everything in tact/everything in ruins
oil and ink on canvas. 5x5'
This is the painting i just finished. The next in the "color by numbers" series i have been working with. First parts are here and here.
Some of what i was starting to think about can be read here too. The color by numbers part of the painting i took from the New York Times front page of Bush giving the first issues of the "Medal of Freedom" to George Tenet (the head of the CIA who helped forge the intelligence to go to war with Iraq), General Tommy Franks (who engineered the invasion and take over of Iraq) and Paul Bremer (CEO of the occupation of Iraq). So basically we have... the king, the liar, the pirate and the thief.
What I am seeing now is that, while it is important to have works that have so much going on, there is also room to have short stories to go with the novels. I tend to make each painting the painting that says it all... the big one. Whereas in this painting i can see now that i could just work with phrases rather than complete paragraphs. As seen in the detail photos below, each one of these could be its own painting, perhaps less verbose and more poetic in the end. (I have been thinking about this for awhile now, but it is so funny how the mind works. My initial thoughts were to just make the paintings smaller, but then i try to fill the small ones too!)
I would much rather leave room for the viewer/participant to enter and find a relationship to the work. Having space to breathe and be. This has been particularly tricky with the color by numbers because there is already so much line involved. This is why I am thinking about taking just fragments of the cbn image to start with. I knew this one would lean more toward the chaotic and obstructive, but felt that might work more to the concept, giving more of a sense of awkwardness and unsteadiness as well.
I wanted to include some detail images here too, as the small version of this painting really doesn't do it justice at all. These portions are giving me my new ideas on future possibilities.
9.26.2006
in tact in ruins
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2 comments:
It is great to see a painting post. They seem to be in short supply on my links list lately. This image deserves more processing on my part, which is good, isn't it? At first glance, I am running thoughts on "contours" through my mental mill. Lines defining spaces of color. Grids trying to hold pools of stains. Space described in order to control it. I also found myself thinking about the visual layers acting like a reflection in a window. It is almost impossible to see both planes at once. What we see is through the plane or the reflection of something outside the plane. I like how my eyes have to adjust in order to take in the image. There is no face value here.
I haven't even begun to think about the king, the liar, the pirate and the thief. I don't really want to. I get hives.
I went to the Cannon Gallery on the 14th and saw this painting. It was one of the most complex things I've ever seen. I was so impressed, I sat and looked at it for three hours. No kidding. I looked at everything else in the gallery too, but I kept coming back to yours. Finally I just gave up trying to look at the other paintings. Thanks for sharing your art.
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