Announcement and New Work

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.