Thick as a Sheet of Paper

 

Various materials acting differently, reflecting and absorbing light. Trying to stay on the painting side of things with a perceptual emphasis. Finding interesting color in the interactions of warms and cools using this limited palette.  

  Painting puzzle. Surfaces and shapes sensitive to light. Shadow and light relate.  Suggestion and memory. What type of interaction is possible? What experiences with art do I value? How can I bring my paintings into closer alignment with my own experience? I begin by taking the painting to an elemental level and consider each aspect. Color Surface Brushstroke Surface design or motif Scale And then most importantly the whole... That is the painting in its entirety. As seen from a distance and also up close. In other words something experienced as singular and the parts or details as neither greater or lesser.               Seeking a unity of idea, experience, image.

 OTTER, 19 x 23" paper size, 2020 More works lined up for viewing. Exploring the serial image. Slight variations in each version. Light on the different paper surfaces is interesting.

Embossings and prints made using various papers. All 2020.  Making the most of a certain medium is a way forward. What is unique to that medium? The idea of flatness in painting, specific to that medium is one area I have become interested in exploring. Another is an emphasis on the actual material of painting playing a larger role. In the past I used printmaking as a way of expanding my experience and understanding. In these recent pieces flatness which is the usual state of paper and then layering of different colored papers is occurring. The compositions and surface design are all working toward a frontal/flat reading. I am also interested in the actual pressure that is created when putting the assembled paper and plate through the etching press. Somehow that way of making the pieces on the press, unifying the separate elements into a whole, has helped cement certain ideas in my mind and given me some ways to move into other media like painting. Taking the brushstroke and even p...

  One of the goals for these paintings is to make something more fundamental and matter of fact which might then be more holistic while still allowing the incidental to come forth. My hope is that a more considered approach to making the paintings might lead to a slower and more empathic experience for others when encountering the work.   The painting as a presentation of painting.   Edges created by hand and tape, the way paint looks when brushed or rolled, thick and thin, the support ( canvas or wood), and even the wall, room and light etc. all become important. Positive/ negative is not a part of this way of experiencing. Even the spaces between the paintings become activated.    The literal, actual comes forth if I get out of my own way.   My involvement has changed in doing these. More looking. More clarity of purpose. A workmanlike approach is helpful. And even thinking of what others might experience. Seeking a more direct way of doing thin...

  Our central vision covers about three degrees of our visual field, this would be our usual focus when reading or looking at an object. Our peripheral or side vision covers the rest of our vision.  It is interesting to think about this when we move around in space and encounter different things and how our attention and focus changes.

Embossing with Japanese paper on Rives, 2020 Spray paint on cardboard,  wood, motion sensor light, siding     Josef Albers

 I originally made these as samples for different whites including Titanium, Zinc, Flake and also some pre mixed whites made by different paint manufacturers. The close values and warm and cool shifts were of interest to me because I was curious just how subtle I could go and still see a difference. Of course when I tried taking photos of these all was lost. In an age of images it is worth considering just what the human eye can actually see. Gesso and oil paint on canvas