Thinking About My Art

Ever since my residency last January at the Vermont Studio Center, I’ve been thinking a lot about the new paths I’m taking in my work, specifically, the introduction of color and pure abstraction in my work.  Examples of this work can be seen here and here.

The response to this new work has been fantastic.  People are going crazy for the color.  I’m pleased by the reaction.  Well, mostly pleased.  Let’s take a step back.

I think my first mature work was my hand-drilled wooden pieces.  I have a phrase that I like to use and it applies to this work.  It (the work) is doing something.  There’s work that does something and work that does nothing.  I’m not sure how to define this phrase, but its meaning is crystal clear in my mind.  The hand-drilled wooden pieces do something.  The white paint on wood pieces do something.  The clear coat on wood pieces do something too.  As for the new colorfully painted works, I’m not sure they’re doing something.

When people react to the new paintings, they often say that they love the color.  Well, color is easy to love, isn’t it?  Who doesn’t love the perfect shade of red, a vibrant blue or a subtle green.  If you’re favorite color is yellow and I used yellow in a specific piece, chances are you might like the piece.  But why?  Because it’s a great work of art?  Or because it’s yellow?

When someone says they like the new work because of the color, I’m not exactly sure how to take the apparent compliment.  Sure, I made the choice to use the particular shade of yellow in a particular way, but is that doing something?  Is it doing enough?  Is it the easy way out?

The same can be said of abstraction in general.  What does pure abstraction (reductive or minimal work) do?  How does it contribute to society?  What value does it add?

Now that I am working primarily as an abstract painter, I struggle mightily with the questions above.  Am I simply making decorative objects, or am I making art?  I don’t struggle with these questions with regard to holes/white paint/clearcoat, and why is that?  There’s something about the new paintings that feel almost too close to design.  And that bothers me.

But here’s where things get weird.  When I look at the work of other abstract painters – Malevich, Rothko, Marden, Kelly, etc – I don’t question the validity of their work for even a second.  I love encountering their work.  I love being absorbed by their beauty.  Ultimately, I love that it was OK to them to make that work.  They devoted their lives to it.  While I am certain they struggled with similar questions as me, they persisted.  They probably felt they were doing something and I agree.

So why do I question whether or not I am doing something?

I guess I wonder what pure abstraction has left to say.  Are we left making the tiniest possible discoveries?  Are there any great discoveries left to be made?  What is it that I want to discover?

My current position with regard to the numerous questions above is that I am simply trying to discover my own unique artistic voice, whatever that may be.  My artistic life has been occupied with various related projects.  Some, I felt I was doing something, some, not so much.  In total, however, I feel I have done something.  And that’s enough to keep going, even though that question still nags me: are color and abstraction the easy way out?

Things have been busy in the studio as of late and I wanted to share with you images of some completed pieces.  First, this piece was actually done some time over the summer, but I never got a chance to photograph it.  It’s a continuation of the Fracture Series.

Fracture_005
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Maple plywood
16″ x 48″ x 1″
2010
Private Collection

Fracture_005 (side view)
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Maple plywood
16″ x 48″ x 1″
2010
Private Collection

Fracture_005 is the largest work in the series thus far.  Due to my inadequacies in studio photography, the white paint looks uneven.  I assure you that it’s consistently white across the entire piece.

I’ve also continued my explorations within the Polyclear Series:

Polyclear_025
Polyacrylic on purpleheart wood
18″ x 10″ x 1″
2010

Polyclear_025
Polyacrylic on purpleheart wood
18″ x 10″ x 1″
2010

The second image uses the reflection of the studio lights to reveal the nuances of the clear coat finish.  In the standard image at top, it’s very difficult to see the alternating use of glossy and matte finish.  The second image makes it more clear, pun intended.

Polyclear_025 is different from previous Polyclear pieces in that it makes use of a solid piece of wood instead of plywood.  I’ll be curious to see where this leads.

Lastly, I’ve just recently completed a suite of six paintings also part of the Fracture Series:

On Line (composite view of installation)
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar plywood
16″ x 16″ x 1″ (each)
2010

On Line I
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar plywood
16″ x 16″ x 1″
2010

On Line II
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar plywood
16″ x 16″ x 1″
2010

On Line III
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar plywood
16″ x 16″ x 1″
2010

On Line IV
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar plywood
16″ x 16″ x 1″
2010

On Line V
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar plywood
16″ x 16″ x 1″
2010

On Line VI
Acrylic, polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar plywood
16″ x 16″ x 1″
2010

The title for this suite, On Line, comes from the exhibition by the same name now at the Museum of Modern Art.  These paintings are a pretty big step forward for this series and I’m still getting my head around them.  These evolved a great deal during their creation and I willingly followed where they lead me.  I’m quite happy with them.

I plan on posting soon some thoughts on color and how it relates to my work.  As you’ve likely noticed, my use of color is taking on more of a life lately and I want to discuss some of the pros and cons of that decision.

As always, thanks for checking out my work.  I welcome your feedback.

I Heart Artists, a website run by George Song, conducted a video interview with me as part of my exhibition at Blank Space Gallery in New York.  I really enjoyed answering George’s questions and I am appreciative of him putting forth so much effort to bring artists’ work to a larger audience.

To check out my interview, click here.  For the other artists in the show, click here for Antoinette Wysocki, and here for Gary Abernathy.

On Thursday, December 2, my next show opens up at the University of Minnesota.  It’s a three-person exhibition called “Crystal Nature.”  From the website:

Works by Anneliese Vobis, J.T. Kirkland, and Mary Lingen. These artists have embraced the perfection and beauty found within organic forms. Come witness how each representation has recreated nature in the most unique way.

This exhibition will include up to 16 pieces from my Polyclear Series.  I’ve never before mounted so many of these works together so I will be very interested to see how it turns out.  As is typical, I think my work will stand in contrast to the work of the other two artists (in a minimal/reductive way), and I enjoy seeing that juxtaposition play out.

Unfortunately, I am unable to attend the exhibition in person but I look forward to seeing images of the final installation and sharing them here.

The show has a brief run of Dec. 2 – Dec. 17.  If you happen to be in St. Paul, MN, during that time, I hope you’ll check it out.

This past Thursday was the opening of my three-person exhibition at Blank Space in New York City.  I dropped by the space right after we arrived by train and I was pleased with the show.  The other two artists, Antoinette Wysocki and Gary Abernathy, produced colorful and intense abstract paintings.  The paintings were relatively large – especially when compared to mine – measuring probably 30″ x 40″ at the smallest.  I believe each artist had 3-4 pieces on display.  I, on the other hand, showed much smaller reductive works.  I had 13 pieces total, all but one measuring 12″ x 12″.  The other was 16″ x 16″.

As you’ll see in the pictures below, my work provided quite the contrast to the other paintings in the show.  The gallery made the right call in hanging my work effectively opposite of Antoinette’s and Gary’s paintings.  I think it provided an interesting contrast of scale, form, color and use of line.  Perhaps most striking was the contrast of the density in their paintings juxtaposed with the sparseness of my own.

The opening was very well attended with people being in the space when I arrived at approximately 6:10pm.  The gallery stayed packed for the entire two hours.  In all honesty, there were more people at this opening reception than at the rest of my openings this year combined.  It was quite energizing to be around such interest in art.

I was pleased to get the chance to meet several great artists who I’ve only known through the web: Don Voisine, Debra Ramsay, and Karen Schifano.  It was also great to see old friends: Trish Tillman, Matthew Langley and Chris Rywalt.

OK, so enough with the name dropping.  Let’s get to some images:

The work of Wysocki on left, Abernathy on right

Two Wysockis on left, Abernathy on right

Wysocki

Wysocki

One Wysocki on left, three Abernathy’s on right

Abernathy

My work: two pieces from Fracture on left, ten pieces from Subspaces on right

Subspaces

Subspaces

Subspaces

As you may have noticed, the images above only show 12 of my pieces.  The thirteenth piece is hanging over the reception area and was not easy to photograph well.  However, should you be able to see the show, please check out that work.  It’s my favorite in the show.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity provided by Blank Space to show my work alongside two strong artists and I’m excited for so many of my NYC friends to be able to see my work in person.  If you are able to see the show during its run (closes Dec. 10th), please let me know what you thought.

Thanks!

As you’ve likely noticed, I haven’t posted much new work since around June.  I had several shows this summer and made a big, exhausting push to get all the new work done in time.  To be honest, I burned myself out a bit.

In addition to art burnout, Stacey and I decided to embark on a performance collaboration.  The collaboration will be site-specific, constantly changing and evolving.  It will last for a minimum of 18 years, though based on feedback from artists who have made similar collaborations, we expect to be involved in the maintenance of the piece forever.  We’ve had the opportunity to document some of the earliest stages of project development:

The project is presently called TGK and should be fully realized in late March 2011.

All kidding aside, we are beyond thrilled that we will be welcoming a baby boy into our lives in approximately 4 months.  Preparations for the arrival are well under way and thus far it has absorbed a great deal of time, thought, creativity, etc.  It’s an exciting time.  The greatest collaboration I’ve ever participated in.

Other than the large installation in Charlottesville a few months ago, the studio has been quiet.  This past Friday I was able to get back to work and I would like to share the results.

This first piece was actually initiated in the spring:

Polyclear_024
Ash and Rosewood, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
17.75″ x 17.25″ x 1″
2010

Polyclear_024
Ash and Rosewood, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
17.75″ x 17.25″ x 1″
2010

This piece continues the work with which I’ve been engaged for the last year.  The challenge, however, was working in a larger scale than before.  Previously, the Polyclear Series has been no larger than 12″ x 12″.  I quickly discovered that producing larger work was significantly more difficult to complete.  My process was challenged a great deal by this piece, but I feel that the end product turned out well and gives hope to continuing to work at such a size.

The images of this piece came out surprisingly well, but in case it is difficult to see, I will provide a quick description.  Two pieces of 2″ Rosewood are vertically oriented in the center of the piece, separated by a 2″ piece of Ash.  The entire surface is covered with a clear, matte polyacrylic finish.  Running horizontally are two 2″ bands of clear, glossy polyacrylic finish.  They are centered and separated by a 2″ band of matte finish.  The glossy bands are merely representations of the vertical Rosewood bands, turned on their sides.

I discussed recently the impacts of a weekend at The Greenbrier and my new-found desire to work with more challenging color palettes.  What follows is my first piece created working under The Greenbrier’s influence:

Fracture_005
Acrylic, Polyacrylic on Maple Plywood
15.5″ x 11.75″ x 1″
2010

Fracture_005
Acrylic, Polyacrylic on Maple Plywood
15.5″ x 11.75″ x 1″
2010

This work continues in the line of the Fracture Series initiated in my residency at the Vermont Studio Center.  A new development in this piece, however, is the inclusion of a third color which obviously allows me to work with more colors within the same piece (note: the pinstripe is actually a deep red, but reads as black in the images).

I did not reference any images from Greenbrier to pull colors for this piece.  Instead, these are the colors called to mind when remembering my time there.  These are colors that I would typically never use together, but I think I’ve done it in such a way as to be successful.

My newest paintings are displayed on my website under the heading “Exploratory Paintings,” and that is exactly what they are.  I’m still unsure about what they are saying, what they are doing and how they work, not to mention, if they are ultimately successful.  However, I find myself actively engaged with their conception and production.  Their uncertainty encourages me to keep making them.  I’m in a good place with them.  We’ll see where they lead.

About a month ago, my beautiful wife, Stacey, planned a weekend getaway at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV.  The resort location has welcomed visitors since the late 18th century.  In the mid-20th century, the resort underwent a massive redesign.  Dorothy Draper, a world-famous interior designer out of New York, was recruited to lead the effort.  And lead the effort she did.

When we arrived at Greenbrier, my first impression of the decor was far from positive.  I found the colors and over-sized prints to be garish.  Nothing seemed to work together.  Well, they didn’t work together in the way I expected or wanted.  After a bit of time, the colors and prints began to coalesce into something quite striking and beautiful.  I began snapping pictures of areas that caught my eye.

By my second day at the resort I began to understand why they called Dorothy Draper a “tastemaker.”  She was literally redefining my tastes with each room.  I never expected the colors she forced together to actually work, much less actually move me.  I never expected over-sized floral patterns to work alongside black and white checkerboard floors.  But they did.

I quickly realized that my sense of color in my own artwork is very traditional and expected.  This color obviously goes with that color.  Oh, no, that color can’t possibly go with that one.

In fact, I now think that a person with sophisticated tastes and a well-honed eye can practically will or force any two colors together.  The Greenbrier vibrates with astounding confidence.  It feels like there was no other option than for those spaces to be decorated in that specific way.  Any change would simply fail.

The experience of visiting The Greenbrier has caused me to re-think my use of color in the studio.  Instead of finding the obvious pairings of color, I’m going to instead try to push beyond my present understanding of color.  I want to find two colors that seemingly have no place being side by side and find a way to make them work.  To make them say more together than I ever thought possible.  To open new ways of seeing.

Admittedly, I know very little about interior design in the mid-20th century.  Draper may be an over-rated hack and I wouldn’t know the difference.  But, on that particular weekend, at this particular time in my life, the spaces and experiences set up by Dorothy Draper have inspired me profoundly.  I’m excited to see where this all leads.  Perhaps I will find a new level of beauty in my work, or perhaps I will determine that indeed some colors should never, ever be used together.  Regardless, it should be challenging and it should be fun.