New mixed media diptychs

You are as I imagined you would be, 2008, mixed media on paper, 8″ x 4″

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All that was left unsaid, 2008, mixed media on paper, 8″ x 4″

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Their Children’s Mothers, 2008, mixed media and collage on paper, 8″ x 4″

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Quotes

“I paint self portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”

~ Frida Kahlo

The Forgotten Painting

The Deluxe, 2006, oil on canvas, 36″ x 36″

This painting, The Deluxe, lives in my bedroom. For some reason, I forgot to ever photograph it and post it here on my blog.

The irony is that The Deluxe was a pivotal painting for me and bridged the work I was doing for many years after college and the body of work I completed this year.

For a long while, my paintings included built up layers of oil paint. At times, I used thin glazey layers. Other times, I spackled paint on like icing. Often I sanded the layers down and revealed layers below and then painted figures or objects on top of the layered paint.

The Deluxe started in the same manner. The first layer was the dark brown you see at the bottom of the canvas. I painted the brown to look like wood grain. Next, I applied a very thin glaze of the palest shade of pink to all but the very bottom of the canvas. This created a surreal landscape effect and it sat in my studio, untouched, for weeks.

One evening, I realized what the composition needed. I knew it needed a rectangular scene painted in the top half of the composition. I imagined it as a projection, as if from a slide projector, onto the pink layer. I also felt intuitively that the final rectangle needed to be painted alla prima, or all-at-once.

As soon as the rectangle was finished, I knew the painting was complete. I also realized how much I enjoyed painting quickly, wet paint on wet paint, and I began to experiment with this way of working more and more.

I’ve never tired of this painting. Usually I can’t live with my own paintings in my living space for very long because they remind me of what I would do differently. This painting, however, reminds me of a shift in my work and in my way of thinking about painting so I suppose I am somewhat sentimental about it.

Gallery Outing

This afternoon, I braved the holiday crowds downtown and ventured over to Nob Hill to check out Sherrie Wolf’s paintings at Laura Russo Gallery.

I’ve long admired Wolf’s work in reproduction, but this was the first time I viewed the paintings in person. These are some incredible paintings from a very prolific and technically accomplished painter.

The work in the show includes all recent paintings, mostly from the past year. Wolf layers intricate still life imagery over equally intricate reproductions of old master paintings. The still life imagery is painted in bold and striking colors, while the background reproductions are more subdued and neutral.

Her juxtaposition of space is striking. The still life objects (flowers, fruit, and animal figurines) are placed on tabletops in all the compositions. By placing the still life on a surface, Wolf clarifies that these objects reside in front of the background. Still, we are left to imagine what worlds both the objects and the backgrounds might inhabit. Are we looking at a carefully arranged tableau in someone’s home, resting on a side table in front of ornate wallpaper? Are we seeing an interior room in front of a window?

In many of the paintings, the landscape of the background imagery recedes into the deep distance while the still life is very near us, in our immediate space. In Parrot Tulips with Rooster, the glass vase reflects the world behind the painter. This places us, the viewer, in the very middle of vast space–between the far horizon of the landscape and the world behind us in the glass reflection.

I especially enjoyed the series of smaller paintings featuring animal figurines placed in front of landscapes that feature live versions of the toy animal. For example, in Sheep in Landscape, a small ceramic lamb faces away from us toward a reproduction of a Durand landscape. The landscape includes a shepherd watching a flock of sheep in a field. In Dogs with Game, an adorable puppy figurine is turned towards a Chardin painting of a hunting dog.

What I enjoy most about Wolf’s work are the juxtapositions of space, of time, and of intimate and vast distances. This particular body of work is playful with a real sense of humor. At the same time, the compositions are perfectly balanced and complex. The paintings are not necessarily easy for a viewer, but they are certainly fun.

You can check out many images of Sherrie Wolf’s paintings on the gallery website.

Quotes

detail of Vintage, 2008, oil on canvas

“A picture has a logic that can’t be verbalized until afterwards; it can’t be designed. We talk about thinking a thing over, meaning over again, afterwards. I am more and more aware of the importance of the unconscious process that has to take place while one is painting–as if something were working away in secret. You can almost stand by and wait until something comes. It was been called ‘inspiration’ or ‘an idea from heaven’ but it’s far more down-to-earth and far more complicated than that.”

~ Gerhard Richter

Hibernation

hi·ber·nate  (hbr-nt)
intr.v. hi·ber·nat·ed, hi·ber·nat·ing, hi·ber·nates
1. To pass the winter in a dormant or torpid state.
2. To be in an inactive or dormant state or period.

(The American Heritage Dictionary)

My painting brain has been in hibernation.

This state is different than when I’m working away and experiencing painter’s block and just not coming up with anything. Hibernation is a full-on, somewhat intentional break from the studio. I say somewhat intentional because what I really mean is that life is just getting in the way of painting right now. But not in a bad way. I’m really enjoying the holidays and socializing and staying busy at work.

When my painting brain wakes up again in January, I hope to go through the productive phase that usually follows these times of rest. In the mean time, I hope to step up the writing a bit.