November 4, 2011: The Wall & Other Paintings

Portrait of Jean-Paul Sartre
12 x 12
Mixed media on panel

I'm excited to be participating in my first solo show at Launchpad Gallery, a gallery dedicated to emerging artists.  I've been working non-stop for about two months on the show and have completed nearly twenty works for the show!  I think I've got at least three left in me.

The shows title, "The Wall & Other Paintings", is a riff on a book of collected short stories by Jean-Paul Sartre.  I chose the title mostly for the protagonists dialog during the course of the story The Wall, whose focus is their untimely execution the following morning and the ramifications of facing certain death.  Other elements pertinent to the story are littered throughout the show, wartime imagery, communication, alienation..

The opening reception is November 4th, 2011 from 6 PM - 12 AM.  Jedadiah Bernards will be also be playing for a portion of the evening!

I hope to see you local folks there!

P.S. There's beer on tap for you Portlanders.

Biting Cold

Narcissus Mutilated

Mirror Pond

2' x 3'

Acrylic and charcoal on panel

This is another series I'm exploring, central themes being groups of men and water.  The series started out as swimmers floating in space, evolving into a means of exploring group psychology, and is now evolving further, I guess into nebulous realms, at least I hope so.

I don't know what the paint means anymore, it use to be a tool to achieve photo-realism but I find that less and less (and less) appealing as times goes on.  Now it seems like a tool for experimentation and I am concerned about the variability of paint, thick/thin, washes and gobs of paint, brush strokes..

Bombs (away)

Bomber
4' x 4'
Acrylic and charcoal on panel

Part of an ongoing exploration of airplane bombers.  They are ominous, powerful bits of metal and screws  flying through the sky heralding widespread destruction with the click of a button.  Sometimes I think about things while painting:  with this painting the airplane became a symbol of technological advancement as means of destruction of those less technologically advanced.  If I didn't have such a penchant for history I'd probably be painting robotic weapons.

Excerpts from a sketchbook, Cont'd.

Some excerpts from a sketchbook on a recent "Urban Hike" with some friends to the Shakespeare Garden in Washington Park.  The first sketch is some blind contour drawings of people who came to the park to view the gardens, it was amazing how many people occupied the space in the 15 - 20 minutes that spanned the drawing (temporality).  The second is some Jewish women sad over the deaths of loved ones, with Elmo running around in the background?  I guess I haven't tired of gluing trash into my sketchbooks.  Oh, trash..

Vague and indecipherable. Mystery.

Untitled

24 x 24

Acrylic and charcoal on panel

I don't know what to title my paintings anymore, maybe I just don't think it's important.  I kind of like it vague and indecipherable these days. "Mystery".

Charlie's Girls

Excerpt of a drawing titled Charlie's Girls
12x12
Mixed media on paper

Emotional States

New small works listed for sale over at House of Travis.

Janet Julian at the Bathtub Art Museum

You know you're in Portland when you go to a friends art show and it's at a, uh, museum in a bathtub.

Fun and funky and Janet Julian for sure.  You crawl into the bathtub, in the middle of which you stand up in to have half of your upper body in a treehouse-like building where you find the art!

 

Janet's work is great, it's got a sense of whimsy, maybe absurdity, and it's always a little crazy (in the good way).  I imagine Janet in her workspace staring at something wondering how it will be completed and then a light turns on and she runs around looking for something and glues it in place!

Janet's one of my favorites.

Sleeping 7
4 x 4

Acrylic and charcoal on canvas

The one's available over at House of Travis!