 Drawing 12·16·2021 No.2, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  Drawing 12·16·2021 No.1, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I want my Art to simultaneously contain purity and emotive complexity. Are they mutually exclusive? I believe Mark Rothko, and Ellsworth Kelly, have proved otherwise. And... they are not the only ones.
Negative space is paramount as emotive structure. Positive forms share responsibility; forms must be profoundly, attentively complex, while positioned sparsely within negative space. Yesterday's drawings continue my research into this dilemma, purity versus emotive complexity.  "Gonna Speak to the Crowd" (2021 No.5, state 12), oil on canvas, 64x57⅜ inches, {"I'm gonna spare the defeated — I'm gonna speak to the crowd. I'm gonna spare the defeated, boys, I'm going to speak to the crowd. I am goin' to teach peace to the conquered. I'm gonna tame the proud." - Bob Dylan, "Lonesome Day Blues" (2001)} This painting, "Gonna Speak to the Crowd", hits hard. Its value contrast is large. It is spiritually simple. It is bright. I am surprised when my paintings go this way. I should pay deep attention to this simple and bright solution. This painting is, afterall, is a potent signpost.
 Drawing 09·22·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Too simple? Too complex? Too simple? Too Complex? Yes, but... I don't think either "too simple"or "too complex" is true if composition centers the answer. My goal is make my art impossible to look away. Thus, I go back and forth, simple, complex, simple, et cetera; testing and researching. Look at yesterday's post to see what I mean.
Today's drawing may have a touch of both simple and complex. It is definitely a limited affair compared to the drawing I posted yesterday.  "No Living Thing Can Exist Without It" (2021 No.3, state 10), oil on canvas, 58x56 inches, {"Art always serves beauty, and beauty is the joy of possessing form, and form is the key to organic life since no living thing can exist without it." - Boris Pasternak, "Doctor Zhivago" (1958)}  Drawing 04·23·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches This work is self explanatory. To see my philosophical direction, and its effect on my imagery, shuttle back to yesterday's blog, then return here. Truth is simple; I am working toward simple truth.
 "No Living Thing Can Exist Without It" (2021 No.3, state 9), oil on canvas, 58x56 inches, {"Art always serves beauty, and beauty is the joy of possessing form, and form is the key to organic life since no living thing can exist without it." - Boris Pasternak, "Doctor Zhivago" (1958)}  Drawing 04·22·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Simplicity leads to my presence. Yesterday's dramatic move of the painting, "No Living Thing Can Exist Without It", is toward simplicity. Its current version (state 9) calls out clearly; in other words, it is more convincingly me, than it was before yesterday's alteration. Yesterday's drawing also shows I cam be complex and simple at the same time.
 "No Living Thing Can Exist Without It" (2021 No.3, state 4), oil on canvas, 56x56 inches, {"Art always serves beauty, and beauty is the joy of possessing form, and form is the key to organic life since no living thing can exist without it." - Boris Pasternak, "Doctor Zhivago" (1958)}  Drawing 04·07·2021, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches I am using a sketchbook again. You will not see it here because it is sketch notes to myself. It is teaching me basic needs. It is teaching me the simplicity of vision. I do need to change directions. I do need to go short and sweet. My work, too often, becomes complex. Too often I have solved problems by adding to complexity, rather than paring down to simple messaging. Yesterday's drawing exhibits my confusion. It has duplicity, and self awareness. Yesterday's drawing wants to go simple, but ends with a complexity of forms. Number and kinds of forms can distract. Going toward fewer forms is not necessarily going too little. There are all kind is of ways of making simplicity, sparsity of forms, into grand statements, ones filled with emotion and meaning. I am on the road to blunt and purposeful art. Keeping ideas alive, minute by insightful minute, will help. This is the reason for carrying a sketchbook, everywhere and always. I often awake with insights. My sketchbook was on my bedstead last night. This morning it was the first thing I picked up.
Working toward simplicity is necessary. That is happening in the painting, "No Living Thing Can Exist Without It".  Drawing 01·21·2021, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches There is a lot in a little, and vice versa. I must be careful. Muck can overwhelm. Muck can distract. Confusion reigns if the the simplest of truth telling is not sustained. Yesterday's drawing allows the viewer to engage with a simple rectangle within a rectangle. This engagement occurs despite it being built with a complex web. I believe yesterday's drawing tells a proper story.
 Drawing 12·27·2020, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches Looking for nirvana never fails to fail. This drawing is a start in the right direction. Seek and I shall find. This drawing finds merit in directness coupled with complexity. Here are large individual forms, within the large forms complexity is found. This is not the perfect accomplishment. It is a finding; not conclusive, but a verdict of merit that is preparation for my next step. I received a gift of a calendar for 2021. It contains 365 art images, mostly paintings. Its cover shows Vincent Van Gogh's Still Life with Irises (one of Vincent's greatest masterpieces, completed in the last year of his life, 1890). You see one of my inspirations in this painting. Vincent used simple color, simple large forms, but then playfully created a complexity of lines, shapes, and value contrast within the irises. Van Gogh's Still Life with Irises is satisfying on many levels. I absolutely adore this painting. It is a treasured lesson in emotional truth telling.  Vincent Van Gogh, "Still Life with Irises", oil on canvas, 92x73.5 cm, 1890  Drawing 09·24·2020 (state 2), pencil on paper, 20x16 inches  Drawing 09·25·2020, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Recently, my drawings are taking two days of thought to complete. The second drawing here is no exception. This drawing from 9/25/2020 is a step toward simplicity, yet it is too simple for me to accept. Today I will go back into it. That said, look at Drawing 09·24·2020 in its state 2; it is crazy complex. Why is it difficult for me to illustrate my simple, personal identity? Am I as complex as my drawings indicate? The problem is viewer engagement. I do not wish to be obtuse, but I believe I am. My job is to get down to the basic me; I want to be naked in front of myself, naked in front of my viewers. At this point I continue to hide behind a patterned curtain so thick as to hide me from easy view. Yeah, I am behind the curtain. Am I pretending, as the Wizard of Oz pretended to be someone he is not? I know I am failing to do the one think I want to do so badly. I want to reveal myself in order to communicate honestly and purely. Guise and guile are irritating and distracting. I must stop myself!
 Drawing 09·19·2020, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches Fascinating it is, that the struggle of my life is not a struggle for understanding and skill, but for simple and clear. It ain't easy for me to accept simplicity. Simplicity, it seems, is far more difficult to render well than complex and overwhelming. Paring down to essentials is hard work; much harder than letting loose with a spill of ideas. Ideas come easy; sorting out the relevant comes hard.
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