 "Shadowland" (2022 No.4, state 5), oil on canvas, 47⅞ x47 inches This one is difficult to reproduce. It reads more easily in the studio than here; in the studio it is less contrast controversial. Posting here makes me think about the limits of representation. I have to figure this out because I don't want to be alone because I am difficult to see.
 "Uphill the Hero" (2022 No.4, state 7), oil on canvas, 60x56⅝ inches  "The Beginnings of Caution" (2022 No.4, state 2-repro 2), oil on canvas, 47¼x47 inches "Uphill the Hero" took a good step. "The Beginnings of Caution" got a second try to reproduce it well (which ain't perfect either).
 Drawing 11·16·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches This drawing is impossible to reproduce with its subtle, high contrast, pencil marks, from gray to black. I go with this reproduction because it is as good as I can get. In reproducing my work, my goal is always to illuminate their structures and emotions. Have I have accomplished reproducing this drawing's complexity? I have reproduced its intent. My art must be seen in person, on a well lit wall, to be fully appreciated. I apologize for my failures. Obviously, in reproducing my art, I work hard to show it in true appearance.
 "Find a Man" (2021 No.8, state 9), oil on canvas, 56x59½ inches, {"When we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for we expected to find an author, and we find a man." -Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), "Pensées", 29 (1670)}  Drawing 09·24·2021, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches Enough already! Getting the reproduction of the painting, "Find a Man", to accurately resemble the actual painting was impossible. Maybe it is the photograph. Maybe it is the painting. I will take a good look today.
Yesterday's drawing is admirable good, reproduces well.  Drawing 08·15·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  "Honorable Terms" (2021 No.7, state 10), oil on canvas, 52x59⅞ inches, {"The roots of reason are imbedded in feelings — feelings that have formed and accumulated and developed over a lifetime of personality-shaping. These feelings are not a source of weakness but a resource of strength. They are not there for occasional using but are inescapable. To know what we think, we must know how we feel. It is feeling that shapes belief and forms opinion. It is feeling that directs the strategy of argument. It is our feelings, then, with which we must come to honorable terms." - James E. Miller, Jr., "Word, Self, Reality: The Rhetoric of Imagination" (1972)} You have to see it to believe it. Reproduction does, indeed, suck. Reproduction cannot represent the fine quality of a fine work of art. The more nuanced my work becomes the more my effort at adequate reproduction fails. The drawing I show you today took me three days to complete. That is long time for me. It is a complex drawing; it is subtle and nuanced. The painting, "Honorable Terms", has not changed since last I showed it here. I photographed "Honorable Terms" a second time, it remains in state 10. This reproduction of "Honorable Terms" is much better than last I showed here.
 "Honorable Terms" (2021 No.7, state 10), oil on canvas, 52x59⅞ inches, {"The roots of reason are imbedded in feelings — feelings that have formed and accumulated and developed over a lifetime of personality-shaping. These feelings are not a source of weakness but a resource of strength. They are not there for occasional using but are inescapable. To know what we think, we must know how we feel. It is feeling that shapes belief and forms opinion. It is feeling that directs the strategy of argument. It is our feelings, then, with which we must come to honorable terms." - James E. Miller, Jr., "Word, Self, Reality: The Rhetoric of Imagination" (1972)} It takes darkness to make light. This is true for canvas and paper. In the real world, the actuality of light is electromagnetic waves from an energy source. Paintings and drawings have no energy source, except the intellectual and emotional energy of construction. Thus comes the painting "Honorable Terms". A note about reproduction: There is nothing so difficult to reproduce as subtlety of nuance within the darker values of a drawing or a painting. I am intrigued with gradations of light found within darkness. So was Albert Pinkham Ryder.  Albert Pinkham Ryder, "Jonah", oil on canvas, 1885  Drawing 12·30·2020, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I have a new camera, a Nikon Z6 Mirrorless SLR. I used this camera to photograph my work reproduce in my last three blog posts. For today's image I changed exposure; I opened the lens aperture by +0.3 stop. The result is being able to see the subtleness of this drawing. This photo is a much better reproduction than achieved using my previous camera (Nikon D3300, a mirrored SLR).
As a work of art, yesterday's drawing is one more a step toward self-realization. I do feel I am on the cusp of great work.  "Amidst a Falling World" (2020 No.3, state 07), oil on canvas, 66¼x55½ inches {"Should the whole frame of nature around him break, In ruin and confusion hurled, He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack, And stand secure amidst a falling world." - Horace (65-8BC), "Odes", book 3, no.4, I.52)}  Drawing 05·31·2020, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches It can get very confusing. Knowledge is a strong, but power can distort possibilities. If power be fully followed, the consequences may not fall comfortably; the result may be incorrectly conceived. Failure occurs because power was allowed to precede knowledge; power has the ability to push aside a level-headed approach, thus diminishing the ability to secure a well measured result. Great art is balanced by perspicuity. With this I look at yesterday's work. I am insecure with it. The painting feels unfinished, not forceful enough; the drawing is a risk in value contrast and form contrast. Do they work well? Are they successful in engaging thought and feeling? I must think about this; both these works make me nervous. Or, is my nervousness merely a sign of the times I am living within?
Note on reproduction: Today's reproduction fails to accurately represent yesterday's actual drawing. The more a work of art relies upon subtlety to convey its ideas and emotions, the more the reproduction of it fails to impress.  Drawing 05·30·2019, 16x20 inches, pencil on paper I have many artistic ambitions. I worry I have too many objectives. I aspire to make art that functions well through many means: value, form, negative space, three-dimensional space, two-dimensional space, composition, and much more. I worry this may lead to confusion. A good work of art must show it itself through initial simplicity. A simple entry entices the viewer to become engaged, to pay attention, to look deeper, to see more. Complication is enriching only if the viewer hangs in there to absorb it. I think yesterday's drawing achieves this fullness; simplicity first, then satisfyingly complicated. This drawing is the last I will frame for my one-person Bromfield Gallery exhibition, opening June 5. Enjoy here! But please, see it in person at Bromfield Gallery. It is better than its reproduction.
 "Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 18), oil on canvas, 63x66 inches {"What might have been is an abstraction; Remaining a perpetual possibility; Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory." -T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"} This painting is the opposite of everything useless and tedious and repetitive, which is much of the news in our world today. When reading the news I ask myself, "Where is all this falderal going?" Well, it is not going where this painting, Burnt Norton, is going. This is a successful painting; it is becoming more successful with every alteration I make. Burnt Norton, as seen here in reproduction, needs one last tweak. Oh, oh! This is the happiness of being an artist; being in control of one's own creations!
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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
December 2022
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