I have little to say and much to show. Today I do not show much in terms of volume, but there is much in terms of process. Do you see what I see? Abstraction of line, form, and composition is taking over. I am drawing quickly, and fluently, toward new work. When I write work I mean paintings. There is no where else to go to solve the problems I have. Only painting will allow the required complexity of process to move toward resolution. I know, resolution is impossible, but the process of solving the problems of being human, using painting as my media of expression, is possible.
I am in the midst of developing a method of approach which will allow me to explore the ideas, the questions, the mysteries, the stresses, and the exhilarations of my existence. I am finding I can do this without grand allegorical or metaphorical imagery. The theme needs no mythology; it simply is my understanding and my uncertainty. The expression is my exploration of the complications of living. The instruments of exploration need only be form, composition, color, value, space, and line. Pencil and paper, paint and canvas, are the media. So this is how I have fallen back upon the images you see today, the standard couple, a man and a woman. These are like apples, or bathers, were to Cezanne! Repetitive images can express the depth of me without the invention of personal mythology. After my drawings I leave you with two works by Paul Cezanne, a still life with apples, and a painting of bathers. Enjoy!
Today I show work that came naturally. I dropped the pretense of being a man of knowledge and history and simply followed my natural impulses. My life and art are coming together because I am stripping away the burden of knowing more than is necessary. Take a look at yesterday's drawings, then return and read more comments. Yesterday's discoveries brought me back to Egon Schiele. I know, I just wrote of my stripping away knowledge of history in an effort to get to my natural impulses. Well, this is different. I returned to looking at Schiele because my working methods remind me of his work. I realized my youthful love of Schiele's work was based upon its simplicity of image and its simplicity of technical objectives. Schiele loved the human figure, he loved to draw, and he loved to invent while drawing. That fits me, exactly. I have been making a false effort toward mythology and metaphor, when all I need is to draw. I hang my hat on the human figure, and human physiognomy, because I love these forms so much, but foremost I love to draw! I also love the wonder of expression through composition. Schiele expressively composed through the linear invention of form. This is also my most basic impulse. I feel as if I left these natural impulses on the side lines as I developed my ability to draw. I am back! I have returned from a journey of thought, and rudimentary exploration, to make my art. This journey, out into the desert of ideas, has not been wasted. It was necessary for me to explore and assimilate the basic fundamentals of art in order to return to make the real stuff.
Now to Egon Schiele: First shown is a Nude Self-Portrait. The background is bare, so the expression is through linear invented form expressively composed by angular thrusts of torso and limbs; simplicity with complexity. Wow! Immediately following this drawing I show a detail of the head. Look at the expression because of the exploration of the line looking for form. This method intricately communicates emotional complexity to the viewer. After Schiele's Self-Portrait I show another drawing of his, a couple; then a painting, a portrait. In both the space is indicated, but not specific. The viewer knows the couple is on the floor, and the subject of the portrait painting is sitting; that's all we know, and it is all we need to know, because the form, the line, the paint, the color, and the surface, is so damn expressive. Wow, again! Acceptance should not be so difficult. I have written here about metaphor, myth, and allegory, but this has been misleading. I am interested in those things, but I am first, and foremost, an artist who wishes to express through the technical and abstract means of drawing and painting. I have often wondered: Why do I so often use the human couple as an image? I am beginning to believe it is for the same reason Willem de Kooning used the female nude. My primary impetus in making art is not to explore couples and their interactions. The couple is my fallback image. This simple image allows me to tinker with expression using marks on paper, paint on canvas, composition, light and form. I am expressing myself with the elements of art, rather than invented images. In short, I wish to make art with the simplest means available, using paints, pencil, canvas and paper. The images I use are just racks I hang my hat on. The images shown today, drawings from yesterday, continue my squeezing a couple into the frame. Again, they are shown in "true color" (the paper's color is especially apparent in the drawing shown below). After my drawings I give you three drawings by Willem de Kooning, each a female nude used as a means, but not the end. From me, expect the same: images are the means, not the end. I love to draw, as did Willem de Kooning, but both of us have a lot more in our arsenals of expression than the image, obviously.
In my last post (11/28/2011) I showed you a "Photoshopped" alteration of a drawing. Today I begin with the result of my revision to that drawing. This is an image of the actual, unaltered drawing, in its final version. It is much better. It is one of my best! This drawing exudes my comprehension of composition as the instigator of expression, both for me and for the viewer. It also proves to me that I am an abstract artist at heart. My work grows from the qualities predominant in the best abstraction, which (in my opinion) includes multiple qualities working together, simultaneously. These include color, composition, contrast, surface, form, line, and light. The latter quality, light, corroborates the reason I am so blown away by the work of Willem de Kooning. His work, more than most "Abstract Expressionists," uses light as a core property. This is also true of work of Mark Rothko, and especially true of the work of my teacher and mentor, Philip Guston (some labelled Guston's abstract paintings as "Abstract Impressionist").
After spending over an hour re-stretching the canvas of the painting "Balancing," I returned to it with new vigor. It is coming along, but I am moving along too. A new painting is imminent, I feel it like one feels rain is about to fall. I am not sure where my work is going. At this moment I am enjoying the mystery. I am beginning to trust in the process. I am making "early work." I always wondered why Picasso left so many of his "early works" with unfinished passages. Picasso left them unfinished because he was where I am now. I am developing too quickly to finish off works which feel stale compared to the leading-edge ideas springing forth in the newest works. The one drawing I began and finished yesterday is shown at the bottom of today's post. Yes, it is good. Enjoy! Yesterday was the financial day around here (Money Monday). It was more intensive than usual. I will be in New York City this Friday (11/18/2011) through Tuesday (11/22/2011), so I had to look forward and spend a good portion of the day doing it. I did get into the studio for one drawing, and it is a good one, displaying fun and expression in form, line, and facial features. It continues my research toward an approach which will allow me to better present my own peculiar view of this existence.
Recently I have been worried by more than my art. My concerns have been distracting, and include everything from politics to the financial markets to Hurricane Irene. Irene will hit us tomorrow in Lyme, New Hampshire. As silly as it is, a current distraction includes the song "Goodnight Irene," lyrics by Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly). Here are the words which keep rattling around in my head:
"You cause me to weep, you cause me to mourn You cause me to leave my home But the very last words I heard her say Was 'Please sing me one more song' "Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I'll see you in my dreams" As annoying as it is to be distracted from one's life endeavor, it is sometimes necessary in order to find lasting peace. My drawings are the first indicator that things are not quite right, and that I am not properly focused. Yesterday's drawing is a standard fall-back. It is mundane and dispassionate, hiding as it is in simple knowledge of line and form. Within 48 hours Irene will have passed. Predictions include widespread power outage. My studio life is dependent on power. Good luck to my readers in the path of Irene. I did not paint, as I had intended. I did draw. Like a repetitive dream, I keep revisiting a flash of an idea. It is a painting with a few heads dominating the composition. Yesterday's first drawing tackled this problem. It is a very good start toward the solution. There is much to be learned about me in this drawing #1. I love the forms, how they dominate the composition and force the eye to role around and through the entire compositional structure. I also find their light filled, robust three-dimentionality, exhilarating. This drawing works well at multiple viewing distances, from the textures created by the lines, to the reading of the forms' details, to the composition experienced when the viewer backs off 10 feet from the image. I also like the way the guy on the right has his eyes rolling around, looking for a truth to grasp.
Last night the AVA Gallery Summer Show opened. I attended. I picked up my rejected painting, "Window." First impression of the exhibition was the enormous amount of abstract work. In fact, the figurative work was relegated to the rear gallery. Second impression, this juror likes busy compositions. Third impression, "Window" did not fit in this exhibition, as it is larger than other paintings in the show and it has an expansive, figurative composition. I still feel failure, because "Window" lacks surface complexity; I admire Van Gogh's solution to surface animation. "Window" is deficient in this higher level of intricacy, as it demands an overall comprehension of large areas without challenging the viewer to acknowledge the contrapuntal surface rhythms. This leaves me with the need to do more to solve this problem. I want my paintings to speak to all people on all levels, from the abstract to the concrete. My recent drawings are moving in this direction. I am finding a way to animate more than just the figures. I have returned to drawing clothed figure because cloth allows me to find an additional level of graphic music.
Yesterday continued to have distractions, as I spent the entire morning looking for a fix to a problem with my email provider. I get wrapped up in making these technical problems right, when I should simply adjust to the problem and move on. Technical problems have alternative solutions, with one solution being as good as the other. This is not true in life and art. There is always an array solutions in life and art, and always there is an array in quality as well. The drawings I made yesterday reveal a new path. There is a jump in my play with line, form, space, and composition. Drawing the garments was fun! It allowed me to invent the line as it delineated folds in the cloth. The form, consequently, rolls and sways with rhythms that are not as inventively accessible when drawing the nude human form. It turned out to be a good day in the studio.
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May 2024
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