I honestly love the fact that my office in the Art Department at the University of Missouri doubles as a prop room…
Click to boost
“Chaos, for me, breeds images…” – Francis Bacon.
PS – this is my 300th post here… my first post was on today’s date 3 years ago. There’s been some good stuff over the years. I’m glad to have kept a record this way…
Click on the image to see it large.
Yesterday I had the great opportunity – another with a few thousand other people from Mid-Missouri – to view the Transit of Venus at Mizzou’s Laws Observatory. We had great weather and clear skies for the event. The University handled the situation well – there were perhaps 15 viewing stations beside the larger domed telescope that sits high atop the Physics Building on the eastern edge of campus. See here for more information about the mission and outreach of Laws Observatory.
I’m moving into a new studio. One of the best things about this new space is that I can see so much of my work at once. Today, as I unloaded my work and began the process of organizing things, I was struck by all of the hours that surrounded me. Hours painting, thinking, trying, failing, moving down one path, trying another, etc, etc… So many works have left me, but I’ve got this amazing representative sample around me right now. I’m thankful to have spent that time. It’s been worth it.
Above: Anderson singing with a luminous microphone inside her mouth…
“I don’t necessarily think that political art is any better or more worthwhile or more relevant than making a giant blue painting. We need giant blue paintings and they can sometimes be more about freedom than works of art that tell you how to be free. Giant blue paintings can show you.” – Laurie Anderson, at the SVA commencement ceremony, 2012.
Watch her whole speech here. Be sure to watch through to her “pillow recorder” performance at the end – fantastic!
And here’s a (mostly) “giant blue painting” – Ocean Park #129.
It’s Towel Day! Do you know where your towel is?
More information on Douglas Adams and Towel Day here. And if you EVER get the chance, listen to the audiobook of the Hitchhiker’s Guide performed by Adams himself (I love Stephen Fry but no one does Adams like Adams. Every four or five years I listen through the entire series as he performed it). It’s an epic tale made more raucous and joyful through his personal expression of the humor and deep meaning within.
Finally, be sure to pack your Babelfish! 42!
My father is 70 today. Here’s a painting I made of him in 2006:
Oil on panel, 20 by 16 inches. Painted from observation over a few days.
And here’s a shot of me at work on the piece:
Now that the semester has ended I’m making some finishing touches on a current painting that’s been on the easel for a while. It’s a part of a growing body of work centering on interrelationships of angle and shape. Click here to see that group of works – you can see the piece I’m finalizing below. It’s oil on panel, 24 inches in diameter… it’ll be in the final stages for a couple more weeks. I’ve got four other artworks in progress and am feeling more refreshed in the studio these days… feeling like I can instinctively pivot and shift. I’m hoping for a fruitful, evocative summer.
One of the paintings from this group, a work titled Resonators, will appear at First Street Gallery in NYC this June and July. Click here to see that painting. I’m pretty happy about it, particularly since the juror who chose the piece was Dore Ashton; it was an honor to have my work selected by her.
I’ve also been framing and staging things for my upcoming show at PS Gallery here in Columbia, MO. It’s been fun to coordinate that 20 piece show – I hope you’ll be able to come see it – click here for more info about it.
Finally (after about 2 years), I’ve updated my main website. I futzed with the colors and layout, and added some more work… Check it out here.
Jacob Johnson, Jackie Lin, and David Spear all graduated from the University of Missouri Art Department this semester. I was on each of their graduate committees and was with them from the first days of their graduate experience. I could write a lot about their work, their thesis writing, and the things they’ve been trying to do. Instead I want to share just one piece of work (or so) from each of them.
Above: Jacob Johnson, Untitled (Neil’s Back, Green), Oil on Canvas mounted on Panel, 72 by 48 inches, 2009.
Below: Jacob Johnson, The Professor (Portrait of Matt Ballou), Oil on Panel, 8 by 6 inches, 2012. This was a tribute piece Jake made for me…
Above: Jackie Lin, Stir Fry, Oil on Canvas, 66 by 52.5 inches, 2010.
Below: Jackie took my family out for Peking Duck at House of Chow here in Columbia, MO as a gift to me… it was amazing!
Above: Harrison Bergeron (managed, directed and produced by David Spear), Who Are We, Where Do We Come From, Where Are We Going?, Oil on three Panels, 114 by 31.5 inches, 2012.
Below: Me and Harrison hamming it up at the Multimedia Extravaganza that was the thesis show…
The paintings above are three of my favorites from the production of these artists. I’m proud to have seen them develop and strive and fail and scream and leap for joy over these years. Here’s to many more years of learning to fail well.
…and my studio floor there. Click for enlargement.
Last Saturday we traveled to the Saint Louis Science Center to see Star Trek: The Exhibition. It was worth it just to sit in Captain Picard‘s chair!
The Center itself is also really interesting – Miranda was enthralled! Here she is looking down on the traffic below through windows in the floor of a bridge…
And here’s how much it would cost to send her into space!
There she is, peeking around the limb of Mars!
It was a super fun family day – and Miranda has been shouting “ENGAGE!” ever since…
eikonktizo 