Sunday, August 8, 2010

UnderWorks



I am interested in how perception is affected, translated, expressed and how that result becomes the basis for most experience. We rely so much on what we can see even with the knowledge that techniques of illusion cause two dimensional paintings to fool the senses and appear three dimensional. I am also interested in how these same techniques, whether it be layering, foreshortening, perspective or color temperature affect perception when applied to three dimensional objects.

I challenge the notion that something has to be difficult to create in order to be ambiguous or interesting. Photo shoots do not have to involve travel to exotic locations to arouse our imagination and sensualities. So, I look at playful, simple ways to express this.

Starting with a large stack of old magazines that I planned to harvest images from for collage and digital creations, I quickly progressed to the idea of making a room full of origami figures from these pages. However, I was arrested by the fact that the remnants of the pages were just as beautifully colored as the origami squares themselves. So, I worked to find a fold for these leftovers that would produce a useable shape.

I formed a Zen garden from some and twisted others into what resembled a sculpture exhibit. I even used the sliver size trimmings to assemble what reminded me of the gunpowder paintings of Cai Gou-Qiang. However, I was most enamored with a simple compound "M" fold that stood readily on its own. Soon, I had hundreds of these sturdy shapes covering my desk and countertop. I had my unique photo-op.

As interesting and whimsical as the emerging images were, I felt they needed a more static format to give them their own place in reality. So, I began fixing them to various supports to archive the effects. This flowed very naturally into the idea of using specific palettes for additional 3-D collages.

As an abstract expressionist, much of my work involves creating a visual vocabulary to express what cannot always be communicated verbally or in a traditionally recognized narrative, specifically spiritual experience. So as I began to cut and fold some of my drip and pour paintings on paper into more "M's", it was exciting to see how the numerous resulting surfaces resembled character sets. These "language modules," as it were, soon created extended abstract texts.

Additionally, when these sturdy shapes are linked together they form a viable foundation. This makes these under-works a wonderful metaphor as they also support and extend my use of action painting techniques.

Finally, as the paper constructs are painted with the same palette and gestures as the underlying canvas or wood support, the combination creates an illusion of the painting extending itself. This challenges one's perception as it blurs the line between what is a two dimensional and a 3-D object.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Breathing Life

Okay, so how can artists breathe life into their creations? It would seem impossible to share or give something you do not posses. Saving the discussion of what constitutes life for another time, let’s consider two ways that life is imparted.

While it may seem I am banging you over the head with my core beliefs, I want to simply state the first, which will lead naturally to the second. Whether you believe in the Creator God or not, if you have ever created anything worthwhile or of permanence, you have had a “GOD MOMENT.” Some refer to divine inspiration, while others give credit to a muse, and most are unable to function productively without either. My favorite reference for this is “Unless The Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it,” (Psalms 127:1.) You may well perform all the acts associated with giving birth, artistically or literally, yet unless the source of all life is participating, no life is possible.

So the argument that many non-believer artists perform and produce living art would seem to negate the first assumption. However, consider how in Genesis, God made a sculpture of a man and then breathed His own life into the form to make it a living creature. God put part of Himself into His creation. Therefore, I also assert that if you have ever created anything worthwhile or of permanence; a living thing, you have given a part of yourself to that creation, regardless of your beliefs.

Monday, July 12, 2010

What Makes Something Art?

I refuse to make a promise about cranking out these blog entries, when you and I both know that I will inevitably get distracted by an idea and spend months in the studio following where the inspiration leads me. It is not that I do not want to write these blog entries, it is just that the studio work tends to be more exciting. That said, I do have at least three short posts I can share. We will just have to see where this goes after this first one.

My meditations lately have been about the nature of art and creativity. This is in part due to a couple of discussion groups I have attended, some lectures my wife was wise enough to drag me to and some reading I have done on the nature of intellect as it pertains to art.

So, I began wondering what really makes someone an artist, and what makes their work art. Some say, like Warhol, it is anything you call art or "can get away with." If you say you are an artist you are. That doesn't really define it for me, so I asked these questions.

Is art simply technical mastery and the ability to faithfully render an image of a subject?
If that were the case you would have to call a camera or a photocopier an artist. These are fine artistic tools but do not guarantee the creation of art.

Is art the concept or thought process that someone conceives?

Unfortunately the expression of concept is done much too often in the name of art, but totally devoid of aesthetic merit.

Is art innovation or invention of new and different methods and techniques?

Although this lends interest and novelty to artwork, the argument could be made that many of the grandmasters merely followed long traditions when completing their masterworks.

Perhaps art is all and none of these things. I humbly submit that at the most basic level, art and true creativity is the ability to impart life (truth, beauty and goodness) into image, form, thing, etc. Without this element the work is merely craft and the production of soulless objects.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Regenerate, Renew & Restore


As I was going through my inventory of flat files, I came across a monotype whose divider sheet was missing. The seeming tragedy of this careless mistake was that the medium had adhered to the back of its neighboring monotype. I removed the piece as tenderly as possible, but heard the sickening tear of paper as part of the paint remained on the back of the other monotype and pulled away a thin layer of paper with it. I felt my temper flare as I turned the piece over and saw three white fibrous craters where paint had been.

To calm myself I returned to the chair I draw in and picked up where I had left off earlier. I had been exploring a design element I had seen employed by the master chef and autodidact
Hiroyuki Doi. Hiroyuki had begun his drawings 20 years ago to help him deal with the death of his younger brother. Although my drawing was nowhere near the magnitude of Hiroyuki Doi's work, the repetitive drawing of circles was soothing and pleasing to the eye. Once I had returned to a calm state of mind, I picked up the ruined monotype again. The answer was now clear. I began to employ this design element in the void left by the missing paint and then continued it in the white space across the entire monotype.

This crystallized a notion I had been meditating on all week. As I mentioned last time I have been asked to act as director and host for a new exhibit using art to raise awareness about environmental issues. Certainly not a new idea, but one I believe in. I had begun with the concept of "Limitations," but immediately ran into the same territory everyone else crosses in exhibits like this. "Do you limit the entries to only environmentally safe materials? Do all the supports have to come out of a recycle bin to qualify?" I also played with the notion that the theme should be "Regenerated Art." This would have required the entrants to provide an original artwork (or print of the original) next to the piece that had been reconstructed from parts of the original. But, one thought prevailed as I sought different ways I might interest a wide range of artists in a project like this. The resource we must consider sustaining above all others is the artists themselves.

Last weekend I was honored to be invited back to the Affinity artists meeting at The Haley-Henman Gallery in Dallas. While others were getting coffee and water, I was waiting for the meeting to start near the front of the building. At that moment a young man came through the door, who at first I thought might have made a mistake about the address. The assumption was a natural mistake on my part. It was an art gallery and the meeting was for artists and this young man was being assisted by his guide dog. However the young man was much more at home than I was. He found a seat where both he and his guide were most comfortable and when I finally did enter the meeting room, he greeted me most cordially. I cannot say enough nice things about this writer and artist who introduced himself as
John Bramblitt. I found him to be very engaging, gentle and generous. After the meeting, I hurried home to look up his work online, since his exhibit has not officially started at Haley-Henman. I think if you follow the links I have provided to John's website you will be as impressed as I was. Whether John Bramblitt is sighted or not this is beautiful work you really have to see to appreciate, although ironically John does not. However, the take away that makes this relevant to our topic is a statement that John made in his video. Basically as anyone would, John had a lot of anger over losing his sight. It was in the act of creating art that he was able to come to terms with and dissipate that anger. So, here is one more example of art sustaining and nourishing the artist.

I was also privileged to attend the PCPC kickoff for their yearly art festival this week. The speaker was the juror from last year,
Makoto Fujimura. If you are not familiar, Fujimura's accomplishments are numerous, including being a writer and master of Nihonga painting (the traditional Japanese art form which he has fused quite successfully with his own abstract expressionist style,) being appointed to the National Council on the Arts in 2003, winning the Chairman's Medal for contributions to art advocacy, founding the International Arts Movement (IAM), and most notably being commissioned to illuminate the 400th Anniversary edition of The King James Bible.

At first I was a little taken back with Fujimura's statement about using the best of materials possible, especially in light of my own recent struggles with trying to find ways to limit use of non-renewable materials. Here is a man who uses gold, platinum, azurite, malachite and other semi-precious stones and minerals in his Nihonga paintings. I almost found it impossible to reconcile that fact with his gentle words of hope for the arts community, recognition that most artists are marginalized and the idea I have long believed, that all men are creators painting with the fabric of their lives. It was only after I had time to read some of the blog entries Makoto calls
Refractions that I realized how much he had struggled with that very issue, but had resolved the inner debate with the knowledge that his art (as well as all art) is meant to reveal those mysteries of the divine, speak peace and harmony into a world that brought destruction so close to his New York home near ground zero, and encourage creativity by sustaining artists. Much of Makoto's work and ministry has been to the arts community in New York where he strives to help artists "restore their humanity."
So, here's a novel idea for a sustainability awareness exhibit. I would like to see submissions of how art sustains you, the artist. I am interested in works that convey a sense of peace, harmony, truth, joy, beauty and goodness. Personally, I believe these are the ideals that comfort and strengthen our souls. These notions restore us, renew us and regenerate us as humans, and in doing so, encourage us to be better stewards of our home. These themes and the artists who present them should be what we endeavor to sustain.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Limitations and Lounge Acts


The experts say that as a marketing tool the enterprising artists should blog at least every week, if not every other day. That just proves either how terrible I am at blogging or how busy I have been. Consider the later and disregard the former.

Since last I posted I have been running a pop-up gallery at 2501 Parkview Dr in Fort Worth under the name
ARTworks DFW. Pop-up is the term art marketers and hip artists use for a temporary space for exhibition negotiated with the realtor in exchange for beautifying their space and making it more appealing. Some of the artists whose work I have the pleasure of showing along side mine include Robert Berry, James Haddock, Anita McConnell, Michael D. Smith, Eddie Phillips, Linda Little, Sheri Jones, Danny Owens, Nancy Dekolb, and Sleepy Gomez. The property owners liked what I did with space so much that they have purchased several of my pieces, and have improved the space to my specifications while expanding the area in which we can exhibit. So, if the space has not rented, look for a call for additional artists from me shortly.

I managed to squeeze in a couple of lectures at
The Modern, most notably Liam Gillick. Gillick, a minimalist, writer, sculptor, artist, composed a public art project (one of his many) in Japan with uncomfortable seats and a joke about God limiting Himself to the idiosyncrasies of a popular director. The joke actually works better with God and a famous golfer. (Write or call. I will tell you both versions and you can decide for yourself.)

I have also attended an Affinity meeting at the
Haley-Henman Gallery in Dallas. Dr. John Marcucci, the director of the gallery, honored me with his invitation to this meeting at which all the other artists attending had exhibited in that gallery. The speaker at this particular gathering was David Rodriguez (LEED accredited professional and Former Chairman of the board of Directors for the North Texas US Green Building Council.) Dave spoke about his own paradigm shift and considering limitations as a response to the challenges of preserving our planet. He also inspired me to check the VOC (volatile organic compound) numbers associated with the paints I use.

So, there is all this talk about the challenge of limiting ourselves in the creation process, and vast amounts of discussion on creating an exhibit to raise awareness. Now, God is not a minimalist, and since I am trying to be more like Him than Liam Gillick, I am not a minimalist either. However, I know that God does limit Himself in dealing with us, so I suppose that is why I have come up with a new project and a proposal for an exhibit. Instead of limiting the material that artists use, which only stifles creativity, I propose that each artist interested in participating take one of their pieces already created and regenerated it into something else. I do not mean to chop up one of your paintings and use the pieces, although I did something like this. The original image can also be manipulated digitally into something fresh (something else I frequently do.) The bottom line is that we limit the use of new materials by repurposing artwork.

The new project I have undertaken to accomplish this exact concept is something I call
"Underworks." I have found several photo prints of digital collages I have made, sliced them into strips and folded those. I will give you a sneak peek at what I mean.

In addition to everything else I have been working on a non-fiction work concerning the limitations (there is that word again) on creativity imposed by the artist or by other external authorities such as culture, religion, economy etc. Since most of my material is derived from my own experience I have decided to title it (get ready for this biblically inspired doozie) First & Second Kenneth.

Keeping with the Bible motif, I considered the fifth book of the New Testament which we all know as Acts, short for The Acts of The Apostles. In my own case I do more lounging than acting so as I tried to fit that notion into my new book it turned into The Lounge Acts of The Apostles. In the performance piece, Paul would be played by Paul Anka singing "Having My Savior...what totally immaculate way to say you love me."
The standup routine would include the topics of environment. Peter would be talking about how despite the oil situation cars get bigger and bigger. The Hummer, Hummer II, III, the Hummer limo as big as a city block, and the new Hummer Condo. It's six stories, seven counting the wheels and tires with a racquetball court and a laundry room. On the other end of the spectrum, Ford announced its new Mini-Nan. That is not a van. With the help of nano-technology, Ford has developed a totally functional vehicle smaller than the head of a pin. Of course, it has no real market potential, but was commissioned by the Vatican since it can seat six angels comfortably.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Just Clothes?

It seems most appropriate that after almost a month since last posting that I should start out this new year with a post about some other artist beside myself. Don't worry, I'll be back to me before we're finished here.

I was impressed by an article I recently read in the January 2010 issue of ARTnews.
Barbara Pollack wrote about Baltimore artist Shinique Smith whose work includes calligraphy based paintings incorporating second-hand clothing and sculptures which also use clothing as the primary material. Ms. Smith, a once-upon-a-time graffiti artist, pursued a formal art education at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where in addition to calligraphy, she studied anatomy and assemblage then became involved in creating performance pieces and videos. The artwork is exquisite and the article is very complimentary (I don't think I've seen ARTnews articles that aren't complimentary. It must be a rule not to review work you don't like.) This review addresses the materials and the influences on Smith's work and peers into the connections of clothing to each of us and the rest of the world. Perhaps, that is all that needs to be said. Good article. Great artwork. And yet, there seems to be a more visceral, raw and emotional story that goes untold.

This is where I inject myself into the topic and make this all about me again. Told you not to worry.

Most of my work (as well as the work of every other thinking artist I've ever met) depends on vision and perception. Personally, that vision keys on the whole left brain / right brain question, on the order of seeing specific shapes and figures in a bank of clouds or in the patterns running through a slab of marble. When I first started creating abstract paintings, my inclination was to finish a piece by painting darker lines on the images within the image to bring them forward so everyone else could see them as well. I have often pondered the possibility that my subconscious guides my hand to create these images for my meditative mind to find upon nearing the completion of the work.

Likewise, as I view Shinique Smith's work the same thought occurs. When I look at "Twilight's Compendium," her installation piece in multiple blues in both paint and clothing created for the EMBRACE exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, I see the strong profile of a black male built into the central core of the piece which hangs from the ceiling. The lines of the face etched out in the way she has tied the bundle of clothing together could be the victim of a lynching. Of course, this may not be some subconscious rage over injustice gone unpunished. It may simply be what I see in the beautifully executed sculpture/painting. It could just as easily be an angel.