 "The Doctrine of Liberty" (2019 No.1, state 8), 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} Yesterday was just another day at work. Paying attention to the transitions occurring to the image in front of me brings visceral response after visceral response. My day by day work is intuitive alteration after intuitive alteration after intuitive alteration. It is repetitive in reaction but not repetitive in action or consequence. "The Doctrine of Liberty" is clearly educating me. Liberty is not without responsibility. Choosing to be responsible is liberty. Liberty is viscerally acting, making real my educated intuitive ideas. Profundity is found by following the call of my intuition till there is no more call. "The Doctrine of Liberty" is becoming a profound work of art, but it is not completely there yet.
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 Drawing 01·30·2019, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches Insight comes in many varieties. Sometimes it is self-induced. Often it occurs because I see something in my environment that indicates there is a better way. My environment includes people and books and history and magazines and blogs and reproductions of art and memories of the art I love. The drawing I show today is me reacting to the forms in my painting "The Doctrine of Liberty". This drawing is insightful. It occurred because I was seeking a means to muster maximum strength from the forms in "The Doctrine of Liberty" — particularly the major letter-G-like form in the left half. Yesterday's blog post referred to Pablo Picasso. Picasso once remarked that he had tried so many disparate means to make a painting that generations of artists would use his loose ends. This has happened to me. Yesterday I showed Picasso's painting "Figures at the Seaside". In it the forms are not simply rounded, as some of my larger forms tend to be; the forms in "Figures at the Seaside" have hard, soft, and rounded edges. This painting gave me insight, as do other works by Picasso that deal with abstract forms that resemble the kind of forms I tend to generate. You can see it in the drawing I show you today. Below I attach a couple other works by Picasso that investigate the means to animate three-dimensional forms.  Pablo Picasso, "Seated Bather on the Beach", oil on canvas, 163x129.5 cm, 1929  Pablo Picasso, "Bather", 1929  Drawing 12·11·2016, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches I know. In today's title, the word "something" is misspelled. That incorrect word is made of "sum" and "thin", which are both appropriate to yesterday's drawing. I flattened the background with abstract planes. I constantly look for a direct manner of engagement. This drawing is broken into vertical, roughly rectangular, sections. When I make such a drawing I often think of Mark Rothko's late work. Rothko is one of mid-twentieth century's most successful artists. Rothko's art still resonates with today's viewers. Calendars of his work continue to be BIG sellers. You can not find a calendar with Willem de Koonings paintings, but many are made with Rothko's paintings. I wonder about this, so I occasionally react to it in my drawing, thus my "little sumthin".  Mark Rothko, "No.6", oil on canvas, 1954  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.  Peter Saul, "The Government of California", 1969  "Lava" (Painting-05·03·2015, state 6), oil on canvas, 52X60 inches Today's work is a simple reaction to the failures of my last studio session. Not there yet.  Drawing-05·19·2015, pencil on paper, 16X20 inches |
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February 2019
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