Spring 2009

Gouache on paper

Sping 2009

A.P. Ryder Essex Canal

I photographed this painting at the Art Institute of Chicago yesterday. Ryder's paintings take some time to digest, but when seen in life, have a haunting presence which seems to form out of nothing.
The American wing is my favorite in this museum.

Mythological Origins

Robert Graves has some very interesting views on the origins of Greek Myth. Almost all of his explanations have to do with the earlier transformations from a matriarchal queendom (which would sacrifice an interm king, later an interrex surrogate boy in his place, then the subsitution of an animal) to a patriarical kingdom. This factual transformation was later mytholigized in the depiction of vase painting and other objects.
He explains how then the later literal description such as Homeric Myths and Hesiod's Theogony are oral stories handed down from interpretations of earlier images. These images were depictions of real events such as invasions of other cultures or the transformation of small cults and their priestesses. The real event was then mythologized into a more poetic form.
These explanations seem very far fetched to me but at the same time extremely compelling. I cannot just simply accept the myths without at least wondering about their origins.
Along with Judeo Christianity, this is also the progenitor of Western Art. It is constantly evolving yet using these same stories for an incredibly long time.
I believe that this has survived so long because it taps into something universal. Biblical painting was viewed by an audience of 100% believers that touched every corner of their being.
In this day and age, it is not the case. If I depict a subject from Biblical or Greek Mythology, it will be internalized and understood, but not have the same impact that an earlier age would have.
As an artist I can only be true to the form of my everyday life. What I find to captivate my interest and fuels the expansion of my form.
That which is happening (content) is buried deep within that form, and like poetry, it must be read and reread until it slowly comes to the surface.

Springtime Flood

oil on panel
23x36"

Acts of Desperation

The marks of full desperation usually leads to deeper, richer, unpredictable elements.

Those moments when I just a have no idea what's going to happen ends up pushing things a little further than I would, feeling completely in control and pleased at the time.

That which is still standing

What remains after the things that take place on the canvas, breeds it's own kind of deep harmony beyond preconception.

Oil on panel 24" x 30" 4/2009

Reworking

While reworking paintings, I am beginning to see the accumulation of time that bears the complex flux of nature, strung by the immovable grid which somehow holds it together.

Watteau's theatrical fantasies are born from evening strolls in the park at Luxembourg Palace. The compositions are taken from sketches from nature. His paintings are what I consider to be an outdoor dramatic scene, while not being considered as a landscape.

Titian "Religion Succored By Spain"

I love the way the central activity of the Turk sinking into the water seems to be integrated with the scenery, yet still can be a focal point. Originally that was Neptune with his proud horses along with Venus and Minerva in front. I like how the power of composition can be retained even when the artist clothed them and changed labels. There's a wonderful transition to the figurative drama from the distant background with the haze of the smoke on the left.

Reason

My only initial hope each time, is to paint to the point where my reason is abandoned. Only then does the harmony begin to reflect the soul.

Gray Cloud

Gouache on Paper March 31st 2009

New Gouaches

These new gouache paintings are partly inspired by early water colors of Georges Rouault. His "Party at the Waterside" 1906, invokes a feeling of an event with something particular happening, without referring to anything too literal.

I aim for these paintings to be more of a drama which takes place in this setting than to be thought of as a landscape. It doesn't necessarily have to be outdoors, it just seems to end up that way.

Presenting

The exact point where the painting is no longer depicting but presenting, is never the same.
The stupidist idea or flippant gesture just may make it the hallmark for the picture.

I begin to notice that the coherency of the painting comes as I negate the parts I truly loved.

Illumination

The same drawing keeps on producing multiple variations, yet I think the illumination of the scene can achieve the same effect while using completely different means. One day, one night, I don't know how much of a difference it makes, as it opens the same door.

Pantheism

With Pantheism, Nature does have a larger order. For the artist this must be suggested in some way. However, it must be integrated with the entire structure of the painting. Not merely depicted.

This form was used in literature of the ancients. Intervention of the Gods were used as a device to show some kind of order to the mortal world where they had no explanation. Having this higher structure operating behind the scenes broadens the mental picture to operate on many levels.

Elysium

Sometimes it is absolutely necessary to remove yourself from the mainstream of society in order to think.

Elysian life?
Elysium- Greek place where the good rest when they die.

Path of Travel

The path of travel for these paintings is not easy, but I truly do not have a choice.

There is no way to possibly trace the crazy changes I make in these paintings.
The painting is the evidence.

I would like to represent the myths as I know them.

Greek myths no longer have any meaning more than a curiosity. Behind the Myth is what I'm interested in. There is something real, and the form must be integrated.

Content trickles in very slowly.

The Greeks

Reading the classic Greeks, from the viewpoint of many different writers writing about the same thing. It gives me a picture of a larger reality that is facinating. The more versions of the same story that I read, the fuller this vision becomes.

The "News"

Painting becomes very interesting when you start getting what William DeKooning calls "the news". This is what is beyond painting. It trickles in by its own strange ways. It happens when something that was there from a previous will or hope by me, starts to behave with something else that was put down for some other reason and resonates in ways that are beyond my will. Something larger that myself.

Painting speaks on its own voluptuous accord.

The question I usually ask myself after finishing a successful painting is- How did get to this point?

Musicality

Rothko wanted to raise painting to the level of poetry and music. The idea of musicality of a painting is interesting. I am facinated when some desperate mark or color can add to this superior structure beyond what I could conceive.

Sustain

Coming back and looking at the painting for me is an intellectual activity. Just like reading the classics. It is very important to understand reading of painting. This is a secret that will sustain you. It will help you grow and track your development.

3D Color Tree

The way that colors are revealed on my imagination is very fast and has no room for reason. In order to follow in this accord, I must be very organized on my palette. My colors are organized in respect to both hue angle and value. The only problem is that you need 3 dimensions to do this because the CIECAM planes are in 360 degrees and black white and gray are all in the middle. The question is, Where to put the greens?, and how not to mix up dark yellows oranges and reds?

In order to do this I have to continually reorganize my palette. Color must be seen and used associatively, it cannot be reasoned.

Content will always reveal itself in the most unpredictable ways. The best is not to think about it and use your instincts. I think about how Rothko conveys his tragic view without any image. I also think about how Titian digs deep into the mysterious content of his late paintings and what is being said by both is essentially the same. Content is not the subject matter solely. It is what is really being said, what is at the heart of being communicated.

Getting color to speak in ways that cannot be communicated by any other means is what painting is all about.