Making it happen

There are many ways to be engaged in the art world. First and foremost is to create work. This has always been a main pursuit of mine. The other side is to present work whether my own or that of others. In the late eighties and early nineties I was able to put some shows together and still remain proud of the shows we assembled at the short lived Praha Gallery in Norfolk. I am currently pursuing some curatorial opportunities and will use this space to help develop my thoughts as this progresses.

True Artists

So what is it that we try to achieve as artists. To have passion? Technique? Originality?

I watched a documentary about the punk band the minutemen last night and it struck me that these guys achieved what we all wish we could do. Listening to their music, even if you hate the style, there is no denying that these guys had awesome chops. There is no doubting their sincerity and passion. Now they were always striving for something a little beyond themselves which kept the flame burning. Their politics were sometimes naive but definitely earnest in their intent. Most of all- there has never been band, before or after them that sounded anything like them.

One of the things in my life I will brag about is seeing their show at the 9:30 club in the Spring of 1985 (they played the night before a rally to protest US intervention in Central America). Even more brag worthy was to spend an evening with them as they stayed at my friends' place after they opened for REM in Norfolk. They played a large chunk of Double Nickels on the Dime on Acoustic Guitars (Mike and D fought over the 12 string).

New Computer

Finally, after a few months without regular access to a computer, we have made the switch to an iMac and I should have more time to work on the inevitable issues of getting work out into the world.

12 X 12 at artdc.org Gallery

Yesterday I helped out getting tons of working into the gallery. As the name suggests, all work must be less than 12" on any side. It looks to be a fun show with tons of good work, all priced at less than $300. Most pieces seemed to be priced between about $75 and $150. I wan unable to stay for the actual hanging of the work, so it will be interesting to see what it looks like in the wend. I have my favorites but it was so crazy, I can't remember their titles or who made them. I'll have a full review after I head back next weekend. The big fun will happen on the 22nd when the the whole arts district of Hyattsville opens up for the annual festival. Head over to the gallery early and buy art because plenty will be sold by the end of the festival.

Mark Rothko in the tower at NGA

The second in a series of "contemporary" exhibits in the Tower Gallery of the National Gallery of Art features 7 large Rothko paintings from 1964. Since I took the elevator up, I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of earlier Rothko paintings in the smaller area before the main tower gallery. The earliest works are smaller paintings that are somewhat rough around the edges. I don't know Rothko's biography well enough to make definitive statements but I would guess these did not meet with a lot of success. They are interesting simply for how they may help in understanding of his development. The works from the forties are more accomplished, with surrealist tendencies which Rothko and other New York School painters were employing at the time.

Unlike the first new tower show which presented Philip Guston's work in a straight up manner, the NGA has chosen to try to tie all of these works together in the context of Rothko's use of black. I personally find it a bit of a stretch. What becomes clear as one enters the main gallery is that these 7 paintings are not black. They are certainly dark but I was seeing purples, reds and blues. The essay material suggests that by sitting and looking at these paintings for an extended period of time you will notice subtle colors peaking out. Well, maybe I'm just super-observant(not likely), but this was simply obvious.

To make another connection,they chose to play Morton Feldman's chamber piece "Rothko Chapel" every half hour. It is a wonderful, contemplative piece which was first performed in the Rothko Chapel in Houston. Yes, these paintings were precursors to the cycle in the chapel but did its inclusion here really make sense. I happen to like Feldman, and this piece in particular, so I found it a nice touch.

So this is must see show, not necessarily to come to any conclusions about Rothko's use of black but for a chance to see a number of great, related paintings along with some earlier paintings that are not seen all that often.

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/rothkotowerinfo.shtm

New work

I have posted some new work to my portfolio. I'm particularly happy about these two. The first is a reworking of the Entanglements piece which began this series (36" Sq Acylic on Canvas)





The second is titled Untangled (also 36" sq acrylic on canvas)

Images

So I'm very happy with the way my work came together last weekend. The problem came with trying to get good images of them to send off. The surface is very important to my work. The paintings are created by building up dozens of layers of paint with a final surface that is rich, but subtle. The surfaces are quite glossy too, making the acrylic paint seem more like oils. This is an issue I will have to figure out soon.