The painting 2017 No.14 is becoming increasingly difficult to reproduce well. There is no way a painting in person can look like a painting on a screen or in a book or on a magazine page. There ain't nothin' like the real. The only thing obvious to me is my involvement with this painting. It has gone up and will be sustained till end. I will work on it again today. I have a mission, and it feels good.
Yesterday's drawings continue my quest for messages more directly engaging to the viewer. This I am trying to find through more simple relationships of forms to one another and forms to ground. Something new does appear in drawing No.2. I used my finger to smudge the graphite of the pencil behind the form on the left. This increased its light-filled contrast, pushing the form's sphericalness hard and clear. There are multifarious ends facing me. One has immediacy. The idea of my mortality and eventual silence is the scariest. My here & now involvement in the End of the Year celebrations, and holidays, is the most demanding. I am a social animal, as well as a spiritual/Intellectual/emotional one. I have family. I have myself. Conflicts arise and overwhelm. Particularly at this time of the year, during this particular Ending. The process is not pretty; perhaps the outcome will be. I am trying to make here & now work well for me and for the people in my life, friends and family. I need generous amounts of time in the studio to feel comfortable with myself. Recently that time has been compromised, reduced by the many preparations to celebrate. Hopefully the celebrations will diminish my conflicts. Best I can expect is my memory will be altered by their success. I hope good memories will not make them too ugly to repeat.
Yesterday I made one drawing in one hour. It is informative. I want to pursue the simplicity of its central form. Soon a painting will come that takes this simplicity as most important. Look at the painting 2017 No.13 in reproduction. It is difficult to see it well in this small form. In the studio this painting sings. It is large, a width of 71 inches (180 cm). There are also problems in reproducing color and value. I made a postcard of 2017 No.13; its image looks cramped in a 5x7 inch format. To get attention, for people to wish to explore my art more fully, more correctly, and in person, I have to get their attention. This will be done best if I make a few works that reproduce well in small formats, such as on a 5x7 inch postcard... always nice to have a new goal. Today is proof positive that you have to see it to believe it! Reproducing art adequately is impossible. Yes, you get the gist, but you don't get the true experience. You don't get accuracy. This is clearly seen in the reproduction of the painting 2017 No.13. The pink tones across the top never go as red as seen here. It is a large painting, thus difficult to light evenly. I am trying to get it more accurate. Yesterday I ordered a few more lights in the Kelvin temperature daylight range. They will arrive tomorrow. Perhaps my next try at reproducing it will be better. As I proceed on a painting the precision in its reproduction does not seem to impact its factuality as much as it does in the painting's early stages. That could be self-delusion.
As to the art work itself, it is going, and going well! This stuff is high quality! Butter has two problems: It is high in fat and it can go rancid. If I am not careful with 2017 No.11 it could take on these characteristics. It is done. It feels like any further alterations would just add fat, and perhaps allow it to go stale, rancid. It is time for me to intellectually intervene. My impetus for perfection must be replaced with intellectual enforcement, i.e., "This has been out on the table long enough! Time to put it on ice. Put it in the fridge!"
OK, but, this morning I looked at it in the studio, where light is good and reality is confronted. This painting needs three more minutes of time. I need to push down the slight yellowing of the upper right edge of its dominant form (the striped one). You may not be able to see this in today's reproduction. It is no big deal. It is simply me going a little more toward perfection. All this painting requires (for me to be fully satisfied) is little dabs of white over that yellowish edge, thus turning the form a bit more robustly. Tomorrow you will see the final reproduction of this painting. I promise. Also, tomorrow you will see the beginning of a new painting, 2017 No.13. I promise! 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. The painting 2017 No.9 will never look perfect to me. I went to the studio, took a look at the real thing. It is better than this reproduction. Is it as good as it gets? Perhaps. I may do a little more, but it is certainly time to move on. Yesterday's drawing is prelude to a new paintings (I think).
Just when I thought I had exited 2017 No.8 I saw again, I changed a little, here it is (reproduced as well as I am able at the bottom of today's post). A new painting was begun yesterday, 2017 No.9. All is proceeding as it should.
Once again I feel unable to reproduce my art as good as it is in real sight. Yesterday's drawing lacks its subtlety, as does the reproduction of the painting 2017 No.8. Oh well, you get the basic idea here, if not the actual experience. Such is life on the web versus real life! Now you see it, but you really don't! Today I am in New York City. I am looking for better ways and means to connect. I want a larger dialogue, more personal and direct. This Blog gets plenty of attention, but I have often complained within its posts that here are reproductions, not the real things. Words are similar. Words cannot adequately express the purely visual.
During the last couple of days I have viewed a lot of art, from Carol Bove's sculpture at David Zwimmer's gallery in Chelsea, to art in the Whitney Museum and MOMA. There is nothing like the real thing. As example, reproductions of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" never made sense to me. At times, while viewing a reproduction, I thought, "What's the big deal?" But in person, its depth, its personality, is incredibly rich and profound. Such is my art. Reproductions here pale compared to the actual work. Thus I am in New York City, looking to find a way for people to see, and to react, to my art in person. Is it possible to make an abstract, non-representational, painting with three dimensional images? The question is there and I am trying to answer it. I want my art to have light and form and be intelligently emotive. My struggles with my new camera and reproduction continue in the experimental phase. The lighting on yesterday's three drawings is obviously uneven. I am experimenting with a polarization filter and white balance techniques. The reproduction's of yesterday's drawings don't look right to me. The painting's reproduction is closer to reality. The new camera has twice an many pixels as the previous one. Thus the subtlety of reproductions are enhanced. This allows me to see more details in the photos, thus making me work harder to reproduce well.
Today I show the first reproductions from photos taken by my new Nikon DSLR. Their accuracy is better, as is their resolution. CAUTION: Nothing can be reproduced accurately. Again, the best you can do is see it in person. Reality is better, always!
Yesterday began a new painting, "2016 No.7". I am dealing with my instincts. I began via paint alone, allowing responsive behavior to take over. I am making an effort to break through my higher level intuition, trying to go deeper to a place of pure response. I am seeking trust in my reflexes. Trust in one's reflexes allows one to catch a hard grounder (in baseball). Why should it not be the same in painting? |
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
April 2024
|