On the Easel, on the Web

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.

Exiting Painting MFAs

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.

Chromatic Intensities

 

Glory in Color Drawing 2

Marcus, the Assistant, casts chroma

Null’s large drawing in anamorphic distortion

The array of shadows in Color Drawing 1

And another view…

The box, electric.

Did I mention that I love teaching Color Drawing? Epic, every semester. Stay tuned for good shots of current students’ works.

 

Pulling an Edition of Mezzotints

I am a part of an upcoming traveling mezzotint show, a brainchild of printmaker Aaron Coleman. Today and last Friday I worked with Derek Frankhouser to pull 21 mezzotints (an edition of 19 +two artist’s proofs). Derek is also in the show and is a budding master printmaker who held a residency an internship at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in 2011. Below is a record of our efforts.

 

My hand, blackened by hand-wiping, in front of the pinned prints. I used Charbonnel ink.

 

Derek laying the paper…

 

…and carefully pulling it off the plate after a pass.

 

A beautiful pull (this was my first print of the process).

 

Pinning.

 

A shot of the whole edition set off to the side for drying.

I’m super thankful to Derek for his help and couldn’t have pulled the entire edition (without mistakes or needing to re-do) without him. This is the also the first time I’ve been able to edition beyond 10 or 12 prints; that’s a testament to Derek’s counsel and help.

Statement, January 2012

     I create paintings, drawings and prints in an attempt to address – through archetypal themes and symbols – the fundamental questions, ideas, hopes, and concerns I have about being in the world. I write texts in an attempt to integrate rational conceptions and reflections with my passionate, sometimes illogical, image making. In tandem, these avenues of expression form a multifaceted arena of investigation and inquiry that I use every day to – hopefully – understand and make sensible the miraculous reality of being.

     The statement above relies on the fact that I am deeply interested in three main aspects of the human condition: being, symbol, and body.

     I am intrigued by the state of evocative subjective experience that Gaston Bachelard described as “the astonishment of being.” Thus, though I am interested art of all kinds, I take particularly to those forms that connect with our embodiment or sense of being. This means the physical world, the objects we use and love, and the bodies we inhabit are particularly important to the sort of art I want to see and make.

     It follows then that I find the expression of meaning through symbol – that is, the potential for objects to accumulate and resonate with meaning – to be a central interest of my art-making practice.  Anything containing meaning has been, as John Dewey wrote, “funded” with importance through the physical interaction and intellectual contemplation human beings have invested in it over time.

     The body is the zone of incident where being-ness and the structures of significance coalesce. Therefore, I foster a deep appreciation for the human body as a container for and calibrator of meaning and knowledge. As a maker of images – be they painted, drawn, or printed – I function as a symbolist in the traditional sense; I create tableaus for the relational contemplation of that which is beyond the facts of appearance. In doing so I hope to stimulate an evocative, transformative experience in my fellow human beings.

The Size of Eyes

My eyes are significantly reduced in size by my glasses. Here’s a comparison (photos taken from same position just a few seconds apart):

And here’s a tighter juxtaposition:

It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s actually huge – the smaller version is only about 75% of the larger.

I wonder what this alteration in the size of my eyes does for my interactions with students, colleagues, and friends…

Visiting Ocean Park

Recently I visited Fort Worth to experience the retrospective of Richard Diebenkorn‘s Ocean Park paintings. I have spent the last two weeks trying to process what I saw and what I think about what I saw. I’ve loved Diebenkorn’s work since my first encounter with it. I had to wait nearly 15 years to get the chance to really see the work in context. I’m in the midst of writing my reflections; they’ll appear over at Neoteric Art sometime in the next month or so. For now, check out some pictures of me and Marcus taking in the majesty of Ocean Park.

Marcus sketching from Ocean Park #30.

Marcus scrutinzing Ocean Park #135 – that’s the corner of Ocean Park #93 above his pencil.

Me taking in the glory of Ocean Park #40 from across the gallery.

Here I am considering Ocean Park #79.

And jump here and here to see some pages from my notebook written/scribbled during my time in the exhibition.

If you can’t make it to the venues the show will travel to over the next year, be sure to see this nice photo essay from the current iteration of the show.

Chromatic Totality

I’ve got another amazing group of Color Drawing 1 students this semester. Below I’ll highlight just a few of the many who’ve distinguished themselves this year. Please click on each to see them up close.

A work in colored pencil by Marissa Valentino. About 18 by 18 inches.

A drawing by Lirong Gong. Chalk pastel, 24 by 18 inches.

Megan Schaffer has an amazing sense of material handling. Her oil pastel work here is 30 inches by 22 inches – it’s just one of 4 or 5 that are really stellar.

Carly Kurka working the chromatic shadows, 18 by 24 inches, oil pastel.

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Becca Wholey’s grid work fulfilled the project parameters expertly – 16 by 16 inches, colored pencil.

It’s been a privilege to work with these students – here’s hoping they continue on with me in Color Drawing 2!