Monthly Archives: August 2016

Recent Publications

Posted on by under Art, Life, Writing

13725109_10154344363709491_3439759102298509937_oCollaborative digital artwork featured in the neotericART piece. See below.

I’ve had the great pleasure of having a few publications this year. I’ve always got 2 or 3 pieces in the works, so it makes sense that they’d come out from time to time. This year sees a brief but prestigious invitation and two wonderful panel discussions that I coordinated. If you’d like to check them out, see below:

Nerdrum Bio for Grove Dictionary of Art

Dr. Judith Rodenbeck of the University of California invited me to write a biography of Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum for the Grove Dictionary of Art, an imprint of Oxford University Press (online version is here). Dr. Rodenbeck is the lead editor of the 2016 Grove Art update. My piece will be published in the next couple of months. I’m pretty excited about this!

A Non-Verbal Debate: Digital Collaborations

This piece, created for neotericART (where I have contributed for many years), is a discussion of online, live collaboration tools – digital whiteboards – and how artists are beginning to adapt them into their work. Just the tip of the iceberg on this developing practice!

You Make The Work By Performing It: A Roundtable Discussion on Oblique Perspective

The Finch is an amazing online publication co-edited by Richard Benari & Lauren Henki. They invited me to lead a group of my graduate students in a panel discussion about some of the ideas that Dorothea Rockburne brought up in a recent interview. Our far-ranging conversation was one of the best I’ve had in a long time.

Becoming the Student #28: Aarik Emerging

Posted on by under Art, Life

SMALLbecomingstudent-aarikAarik Emerging. Oil on canvas on panel, 13 by 84 inches. 2014-2016. Click the image above for a large version.

My friend Aarik Danielsen is a writer, a preacher, a father, a reader, a thinker, a worker, a lover of his wife and of his life and of the small joys that can pass between people who strive to connect. He’s a willing participant in art and music and making of all kinds. He wants to tell the truth about time and meaning and God. He wants to be thoughtful and honest in all that he does. He is a gentle, genuine soul.

aarik-lipdetailAarik Emerging, detail. Click for large view.

Two years ago I began a project to bring Aarik into my Becoming the Student project. He was willing to go along with my strange request to turn off all the lights in my studio and press my ancient flatbed scanner against his head… for 30 minutes. These scans became the basis for the painting that you see here.

Above: A shot of Aarik from the studio when I was making the scans…

aarik-plaiddetailAarik Emerging, detail. Click for large view.

aarik-detailhairAarik Emerging, detail. Click for large view.

Usually I have an interview to go along with these posts. The thing is that it seems to me that an interview – short, minor, without range – would minimize who Aarik tries to be. This observation isn’t meant to degrade my other Becoming the Student posts. I know they are limited. But I guess with Aarik’s what I wanted to do was focus on his emergence as a father. This painting is a celebration of his transformation – a chosen transformation – into a father. All that being a dad entails is strange and hard. None of us who are dads really know how to do it. And we all deal with issues we never thought we’d have to. So this image of a man appearing out of thick darkness, his characteristics manifesting in tenuous and tenebrist ways, is symbolic of every father’s attempt to become what he believes he ought. The multiplicity of it; each situation bringing about change and instantaneous adaptations… It’s where I find myself and where I imagine Aarik finds himself. It’s a holy discombobulation, fatherhood. One in which we fail moment by moment. By grace we try again.

Thank you for doing that, Aarik – trying and trying again. By grace.

Inspiration: Simon at The Caribbean Linked Residency

Posted on by under Art, Life, Teaching

My friend and student Simon Tatum has had an amazing year as an artist. From representing Mizzou at the SEC Symposium on Entrepreneurship and Creativity in Atlanta to a lengthy study abroad trip in Europe (not to mention the many shows he has been in), Simon has really stepped into a professional artist’s world. And he’s still an undergraduate!

Recently Simon left the Midwest to head down to the Caribbean for a residency in Aruba. Simon is from The Cayman Islands, so he’s a part of the culture of the region and his work deals directly with situations unique to that part of the world. The Caribbean Linked Residency is an awesome opportunity for artists connected to the Caribbean to network, create art together, and foster a global awareness for the power of Caribbean-based work. Here’s more about the cohort Simon is a part of right now.

13950565_1239672856044109_1820369049_oOne of the locations Simon is working at on Aruba. (Photos courtesy Simon Tatum)

I’m really excited for the work Simon will do at this residency and so pleased with his thoughtfulness, professionalism, and dedication to his ideals and worth ethic. And he keeps up with the sighting and measuring!

13931472_1239672532710808_960033781_oSimon drawing on location in Aruba.

I hope you’ll take the time to check out Simon’s work here. As he sends me more photos of his time at the Residency, I’ll update this post.