Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Last Visit: 28 Jun 2013 Posts: 2977 Location: NYC
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:06 pm Post subject: Back in the Studio
I have had a unique opportunity fall into my lap. As some of you know, I went to art school and set forth to make way after school in NYC. It is a rough lifestyle to be certain. Circumstances forced me away from it for nearly 13 years. Partially because of health concerns, partially for financial reasons, and mostly because of a disillusionment of the contemporary art market scene. The interest and ability has always been in me, I just wasn't ready to look at it again until recently.
Two events occurred simultaneously that inspired this change in my life. One was innocent enough. A friend of mine who was aware of my work has been after me for years to give him/make him one of paintings. He recently created a gallery and increased his prodding. The other event involved my business. I had a job lined up that was delayed by the homeowner for one reason or another for months. I was cool with it because I thought the commitment was there but I had kept signing in other jobs to keep busy. Well, the homeowner went with another company at the 14th hour and it couldn't have been at a worse time. So as they say, I was handed a lemon so why not just make lemonade with it.
So that is it. I am back in the studio. The work is quite a bit different than what you might expect given what you guys might know of my fantasy art collection. None-the-less, here are some shots from the shop where I carved out some painting space. All 14 are on wood panel. The two you see on the wall are from my last show over 13 years ago that I kept around in the shop as working reference. The show is complete and is hanging in the gallery. We are going into the gallery tomorrow for a photoshoot. There is already a nice buzz around it and they are getting seen by lots of people in the fashion world in particular as this is fashion week and the venue it is hanging in is very closely associated with those events.
Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Last Visit: 30 Aug 2023 Posts: 891 Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject:
I'll be honest, there is a lot of art that I just don't get. Can you tell me a bit about these paintings? Is this a particular style or inspired by something? I am by no means an art critic or arts major so my background there is fairly limited.
How long did it take to do one of these paintings?
Joined: 12 Nov 2005 Last Visit: 22 Mar 2020 Posts: 4574 Location: In the House of the Cosmic Frog
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:06 pm Post subject:
They're actually very nice, along the lines of a Barnett Newman, but the reductionism is towards a multi planar interpretation rather than through shading. _________________ "This is cool."
Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Last Visit: 28 Jun 2013 Posts: 2977 Location: NYC
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:13 am Post subject:
Mars wrote:
I'll be honest, there is a lot of art that I just don't get. Can you tell me a bit about these paintings? Is this a particular style or inspired by something? I am by no means an art critic or arts major so my background there is fairly limited.
How long did it take to do one of these paintings?
Tough questions! Artists are not always so good talking about their work. Particularly when they are in the middle of it, they don't always understand what exactly is happening. It is difficult to give a broad look at how one gets to a certain point with their work. It is always a series of mishaps I think. I went to college to study illustration because I was quite literally interested in fantasy illustration. I was exposed to lots and lots of different types of works and viewpoints while there and eventually switched majors to painting with minors in photography and art history. As my grandfather bluntly said, "college ruined his work".
I didn't actually settle into this particular style until I moved to the city. I was trying to explore ways to introduce lines across the paintings with a mixture of vibrant color. After some trial and error with pouring paint across the canvas, I discovered the best results were with industrial enamels. Particularly for their colors but also the quality of the paint. You see, all of the stripes are made by pouring the paint down the canvas. The results are very quick which makes for fantastic study of color relationships. I like the play between lines across the painting. They have a strange flow and vibrancy to them that hard minimalism seems to lack. There is something interesting about having fluid/organic lines made out of bright color.
I built all of the wood panels, sprayed the backs with lacquer and prepped the face of the panels myself. The painting was finished in about 8-10 sessions. Soup to nuts, this series took just over 2 months to complete.
I can understand if this isn't everyone's cup of tea. I really enjoy myself when I am painting them. And I really get a kick out of having the work around. This is the stuff lady scribe agrees with unfortunately. I love having fantasy art as well as contemporary work around. Her road is a little less diverse than mine.
Kynan, brother. You lost me with the Newman reference.
Joined: 12 Nov 2005 Last Visit: 22 Mar 2020 Posts: 4574 Location: In the House of the Cosmic Frog
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:29 am Post subject:
And the other trick is that there has to be a space for it. For example, in the picture with the three green-oriented panels, the left green panel is only one that would have any chance in our home because the color works with one of the colors of our walls. If I was artistically inclined, I would find out what the hot colors are in the decorating world and then orient my commercial work towards those colors.
In the Newmann work I've seen he begins with a monochromatic field and then breaks it up with vertical lines. You've annihilated that field. It's like the TV channel when the programming signal goes off to color bars.
They really look great hanging in the gallery! _________________ "This is cool."
Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Last Visit: 28 Jun 2013 Posts: 2977 Location: NYC
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:34 am Post subject:
tfm wrote:
It's like the TV channel when the programming signal goes off to color bars.
Aha! You just summed up nicely what I was trying to avoid answering! Not for trying to be secretive or dishonest, but just absolute fear that I lost my way with where I was trying to take the work.
My thematic work in college was oriented around photorealistic representations (paintings) of hyper-scrambled pornographic channels. You might remember what it was like in the late 80s and early 90s how these sorts of PPV channels were scrambled if you didn't subscribe or pay for them. I was at once mesmerized by the colors but also fascinated at how one could understand what they were looking at without really seeing it but in an abstract way at best.
When producing this work, I became very interested in how the colors of video work in the assembly of images. I began to think about different ways to achieve the essence of this and considered poured stripes as a method of departure.
Following are three of my favorite images from the scrambled porno series....
Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Last Visit: 28 Jun 2013 Posts: 2977 Location: NYC
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:39 am Post subject:
tfm wrote:
If I was artistically inclined, I would find out what the hot colors are in the decorating world and then orient my commercial work towards those colors.
Without going through an incredible amount of backlog of information. My friend is very involved in fashion, television, and luxury branding for home products. We are looking into making a cross-over into commercial applications for the 'look'. Hopefully, something will happen. Trying to keep positive thoughts.
The next series in the works now will actually be 'chocolate' looking colors on natural wood panels. Mahogany, Cherry, Hickory, Maple, Oak, etc. with a complement of 'out of the box' chocolate colors. _________________
Joined: 12 Nov 2005 Last Visit: 22 Mar 2020 Posts: 4574 Location: In the House of the Cosmic Frog
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:07 am Post subject:
Quote:
tfm wrote:
It's like the TV channel when the programming signal goes off to color bars.
Scribe wrote: Aha! You just summed up nicely what I was trying to avoid answering!
Oh, don't worry about that. You'll get the "It looks like wallpaper" crowd. By that point, however, you've already beaten them! _________________ "This is cool."
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Artists are not always so good talking about their work. Particularly when they are in the middle of it, they don't always understand what exactly is happening. It is difficult to give a broad look at how one gets to a certain point with their work. It is always a series of mishaps I think. I went to college to study illustration because I was quite literally interested in fantasy illustration. I was exposed to lots and lots of different types of works and viewpoints while there and eventually switched majors to painting with minors in photography and art history. As my grandfather bluntly said, "college ruined his work".
