 "Uphill" (2022 No.4, state 10), oil on canvas, 60x58 inches A small correction makes a BIG difference in the painting, "Uphill the Hero". In the upper right I have leaned the vertical, arm-like form, more to the left. Much Better!!! More Profound! Amazing what a relatively minor alteration can do to the overall feel, the engagement, of a visual image.
 Drawing 04·13·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I am doing less commentary because my work is speaking more loudly, more clearly. If you look at my last two drawings you will see me finding ground, enjoying the surface as I play with space and time. The forms are few, but very important in defining space.
 "Four Definitions" (2022 No.2, state 03), oil on canvas, 58⅝x54⅝ inches, {"I am reminded of four definitions: A Radical is a man with both feet firmly planted—in the air. A Conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward. A Reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards. A Liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest—at the command—of his head." -Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), radio address to "New York Herald Tribune Forum", 26 October 1939} The mystery in becoming myself is the work I must do. It surprises me that it is difficult. Becoming who I was born to be is a journey, a journey back to childhood. It is journey to acceptance. Acceptance of joyful instincts found there, discovered in my awakening days. I am thinking about the instincts that made me feel wonderful. I remember feeling great exhilaration in certain, defined discoveries. This is real, this is the existence I was born into, how wonderful it is! My work today is fashioning those joyful remembrances of things instinctually joyfully into something real.
Here I am, doing it. I find enormous clarity in my newest painting, "Four Definitions”. This surprises me: In making this painting I am greatly enjoying following personal instincts! The joy is my ability to actually make those instincts real. The reality is the painting that sits in front of me. Its reality gives me great satisfaction. I enjoy its simplest successes. For instance, I love the shadow cast by that form on the bottom right.  "Silence, Exile, and Cunning" (2022 No.1, state 9), oil on canvas, 49x57 inches, {"I will not serve that in which I no longer believe whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use, silence, exile, and cunning." - James Joyce (1882-1941), "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (1916)} Yesterday "Silence, Exile, and Cunning" changed; it is incomplete. Everything needs to come together. The discord in the upper left must be resolved.
 Drawing 01·14·2022, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches I fail to do everything I am capable of doing when optimism gets in my way. This drawing, from yesterday, begun in an optimistic high, fails to do all I am capable of doing. I want more spatial depth. This drawing's major, slithering form fails to be all it might have been. I am back at it today, albeit less optimistic. I hope my lack of optimism is a good for my Art.
 Drawing 12·29·2021 No.1 (state 2), pencil on paper, 20x16 inches This revisit, to a drawing from 12/29/2021, is auspicious. This drawing has become full of flavor and wonder. I am living in a New World. This is a symphony; rich, complex, with many instruments available to sound a tune - counterpoint, contrast, form, and pattern are here. I am vigorous, sinewy, and have power.
 Drawing 12·16·2021 No.2, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  Drawing 12·16·2021 No.1, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I want my Art to simultaneously contain purity and emotive complexity. Are they mutually exclusive? I believe Mark Rothko, and Ellsworth Kelly, have proved otherwise. And... they are not the only ones.
Negative space is paramount as emotive structure. Positive forms share responsibility; forms must be profoundly, attentively complex, while positioned sparsely within negative space. Yesterday's drawings continue my research into this dilemma, purity versus emotive complexity.  "Gonna Speak to the Crowd" (2021 No.5, state 17), oil on canvas, 64x57⅜ inches, {"I'm gonna spare the defeated — I'm gonna speak to the crowd. I'm gonna spare the defeated, boys, I'm going to speak to the crowd. I am goin' to teach peace to the conquered. I'm gonna tame the proud." - Bob Dylan, "Lonesome Day Blues" (2001)}  Drawing 12·07·2021 No.1, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches  Drawing 12·07·2021 No.2, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches This is what I do. This is my habit. I investigate. I research. I go here, I go there. Am I truly on the path to self-expression? I wish I knew. Today is one of those days I sit in doubt. Perhaps doubt is upon me because of the long distance I have travelled, yet I am still not there. I continue to be dissatisfied with my art. It can be more. I want more self-expression. I will continue my search, my research. I need to live a very long life.
Yesterday I made two drawings, both researching positive form versus negative space. Yesterday the painting, "Gonna Speak to the Crowd", took another step in the long road it is traveling. This painting is getting better, better all the time.  "Gonna Speak to the Crowd" (2021 No.5, state 16), oil on canvas, 64x57⅜ inches, {"I'm gonna spare the defeated — I'm gonna speak to the crowd. I'm gonna spare the defeated, boys, I'm going to speak to the crowd. I am goin' to teach peace to the conquered. I'm gonna tame the proud." - Bob Dylan, "Lonesome Day Blues" (2001)}  Drawing 12·04·2021, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches There are may ways to impact viewers. For a painter, means are few. There is form, composition, and color. Use of these elements is a wide open sea. Looking out upon a wide sea tells little about direction. In other words, a correct direction is not easy to know. Yesterday I did make headway. Judge for yourself. I am very interest in the impactful use of negative space. One of greatest masters of negative space is Andrew Wyeth (see below).  Andrew Wyeth, Untitled Lanscape, date unknown  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.  Jean-Michel Basquiat, "Untitled", oil on wood slats |
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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
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