Carl Mehrbach's Art Blog
  • About
  • Making Art

Where in the Interest?

12/7/2019

 
Picture
Drawing 12·06·2019 (state 1), pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
"Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door!" That old saying should apply to my work. No one is more skilled, making more important investigative art, than I. Where's the beat to my door? The knocking is there, but sale prices for my art are minuscule compared to the $120,000 paid recently for an actual decaying banana duct taped to a wall. Amazingly, two editions of this sculpture[sic] sold, each for $120,000, at this year's Art Basil Miami.

In any case, I am not there yet. Yesterday's drawing will be improved. The ground of its upper left portion is indicated by line strokes. I must stop being so pure, insisting (as I have) on strokes of pencil rather than smooshes of graphite. Today I will fill in the upper left portion with smudges of dry graphite. Check back tomorrow for state 2 of this drawing.      

The Lost & Found Horizon

7/26/2019

 
Picture
Drawing 07·25·2019, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
There is an end to everything. This applies to a painting as well. One can make paintings as walls. One can make paintings as landscapes. One can make paintings that inhabit a room. In ALL cases, there is a ground. The ground is the viewer's agency to find his bearing. An early influence upon my art was Yves Tanguy (1900-1955). Before I began today's post, I thought to myself, "Hey, Tanguy made images without horizons!" NOT true! Yves Tanguy ended his career making surrealistic LANDSCAPES! Tanguy began his artistic career, like all of us, making figurative paintings (see below). In ALL cases, despite my early morning intellectualized doubt, there is a definitive ground in Tanguy's paintings, always! There are horizon lines even when Tanguy creates an amorous background fog; there it is, in every work, a back-ground! And so it goes!

Another early influence on my art was Arshile Gorky (1904-1948). The same grounding occurs in Gorky's works (see below).

These has to be a defined rear-end to a painting, which I shall henceforth call, "the ground". Without the ground the viewer is left with insecurity of place. It is the relationship to security that makes a painting free, open, and emotive, thus allowing unrestrained creativity. Without security there is only loss; loss means absence, absence means a lie, a lie means dishonesty. The last thing I want my art to be is dishonest!

I began yesterday's drawing looking to test the "no horizon" idea. I cannot do it! A ground allows the artist to create havoc or security or insecurity or whatever. Life and art have irrefutable definitions. One of them is this: we exist in a place and in time; i.e., we exist on something that can be called our ground. Art mimics life. That is impossible to deny!

Picture
Yves Tanguy, "Indefied Divisibility", oil on canvas, 1942
Picture
Yves Tanguy, "The Traveling Performers", oil on canvas, 1926
Picture
Arshile Gorky, "Dark Green Painting", oil on canvas, 1948

Going Toward the All-Over

7/13/2018

 
Picture
Drawing 07·12·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
One of my constant regrets in living is my inability to react quickly to a stupid or divisive comment made to me. I must mull. Nothing comes quick and easy. I strike at my drawings and paintings with quickness, criss-crossing in search of forms, space, and composition, but I admit to sometimes missing a bigger idea during my activity. Yesterday I was fine with my drawing... for about 10 minutes. Look at it! After the 10 minutes of mull, I became conscious of the blank white-ness of the ground in upper half of the drawing. I had neglected the ground in the upper-half while in search for the stuff in the lower-half! The forms do play well in the upper-half, but I am uncomfortable for the lack of attitude behind those forms. The comment I made about not reacting to another person's stupid comment is apropos; I think this drawing would be better if I scratched out the ground in its upper-half. Vincent van Gogh learned this. Van Gogh learned slowly too; it took him two years to get from the blank sky in his 1886 drawing (see below) to an animated sky in his 1888 drawing. Van Gogh's  solution to a blank upper-half ground is informative in regard to my concern about the white upper-half of yesterday's drawing. Van Gogh continued to learn to his final days — his last paintings and drawings are magnificent! 

"The Intervening Tick"

7/4/2018

 
Picture
"The Intervening Tick" (2018 No.6, state 1), 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}
Picture
Drawing 07·03·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
A photograph was published in my local newspaper; it shows a father and his very young daughter (perhaps 4 years old) on an ocean beach. The forms of the father and daughter occupy approximately just 10% of the photo, dead-center. They are hugging, mugging for the camera, the ocean's horizon is absolutely horizontal and absolutely centered, cutting across and behind them. This photo was the inspiration for my new painting, The Intervening Tick. This photo struck me hard: the figures dominated my attention despite their relative smallness. I thought I would give this idea a try. Yesterday's drawing was a study for the painting. Like the painting, there are definitive forms on a ground and background. 

Could be...

5/25/2018

 
Picture
Drawing 05·24·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
The distractions in life that help make things work, but don't make me feel emotional satiated, are too many. As examples, there is the slowness of my internet connection and the holes in the side of my truck that need fixing in order for it to pass state inspection. I am dealing with those kinds of mundane things at the same time I am trying to make emotionally satisfying art, Yesterday was more the former, less of the latter. I did make one substantial drawing; I made it fast, it came easily. This drawing sums a few of my recent explorations. It makes sense to me in its play with 3D space, value contrast, form, and ground. More in this manner are coming....

Gobble & Boggle My Way

11/15/2017

 
Picture
Drawing 11·14·2017, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
I am a man with an appetite. Are we not all? I will gobble my way to sanity. Yeah, there will be boggles along the way. I am, however, getting there. Yesterday's drawing is clogged with information. Today I will try another route. I will establish ground, then move toward resolution.

Questions & Answers

11/13/2017

 
Picture
"2017 No.13" (state 14), oil on canvas, 62x69 inches
Picture
Drawing 11·12·2017, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
The unrelenting questions are becoming less annoying and more practical. Questions get answered, but not always for the best. I see this in the left edge of state 14 of the painting 2017 No. 14. Its increased width on the left side is good, but the unevenness of its left black border disturbs me. That border is not a complete failure. It did prove the forms on the left of this painting require more room to move. Other questions were asked yesterday. The snake-like object encircling the large form on the right had its value lightened. It reads better. Success comes as process, from questions asked to answers given, one by one. This repeats till it all makes sense. The remains of process eventually become all that remains.

There are questions and answers in yesterday's drawing too. I was examining the ground as a three-dimensional plane lit with a major specular highlight. Nice!

Earth & Heaven Alike

11/10/2017

 
Picture
Drawing 11·09·2017, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
The revelation of personal religious zeal is the heaven that is found within the momentary realization that the mark made is earthly correct. As I accept this premise my art becomes more me and more real. More real is surprising since its abstraction from the experiential data allows it to resemble the world I have experienced without mimicking that world. Here I am today showing you one more drawing on my road toward acceptance. This is what I do.

Today's drawing is self-real, yet also plays falsely within its own stated reality. Do you see the mark approximately one-third from the left and one-third from the top? It is simply a mark amongst a plethora of forms. The forms pretend to be three-diemsional, but the mark is just a mark, a splotch on the page. It is a required mark. Without it the back and forth force of this composition would be relentless, and questionable. It would lack grounding. This mark grounds it. It allows the forms to play with energy against the mark's static, solid touch to paper.  

Borders & Ground

10/19/2017

 
Picture
"2017 No.13" (state 10), oil on canvas, 56x65 inches
Picture
Drawing 10·18·2017, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
Out of somewhere comes a border to the painting 2017 No.13. Yesterday I made an effort to find ground. I found a border after I found ground. Seeking is finding. Discovery occurs because of the search. Here it is... here it comes... ready or not!

The Dunder in Wunder, or not?

9/15/2017

 
Picture
Drawing 09·14·2017, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
I often worry I am too much into detail. I agressively search to find, thus I am overwhelmed by the activity of seeking nuance. Do I enjoy it? I do. Yesterday's drawing is full of finesse. It surprises me with its clarity of forms, its clarity in shadows cast (both by the forms on ground and on the surfaces of the forms themselves). Spatial play is animated by light. The forms are positioned by their surface values as well as by the shadows they cast on the ground. (We all know the white paper is actually as flat as flat can be.) Am I a dunderhead because I wonder too much? No, this is the intricacy demanded by sophisticated problem solving.
<<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

    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
    Abstraction
    Abstract Mythology
    Academic
    Acceptance
    Accomplishment
    Accuracy
    Achievement
    Action
    Adventure
    Alien
    Allegory
    Alphabet
    Alternative Solution
    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
    Career
    Catalogue Raisonné
    Caution
    Centered Composition
    Cerebral
    Challenge
    Chance
    Change
    Chaos
    Character
    Circular Composition
    Clarity
    Classical Composition
    Classicism
    Claustrophobic
    Clogged
    Coherency
    Color
    Color Theory
    Comfort
    Communication
    Completion
    Complexity
    Composition
    Compositional Density
    Compound
    Comprehension
    Conclusion
    Concrete
    Confidence
    Conflict
    Confusion
    Congestion
    Consciousness
    Consequences
    Conservative
    Contemplation
    Contemporary
    Content
    Continuance
    Continuum
    Contraposition
    Contrast
    Control
    Conviction
    Coronae
    Correctness
    Creativity
    Criticism
    Culture
    Curiosity
    Cycle
    Cycles In Creativity
    Dance
    Dark
    Darkness
    Deception
    Decision Making
    Decorative
    Déjà Vu
    Deliberate
    Delusion
    Depression
    Depth
    Despair
    Destination
    Detail
    Development
    Diagonal
    Diary
    Dichotomy
    Different
    Difficult
    Digital Alteration
    Discipline
    Discomfort
    Discontent
    Discovery
    Dishonesty
    Disparage
    Disparate
    Disruption
    Dissatisfaction
    Distraction
    Dogma
    Doubt
    Drama
    Drawing
    Drawings
    Dream
    Dreaming
    Dull
    Dynamic
    Education
    Effort
    Ego
    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
    Facade
    Failure
    False
    Fantasy
    Fascination
    Fear
    Feel
    Feeling
    Fiction
    Figurative
    Figurative Mythology
    Figure
    Finality
    Finding
    Finesse
    Flat
    Flat On Flat
    Focal Point
    Foreground
    Foreshortening
    Form
    Formal Qualities
    Format
    Forms
    Frame
    Freedom
    Friendship
    Frightening
    Frontal Composition
    Frustration
    Fulfillment
    Future
    Game
    Geometrics
    Gesture
    Glory
    Goldilocks Syndrome
    Good
    Grammar
    Gratification
    Grit
    Ground
    Growth
    Habit
    Hallelujah!
    Happiness
    Happy
    Harbinger
    Hard
    Heaven
    History
    Honesty
    Hope
    Horizon
    Hue
    Humor
    Hurt
    Id
    Ideas
    Illustration
    Imagery
    Imagination
    Immediacy
    Immediacy Of Purpose
    Immortality
    Impact
    Impetus
    Impossibility
    Impromptu
    Impulse
    Individuality
    Inevitability
    Influence
    Influencer
    Information
    Inherent
    Inquiry
    Insecurity
    Insight
    Inspiration
    Instinct
    Intellect
    Intelligibilty
    Interest
    Internalization
    Internal Life
    Intimacy
    Introspection
    Intuition
    Invention
    Investigation
    Iterative
    Journey
    Joy
    Judgement
    Juxtaposition
    Kinetics
    Knowing
    Knowledge
    Labor
    Landscape
    Language
    Law
    Learning
    Lessons
    Lethargy
    Life
    Light
    Line
    Little Sensations
    Living
    Local Color
    Loneliness
    Longevity
    Luck
    Madness
    Making Art
    Making-art
    Malaprop
    Management
    Mantra
    Manufacturing
    Marks
    Mastery
    Mathematics
    Maturity
    Meaning
    Meditation
    Mental Health
    Mentor
    Messaging
    Metaphor
    Metaphysics
    Methodology
    Milestone
    Mimic
    Mindfulness
    Misconstrued
    Modus Operandi
    Monumentality
    Morality
    Mortality
    Motion
    Movement
    Mundane
    Music
    Mystery
    Mythology
    Naiveté
    Narrative
    Nature
    Negative Space
    Nervousness
    New
    Nexus
    Nobility
    Non Objective
    Non-objective
    Non Representation
    Non-representation
    Novelty
    Now
    Nuance
    Nucleus
    Objective
    Obvious
    Omphalos
    Openness
    Opposites
    Optimism
    Order
    Organization
    Orientation
    Pace
    Painfulness
    Painting
    Passion
    Past
    Path
    Patience
    Pattern
    Pause
    Peace
    Pencil On Paper
    Perception
    Perfection
    Perfectionism
    Performance
    Persona
    Personality
    Perspective
    Phantasmagoria
    Philosophy
    Photograph
    Physical Health
    Physical Labor
    Physics
    Planning
    Play
    Playfulness
    Poetry
    Pointillés
    Political
    Positive Space
    Possibility
    Power
    Practicality
    Practice
    Precision
    Preparation
    Primeval
    Principles Of Art
    Priorities
    Problem Solving
    Process
    Processing
    Profound
    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
    Refinement
    Rejection
    Relationship
    Relentless
    Relevancy
    Reluctance
    Renewal
    Repetition
    Representation
    Representational Mythology
    Reproduction
    Research
    Resolution
    Responsibility
    Reveal
    Reverb
    Revolution
    Revolutionary
    Rhyme
    Rhythm
    Right
    Risk
    Rules
    Sanity
    Satisfaction
    Savor
    Scale
    Science
    Scintillation
    Sculpture
    Search
    Security
    Seeing
    Self Awareness
    Self-awareness
    Self-criticism
    Self Expression
    Self-expression
    Self Fulfillment
    Self-identity
    Self Knowledge
    Self-knowledge
    Self Revelation
    Self-revelation
    Self Satisfaction
    Self-worth
    Sensitivity
    Sensuousness
    Seriousness
    Shadow
    Shape
    Shock
    Significance
    Silliness
    Simplicity
    Simplification
    Sketch
    Skill
    Smudge
    Social Media
    Soft
    Solutions
    Sophistication
    Soul
    Space
    Specular Highlights
    Spirit
    Spiritual
    Spontaneous
    Staccato
    Static Composition
    Steps
    Stiltedness
    Strain
    Strategy
    Strength
    Stress
    Stripping Away
    Structure
    Struggle
    Study
    Subconscious
    Substantial
    Subtlety
    Success
    Suffering
    Super-ego
    Surface
    Surprise
    Symbolism
    Symmetrical Composition
    Symmetry
    Tactility
    Talent
    Technique
    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
    Triangle
    True
    Trust
    Truth
    Two Dimensional
    Two Dimensional Composition
    Two-dimensional Composition
    Ugly
    Understanding
    Universal
    Unknown
    Update
    Urgency
    Validity
    Value
    Variety
    Verbal
    Vibrato
    Viewer Involvement
    Viewing Distances
    Virtue
    Volume
    Vulnerable
    Witticism
    Wonder
    Words
    Work
    Worry
    Wrong
    Wrongness
    Wunderkind
    Zigzag

    RSS Feed

All images Copyright ©2018 Carl Mehrbach
  • About
  • Making Art