Carl Mehrbach
  • About
  • Making Art

Three Days of Getting Better

6/27/2022

 
Picture
"Arena" (2022 No.6, state 7), oil on canvas, 41¼x58½ inches
Picture
"Arena" (2022 No.6, state 6), oil on canvas, 41¼x58½ inches
Picture
Drawing 06·08·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
I did not get a chance to post for three days; here is the work I did during that hiatus. All good, I believe.

State 6 of "Arena" ended one day of work, me in quandary. I did not understand how to proceed. The next day I returned to the studio, made state 7. I am happy with this solution, but cannot declare it complete.

This drawing interests me. It is fully abstract, references to walk-around reality are vague. It is very much about surface and touch. I believe Mark Rothko would like it, probably Philip Guston too.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

4/14/2022

 
Picture
Drawing 04·13·2022, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
I am doing less commentary because my work is speaking more loudly, more clearly. If you look at my last two drawings you will see me finding ground, enjoying the surface as I play with space and time. The forms are few, but very important in defining space.

The Struggle Toward Style

8/25/2021

 
Picture
Drawing 08·24·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
Aristotle wrote, "Style to be good must be clear.... Clearness is secured by using the words that are current and ordinary." In Song of Myself, Walt Whitman states, "He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher." And here I am. I have learned from my teacher (Philip Guston). I have now removed all his idiosyncratic ideas from my works. I did not destroy him, as Whitman suggests I do, but I have moved away from him, I have created my own style.

Clearness is an issue with me. I am working toward strong personal engagement with my viewers. Aristotle's idea is important to me, i.e., use of ordinary language is necessary to clarity. For me, the visual artist, ordinary language is visual art's most basic principles and elements. The most basic language of art is non-representative; it is color, form, composition, surface, value, et cetera. Basic visual art language also contains imagery because it has form and it contains the artifice of light. The viewer may call this "Representative Imagery," but I do not want to dilute meaning in art by representing something perceived in the real world. I have destroyed one idea of Philip Guston's. Guston's late work, it allegiance to simple, Representative Imagery, is the distraction I have destroyed. It must be destroyed because it hinders perception of the actual expressive quality that resides in the basic language of visual art.

Yesterday's drawing exhibits an exploration of surface, surface as a flow of light and space. As I made this drawing I thought of Mark Rothko's work. Rothko's clarity was his reduction; his painting are reduced to expressive play on surface and light.

Picture
Mark Rothko, Blue & Gray" oil on canvas, 1962

Apropos of Picasso and Me

6/20/2021

 
Picture
Drawing 06·18·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
The force of my will made this one. It is apropos of my need to grab your attention, grab my attention. I center you, I center me, by using strong vertical forms. Somehow, when I was finished with this drawing, I was reminded of Picasso's "Crucifixion" from 1930. I believe it to be one of Picasso's most remarkable works, different as it is in color, space, and forms from anything else Picasso. Yes, in this crucifixion there is relationships to everything Picasso had done, and would do, but Picasso's approach here is quite different. The viewer is centered by the light-valued blue of the Christ figure and his distraught mother. After this centering, the viewer can wander, be continuously surprised by the complete animation, the literal references, within the composition, one after the next. My drawing is simpler, yet equally haunting.

This bring me to the question of background. There is blank paper in my drawing. Does that work? I usually like to touch every surface. I usually feel the need to identify every part of my paper's surface as part of my space, my time, and my composition. That did not happen in this drawing's background. Does it work? There is a bold, forceful grab here: the viewer is captured by strong, vertical forms, I do believe the white paper ground serves its contrasting purpose. I see the white as definitive space; it is the flat plane in front of which the rest of the composition resides. Notice how Picasso dealt with his background and the negative space; four flat colored areas: blue, yellow, orange, red. Is the viewer bothered by these unidentifiable spaces? No! Instead the multiple compositionally positive forms grab and install the viewer within the composition. The forms are strong enough to support the vague spaces and surfaces Picasso's flat colors depict.

Picture
Pablo Picasso, "Crucifixion", oil on panel, 1930

Feeling & Touching

6/9/2021

 
Picture
Drawing 06·08·2021, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
Picture
"The Opposite of Indifference" (2021 No.4, state 08), oil on canvas, 54x51 inches, {"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. Because of indifference one dies before one actually dies. To be in the window and watch people being sent to concentration camps or being attacked in the street and do nothing, that's being dead. His or her neighbor are of no consequence. Their hidden or visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the Other to an Abstraction." - Elie Wiesel, "US News & World Report" (27 October 1986)}
Feeling and touching is a silent activity. Today I will be silent🤫

Preparation & Acceptance

8/12/2020

 
Picture
"Amidst a Falling World" (2020 No.3, state 17), oil on canvas, 66¼x57¼ 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)}
Picture
Drawing 08·11·2020 No.1, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
Picture
Drawing 08·11·2020 No.2, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
The painting, "Amidst a Falling World", will be exhibited at the prestigious 70th Annual A-ONE Exhibition at Silvermine Galleries in New Canaan, CT. The exhibition opens September 5, 2020. Yesterday I got extremely close to completing "Amidst a Falling World". A couple more touches and it will be complete.

My struggle to make sense of my personal vision has been mitigated by my efforts to complete "Amidst a Falling World". I understand better a means to represent personal clarity because I had to clarify "Amidst a Falling World". There is strength in simplicity. Yesterday I worked to make simple clarity available in my drawings. One of my problems is my sheer love of touch; my enjoyment of making marks has the ability to distract me from clarity; I enjoy making marks that represent surfaces, forms, and the representation of light on forms and surfaces. I get carried away, swept away, as I seek image though marks of graphite. Yesterday's drawing No.2 swept me into many more pencil marks than No.1.

Splendid Table

12/7/2018

 
Picture
Drawing 12·06·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
Three million strokes and counting.... Yesterday's drawing celebrates the marking of a white piece of paper with graphite from a pencil. Later yesterday, as I rested reading in my living room, my arm let me know it had been taxed. I had been enjoying finding forms, finding surface, finding space, finding light, and finding composition! This simultaneity-filled activity is a celebration of mindfulness. The more I do it the longer I can sustain it! This is "practice", as defined by veteran meditators. The Buddha would be proud of me! I have not obtained Buddhahood, but I am moving in that direction.

Shravasti Dhammika, a Theravada monk, writes:

In the centuries after his final Nibbāna it sometimes got to the stage that the legends and myths obscured the very real human being behind them and the Buddha came to be looked upon as a god. Actually, the Buddha was a human being, not a 'mere human being' as is sometimes said but a special class of human called a 'complete person' (mahāparisa). Such complete persons are born no different from others and indeed they physically remain quite ordinary.
​
— "Buddhahood", from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NYC & Back & Giacometti

6/27/2018

 
Picture
Drawing 06·26·2018, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches
I spent last weekend in New York City. I saw a lot of art. Some of it excellent, some has mysteriously gotten great attention from buyers & collectors (despite being devoid of profundity). My biggest interaction with art relevant to me, was the massive exhibition of works by Alberto Giacometti at the Guggenheim Museum. Giacometti and I share love of form and love of touch; we both scratch every part of the surface of everything we make. Giacometti and I love to feel our way through a work, whether it be a drawing, a painting, or a sculpture. Because I wish to get to the studio as soon as possible, I leave you with a couple works by Giacometti and one by me. Mine was made yesterday. Giacometti died in 1966.

Picture
Alberto Giacometti, "Portrait of a Woman", oil on canvas, 1965
Picture
Photo of Alberto Giacometti with one of his sculptures
Picture
Alberto Giacometti, "Head", ink on paper, Date Unknown

Cavorting

6/14/2018

 
Picture
"Chocorua" (2018 No.5, state 2), oil on canvas, 34x51 inches {"A substitute for all the gods, This self, not that gold self aloft, Alone, one's shadow magnified, Lord of the body, looking down, As now and called most high, The shadow of Chocorua" - Wallace Stevens, "The Man with the Blue Guitar", verse XXI}
Picture
Drawing 06·13·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
The drama of yesterday's drawing insists upon the reproduction seen here, where the white ground appears gray. I tried to reproduce this authentically, as seen in actual. There is success here, as this reproduction allows the viewer to see the play in lower versus the upper half. In today's reproduction the immense amount of surface work in the lower half cavorts nicely with the artifice of 3D-space in the upper half.

Chocorua is going, and coming. It is calling me to be entertained with surface romp, to perform it like a music jam.

Explore!

1/24/2018

 
Picture
Drawing 01·23·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches
I am sure you can see. My drawings have changed. There is surface inspection like never before. I am feeling my way through, around, and on the surfaces of the forms, the ground, and the background. I am in an effort to integrate it all. I want to be cognizant of the touch, the feel of all I create on the paper, while simultaneously watching the entire composition form. All is becoming one of many things. This acknowledgement is important. It is self-acknowledgement. I want to be mindful of where I am while being mindful of the overall. I am working toward this goal. It feels authentic. It is becoming my faithful way to produce an image.
<<Previous
    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

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010


    Categories

    All
    Ability
    Abstract
    Abstracted Reality
    Abstract Figurine
    Abstraction
    Abstract Mythology
    Abstract Representation
    Academic
    Acceptance
    Accomplishment
    Accuracy
    Achievement
    Action
    Activity
    Adaptation
    Adventure
    Aesthetics
    Affirmation
    Alien
    Allegory
    All-over
    All Over Composition
    Allover-composition
    Alphabet
    Alteration
    Alternative Solution
    Ambivalence
    Anamorphosis
    Anatomy
    Angst
    Anima
    Animate
    Animation
    ANNOUNCEMENT
    Answers
    Anticipation
    Anxiety
    Apolitical
    Appetite
    Approach
    Archetypal
    Art
    Art History
    Artifice
    Artistic
    Artmaking
    Art Making
    Assess
    Atmosphere
    Atmospheric Color
    Attention
    Attitude
    Attractive
    Authenticity
    Background
    Bad
    Balance
    Battleground
    Beauty
    Becoming
    Beginnings
    Bewilderment
    Bias
    Big-sensations
    Biomorphism
    Black
    Blindness
    Boggle
    Border
    Boring
    Brainstorming
    Breakthrough
    Buddhahood
    Business-of-art
    Callresponce
    Career
    Catalogue Raisonné
    Caution
    Centered Composition
    Centering
    Centerness
    Cerebral
    Challenge
    Chance
    Change
    Chaos
    Character
    Circular Composition
    Clarity
    Classical Composition
    Classicism
    Claustrophobic
    Clogged
    Coherency
    Color
    Color Balance
    Color Theory
    Comfort
    Commonality
    Communication
    Competition
    Completion
    Complexity
    Composition
    Compositional Density
    Compound
    Comprehension
    Concentrate
    Conclusion
    Concrete
    Confidence
    Confirmation
    Conflict
    Confusion
    Congestion
    Consciousness
    Consequences
    Conservative
    Contemplation
    Contemporary
    Content
    Continuance
    Continuum
    Contraposition
    Contrast
    Control
    Conviction
    Coronae
    Correctness
    Counterpoint
    Creativity
    Criticism
    Culture
    Curiosity
    Cycle
    Cycles In Creativity
    Dance
    Dark
    Darkness
    Deception
    Decision Making
    Decorative
    Default
    Déjà Vu
    Deliberate
    Delusion
    Depression
    Depth
    Design
    Despair
    Destination
    Destruction
    Detail
    Development
    Diagonal
    Diary
    Dichotomy
    Different
    Difficult
    Digital Alteration
    Dignity
    Discipline
    Discomfort
    Discontent
    Discovery
    Dishonesty
    Disparage
    Disparate
    Disruption
    Dissatisfaction
    Distraction
    Distractions
    Documentation
    Dogma
    Doppelgänger
    Doublethink
    Doubt
    Drama
    Drawing
    Drawings
    Dream
    Dreaming
    Dull
    Dynamic
    Dynamism
    Education
    Effort
    Ego
    Elation
    Elegant
    Elements Of Art
    Emotions
    Emotive
    Empathy
    End
    Endings
    Endless
    Endpoint
    Endurance
    Energy
    Engagement
    Enjoyment
    Enlightenment
    Epoch
    Equivoque
    Era
    Erase
    Essential
    Evaluation
    Evolution
    Excellence
    Exhaustion
    Exhibition
    Expectation
    Experiential
    Experimentation
    Exploration
    Expression
    Expressionist
    Extracted Reality
    Facade
    Failure
    Falderal
    False
    Fantasy
    Fascination
    Fear
    Feel
    Feeling
    Fiction
    Figurative
    Figurative Mythology
    Figure
    Figures
    Finality
    Finding
    Finesse
    Flat
    Flat Composition
    Flat On Flat
    Fluidity
    Focal Point
    Focus
    Foolishness
    Foreground
    Foreshortening
    Form
    Formal Qualities
    Format
    Forms
    Foundation
    Fragility
    Frame
    Freedom
    Friendship
    Frightening
    Frontal Composition
    Frustration
    Fulfillment
    Fun
    Future
    Game
    Geometrics
    Gesture
    Glory
    Goal
    Goldilocks Syndrome
    Good
    Grab
    Grammar
    Grapple
    Gratification
    Grit
    Ground
    Growth
    Habit
    Hallelujah!
    Happiness
    Happy
    Harbinger
    Hard
    Haste
    Heaven
    Here And Now
    History
    Honesty
    Hope
    Horizon
    Horizontal Composition
    Hue
    Humor
    Hurry Up
    Hurt
    Hypothesis
    Id
    Ideas
    Ignorance
    Illustration
    Imagery
    Imagination
    Immediacy
    Immediacy Of Purpose
    Immortality
    Impact
    Impetus
    Important
    Impossibility
    Impromptu
    Improvisation
    Impulse
    Incomplete
    Individuality
    Inevitability
    Influence
    Influencer
    Information
    Inherent
    Inquiry
    Insecurity
    Insight
    Inspiration
    Instinct
    Integrity
    Intellect
    Intelligibilty
    Intension
    Intention
    Interactions
    Interest
    Internalization
    Internal Life
    Intimacy
    Introspection
    Intuition
    Intuitive
    Invention
    Investigation
    In Your Face
    In-your-face
    Iterative
    Journey
    Joy
    Judgement
    Juxtaposition
    Kinetics
    Knowing
    Knowledge
    Labor
    Landscape
    Language
    Law
    Learning
    Lessons
    Lethargy
    Lies
    Life
    Light
    Limitation
    Line
    Little Sensations
    Living
    Local Color
    Logic
    Loneliness
    Longevity
    Lucidity
    Luck
    Madness
    Makeover
    Making Art
    Making-art
    Making Sense
    Malaprop
    Management
    Mandate
    Mantra
    Manufacturing
    Marks
    Masters
    Mastery
    Mathematics
    Maturity
    Meaning
    Mediation
    Meditation
    Mental Health
    Mentor
    Messaging
    Metaphor
    Metaphysics
    Methodology
    Milestone
    Mimic
    Mindfulness
    Misconstrued
    Misdirection
    Modus Operandi
    Monumentality
    Moral
    Morality
    Mortality
    Motion
    Motives
    Movement
    Mundane
    Music
    Mystery
    Mythology
    Naiveté
    Narrative
    Nature
    Negative/positive Balance
    Negative Space
    Nervousness
    New
    Nexus
    Nobility
    Non Objective
    Non-objective
    Non Representation
    Non-representation
    Non Verbal
    Non-verbal
    Novelty
    Now
    Nuance
    Nucleus
    Objective
    Obvious
    Omphalos
    Ontology
    Openness
    Opinion
    Opposites
    Optimism
    Order
    Organization
    Orientation
    Pace
    Painfulness
    Painting
    Paradox
    Passion
    Past
    Path
    Patience
    Pattern
    Pause
    Peace
    Pellucidity
    Pencil On Paper
    Perception
    Perfection
    Perfectionism
    Performance
    Persona
    Personal
    Personality
    Perspective
    Phantasmagoria
    Philosophy
    Photograph
    Physical Health
    Physical Labor
    Physics
    Planning
    Plasticity
    Play
    Playfulness
    Poetry
    Pointillés
    Political
    Positive Space
    Possibility
    Power
    Practicality
    Practice
    Precision
    Preparation
    Primary Impulse
    Primeval
    Principles Of Art
    Priorities
    Problem Solving
    Process
    Processing
    Profound
    Profundity
    Progress
    Proof
    Prototypical
    Psyche
    Psychology
    Pun
    Purity
    Purpose
    Pursuit
    Quality
    Quandary
    Quantity
    Quest
    Questions
    Quotes
    Radical
    Reaction
    Realism
    Reality
    Real-world
    Rebel
    Rebellion
    Recognition
    Reconsideration
    Rectangle
    Reduction
    Referential
    Referential-representation
    Refinement
    Rejection
    Relationship
    Relentless
    Relevancy
    Reluctance
    Renewal
    Repainted
    Repetition
    Representation
    Representational-mythology
    Representative
    Reproduction
    Research
    Resolution
    Resonance
    Responsibility
    Reveal
    Reverb
    Revision
    Revolution
    Revolutionary
    Rhyme
    Rhythm
    Right
    Rigor
    Risk
    Roadblock
    Rules
    Sanity
    Satisfaction
    Savor
    Scale
    Science
    Scintillation
    Sculpture
    Search
    Security
    Seeing
    Seeking Simplicity
    Selfawareness
    Self Awareness
    Selfcriticism
    Self Discovery
    Selfexpression
    Self Expression
    Self Fulfillment
    Self-identity
    Self-identity
    Selfknowledge
    Self-knowledge
    Selfrealization
    Self-realization
    Selfrevelation
    Self Revelation
    Self Satisfaction
    Selfworth
    Sensitivity
    Sensuousness
    Seriousness
    Shadow
    Shape
    Shock
    Significance
    Silliness
    Simplicity
    Simplification
    Simplify
    Sincerity
    Sketch
    Skill
    Smudge
    Social-media
    Soft
    Solutions
    Sophistication
    Soul
    Space
    Specular-highlights
    Spirit
    Spiritual
    Spontaneous
    Spotlight
    Staccato
    States Of A Painting
    Static-composition
    Steal
    Steps
    Stiltedness
    Story-telling
    Straightforward
    Straight-forward
    Strain
    Strategy
    Strength
    Stress
    Stripping-away
    Structure
    Struggle
    Study
    Subconscious
    Substantial
    Subtlety
    Success
    Such
    Suffering
    Superego
    Surface
    Surprise
    Symbolism
    Symmetrical-composition
    Symmetry
    Tactility
    Talent
    Teacher
    Technique
    Testing
    Texture
    Themes
    Thirddimension
    Third-dimension
    Three Dimensional
    Three-dimensional-composition
    Threedimensional-composition
    Three-dimensions
    Time
    Time-management
    Titling
    Tone
    Tool
    Touch
    Transition
    Trapezoid
    Trials
    Triangle
    Tribulations
    True
    Trust
    Truth
    Two Dimensional
    Two-dimensional-composition
    Twodimensional-composition
    Ugly
    Understanding
    Universal
    Unknown
    Unpretentious
    Update
    Urgency
    Validity
    Value
    Value Contrast
    Variety
    Veracity
    Verbal
    Verisimilitude
    Vertical-composition
    Vibrato
    Viewer Engagement
    Viewer Involvement
    Viewing-distances
    Virtue
    Vision
    Volume
    Vulnerable
    Walkaround-reality
    Want
    Wherewithal
    Wisdom
    Witticism
    Wonder
    Words
    Work
    Worry
    Wrangle
    Wrong
    Wrongness
    Wunderkind
    Zen
    Zigzag

    RSS Feed

All images Copyright ©2023 Carl Mehrbach
  • About
  • Making Art