Continuing Direction of New Work

Posted on July 14, 2016 by matt ballou under Art, Life

I have been working on a series of abstractions off and on for nearly a year. Here’s where they were last October. Here’s where they were more recently in my last exhibition, WHENEVER/WHEN, two months ago.

Over the last week or so I’ve taken another step, completing two works (one is below) and starting a number of smaller studies.

Interferometry. Oil, oil stick, spray paint, window marker on panel, 25 by 25 inches, 2016. Collection of Bobby and Laura Schembre.

The new smaller studies are attempts to integrate my digital drawings with my physical hand. After printing the works out at roughly 10 by 10 inches (on an Epson 9900 printer), I worked back into them using high quality acrylic inks and some acrylic paint. See a first pass of works below.

Untitled Study (Meaningful Shape), Acrylic and ink on canvas mounted on panel, roughly 10 by 10 inches, 2016.

Untitled Study (AU), Acrylic and ink on canvas mounted on panel, roughly 10 by 10 inches, 2016.

Untitled Study (NV), Acrylic and ink on canvas mounted on panel, roughly 8 by 9 inches, 2016.

Untitled Study (Zig), Acrylic and ink on canvas mounted on panel, roughly 9 by 10 inches, 2016.

While I have worked on a couple representational images since my heart attack in February, I haven’t really felt the impulse to make those works. It’s strange, since that was my aim for 20 years. Not sure what it all means, though I do have an exhibition of representational works (which were completed in 2015, for the most part), so seeing those on display may get me going in that direction again. Who knows.

Matt and Marcus Take Saint Louis

Posted on June 2, 2016 by matt ballou under Art, Life

Yesterday my good friend Marcus Miers and I added to our collection of trips to view art together (here’s Dallas/Fort Worth and here’s the Milwaukee Art Museum) by trundling off to Saint Louis, Missouri. We took in two locations: The Saint Louis Art Museum and the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, which is known for its extensive mosaics.

Before heading to see the art we stopped at SweetArt Cafe (located at 2203 S. 39th Street, St. Louis, MO 63110), a place of vegan and confectionery glory. HOLY. MOLY. SO good!

Here’s the meal I had at SweetArts – Tom’s Throwback Veggie Burger and Kale Salad. Really great!

Marcus enjoying his burrito!

After the food we headed to the SLAM.

Marcus enjoying Guston…

…and Betty…

…and the elevator.

We particularly liked Andréa Stanislav’s installation piece about Saint Louis.

We also enjoyed Andy Goldsworthy’s Stone Sea installation piece.

After the SLAM, we headed over to the Basilica. I only recently learned about this cathedral from my friend Billy, and wasn’t entirely prepared for how awesome it is.

I really responded to the visual dynamics of the various designs, especially at the smaller scales along the columns. See below:

The overhead archways and exquisitely detailed geometric mosaics up there were glorious:

Just unreal.

Here we are, looking intently at our social media devices and preparing to document the art.

It was a great time. As always, laughter and deep conversation were had. I’m really thankful for Marcus, his weirdness, passion, and sense of humor. Another awesome trip in the books!

WHENEVER/WHEN

Posted on May 30, 2016 by matt ballou under Art, Life, Teaching

I’ve got a new show up at Imago Gallery and Cultural Center in Columbia, MO right now. The show, titled WHENEVERWHEN, is a group of abstract pieces I’ve been working on over the last year, including after my heart attack.

I’m posting some details and a few full images below. Please come see the show at Imago; my talk will be at 6pm on June 10th. Imago is located on the corner of Broadway and Hitt in downtown Columbia, MO.

Illicit. Oil, oil stick, spray paint, oil pastel and colored pencil on panel, 26 by 26 inches, 2016.

The Unfold (Detail). Oil, oil stick, and colored pencil on panel, 26 by 26 inches, 2015.

Osmotic. Oil, oil stick, spray paint, oil pastel and colored pencil on panel, 26 by 26 inches, 2016.

Sigil. Oil, oil stick, spray paint, oil pastel, colored pencil and bas relief on panel, 16 by 16 inches, 2015-2016.

Sigil (Detail). Oil, oil stick, spray paint, oil pastel, colored pencil and bas relief on panel, 16 by 16 inches, 2015-2016.

Bent Icon (Detail). Oil, oil stick, and colored pencil on panel, 26 by 26 inches, 2015.

Click here for more info about these pieces and a few other images of them in process.

The Ballou Collection – Nina (An) Flores

Posted on March 29, 2016 by matt ballou under Art, Life, Teaching

I’m starting a new section of my blog based on artworks that have been given to me – or ones that we have purchased over the years. Many of these are from students or colleagues, and I’m excited to share them. First, is from Nina (An) Flores. This is one of my favorite artworks a student has given me. This piece is a master copy Nina created, a drawing in oil pastel where she copied a ceramic slab made by Bede Clarke. She had the benefit and honor to work from observation on this piece, as Bede let her borrow or original work. The drawing is awesome. 14 by 14 inches on paper, 2012.

And here is a demo that I made earlier in that semester… I drew a portrait of Nina. 12 by 18 inches, oil pastel on paper. 2012.

Dying and Living

Posted on February 21, 2016 by matt ballou under Art, Life, Teaching, Uncategorized

blood vessels within my heart — A visual inside my heart during a catheter procedure.

I am still in a danger zone, but resting with friends and family today, especially my Alison.

Alison, my constant companion, reading to me.

Hospitals are certainly not perfect, but I would have died without one and without the actions of my wife and my cousin Mechell who acted so swiftly. So many important moments we never remember – but others do, because they acted when we could not. Our lives are not our own only.

We live on to love and make art and ask great questions, even if only for a short time – and even the longest life is a mere half-half-breath of the universe. We perceive our realities through such feeble – yet remarkably robust – senses. That contradiction is what makes us know and dream of God, or find great joy in Keats, or learn to (start to) understand Nabokov, or sing in protest with Miss Nina Simone.

Living on means recognizing the value in every human life. It means rejecting the thinking that sees that sentiment as merely sentiment and not a life value. Living on means understanding privilege and working against it when it creates enclaves of inequality. Living on means looking for of gains for everyone – from the streets of Cidade de Deus to the house next door. And if you don’t believe that, maybe you’ve not lived and lived close enough to death.

*Untitled Work* in progress, oil on panel, 24×24 inches.

Living on means paying attention. My students at all levels learn that my classes are about awareness and attention, far more than they are about specific skills.

Many thanks in these hours close to death goes to my wife, Alison, my cousins Chris and Sarah and Mechell, and my Aunt Beth, Aunt Cathy, Aunt Sue and Uncle Roger (who helped coordinate things and met Alison at the Hospital).

Of course, my Mom and Pastor Dan have been there nonstop taking care of my three rambunctious kiddos. Couldn’t recuperate without that vital help.

Also, the example of Jake and Ali Gonzalez of how to live honorably in proximity to death. And the dedication and passion of Deborah Huelsbergen, who has taught me to love me students more than grades or curricula.

There are so many more I could shout out to, like my brothers Daniel (and fiancée Sharon!) and David (that’s his knitting above) and my sisters Stacey and Denya… Denya knew how to live and love close to death most of her life. And when death took her last Sunday, it could not take the values she gave to her daughters, to me, or to my kids.

We live close to death. Do we believe it? Do we seek to redeem the time? Let’s make the most of it.

PS: it also helps to keep Mr C nearby with random hamburgers….

Details From “Subject and Subjectivity” at Western Illinois University

Posted on January 28, 2016 by matt ballou under Art, Life, Teaching

I was honored to be able to give a couple talks, hang out with students, and enjoy time with my former graduate students Ian and Natalie Shelly at Western Illinois University over the last couple of days. The second iteration of the exhibition I curated, Subject and Subjectivity, has been on display at WIU for January and will go on through most of February. As I did when the show went up in Baltimore, I have taken some detail shots of some of the work. See below, click for larger glory, and follow the artists’ names to find out more about them on their websites.

If you want to see one of the talks I gave – titled We Are All Sentimental – click here to see the video on YouTube.

Anne Harris, detail from Figuring Ground.

Megan Schaffer, detail from Eagle Bluffs Trail to Overlook.

David Campbell, detail from Death Transmission.

Peter Van Dyck, detail from Richard’s House.

David Jewell, detail from Still Life.

Aaron Lubrick, detail from Autumn on the River.

Matt Klos, detail from Those Nights Then.

Carolyn Pyfrom, detail from Studio Mirror.

Christian Ramirez, detail from White Bull.

John Lee, detail from Submariner.

Matt Ballou, detail from Portrait of Cai Qun.

Current Abstractions

Posted on January 16, 2016 by matt ballou under Art, Life

Over the last 6 months I’ve been moving back into some more serious abstract paintings. Since beginning my education, these periods of return to non-representational, non-observational work have been important to me. Usually, this work is a release from more intensive perceptual-process paintings. Often it doesn’t resolve into a clear body of work, yet once every 3 or 4 years it does.

Much of the new abstraction is directly related to three distinct events that have been taking place in my studio. First, I’ve been collaborating with Joel T Dugan on a series of works that, while mostly resolving into representation and pictorial symbolism, often begin with evocative surface and color explorations. Secondly, I’ve found myself contemplating the kinds of decisions my daughters make when they work in my studio alongside me. They have none of the philosophy or theory behind making art, and so they offer a kind of pure aesthetic and material reactivity that I find refreshing and exciting. Lastly, I have been obsessed with a print made for a Penguin edition of the book The Cloud of Unknowing. The print was apparently made by artist Diana Bloomfield around 1961. Ms Bloomfield, who died in 2010, was a very successful printmaker who worked on many imprints of the Penguin publishing house.Above, left to right: the 1961 edition, and a late 70’s edition, both featuring Bloomfield’s medieval-inspired cloud.

Such an enduring image.

I’ve got a lot of thoughts about this image and the ideas in The Cloud of Unknowing, but those are for another time. Right now, here are a number of the recent abstractions.

Night Sky Sliver. Oil, acrylic and adhesive tape on canvas, 12 by 12 inches, 2015.

Pink Wedge. Oil, acrylic, digital print and adhesive tape on canvas, 12 by 12 inches, 2015.

Locking Diagonal. Oil, acrylic, collage and adhesive tape on canvas, 12 by 12 inches, 2015.

Crossover. Oil, acrylic and adhesive tape on canvas, 12 by 12 inches, 2015.

The Unfold. Oil on panel, 24 by 24 inches, 2015.

Bent Icon. Oil on panel, 24 by 24 inches, 2016.

I’ve certainly been influenced in these by my ongoing love of the work of Marcelo Bonevardi and Richard Diebenkorn, but I think that watching Christian Ramirez’s recent work (mostly via Instagram) has been instrumental as well. Most important has been working up close on Dugan’s effervescent surfaces and trying to wrestle with them.

I’ve got a few more of these in the works – I’ll share them as they manifest.

Obligatory Year End Lists

Posted on December 29, 2015 by matt ballou under Art, Life, Updates

People make year end lists at the end of every year. They are the throw-away columns of many a blog, magazine, and newspaper. Rather than protesting, let’s just make a few of our own. For mine, I shall embrace my own sentimentality and opinions – which is really what’s going on in all of the other lists anyway.

Here we go.

TOP CNC ROUTERS OF 2015

X-Carve by Inventables. Follow this blog for more projects coming in 2016.

Above: a bit of debris from a recent routing job.

LIST OF STAR WARS FILMS AS OF 2015 IN RANK ORDER WITH LETTER SCORE

Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back ~ A
Star Wars Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi ~ A-
Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope ~ B+
Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens ~ B-
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace ~ C
Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith ~ D+
Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones ~ F

MOST BULLSHIT EVENTS OF 2015 (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

Bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan (by illegal coalition [i.e. US] forces, continued after multiple calls for cease fire).
Death of Sandra Bland (unarmed and in police custody – no indictments).
Death of Walter Scott (unarmed and running away, evidence planted, caught on video).
Death of Freddie Gray (unarmed and in police custody).
Charleston, SC church massacre.
Mass shootings ~Roseburg, OR; Chattanooga, TN; Planned Parenthood, CO; San Bernardino, CA; Paris, etc, etc, etc…
Donald Trump.

Image above by Brandon Loving. Click the image to see his website, or check out his stuff on Instagram here.

BEST MUSIC I DISCOVERED THIS YEAR (MEANING IT COULD BE FROM OTHER YEARS, YO)

Hiatus Kaiyote. “Breathing Underwater” is the money track.

This band is worthy. Go Listen.

2. Dubb Nubb. “It’s Weird in This World” is the album. “Sister’s House” is the song. Check it out here – then buy some tracks. Good stuff.

3. The Go Round. “Hard Tellin’ Not Knowin’” is the album. “Headless Horseman” is the key track. Get to them here.

4. Tie: Wolf Alice – “Blush” / St. Vincent – “Cheerleader” / Timber Timbre – “Magic Arrow“

TOP PHYSICAL DISTRESSES OF 2015

That time I had chest pain and went to the ER and they took an awesome ultrasound of my heart muscle and valves.
That time I was forced to rest for 3 solid days because I threw my back out and, perhaps, finally herniated a disc (this item is ongoing).

BEST WIFI/BLUETOOTH CONTROLLED LIGHTING

LIFX. I tried out a few competitors, but absolutely love these for teaching my classes and for use in my own work. See some examples below:

Above and Below: Two different setups I made this year with my LIFX bulbs.

Above: An in-class demo figure study I made using my iPad and Adonit Jot Touch in Sketchbook Pro. The scene was lit with my LIFX bulbs. Click for enlargement.

Below: Two drawings from an LIFX setup. The first is by Mitzi Salinas Dominguez and the second is by Bri Heese.

BEST WIFE

Alison. Long-suffering. Helpful. Sees the grace and the good. Seeks to bless others. A fruitful teacher. A forgiving mother. None of these years would make sense without her.

The Protests at The University of Missouri

Posted on November 13, 2015 by matt ballou under Art, Life, news, Teaching

As many around the country and around the world are aware, this past week at Mizzou has been harrowing. It was a week that culminated in the ouster of both the MU System President and the Chancellor. On Monday, before the strange, terrifying days that followed, many classes were let out in solidarity with #ConcernedStudent1950 and Jonathan Butler. I told my students that I’d be down on Mel Carnahan Quadrangle to witness the events. I decided that I would undertake a drawing to commemorate the day.

Above are two shots of me at work, the first by my colleague and former student Jacob Maurice Crook (Adjunct Professor at Mizzou), the second by one of my graduate students, Jeff Markworth (MFA Candidate, 2016). I was also photographed by local media, and one of those shots can be seen here.

I’ll leave the commentary to other voices. My purpose in all of this is to remain an ally for my students while representing Mizzou well and encouraging the change it needs to see.

Here’s the drawing I made. It’s not as refined as I’d like, nor is it my normal thing to do subject matter like this. But it was a good exercise, and a good day to be present and aware.

“An Historic Day on Carnahan Quad: November 9, 2015.” Pastel on paper, 28 by 44 inches. Click for enlargement.

A Grateful Visit

Posted on October 25, 2015 by matt ballou under Art, Life, Teaching

I began my undergraduate art career at Munson Williams Proctor Institute of Art, the Upstate New York extension campus of Pratt Institute. After working for a while after high school, I realized that I would not be happy if I didn’t at least try the art path. PrattMWP was the start of a long journey.

I don’t get back east often. Between family, teaching, and creative necessities I hadn’t visited my alma mater there in Utica, NY for a decade. This past summer, though, I decided a trip to the campus and museum was a must.

Courtyard outside the main buildings.

Big sign at the entrance to the main studio building.

I had massively important experiences in these buildings, on these grounds. I had professors – like Lisa Gregg-Wightman and Greg Lawler – who believed in me and inspired me. Lisa, in particular, was key to my growing sense that I really could make a life as an artist. I recall one midterm review with Lisa when I sort of stepped out of the present for a moment and realized that she was speaking to me as if I really were an artist. As if I had a valid place at the table. As if my thoughts and opinions were worth hearing. I’m really grateful to her for guiding me in that way, and I’ve tried to function that way myself as an educator.

A student drawing hung in the hallway at PrattMWP.

A student painting near a stairwell.

A fantastic student figure study.

I remember doing drawings just like this while at PrattMWP in the late ’90s.

Though I couldn’t access some of the most important rooms – Printmaking, Painting, Drawing – where my skills were developed and my imagination first fired, I was able to roam those halls again. To climb the steps, feel the air, and see again the views through those windows. Sure, I’m sentimental; we all are, if we’re honest.

I couldn’t have known the adventure I was starting there at MWPAI 18 years ago. Getting to walk around the place 18 years later is gratifying. I’m grateful.

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