Moral
    Morality
    Mortality
    Motion
    Motives
    Movement
    Mundane
    Music
    Mystery
    Mythology
    Naiveté
    Narrative
    Nature
    Negative/positive Balance
    Negative Space
    Nervousness
    New
    Nexus
    Nobility
    Non Objective
    Non-objective
    Non Representation
    Non-representation
    Non-verbal
    Novelty
    Now
    Nuance
    Nucleus
    Objective
    Obvious
    Omphalos
    Openness
    Opinion
    Opposites
    Optimism
    Order
    Organization
    Orientation
    Pace
    Painfulness
    Painting
    Paradox
    Passion
    Past
    Path
    Patience
    Pattern
    Pause
    Peace
    Pellucidity
    Pencil On Paper
    Perception
    Perfection
    Perfectionism
    Performance
    Persona
    Personality
    Perspective
    Phantasmagoria
    Philosophy
    Photograph
    Physical Health
    Physical Labor
    Physics
    Planning
    Plasticity
    Play
    Playfulness
    Poetry
    Pointillés
    Political
    Positive Space
    Possibility
    Power
    Practicality
    Practice
    Precision
    Preparation
    Primary Impulse
    Primeval
    Principles Of Art
    Priorities
    Problem Solving
    Process
    Processing
    Profound
    Profundity
    Progress
    Prototypical
    Psyche
    Psychology
    Pun
    Purity
    Purpose
    Pursuit
    Quality
    Quandary
    Quantity
    Quest
    Questions
    Quotes
    Radical
    Reaction
    Realism
    Reality
    Real World
    Rebel
    Rebellion
    Recognition
    Reconsideration
    Rectangle
    Reduction
    Referential
    Referential Representation
    Refinement
    Rejection
    Relationship
    Relentless
    Relevancy
    Reluctance
    Renewal
    Repainted
    Repetition
    Representation
    Representational Mythology
    Representative
    Reproduction
    Research
    Resolution
    Resonance
    Responsibility
    Reveal
    Reverb
    Revision
    Revolution
    Revolutionary
    Rhyme
    Rhythm
    Right
    Risk
    Roadblock
    Rules
    Sanity
    Satisfaction
    Savor
    Scale
    Science
    Scintillation
    Sculpture
    Search
    Security
    Seeing
    Self Awareness
    Self-awareness
    Self-criticism
    Self Discovery
    Self Expression
    Self-expression
    Self Fulfillment
    Self Identity
    Self-identity
    Self Knowledge
    Self-knowledge
    Self Realization
    Self-realization
    Self Revelation
    Self-revelation
    Self Satisfaction
    Self-worth
    Sensitivity
    Sensuousness
    Seriousness
    Shadow
    Shape
    Shock
    Significance
    Silliness
    Simplicity
    Simplification
    Simplify
    Sincerity
    Sketch
    Skill
    Smudge
    Social Media
    Soft
    Solutions
    Sophistication
    Soul
    Space
    Specular Highlights
    Spirit
    Spiritual
    Spontaneous
    Spotlight
    Staccato
    Static Composition
    Steal
    Steps
    Stiltedness
    Story Telling
    Straightforward
    Straight Forward
    Strain
    Strategy
    Strength
    Stress
    Stripping Away
    Structure
    Struggle
    Study
    Subconscious
    Substantial
    Subtlety
    Success
    Suffering
    Super-ego
    Surface
    Surprise
    Symbolism
    Symmetrical Composition
    Symmetry
    Tactility
    Talent
    Teacher
    Technique
    Testing
    Texture
    Themes
    Third Dimension
    Third-dimension
    Three Dimensional
    Three Dimensional Composition
    Three-dimensional Composition
    Three Dimensions
    Time
    Time Management
    Titling
    Tone
    Tool
    Touch
    Transition
    Trapezoid
    Trials
    Triangle
    Tribulations
    True
    Trust
    Truth
    Two Dimensional
    Two Dimensional Composition
    Two-dimensional Composition
    Ugly
    Understanding
    Universal
    Unknown
    Update
    Urgency
    Validity
    Value
    Value Contrast
    Variety
    Verbal
    Vertical Composition
    Vibrato
    Viewer Involvement
    Viewing Distances
    Virtue
    Volume
    Vulnerable
    Walk-around Reality
    Wisdom
    Witticism
    Wonder
    Words
    Work
    Worry
    Wrangle
    Wrong
    Wrongness
    Wunderkind
    Zen
    Zigzag

    RSS Feed

All images Copyright ©2022 Carl Mehrbach
  • About
  • Making Art