Thoughts on Artomatic

With three shifts completed and some additional touring of the show, I'm ready to compile my top 10 list for the latest installment of Artomatic. The work is generally better this time than in 09, which was better than 08. There are probably 50-60 artists making really good work that would fit in at better galleries. In fact, many of the participants do have representation at these galleries.

There is a whole lot of work that seems pretty close to being there but for me there was something missing. A large percent of this group made ambitious work that was competent but lacking either a level of polished craft or originality. There were so many works that were well crafted but the content was so obvious that I just couldn't get interested. The inverse was true with really good ideas not crafted appropriately to convey the content. In short these came off as good student work to me, regardless of age or experience of the artists.

I find it interesting that there are a number of artists making what I would consider commercial work such as landscapes and portraits that I found really nice, often compelling. Stuff I think I would usually walk right by. There is still good territory to mine in those fields.

As expected, the glass artists were some of the best in the show. A few will make my top 10 and a couple may not just because I don't want most of my list to be glass.

Art blogger Lenny Campello has noted that there seems to be less porn and nudity this time around (he also noted the quality of glass). There is still plenty there and, except for a few exceptions they do nothing for me. It is amazing to me just how unsexy some of this work is. I keep thinking, just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do it.

There is a lot of bad work too. I get the same feeling sometimes at Artomatic that I do with the opening rounds of American Idol. Don't these people have friends that say, "No way man- You're just not any good." Its interesting that music is such a part of our lives and there are certain qualitative benchmarks that most people understand like playing/singing in tune that we can easily provide that "No Way, Man" speech. But perhaps, since art is not as much a part of our everyday lives- at least on a conscious level, these qualitative factors are simply not understood by most. This may be why folks will look at a Pollock and think they could do it. There seems to be a need for some to express themselves and there also seems to be a ready and willing support group in the visual arts field (and I would add poetry). A lot of bad art could look like "Art" to the layman and I would guess the entire support network.

Another bad art observation, why would someone pay $110 dollars and spend time working shifts to write or post a bunch of crap on their walls.

Overall, its a pretty good showing- hell, a day in Chelsea will usually only net about 3-4 shows that were worth the time so having 50-60 in one place is quite good.

My Favorites from Artomatic@Frederick

Here are a few of my favorites from Artomatic@Frederick. I wish I had taken pictures since I had some difficulty finding sites or images by a number of these artists. So, make sure you go and when your there, make a point of seeing these spaces.

Brain Slagle- I helped Brain and his father put together the base portion of Corn Crib. It really turned out beautifully.
http://www.artiqueunderground.com/artist/28

Jeff and Kristin Bohlander- First I want to thank them for the additional reflected light. Jeff's collages and Kristin's mixed media sculptures are very different. Having spouse that is an artist, I think it is so interesting when couples make work very differently. I think it just has to be that way.

Jennifer Bernhard Hatfield- Quirky, wonderfully crafted pieces
http://www.jenniferbernhardhatfield.com/

Roberta Staat- I'm sucker for good drawing. Though there are a lot of cow artwork out there, I really like these for the technique.
http://staatworks.com/node/149

Rhonda J Smith- Her prints with added collage and embroidered elements convey a mystical quality that touches on universal themes

Kristin Partridge- Hard to not like something this lovely
http://kristinpartridge.com/photography/alternative-process-photographs.htm

Deborah Winram- Her keepsake piece is intriguing. It is made of small jars containing, for the most part, delicate reminders of the past.

Michael Winger- Excellent sculptures with wood, twine and other natural elements. I was particularly taken by the wall piece.

At Once I Knew I Was Not Magnificent

This painting was begun at the same time as Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. Here, I returned to an image I have worked with in the past. Like a book or shoe, the design of a chair is has basically remained the same for centuries. This is actually my dining room chair. It is very solid (and heavy). Like the shoe, I set a single image against a extremely worked background. The chair is a strong image so it does not necessarily recede into the background here, rather it fits nicely into its surroundings.

The title comes from the song Holocene by Bon Iver. I believe I heard Justin Vernon say in an interview that the song, especially that line, was about a very bad night in a bar.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

This painting grew out of my Guston readings. Like Guston, I wanted to paint an object that is part of my everyday world. I saw this as a celebration of a thing that is well crafted and built to last. The design for a basic shoe has not changed for a long, long time. I was also striving for immediacy in getting the image down, using a projected image to get the placement just right. A funny thing happened as I worked on the piece. It became less about the shoe, or I should say less a celebration of this functional object. As in life, the shoe is begins to get lost in its surroundings. The large color fields, consisting of dozens of layers of paint, quickly draw a viewer's interest away from the shoe. I believe this painting will be a pivotal one. The push-pull between the mundane and sublime has opened up avenues of explorations.

For Guston (Books)

Last Spring, I spent a few weeks with my right arm in a sling then about 6 weeks of physical therapy. During this period, I spent a lot of time reading, especially the writings and statements of Philip Guston and his friend Morton Feldman. It was fascinating to note that Guston's views never changed much, even when he made the "shocking" break from abstraction to figuration. I was drawn to his use of a limited amount of everyday objects and their placement on the canvas. Watching film of Guston at work also inspired me to be more direct in my painting, getting it down quickly. Guston was described as the best read high school drop out ever. I decided to paint a stack of books since this was an image Guston painted over and over again, plus it is a nice play on my last name. Well, the direct thing didn't work out though this was record time for me at around one month to produce. I had already begun work on a couple of other paintings but I realized that I was being drawn to the background as much as to the pile of books. This was more obvious in the next couple of paintings where there is only a single object depicted. I am intrigued by having this celebration of everyday battle and perhaps lose to the empty background. This is more pronounced in the work that follows.

The Richter Resolution

A while back, art critic Jerry Saltz published The Richter Resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of projection in the production of art, especially painting. Luckily for me the moratorium had expired when I purchased a little pocket sized projector. My newest paintings are the first time I have ever used projection. I've never been morally opposed to its use. I enjoy good art regardless of how it is produced. I just don't think my previous work would have benefited from projection. In these new works, I'm not trying to achieve type of photo-realistic verisimilitude. The placement of the object on the canvas was critical to these pieces and projection allowed me to play with size and placement until I felt it was right. Much of the drawing was ignored as the paintings progressed. Here I show the projection, the drawn object and the finished piece Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. I would keep losing some of the details of the shoes as I would layer paint so I was constantly correcting the drawing. While I spent time and energy on the image, the painting is not about the shoe.

Meet the Artist Night at Artomatic

So the truffles went over well, probably better than the art. Their chocolaty deliciousness got people to hang around a bit. I had some really good comments but, as usual, Heather stole the show. She was working her shift on the fourth floor but telling everyone to come down and try the truffles- it worked! We met Conner, the 12 year old artist- seems like a good kid.

I also reconnected with someone I knew from the 80's when I was at the Corcoran, painter Matthew Langley. I was a little embarrassed since my work being shown is simply ok, but it seems he went through the same sort of trajectory as I did- Stopped painting shortly after art school, found a way to makes some money (day job) and then began to work painting back into his life. It was encouraging. I'm already much happier with my latest work. I'm giving myself a year to see, if I can get back to a high level of work I was at before.

Right now there are two struggles- getting my chops back and what I should paint. I'm working on the first issue and simply painting whatever for the time being. I'm researching and planning out some future work- going back to TS Eliot- this time I'm working with the Four Quartets. I'm hoping that by the time I'm firing on all cylinders I will also have arrived at some subject matter that will make for compelling work.

Truffles Anyone?

Dang- I just don't know how people keep up with this blogging stuff. Anyway- I'm making truffles tonight for tomorrow's Meet the Artists night at Artomatic. I stopped by Whole Foods to get the finest ingredients. I'll post later with chocolate on my fingers.

Opening Night

Last night, The team all went down to opening night at artomatic and were blown away. The place was so jammed- using the elevator was simply a joke and even the stairways were filled with people. We did trek up to the ninth floor and back down so at least a little exercise was had. We spent the last hour or so that on the 3rd floor near our work. Lori and I kind of hung back and let people look. We didn't have too many people stopping to look at our stuff- we're guessing that we are not flashy enough. Plus we have a very subdued floor. I did see a lot of people take my postcards but no comments (not even a "U SUCK") were left in the comment book. Heather on the other hand was working the crowd and really charming them. We keep our eyes out, looking to see if people were trying to get away but they really seemed to be enjoying talking to her about the work. We ended up staying to nearly 11pm. I forgot how infrequent the trains are later at night. We didn't get home until after midnight.

On the beverage front- good beer selection (Yuengling and three Flying Dog brews) and not a bad call on the wine (Barefoot) in terms of a drinkable inexpensive wine. Yep, I got beer. I may suggest that they offer a premium wine choice at a higher price to give wine lovers an option but then they may want me to volunteer as bar manager and I see that is a tough job.

Artomatic Opens Today

Well, I'm not so sure why I'm excited about Artomatic opening today but I am. It was satisfying getting the work together and installing. I learned quite a bit in this foray back into painting and I can't wait to get back to work. I believe my work will continue to get stronger. I'll make sure to chronicle my progress.

So what I'm really concerned about is whether they will have decent wine or not. Tomorrow I'm going to the big Savor beer tasting at the Building Museum where I will taste at least 50 high gravity craft beers so I'd rather have wine tonight.

Artomatic Install Complete

I was glad to finish up installing our spaces today. I expected there to be tons of people waiting but I was one of the first to arrive at about 11:30. I guess hoping to avoid some kind of rush, they had the loading dock open. I finished hanging my paintings and title cards for Lori and Heather by 12:45. This gave me a little time to preview the show.

There has been plenty of discussion regarding the adult subject matter being shown but as I walked around there was little that I could not easily steer clear of. From what I can see the quality of work looks better than last year. Since that was the first AOM I visited, I can't comment on previous shows. I'm still surprised at how many people have done so little to their spaces. I guess I fit into that category but I knew it would take less than an hour to hang all of my work.

Lori was really worried about me finishing my work. I was ready to cut one painting (Shoes) since it wasn't coming together. After explaining to Lori that it may be best to leave it out, I went back down to the studio and nailed the part that kept tripping me up. Of course, this had me back in the studio at 6:30 this morning trying to finish it up. It turned out pretty good. I've learned a lot with these paintings but the biggest thing is making sure to take more time to draw instead of simply roughing in the basic composition thing winging the details.

Artomatic

Well, somehow things are coming together. The main goal for doing AOM this year was to force me to complete some work. Its been more than 10 years since I have completed a painting so getting four ready to show is an accomplishment. Well only one is complete right now but, hey- I've still got two days.

Overcoming a long inactive period would be hard enough but I also switched from oils to acrylics. Since my style relies on numerous layers of thin paint, getting used to the transparency of acrylics is difficult. I'm arriving at some techniques that are getting the job done though I hope to be able to refine them soon to get the results I want. As it stands, I'm about 80% there. I believe the future paintings will be stronger as I incorporate what I've learned from these works.