"Sentence" (2019 No.4, state 2), oil on canvas, 36x61.5 inches {"And you’d spend years trying to decipher the sentence, until finally you’d understand it. But after a while you’d realize you got it wrong, and the sentence meant something else entirely." - Tadeusz Dąbrowski, from the poem "Sentence"} Today's entry is partially a tale of two visitors. Two artists visited my studio; an illuminating conversation ensued. One artist questioned my use of a horizon line. For the last few years I have consistently used the horizon line to place a definitive ground in my drawings and my paintings; therefore allowing the viewer to think, "Landscape!" This question, "Horizon or not?", began a fascinating discussion amongst us three. I have no sound judgement. I don't know. I do know I dealt with this same problem around 1990 (after this text I show two works from that period). The first of these older paintings was reviewed by as art critic; he questioned my lack of establishing a touchable ground. The second painting is my reaction to that relevant criticism. I have not found an answer that gives me security. And thus it goes... Yesterday's work is shown above. Both the drawing and the painting have an obvious horizon line. Finally, at the bottom of this post I show a work by Anselm Kiefer, widely respected as one of the most important painters of our generation. Kiefer is, even in his most abstract works, landscape relentless. Purification is occurring, but is it right and good? There must be a middle ground that makes sense. I do like intellectual answers brought upon the viewer by asking a complexity of questions. I enjoy darting around an image, looking for sense in nonsense. Open negative space is exhilarating when handled well, when breathtakingly emotional in design. Complexity within the darkness that is shadow and form can also be emotionally breathtaking. Yesterday's drawing is a huge question. I do not pretend it is anywhere near a definitive, archetypal answer.
"The Doctrine of Liberty" (2019 No.1, state 10), 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} Almost, but it is not perfect yet! "The Doctrine of Liberty" looks like one more day of work till completion. It is an incredible painting, incredibly profound and rich. I accept its ending will not be perfect — its completion will bring questions that will drive me to seek answers in my next painting. The process has taken over. The result of an answer is a new question. This Q&A method is exactly the way yesterday's drawing was made.
I have changed the title of my newest painting. I am following its call. It is a question: "Seriously?". I must place it in quotes because I need to emphasize it is questioning my behavior. Yesterday's drawing is a study for this painting. Right now I feel light of heart; more daring than usual. This painting is certainly surprising me. Yesterday's drawing surprises me too; its solution is unusual. To me, this drawing is astonishingly unexpected.
"The Intervening Tick" (2018 No.6, state 2), 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} My life is dominated by art-making. A close second is poetry. Then follows punditry. At times it gets all-mixed-up, i.e., thinking without being convinced. It annoys me when a person believes they clearly know correct from fallaciousness. The dictionary defines a "pundit" as "an expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called on to give opinions about it to the public" and "an expert, authority, specialist, doyen(ne), master, guru, sage, savant, maven, buff, whiz." It amazes there is such thing as a pundit in this world full of limitations. Punditry is 50% correct. It is like flipping a coin. Me, I am artist. I don't subsist on punditry, but I am a pundit to myself. I prefer poetry because it exudes self-doubt. If I was absolute, sure of my ideas, I would have one great idea and I would make one great painting. Alas, not being sure is a good thing. I am busy with questions. I am busy with answers, a multiplicity of answers. I am a poet. I am not a pundit.
This drawing is a good one. It questions complexity; How far I can go and still have your detailed attention? I question my own reflection. Process is finding truth by doing, making, questioning over and over again. It seems to me answers are found between the questions. Answers are not found while the questions are being asked. It is during the mulling that one finds what is true and what continues to be questionable.
Little to say. These are Q&A's. One follows another. Perhaps is the question, perhaps is the answer. More to come! That is all there is.
Right and wrong are often difficult to distinguish. Look at that little circle created in the upper left of this drawing. It flattens out on its left side. That was a conscious decision. I thought the flattened line played well with its otherwise roundness. Seeing it reproduced here I am not so sure. Overall the line it generates reenforces the verticality of the composition, while causing hesitation in the whipsawed rotation of the snaking form in which it is one circle away from the upper end. This is an example of a drawing that will spawn another drawing. The next will examine another possible solution. As I always say, this is an unending process without any perfect answers. Questions are wonderful! They initiate answers, good and bad. Questions, no matter the answers, always inform.
The crystallization of this painting, 2017 No.13, amazes me. With every alteration it moves toward simplicity and clarity. Wishes do not come true unless one works to fulfill them. I am working. Every day I wonder. Every day I look and ask. Every day I try to find more clarity, more simplicity, more authenticity, more truth. The amazement comes because the quest, the daily work, is resolving my confusion, my problems. My questions are continually renewed as I discover better answers. Endless it is.
I would like to declare the painting 2017 No.12 complete, but never say never. In fact, 2017 No.11 remains on my painting wall; yesterday I looked at this previously "completed" painting. Now I believe 2017 No.11 needs an alteration, i.e., removal of a little murkiness in thought and deed. I will probably give 2017 No.11 a bit of a re-do tomorrow. For now, I believe this one, the one in front of you, is complete. (A note about reproduction: That top border band of blue/black of the painting reproduced here today is darker in the actual painting. When photographing this painting I tried to adjust the lights that were used to illuminate the painting. In my adjustments I could now remove some of the surface sheen. Thus, the top border, which is darker in value, is reflectively grayed in the reproduction you see before you.) Please note the playfulness of the frame created by the dark border: it changes in value, as well as in width, consequently it also changes in its artifice of depth. This is new in my work.
Yesterday's drawing continues my query into biomorphic abstraction. |
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May 2024
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