Category Archives: Art

Vacation = Work

Posted on by under Art, Life

This Thanksgiving Break my wife and I decided to stay at our home here in Columbia, MO rather than going to visit family for the holiday. There’s a lot going on for us, and for my work in particular. There’s no time to take a break.

I’ve got three significant shows coming up. The first is a wonderful show at the University of Mary Washington Ridderhof Martin Gallery in Fredericksburg, VA. The exhibition is titled SHADES OF GRAY: Drawings in Graphite and will run from January 21 – February 25, 2011. I’m particularly excited about this exhibition as Joann Moser, Senior Graphics Curator from the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, will be presenting a lecture and placing the work on view in context. Below is one of the four works of mine that will be included in the show.

Anthropology (Conceits of Knowledge #3), graphite on paper, 38 by 42 inches, 2008.

The next show I’m involved in is a solo show at the Barrington Center for the Arts at Gordon College just outside of Boston, MA. The show is titled Redeeming Tensions and will feature approximately 40 paintings, mezzotint prints, and drawings. It’s the largest show I’ve ever attempted. It will run from February 5 through March 19, 2011. Below are two of mezzotint plates I’ve been working this week. The finished works will be printed and appear in the show.

Lamentations Chapter 3 Verse 8, copper mezzotint plate, 2010.

Lamentations Chapter 3 Verse 14, copper mezzotint plate, 2010.

The final major show I’m involved in will be a two-person exhibition at the 930 Art Center in Louisville, KY with Tim Lowly, one of the most amazing representational painters working today. It is an extreme honor to be asked to show with him, and I am super excited about our show of tondos. I’ve got some work for this show underway but since it’s a while until the show opens I want to keep that under wraps – the run should be June 17 – July 31, 2011.

So, as you can see, I don’t have time to take vacations from the things I love, the things I’m passionate about… and I wouldn’t want to. Faith, family, art making, community, teaching; I life for and in and through these things. They may all seem like cliches to some people, but I’ve got a full life and a full plate. I love it and I am thankful for it.

Andrew Glenn in Moberly, Mo

Posted on by under Art

Printmaker and teacher Andrew Glenn has a show, entitled Standardized Diversity, up at Moberly Area Community College in Moberly, Missouri through December 3. I visited the show last week and enjoyed a number of the works. Below are a few images from the show. You can find out more here.

1 Installation (Pig Storefront) with printed newsprint, light, and wood.

2 Detail from Summer (Pallet of Watermelons), Marker on foamcore.

3 Detail from Fall (Pallet of Pumpkins), Marker on foamcore.

4 Installation (Horse Storefront) with printed newsprint, light, and wood.

5 Pallet of Eggs (Dozen Cartons), Digital print.

6 Detail of Pallet of Eggs (Dozen Cartons), Digital print.

7 Fire (Offshore Oil Rig), Marker on frosted mylar.

8 Portrait, Marker on monotype prints.

Andrew is a fellow MFA graduate from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He was there studying Printmaking while I was working on a Painting degree. It’s always nice to see a fellow IU grad continuing to work and make a path in the world. My best to Andrew and his family!

Inspiration – Jusepe Ribera

Posted on by under Art, Life

Over the last few years my work has turned on a conception of the natural geometry of the body. You can see how in images like this (“Collapse” oil on canvas on panel, 48 inches in diameter):

or this (“Revealer, Forced” pastel on paper, 23 inches in diameter):

that I am really focusing on a kind of geometric tension in the positions and movements of the body.

A lot of this has come from my interest in the work of the great Spanish painter Jusepe Ribera. In 1610 he followed the call of Caravaggio (who died that same year) by traveling to Italy to see the master’s work. Here are a couple of my favorites:

“The Flaying of Marsyas”

“The Martyrdom of Saint Phillip”

 

 

Color Drawing, Fall 2010

Posted on by under Art, Life, Teaching

Another semester, another feeling of pride. My beginning color drawing students are pretty awesome.

Carrie Casper Reflective Still Life

Dustin Roberts Reflection Self Portrait 1

Alex Forkin Reflection Self Portrait 2

Alex Forkin Reflection Chromatic Environment 2

Katie Kullman – Reflection Self Portrait 1

Nikki Warren – Grid Project 2

Ashley Claussen – Reflective Still Life

Inspiration – John Dubrow

Posted on by under Art, Life

A number of years ago I saw John Dubrow’s painting Rephidim. It inspired – eventually, after some gestation – this painting:

The work is titled Taming the Tongue, Study #2. The Dubrow work inspired this sketch, not the previous or subsequent works. After a while I manifested the idea in this work, but I have always been drawn to this small work and its connection to Rephidim. Learn more about that painting and John Dubrow himself here.

Martha Macleish and the Shadows

Posted on by under Art, Teaching

I took a group of my students (from the University of Missouri at Columbia) over to Kansas City to see a bit of art this past weekend. The main attraction was the Martha Macleish show at Longview Community College. One of the things I found so interesting about her work is the fact that the shadows they cast – being illuminated by the syncopated lamps of a gallery lighting system – are at least as physically striking and necessary to the experience of the art as the objects themselves are. These shadows seem to extend each work in that they transfer the structure and form of the piece into space and onto the surrounding walls and floor. While this seems obvious – it’s what all shadows do – in this case it’s much more significant. This is because the laminated, layered construction of the work is mirrored in the stratified step gradients of the multi-vectored shadows and the negotiated, sometimes grungy, sometimes glossy finish of the materials is echoed in the distended, bending atmospherics created as light falls over their spaces and shapes. The effect is mesmerizing and stimulating, leading viewers to shift their perspective again and again, bobbing and weaving around each piece to see the secrets they hold in their multi-faceted alignments and angles. The work is very much worth seeing if you get the chance. Martha granted me permission to post some images of the shadows her work created at the Longview show. Click on each to enjoy them larger.

GoETV

Posted on by under Art, Life

Nine years ago this month I was hired at Good’s of Evanston, in Evanston, IL. It was a great place for an artist to be – and the best art stores always employ artists. Good’s hired artists as clerks, shipping and receiving crews, framing specialists, and book-workers. I started there as the primary shipping and receiving guy. I’d deal with the trucks of supplies that arrived each day, check the orders to make sure they were complete, fill out paperwork for what was off, and stage the checked merchandise so the floor crew could either store or put out for sale.

One of my favorite coworkers was Fred. He was thoughtful, well-spoken, engaged in the world, had a quirky sense of humor and great taste in music. He turned me on to Kitchens of Distinction and HUM, both bands I still listen to all these years later.

Me and Fred hanging out in the paper department at Good’s

Fred and I would often engage in debates of various kinds, always talking politics and public policy, musing on the current events and the changing post-911 world. Our friend and fellow Good’s employee Ronnie would often come upon our chats and, eventually, he would provide outside commentary and “lead-in” type introductions when he saw that we were ramping up for a talk. Over time, Ronnie created the fictitious “GoETV” network as a place where On Point! With Fred Sturkey and Matt Ballou (as Ronnie named it) could take place.

Good times, good memories. Here’s hoping Fred is doing well!  Unfortunately Good’s no longer carries art supplies, so much of the old crew is gone. But they still do high quality framing, so if you need something done and you’re in the Chicago area go see them!