Category Archives: Art

The Larry Show Postcards!!!

Posted on by under Art, Life

So the upcoming “Larry” show, curated by the awesome Sloane Snure Paullus, has postcards that solicit drawing upon said postcard (to be exhibited alongside the work of 40+ artists [including me and some of my best students] at the George Caleb Bingham Gallery at the University of Missouri this summer)… Below are some of my very own “The Larry Show” postcard drawings. Enjoy, and click for larger versions :)

And here’s the verso, giving details about the show… I hope you can make it. There’ll be a whole wall of visitor-submitted card drawings (including a few more of my own), so be sure to see the show!


“The Bell, Struck” – Tondos by Tim Lowly and Matt Ballou

Posted on by under Art, Life, news

I’ve got an show coming up in Louisville, KY with Tim Lowly at the 930 Art Center. Click HERE to see the 930’s website for the show. Click HERE to see a gallery of some of the work I’ll be presenting there and HERE for work from Tim. I’m really looking forward to this exhibition! If you’re going to be in the area this summer, check it out!

Above: Bells, acrylic on paper mounted on panel, 24 inches in diameter. In progress.

Beginning Color Drawing Spring 2011 Group Project

Posted on by under Art, Life, Teaching

Once again, my Beginning Color Drawing class at the University of Missouri has created a large work together as a capstone to the semester. Seeing these big drawings happen has been a very rewarding aspect of my teaching.

This one is obviously a copy of one of Chuck Close‘s self portraits. And below is how it looks from the hallway. Click on the images to see them in larger glory!

These are mostly fun, low-pressure way to create something unifying after spending the whole semester developing and practicing skills. I love  this project. Click here and here to see some past efforts!

Situation and Circumstance Overcome

Posted on by under Art, Life

Situation and Circumstance Overcome. Oil on panel, 16 by 20, 2003.

I painted this for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Luckily they didn’t want it. It’s a touchstone; so deferential to my old heroes, so sentimental and fundamental in statement. The original hangs in our home here, near the main door – it’s a reminder. I’ve painted many copies of the work, as it’s one that seems to resonate with many viewers.

Perhaps the bricks are more important than the flora, after all.

IU Fine Arts Student Association Submission

Posted on by under Art, Life

IU’s Fine Arts Student Association recently solicited postcard sized works from alumni, like myself (MFA, Painting, ’05). Below is what I sent them.

Water From a Stone (Ballou, 2011 – For IU), ink on moleskin page.

Here’s a link what a fellow IU alum, Stephen Cefalo, submitted. The whole thing is to support FASA’s “Making Art Work” symposium on careers in the Arts. Click here for more information about it.

On Intuition and Analysis

Posted on by under Art, Life, Writing

My latest essay, On Intuition and Analysis, is up over at Neoteric Art. Click HERE to take a look… and leave a comment there if you’ve got thoughts to add to the discussion!

“The ways that the human mind manifests itself in creative activity are vast and various. People have theorized about and argued over modes of creative impetus for millennia. Artists and lovers of art are constantly attempting to plumb these depths, always looking for some elucidation of the mechanisms and maneuvers our minds utilize when we are in that universally recognized but seemingly undefined state that is creation.” Click the link above to read more…

Inspiration – George Tooker

Posted on by under Art, Life

George Tooker died this week. You can read the New York Times obituary here. There’s also a wonderful short documentary that captures his gentle spirit here. And here‘s a short survey about the artist.

His work was evocative, awe inspiring, and it deeply affects those who explore it. He’s a part of the artistic lineage that I claim, particularly since I see myself as a symbolist.

““Symbolism can be limiting and dangerous, but I don’t care for art without it. The kind that appeals to me the most is a symbolism like a heraldic emblem, but never just that alone: the kind practiced by Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca.” – George Tooker

Sleep well.

Collage, by Zeinab Chaichi Raghimi

Posted on by under Art, Teaching

One of my grads has developed a booklet containing a number of her collage works from last year. Please go over to Lulu and check it out by clicking the image below (it’s one of my favorites of the ones she made last summer). The booklet is pretty cheap to purchase (you can download a full-color, 25 page version for a couple bucks) and has some excellent images as well as a statement in English and Farsi. I think Zeinab is doing some great work here at the University of Missouri and I hope a few people will support and encourage her by picking up a copy of the booklet. Just click on the image below to go to the Lulu page where it’s for sale.

Drawing is…

Posted on by under Art, Life, Teaching

Drawing is the literal manifestation of corrections, adjustments, and negotiations made during its own construction. A drawing (regardless of the manner of the image it displays) is always a representational work depicting the activity by which it was made. As we build a work, we self-correct. As we self-correct, we leave a trace of real observation and negotiation, declaring our willingness to leave behind what has not worked in the service of the total work and in anticipation of something that will work better. The final drawing is not a snapshot, not a slice of time, but a track record of integrations attempted, iterations discovered, and disparate elements syncretized.

Untitled (Beautiful Collision #3), Graphite on paper, 20 inches in diameter, 2008.