Thinking About My Art

Below is the press release for my upcoming two-part solo show at christopher west presents in Indianapolis, IN.

For immediate release:  June 16, 2010

White: Part 1 & Part 2 by J.T. Kirkland
to open at christopher west presents July 1st.

Indianapolis, IN, June 16, 2010: christopher west presents is pleased to announce White: Part 1 & Part 2, a two-part exhibition of works by Virginia-based artist J.T. Kirkland.  Opening reception for the artist will take place on Thursday, July 1st from 5pm until 8pm featuring work from Kirkland’s White Paint series.  There will be a secondary opening July 22nd from 5pm to 8pm featuring Kirkland’s latest body of work, Exploratory Paintings.  The entirety of the two-part show will run through August 14^th.

Kirkland’s reductive work strives to find clarity and resolution in line, color, and form, while challenging viewers’ perceptions of surface and space through simple and precise gestures on wood.  In White: Part 1, Kirkland uses pure white paint – the same found on a standard gallery wall – on Wenge wood to blur the boundaries between the physical space of the gallery and artwork.  In White: Part 2, Kirkland introduces color into the works which are accentuated by a finely painted white line to delineate the colored form against the Maple wood grain.  Kirkland has recently had solo exhibitions in New York City and Richmond, VA.  He has also recently been awarded both an Artist in Residence at the Vermont Studio Center in January of this year and the Robert Riddick Memorial Award from the Rawls Museum in 2009.  This two-part exhibition offers a unique chance to experience two different, yet related, bodies of work by Kirkland in the same gallery. This is his first exhibition at the gallery.  Images available upon request.

About christopher west presents

christopher west presents is a contemporary art gallery focusing on emerging regional and national artists.  The intimate gallery space focuses primarily on solo exhibitions and artists’ projects.  The gallery program is directed by Christopher West who has more than ten years experience in curating and selling contemporary art both in Indianapolis and in California.  The gallery is located in the heart of the Massachusetts Avenue Arts District and is open to the public Wednesday – Friday 11 – 5 and Saturday Noon – 4 or by appointment.

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Media Contact:

Christopher West
christopher west presents
646 Massachusetts Avenue
Indianapolis, IN  46204
317.908.2908
ChristopherWestPresents@gmail.com
www.ChristopherWestPresents.com

I’ve made 25 new works for these shows and I am thrilled that they are all done.  I still need to photograph most of them, but as I can, I will share images here.  If you’re in the Indy area, I would love to see you at the opening next Thursday.

A reader commented on my last post regarding the dismayed and hostile reaction a viewer had in response to my work currently showing in Charlottesville.  The comment read as follows:

Congratulations, I think it is great that your work challenged people and evoked such a strong reaction form [sic] someone that they actually went to talk about it with the gallery owner. That is success even if she didn’t like or understand the work. Most art doesn’t even hold the attention of someone for more than a couple of seconds, for some one to spend that much time looking and talking about it is amazing.

I had posted a similar version of the same story to my Facebook page and received similar responses.  While I appreciate the sentiment behind the comment, I can’t help but totally disagree with it.  After some thought, it seemed like a good subject to write about.

Personally I took absolutely no satisfaction from this woman’s reaction to my work.  She was bull-headed, unreasonable and arrogant.  Further, she showed absolutely no class or tact in being so vocal about her feelings on the work.  By approaching the gallery owner for explanation, I don’t feel that she truly wanted to understand the work.  Instead, I can imagine her inner dialog as such, “See… even the gallery owner can’t explain the work and give it significance.  I knew it!”

I admit that I could be completely wrong about her though.  Maybe she did truly want to understand the piece.  If so, while she could have approached the situation better, I give her credit for inquisitiveness.

The main reason I wanted to write about this is to deal with the idea that because the viewer was upset and had a strong negative reaction, and therefore spent some time with the work, that this somehow equates “success.”  This would certainly be the case if my goal or intent as an artist is to provoke such a reaction.  But it’s not my goal.  My intent is to create a beautiful object that makes a viewer see in a new way, appreciate the subtleties in the work and prompts an engagement with the viewer that rewards them for looking.  None of these were accomplished in the experience with the upset woman.  As such, that particular interaction was a complete failure.  Her reaction was not an indication of the quality or success of the piece.  Instead, I think it reflects the viewer’s inability to get out of their comfort zone and consider things that aren’t easy for them.

I think it’s far too easy to prompt such a reaction by viewers.  Some shock artists do it very well.  If it was my goal as an artist to just get a response, I think it would be very easy to do so, and I certainly wouldn’t go to so much trouble creating the work I do.

So what type of response is ideal?  Well, of course there’s the response of true interest, discovery and appreciation.  But a few steps below that is a response I witnessed a few times at this opening.  The viewer enters the gallery and is immediately drawn to the colorful landscape paintings.  They walk across the room approaching my plywood pieces.  They don’t really see them, too distracted by the pretty paintings.  They get just past my work, stop, and look back.  Perhaps the glimmer from clear coat caught their eye.  Perhaps they saw a flash of a reflection in the surface.  They double back and approach the piece.  They lean down to look up the surface.  They walk from side to side and approach the very edge of the piece.  They call out to their friend and point out one of the clear hills painted on the surface that they hadn’t seen at first.  They talk for a minute and then move on.

See, I have no idea what they actually thought about the piece.  For all I know, they could have hated it.  But that specific experience was a success.  The piece caught the viewer’s eye and the viewer was willing to give it time.  The viewer interacted with it and something was shared between the work and the viewer.  In that interaction, I’ve done all that I can as an artist and the viewer did all that they could do.  I will never know if they liked the piece or not, but at least they were able to reach the point where that informed judgment could be made.

Ultimately, I couldn’t care less that the upset woman was somehow impacted by work.  The only value that she added in the gallery that night was my amusement watching and listening to her.

I’m reminded of a saying… how does it go? 

Better to be thought a fool than to remove all doubt.

Yeah, I think that’s it.

Things are busy for me right now and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Unfortunately, busy-ness prevents any grand or deep thoughts from being posted here.  Instead, I’m just trying to check things off the list.  With that in mind, here’s a brief update on how things are progressing.

Rare Earth opened at Chroma Projects in Charlottesville, VA, this past Friday.  Chroma is located on the downtown mall in Charlottesville and as a result, when the weather is nice the place is packed.  The turnout for the opening seemed pretty large.  As expected, though, the reaction to my work in particular was decidedly mixed.  One woman, not knowing that I was standing within earshot, was extremely upset by my work.  She exclaimed (loudly) to her friends, “Is it just plywood?  It’s just plywood!”  She found the image list and her observation was validated.  “There’s clear coat on it… but for what?”  Eventually she found the patient ear of someone else who tried to help her.  The helpful woman suggested that she talk to Deborah, the gallery owner.  Sure enough, the angry woman brought Deborah out from the back.  I observed that Deborah patiently discussed the work with the upset woman, but to no avail.  The woman sort of sighed and finally said, “I just don’t get it.”  No, dear, you don’t.

Many other viewers had similar, but less hostile, reactions to the work.  But occasionally, I noticed someone seemingly getting the work.  Interacting with it.  Discovering subtleties in the work.  Becoming amused.  Those viewers are what make openings worthwhile.

I only snapped one quick cell phone image of my work / the show for my wife who couldn’t attend the opening.  Deborah came up with an interesting installation for my work, something I would have never thought of myself.  After some mild shock initially, I quite liked the install.  I might have to steal that idea for the future.  Here’s the image showing my work next to that of Robin Braun’s gorgeous paintings.

My work on the left measures 11.25″  x 15.5″ and the work on the right measures 32″ x 47″.  Not only was I intrigued by the small/large juxtaposition of the work, but I also enjoyed the placement near Robin’s landscape paintings.  Her painted hills continue straight into my painted hills.

The participating artists are Robin Braun, Tamra Harrison Kirschnick, Greg Hennen, J.T. Kirkland, Fred Nichols, Ashley Williams, and Catherine White.

I mentioned last week that an opportunity to co-curate (with Twig Murray) and participate in a group show popped up rather unexpectedly.  After a very busy week of gathering artists, I’m happy to say that the show is complete.  It will be titled “Of Itself: Medium as Message” and it includes the following notable regional artists: Christian Benefiel, Michael Fitts, Joanne Kent, Kevin Kepple, J.T. Kirkland, Laurel Lukaszewski and Kim Manfredi.

The concept of the show can be summarized as such:

Using traditional media such as paint, wood and clay; as well as the non-traditional including rust, glue, and scrap metal, the nature of the media itself is given a voice.

I am ecstatic with the selection of artists and their work, and I look forward to seeing the exhibition come together next week.  The show is being held at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA.  The opening reception is Saturday, June 19 from 4-6pm.  Here’s the postcard:

A month or two ago I submitted a proposal for a solo show at The Athenaeum in Old Town Alexandria, VA.  After being reviewed by the visual arts committee, I learned that my proposal was not accepted.  Rejection is never fun, but I have a very busy year ahead of me so it’s not the end of the world, I thought.

A day or two later I began exchanging emails with Twig Murray at The Athenaeum.  She had really enjoyed my work and was inspired to think about pulling together a small group show that would include my work, specifically my Polyclear series.  She asked if I would be interested in such a show.  Well, of course I would, I told her.  She asked me to provide names of any regional artists I knew who might be a good fit for the show.  I provided about a dozen names and she became very excited about the show.  It looked promising.

Almost simultaneously, The Athenaeum had a cancellation of their June/July show.  Twig thought we could propose our group show to fill the now vacant slot, that is, if we felt we could pull it off in less than a month.  Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I said that without a doubt we could pull it off.  Twig shot off a quick proposal to the committee and it was quickly accepted.  Time to contact artists!

We are still finalizing the artists for the show but it looks to be about 6/7 artists, including myself.  The show will open June 17 and run through July 31.  The opening reception will be on Saturday, June 19 from 4-6pm.

I realize I haven’t said what the show is about or who are the included artists.  I’ll provide those details when everything is finalized.  I can share with you the title of the show, “Of Itself: Medium as Message.”  The show will be co-curated by Twig Murray and me.

It’s impossible to know when opportunities will come your way.  The only thing you can do is prepare yourself as well as possible to take advantage of the opportunities when they appear.  My year, summer specifically, is shaping up to be extremely busy.  But it’s a good problem to have.  Thank goodness for my residency at Vermont Studio Center… had I not made so much work there it would be impossible for me to participate in so many shows this year.

In other news, I am hard at work in the studio creating pieces for my upcoming two-part solo show in Indianapolis.  I will be making 24 new paintings for one part of the show (8 are done now), and four for the other part (3 of which are done).  I’m very excited about how this work is shaping up.  Images to come soon.

[Wordpress won't allow me to add links right now, I will update this post with links later]

As stated in my last post, the next show on my agenda is Rare Earth at Chroma Projects in Charlottesville, VA.  For the show, I’ve created two new pieces.  The show’s curator, Deborah McLeod (and gallery owner), juried my work into a DC group show called Aquifer.  For that show I created something to fit the theme but that remained true to my style.  The piece was a 48″ x 48″ piece of plywood upon which I painted with clear coat in a way that made the wood look saturated.  For the Rare Earth show, Deborah requested something along those same lines.  What follows are the two pieces made for the show:

of a thousand hills I
Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
11.5″ x 15.5″ x 1″
2010

of a thousand hills I
Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
11.5″ x 15.5″ x 1″
2010

of a thousand hills II
Polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar Plywood
32″ x 47″ x 1.25″
2010

of a thousand hills II
Polyacrylic on Spanish Cedar Plywood
32″ x 47″ x 1.25″
2010

In the side views of the two pieces, I have intentionally reflected the studio lighting in an effort to illuminate the appearance of glossy clear coat on top of matte clear.  The “hills” are just barely visible in the straight on views if you know where to look.  Even in the side view, in #2 specifically, it is difficult to see all of the individual “hills.”

For this show I wanted to pull my work slightly more towards the landscape.  Using a horizontal composition, creating “hills,” and positioning them at the bottom of the visual plane, I hope to allude to a landscape.  However, I hope that the forms remain generic enough, and subtle enough, to not be overwhelmingly about landscape.

If you’re in the Charlottesville area, I hope you’ll be able to see the show.  It will be up from June 4-26 and the opening reception will be Friday, June 4 from 5-9pm.  I will be in attendance and hope to see you there.

UPDATE (5/18/2010):  I should have waited until this week to post my show schedule.  Since this post was published I was offered a two-part solo show with Christopher West Presents in Indianapolis, IN.  The first part of the show will have brand new paintings that build off what I made at the Vermont Studio Center.  The second part of the show will be made up of examples from my White Paint series.  The show will be happening very quickly… the first part opens on Thursday, July 1 and the second part opens on Thursday, July 22.  I will be present for the opening reception on July 1 (5-8pm)

Christopher West Presents
646 Massachusetts Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46204

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2010 is shaping up to be a busy year and for that I am both grateful and excited.  I wanted to share with you my upcoming exhibitions.  When possible, I’d love to see you at an opening.

Invisible Energy @ Adam Lister Gallery

A group show featuring the works of Karl Boehm, Sarah Colby, Claire Feng, J.T. Kirkland, Adam Lister, Stephanie Rivers, Sean Salyards, Rodger Schultz and Jamin Sheard.  The show was curated by gallery owner, Adam Lister.  From the press release:

One way to describe emptiness is by defining space.  Within a space there can be “things”, each of these “things” has its own charge or energy.  By visually and physically existing, anything that occupies space inherently creates a force in the world.  This tension or pressure, is viewed in terms of positive and negative.  These “things” are what they are, only because of what is not around them.  This emptiness or invisible energy, is what fills our world, constantly flowing around everything, allowing us to see what is what.  This between space to us, is like water to a fish, the air we navigate through holds its own potential for change and distortion.

This unseen force is the bond that holds it all together.  Its an infinite source of thinking, or a structure that in one way supports and at the same time destroys.  We can view the world through a series of contradictions, making it more and more evident that things are not always what they seem to be.  Opposing forces create all the energy in the universe, either through attraction of positive and negative, or the repulsion between forces of the same charge.  The expansion of this power creates new groupings, and these new formations attract and repel within themselves, in turn creating more new groups, and as this process goes on, energy is transfered, shifted, and reshaped.

The work on display for “Invisible Energy” examines some of the different ways that artists incorporate suspense, balance, and force into their art.

The show runs from May 14 – June 2 and there will be an opening reception on Friday, May 14 from 6-9pm.  I will be in attendance.  I will have seven pieces in the show: six paintings and one clear coat on plywood piece.

Old Town Fairfax Village Plaza
3950 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
*gallery entrance on North St. between University Dr. and Chain Bridge Rd.
(across from Panera and next door to Asian Bistro)

Rare Earth @ Chroma Projects

A group show featuring the work of Robin Braun, J.T. Kirkland, Alexander Kitchin, Ashley Williams and Catherine White.  The show is curated by gallery owner, Deborah McLeod.  The show runs from June 4 – June 26.  I will have two pieces in the show, both brand new clear coat on plywood works.

418 East Main (on the Mall)
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Gaps @ Greater Reston Arts Center

A group show featuring the work of [artists undisclosed thus far].  The show was jurored by Vesela Sretenovic, Curator for Contemporary and Modern Art, The Phillips Collection.

Described by the juror, Vesela Sretenovic, gaps are “…in-between states, stops or pauses that pertain to the working of the brain; our personal and social life; political and economic situation, technological innovation and communication; the gaps between actual and virtual experience; modern and alter-modern; human and post-human condition.”

The show runs from June 25 – August 14.  There will be a reception and gallery talk on Saturday, June 26 from 5:00-7:30.  A catalog is being published for the show.  I will be exhibiting two never-before-shown pieces from my White Paint series.

12001 Market Street
Suite #103
Reston, VA   20190

Site Singularity @ The Bridge PAI

A three-person exhibition featuring the work of Suzanna Fields, J.T. Kirkland and Sean Lundgren.  The show will be during the month of September with an opening on Friday, September 3, and is curated by Leah Stoddard.  For the show I will be creating a site specific installation using a wall measuring 8′ x 40′.

The Bridge PAI
209 Monticello Road
Charlottesville, VA   22902

Titled TBD @ Larson Gallery / University of Minnesota

A three-person exhibition featuring the work of J.T. Kirkland, Mary Lingen and Anneliese Vobis.  The show runs from December 2-17.  I will be showing selections from my Polyclear series.

St. Paul Student Center
2017 Buford Ave
St. Paul, MN   55108

So that is the schedule thus far for 2010.  There are other possibilities in the works and I am hopeful to bring some of them to fruition.  I hope to see you at an opening soon!

It has been a little while since I posted new work.  Things have been a bit slower in the studio lately and I delayed some photography until I purchased better studio lighting.  With all that taken care of, I can share the three newest pieces from the studio.  Each is quite different, so I’ll try to explain what’s behind them.

First up is a painting that falls in line with what I made in Vermont and when I first returned to my studio:

Not Yet Titled #1
Acrylic paint, polyacrylic on Walnut plywood
24″ x 24″ x 1″
2010

Not Yet Titled #1
Acrylic paint, polyacrylic on Walnut plywood
24″ x 24″ x 1″
2010

There are two new developments in this piece.  One, I’ve used two “body” colors instead of the usual one.  Two, the pinstriping does not surround a solid block of color, but instead follows the path of the wood lines.  I think this is a successful departure in that it’s a different way to move the viewer’s eye through the piece and it activates the space in the picture in a more cohesive way.

Here is the second piece I wanted to share:

Through and Through
Polyacrylic on Luan Plywood
23.5″ x 23.5″ x 1″
2010

Through and Through (digital composite view)
Polyacrylic on Luan Plywood
23.5″ x 23.5″ x 1″
2010

This second piece is not a huge departure for me as it follows in the path established by a piece created two years ago for a show called “Aquifer.”  In that piece, I used clear coat to create the appearance of saturated wood.  It was clear coat on raw wood.  Here, I’ve used a glossy top coat on top of matte clear coat.  The result is that from the front, the piece looks like a regular piece of plywood with no alterations.  However, as you walk across the piece, light will catch the glossy top coat in such a way to reveal the saturation.  It’s a very subtle piece and I imagine that most viewers will miss it completely.  I’m ok with that and will instead embrace the experience of those viewers who do see it.  I look forward to seeing viewers’ reactions first hand as this piece will be in an upcoming show that opens on May 14 (details to come).

Here is the third piece:

Not Yet Titled #2
Polyacrylic on Red Oak Wood
21″ x 21″ x 1″
2010

Not Yet Titled #2
Polyacrylic on Red Oak Wood
21″ x 21″ x 1″
2010

Of these three new pieces, I am most excited about this one.  For almost 4 years now, I’ve had the idea of creating my own version of the wooden pallet, much like what you might see at Home Depot.  These crude devices are instrumental in commerce, but I imagine their form is often overlooked.  I am drawn to both their utility and their appearance.  In the piece above, I have created a more refined and impractical version of the pallet.  1/4″ Red Oak slats are laid on top of a Red Oak support frame.  It is only held together with glue, whereas the standard industrial pallet is held together with rusted nail or maybe screws.  I wanted to connect my non-utilitarian pallet to nature, though, so I have used polyacrylic to paint a rough circle on the piece.  The idea here is that perhaps the pallet is actually useful and at one point held a barrel of some sort on it.  Perhaps the barrel overflowed with rain water or maybe condensation that formed on the side ran down to the pallet.  With the barrel removed what remains is a pallet with a saturated circle impressed upon it.  The circle has a perfect edge on the inside and a wavy/rough edge on the outside, perhaps caused by different amounts of saturation.  From a distance the piece reveals itself as a very refined object with a perfect circle on it.  Up close, however, hints of practicality and real experience are revealed.

This piece will lead to many more and, in fact, I have a much larger one almost done in the studio now.  It measures approximately 37″ x 47″ and is made of Poplar.  It will take on some of the characteristics of Through and Through above.

Good things are happening in and out of the studio.  In my next post I will share details about my four upcoming group shows.