What I've Been Working On

“The Sands”
10x11 ¾”
Collage on paper bag.

“Blood and Water” 2009
32x64”
Oil and chalk snap line on raw vinyl.

“facing a certain future” 2009
9x12”
Collage on Hallmark bag.

“In Exile” 2009
16x20
Collage on graph paper

“The Great Escape” 2009
18x22”
Collage on craft paper.

“I AM” (I) 2009
18x22”
Pen and graphite on paper

"Out of The Silent Planet" I
18x22"
graphite on craft paper

"Out of The Silent Planet" II
18x22"
graphite on craft paper

"Out of The Silent Planet" III
18x22"
graphite on craft paper

"Out of The Silent Planet" IV
18x22"
graphite on craft paper

"Out of The Silent Planet" V
18x22"
graphite on craft paper

It Is Near
18x22"
graphite and charcoal on craft paper

Amendment I (Or Science Must Not Touch Religion)
18x22
graphite and charcoal on craft paper

“Out Of The Water” 2009
72x72”
Oil on raw canvas

“Won’t be the same” 2009
11x11”
Collage on box lid.

Here are the images I said I would be putting up. This is the work accumulating in my studio; what I've been working at, and there is more to be added to this. However, It Is Near, and Amendment I, are from the last spring, and are not apart of this body of work--I just thought I would put them up because they are relevant.

Also, I have formulated another sort of artists statement about this body of work, and it gives a little insight into what I'm keeping in mind as I work:

My abstract work is very much about the formal as it is the spiritual and emotional. In my work, I deal with symbolism through the means of minimal abstraction as a way to represent larger concepts in a simple way. In some cases the pieces are more of an embodiment of a concept or ideal, and in other cases, they stand to represent something more narrative. I agree with Kandinsky, in the sense that I too feel that there is an initial, physical, and optical reaction to an image that takes place in the eye, but that it may also go further to touch on another level of a being: the emotional and spiritual level. I believe that the formal issues of art are perfect vehicles for the allegorical, and may further more even stand to supersede the work itself. I am in concordance with Barnett Newman, in the way in which he would want people to view and see his paintings: all at once and up close. In this mode of showing or viewing, one gets the picture more immediately, and the image is presented with a more straightforward depiction of a concept or idea. Though my work is somewhat “quick look”, I try to lend a meditative quality to the pieces, so to provoke a contemplation that would extend beyond the optical and formal reading alone.

Today, some friends/colleagues and I shot photos of some of our work, and for me, there were many things to shoot. I hope to get some of these images up within a day or so, and I will talk a little bit about them as well. We got some decent images, so I should have something worth showing.

Draft

Draft for an up coming painting.
(White pencil on graph paper)

So, here is a sketch for an up coming painting that I will most likely be starting within the next month. This is a painting that will be coexisting with two other paintings (one finished, that I mentioned in a previous entry , and another that will be in production after this one). Just to touch briefly on the concept behind this trio, I have been thinking about transition, as I have also mentioned, and baptism. In this case, I am more or less considering three things: an idea, and ideal, and the living truth of it all. This is still something I am trying to grapple with and refine, so I apologize for the vague and ambiguous explanation. None-the-less, I am moving forward with the project, and learning as I go along. With these, I am trying to reconfigure how I go about making, especially in terms of my painting. I still believe in having a plan, but I'm starting to take the approach of Barnett Newman, in that I would start a painting by simply painting. And whats more, is that in the process of affecting the canvas, in turn it would have an effect on me. Thank you Mr. Newman.

Not a moment to lose!

In the midst of all this talk of time, and it being my main subject as of late, something rather profound, yet ordinary had struck me. I had been thinking, as I was looking at some pictures of some people that I know, that are around my age, and thought: My God, one day I shall look back at times such as these when I am much older (if those days do come that is), and I shall say “look how young we all were then,” and how time had run such a game on us all. How we’d been tricked into thinking no time had past at all. That is, until we see the proof, and then we are taken through the loop, and we start to count the days, and even seconds perhaps, that we missed as it slipped out the back door, hardly letting a floorboard creek. And then we might even carry on to say how if it were only that way again, how much more we would have done and experienced, seized the moment, and made every second tamper and toil at that back door with the amount of locks and efforts put into containing them. And even still in this thought, I could almost awake as if from a dream, and take account of what took place in my mind and the actuality of my being: I am still young! To have thought of this made me think of what a gift it is to be at such a point in life. It helps one to think as to what they are doing about it as well, and to contemplate on the so very preciousness of each and every moment. There is not a moment to lose! Or perhaps it is quite the opposite, and that is what the saying suggests.

"I AM"
pen, graphite, water color, and gold acrylic on graph paper
7x7"

Joseph and Nicodemus
pen, graphite, stickers, and newspaper clipping on graph paper
7x7"

So these are the drawings I said I was going to post, and I hope to have more up soon to have proof of all this work I said I've been doing. Also, just as a note, there is some minor shmutz due to the surface of the scanner I used. I tried to remove as much as I could.

So, Tuesday, December the 1st, is the opening of a senior run show (that I was apart of) at UARTS, which I will also have one piece in. I hope to have some images up from the show before long, as well as the piece that I had in it. As well, I will be posting some smaller drawings that I have been working shortly, and hopefully more...

Here is the press release from the Facebook page so you can get the gist of the show:

The senior painting/drawing majors present Pair Off, an exhibition curated by the senior seminar class featuring works by seniors and juniors in the Fine Arts, Crafts and Photo departments.

This exhibition brings together pairs of artists whose works seem to create a relating or contrasting dialog. Each individual artist speaks uniquely through his or her medium, however no artist exists in a vacuum. This exhibition pairs the trends and interests of young artists within the University of the Arts community, and when presented together, they form the larger conversation that drives the exploration and expansion of the contemporary art world.

Pair Off is on display from December 1st – December 10th in Gallery 224 on the second floor of Anderson Hall, 333 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, December 1st 5 pm. until 7 pm. The exhibition is open to the public and refreshments will be served.

So work moves on, and still, it goes well. I have completed another piece (a painting), and it is helping me to segue into making larger works. As well, this newer piece is helping me to stand back and compare it to others, and how I might incorporate similar elements to them/tie up loose ends for some. During my making I am trying, as of late, to think more through the process then through sitting and thinking. As to say, I am learning about what I am doing, and thinking about the piece while I'm making it (through the materials).

As well, I had spent some good time in New York City the past two weekends, and saw a good deal of work (some good and some bad). The ones that I particularly enjoyed:

Anish Kapoor- http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view-now/anish-kapoor-memory

Dan Flavin- http://www.davidzwirner.com/

Wassily Kandinksy- http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view-now/kandinsky

Wayne Gonzales- http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/exhibitions/475

Dan Fischer- http://www.derekeller.com/exhibitions.html

Wolfgang Laib- http://www.skny.com/exhibitions/2009-10-29_wolfgang-laib/#

For the sake of posting

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

I just wanted to post this for the sake of posting.

Work is on the move, as it were, and the said painting is finished...for now. I still need to think more on this piece and whether or not I need to add another element or two. All together, I am pleased with the painting, and have been writing as much as I can about it. Still, further up and further in I go, exploring what possibilities present themselves to my mind's eye, and learning all I can. Through my working on this body of work, I discover more and more about who God is(as well as myself), just by finding my way through a drawing, or marking a canvas. More ideas are brewing for more works, and I am refining them in my mind to the best of my ability. Steady still, and productive, I believe things are coming along quite well.
Till next time---

I started a painting, however, production has been somewhat slow. I suppose my schedule has not been as doting, if you will, in terms of allowing time to come in and work. Not to mention that I have recently fallen ill. None-the-less, I believe it is still up to me to make the time to work (as to say, I shouldn't make excuses). Anyway, work goes on--reading--writing--and so on. Unfortunately, I have no images, as well, most of the images I have been posting were posted for the sake of posting. Verywell-- Adieu.

More work is still being made, and I have more ideas for more projects. As well, in some cases, I am working on more than one project at a time. Still, I have to think of tying everything together, though I much rather just make, get the work on the wall, and think broadly afterward. This is not to say that I am not thinking about what I am making and that it does not relate at all: it does relate in fact.

A current thought on my mind is transition. Of course, transition can be applied to many topics. Light to dark. Bright to dull. Bad to worse. It could even have a sort of transcending or ascending quality to it. It deals with separation as well as a gradation between two things that exist according to one another. Transition charts a distance between things as well: even time itself. This, I believe, is what makes it relevant. Transition in time. These are still just thoughts, and unrefined ones at that. However, though the thought it is still just a thought, a painting is underway.
C.S. Lewis, when writing about God and his being timeless wrote, that if a line on a page is the course of all time (past, present, and future) in which we are traveling, then God is the whole page that the line is drawn on. That is something to think about, as well I am.
More to come to be sure.

Older work I'm trying not to forget about.

(Something I'm working on.)

Work is coming along, though it is somewhat slow. I find I am writing and reading more than anything, but all are a means to an end. Ideas are flowing, and I am gradually chipping away at the production. I must say, that I am particularly satisfied with the way things are going, and judging on the responses I have been receiving, others are too. However, I am still in the process of trying to make sense of some things. All in good time, I believe, everything should fit into place. I hope to be able to have images up on this page soon if all goes well.
As well, here is a snippet of thought from a artist statement I wrote recently that pertains to my current work. As they are thoughts, and it is still early on, I dear say things are subject to change or to be built upon.

"Time is something we are all familiar with, moving through, and in one way or another, are dependent upon. It envelops all things as we know them, as well as things past and not yet present, and is in every way uncontrollable. In my working I have raised these questions to myself about these issues and what they mean to me: The idea of time being given as a means of something expendable, as well as the idea of time being taken/spent as apposed to it being used. Could time have a limit? If so, where is the line drawn and could we see it if we tried?"

Images: courtesy of Photo Booth.

Progress is being made, though I dare say it will be some what difficult to upload images at this point, being that my card-reader has melted. Tragic to be sure, yet none-the-less, it does not hinder my making. Work is much under way, and progressive at that. Working with collage elements and found ground has been proving to be an enriching experience. I have been working with old photos, and, as I said, found ground with collage elements to create somewhat of a nostalgic yet foretelling vision of humanity as we (knew/know) it: including hopes, as well as fears. The future, and more importantly, Eternity, has been on my mind greatly and undoubtedly charges my thought towards these works. Reading, writing, music, meditation, and thought have been widely embraced in my way of working (not that it's ever been so different), and I find it crucial to what I do. Not all has come together to make perfect sense to me yet, nor do I ultimately expect it to. I am a tool in the hand of a far greater craftsman.

The workers are few.

James Castle

Dan Flavin.

Two more people I'm thinking about.

New work in the works. Trying to make sense of some of my thoughts. This image is some what of a rough draft, if you will. We"ll see where this goes.

Tonight my Mom made some Akoshka soup (a cold Russian soup), passed down from my great grandmother from Ukraine, and flat bread pizzas. very good.

I got some great steals at the yard sale in my home town today. A radio from the 50's (A.M. only, $10), and an old Schwinn Racer ($15). Not too shabby.

The first book of a trilogy that I'm starting tomorrow. Don't judge me. C.S. Lewis is my favorite author/writer of all time.
To be continued...

I'm also finding myself moving too far from some of these older yet still recent paintings and drawings. I'm trying to find a median, or a way to bring them together.

Frank Stella

Agnes Martin

Peter Halley

Donald Judd

Caravaggio

These are some artist I'm currently thinking about in my work.

Ok. Some of my summer reading. Yes, all Max Lucado. I don't care if you think it's corny. They did me well and I highly recommend them.