Coral Pink

Coral Pink, 54" by 84", oil on canvas,

Comments:
-apartment
-architecture fenestration
-Frank Stella's "straight" lines (someone almost said what you see is what you see . . .)
-formalism and the hand
-painful to look at
-jitters, oscillates, afterimage
-static dynamism
-scale is important
-could add some texture to lead the viewer in?
-difficult to talk about
-experiential
-light and colour
-seeing what it looks like
-light changes the read dramatically
-colour seems solid in bright light
-weird institutional feel

Untitled (Grids)

Untitled (Grids), 72" by 36", oil on canvas

Comments from today's critique:
-economy of elements
-situates itself amidst the binaries of representation and abstraction/rationalists forms
-illusory, dimension
-depth
-pairing down
-colour combos =  oscillations
-hovering
-flatness?
-solid object and illusory depth
-loop of looking (aspect ratios)
-top line? mannerism or helps to ground/anchor it?
-complicated vs. complex
-humanist

Untitled (Optic Landscape)

Untitled (Optic Landscape), 12' by 4' (each panel is 2' by 4'), oil on birch plywood

Untitled (For Luna)

Untitled (For Luna), 60" by 72", oil on canvas, 2018

My latest canvas is the second largest single panel painting I have made so far (the biggest being 6' by 6'). It's difficult to capture in digital form but the effect of the low light on the surface of the canvas creates an interesting buzz as our eyes try to adjust. A buzzing sensation is compounded by the approximate value of the line work. Below are some of the comments on the work:
-relates to the environment and to our bodies
-is it a portal? can you step into it?
-digital/molecule/atomic/cellular structure hints
-also 3D effect
-push/pull contrasts
-strong in less-than-ideal lighting
-pre-built colour, not out of the tube or simply "blue"
-interrupted field
-speak about the difficulty of looking
-not as painful to look at as some of my other work (I liked that comment)
-opticality
-autonomy
-physical
-this painting is trying to show something
-also about time

Untitled (Current Atmospheric Conditions)

We had our first crit/group meeting today for the advanced studio class I'm taking and here is the piece that I presented.

Pretty good responses from the group and my prof:
-daylight diffused
-variation of opacity of the lines guides the eye
-warping
-optical vs illusory
-sequencing: relationship to simultaneity
-holding space: a conversation with the building
-height: activates you
-authoritative, fencing
-delicious (want to lick it)
-aware of the perception, questions it
-opponent-process effects
-feels sculptural
-object/image
-frieze (architecture)
-illusory charge
-sublinguistic: a need to make them (why? what is this?)
-quality of time, the anonymity of the artist (back to the maker)
-incidental metaphor
-socratic cave?
-positive/negative flip
-hurts the eyes: optically pop out
-structure of looking
-the single panel might be viewed as artifact whereas the sequence is something else

Almost an Echo

Almost an Echo, 36" by 72" (diptych), oil on canvas

Insitu

Constancy of the Present

Thinking about existential-phenomenology, specifically Merleau-Ponty:
-a zone where being and consciousness coincide
-the constancy of the present
-"now" is an artificial way of constructing the present
-we exist in the present but what about memory?
-internal perception of time vs. clock time
-time is a fountain
-embodied stimulation
-the role of the body in perception (not just about the mind)

A few things:
-ontology = what is
-phenomenology = what appears

-plenum = the whole of space

-what does time look like?
-what colour is the present?
-what about colours that change? colours that change as you move (reflections?)
-what about colours that fade?
-what about colours that get harder/easier to see over time?

Philip Guston

Henri Matisse

Brice Marden

Let's get this party started!

Woot woot! The new term has started and I've got my new studio space so it's time to get rolling!

A Study

Of Current Atmospheric Conditions

30 inches by 40 inches, oil and cold wax on canvas

Dekooning's Door

Inspired by his "Door to the River" (1960)
I like the tall rectangles
Figures, maybe
Gateways
Through spaces
Passages
My conversation with him

Splashing, striking, tearing
To break through to something new

Slowly rubbing, drawing, deliberate
To make a boundary

Some inspiration

School is starting soon so I'm gathering my source imagery and ideas.

Can't wait to get at it :)

Study for Hum

Study for Hum, 24" by 30", oil and cold wax on canvas

to take the edge off

For everyone feeling a little anxious and high-strung today (could be the forest fire haze affects us subconsciously) here's a little something to look at to slow you down.

Study for the moon

Internal truth

What is "internal truth?"
Connection?
The soul?
A place deeper than thought or emotion
The inner life, deeper stream

Practical examples of soul-stirring (to show a few)

Rothko Seagram Murals

Bourgeouis Maman (Ottawa)

James Turrell

Kusama Infinity Net paintings

Philip Guston Sleep

More thoughts (and contradictions) on the subject of a painting

Chardin
The solidity of the objects represented, painstakingly
Made paper thin
From time
Cracking, flaking
Inches or millimeters thick?

Time, the undisputed equalizer of all things

Untitled (threads)

Untitled, 36" by 36", oil on canvas, 2018

The subject of the painting

Painting an image of an object is, to my eyes, one of the more mundane acts a painter can do. Yes, I know the challenge of likeness and degree of "realism" is of extreme value, but the image stops at the recognition of the subject. There may be an implied narrative or psychological response to the image of an object but is that enough?
Painting a thing (an object stripped of its function or memory) is more interesting. The viewing experience engages more perceptual modes of the viewer; if the brain can't codify/recognize what you are looking at, it's going to keep trying to find a "meaning." This act alone can last for many seconds longer than looking at an image of an object (our brain are very adept at recognizing things). The delay in being able to name the thing might trigger thoughts about the colour, forms, paint, and other material/physical aspects of the painting.

Which is more interesting?

Chardin

Cezanne

Credit unknown

Rothko