New Work

Here are a couple of new pieces I will be showing this weekend. I'm excited about this series made with Sumi ink and mixed media on rice paper and mounted on aluminum. Both pieces are 24 x 18 in.

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Gallery Hop exhibit opening

Friday, June 15, 2012, from 5-8 PM is the next Lexington Gallery Hop.
Please join me for the opening of :

Wyman Rice - Ceramics
Philip High - Paintings
Main-Cross Gallery
in Victorian Square

 

I will be showing new work in my "Organic Grid" series along with a new series titled "Light Box."

 

"Five Element Ecology"

"Light Box 03"

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Water Series

"Winter Water"
acrylic, Tyvek and pastel on panel
29.625" x 32.675 "

I've been busy with several projects lately, including local fund raisers Horsemania and Horsetails . More about those later. For now I'm uploading the latest in my "Water" series. I'm still finding lots of room to explore with this theme. Current works are tending more toward the abstract.

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Water Gardens

"Water Garden 12"
acrylic, Tyvek and pastel on panel
18" x 18"

This is the final piece for the New Editions Gallery exhibit next month. I'm excited about the way the grid composition has evolved. And thinking about this series last night I started getting a clearer idea how representational elements might be incorporated in the future.

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Water Gardens

"Water Garden 11"
acrylic, Tyvek and pastel on panel
18" x 18"

This painting is a little larger than the last four in this series. "Water Gardens" is actually a subset of the "Water" theme I am exploring. I'm curious to see where it all goes. I can see both more abstraction and the addition of figurative elements as possibilities. The idea is to keep the subject as a focal point, interspersed with other series, until it seems time to let it go.

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Water Series

"Water Garden 10"
acrylic, Tyvek and pastel on panel
12" x 12"

I am continuing to develop work based on the theme of water. These four small pieces will be part of a group exhibit at New Editions Gallery in the Fall.

As I have mentioned before, water is fundamental to life on this planet, yet we often take it for granted - especially in the developed world. Because we are so connected to this simple molecule we ignore our mutual dependence to our own peril. When we do take notice, it can evoke both beauty and fear. This psychological tension is part of the power of our relationship to water - a seemingly endless source of inspiration, metaphor and myth. Yet, as with all things pertaining to life, the sustaining principle is balance, which I believe is best nurtured through awareness and appreciation. My hope is that these works can be received and enjoyed on simple experiential terms as well as serve to draw attention to the ideas I am exploring with them.

Stylistically I have taken multiple aspects of the subject, from microscopic views to abstracted patterns, and juxtaposed them in the same plane. The effect I'm after is a broad meditative impression with many potential passages of attention, rather than a single focal point or narrative. The compositional device of an asymmetrical grid holds the varied elements together and further states the message of dynamic balance.

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Water

"Water Garden"
acrylic and Tyvek on panel
39" x 32"

This is the first in a new series of paintings. The subject of water has unconsciously emerged in my work many times over the years so I have decided to address it directly. Water is such an integral part of our lives, and life in general, that we take it for granted, to our own peril. These meditations on the beauty and mystery of water are meant to explore it's relationship to our physical, emotional and spiritual selves. Hopefully they will also help inspire and cultivate an appreciation for our dependence on the availability of this simple yet powerful substance.

This particular painting was based on a photograph I took at the University of Kentucky Arboretum, a wonderful botanical garden I am grateful to have nearby. I have included the original photo and my digital "sketch" to illustrate how I might develop an observation into an abstraction. I am also pleased to announce that this piece will be featured on the "Happy-Place" website, a design/lifestyle online store opening later this Spring.

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Even More "RED"

The red theme seems to have grabbed my imagination. I actually started this piece last year but was never completely satisfied with it. After some extensive reworking I think it's finished now. The title is "Atmospheric Sequence I" and it represents an idea I've been interested in for some time, putting together multiple views of the same "scene" with slight variations - like frames from a movie that suggest the passage of time. They are temporarily held in suspension for individual examination, but also merge into one dynamic, if indefinite, stereo "field," forever flickering in the imagination between two slightly out of phase points of perception.
"Atmospheric Sequence I"
Acrylic and Tyvek on two attached panels

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New Work

Friend, artist and photographer, Mary S, Rezny, is having an invitational exhibit in her studio in a couple of weeks. The title of the show is "Red." My take on the theme is this recently finished piece which I've called, "Sailor's Delight." The reference is two-fold: first the weather aphorism "Red sky at morning, sailor take warning. red sky at night, sailor's delight," second, the row of light dots in the lower right resemble harbor lights. I sometimes struggle with titles for abstract paintings. There are always the risks of being too literal, or too esoteric, or too... cute. I usually wind up making some reference that I feel gives people a starting point to engage the painting. I'm not really so concerned where they end up though. If someone finds their imagination and emotions activated by the piece, that alone is a good thing. Especially if they are unaccustomed to looking at the world this way. My goals are to challenge and reward viewers in a ways that are both intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying. No, it's not cutting edge, but I'm still finding lot's of room to explore here. Hopefully others will too.

This is a small piece, only 9" x 10." The medium is acrylic and Tyvek on a wood panel.

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Abstraction

All art is abstract. The most photo-realistic painting of Uncle George is not Uncle George. It is a two dimensional summary of the artist's observations. As is a photograph. The level of detail required for a satisfactory representation depends largely on culture and personal experience, ranging from petroglyphs to holograms. Both of which rock BTW [groan]. What takes an image or object beyond familiarity and gives it value as art are it's abstract elements: composition, color, materials, imagination, insight, attitude, skill, etc. One of the great gifts of abstract art is to simply recognize and publicly acknowledge this fact. From this acknowledgment follows the insight that any of these elements can be appreciated on their own.

I love abstraction and have been known to get misty in front of a late period Diebenkorn, but recently I've felt the urge to get my figurative drawing skills back in shape. Along with that, a few trips to the library reminded me of my deep appreciation for John Singer Sargent. Combining these conditions I produced a ballpoint pen sketch from a Sargent painting. To deepen the double looking-glass effect, the subject of Sargent's painting is another artist looking at photographs from which to paint a landscape. Does this represent some kind of conceptual hologram? Or is that too abstract?


TOP - painting: "Green Filter"
BOTTOM - sketch after Sargent

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