Sorta Old, Sorta New, Three Encaustics All In Blue
Marriage never agreed with me, but corny rhymes? Well, that’s a different story. Yeah anyway…
4 x 4″
encaustic on 3/4″ panels
not sure if it’s obvious or not, but the yellow areas are actually a metallic gold.
click and it gets bigger
I seem to make a good amount of fairly inconsequential art, inconsequential in that it doesn’t quite fit in the context of my main body of work. Instead of being a manifestation of any seriously focused ideas or themes, this work tends to be more a record of my scattered ideas and experiments. In this regard, I think of works like these as sketches, and as they accrue in inconvenient spaces, my studio is transformed into a kind of unkempt old sketchbook. Periodically, I go through the mess, filter out the excess and reorganize everything into a more workable space. That hasn’t happened for too long which is probably why I’ve been posting stuff like this lately. I can feel another purge brewing. Maybe I’ll list some of this stuff on etsy.
2 more works after the jump. all the same size and medium. all clickable for enlargeable pics.
Have a good one.. whatever it is you’re having today.
-Steph
July 5, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I’m just watching. Start to think of things that artists throughout time have discarded, which other people – posthumously – have elevated. Had a laugh at this with some TV show called “Futurama”. History is funny that way.
I do re-imagine a larger scale upon your small things because they touch upon a kind of gloriousness of color field. I mean, the point could be made that many would not keep the same whimsicallity when the investment is made upon a series of 6′ x 6′ canvases. So, what would be the trick to that? Wearing a special kind of glasses upon entry to the studio each time?
It vexes me that nearing the end of my “experiment” with college one of the more notable professors said – upon my submission for the student show – “Keep going with that. I think you’re onto something.” He didn’t say what. He just wished I’d executed it a little better. And it felt weird that he was encouraging at all. He stopped me and made a point with this aside, when he wasn’t like that at all. That rejection from the show only haunted me, and my best friend (whom made it into the show) cheered me up because he thought the judges were being more superficial and practical…teaching kids what is professional more than artistic. (what can I say except that he double-majored
with a Philosophy degree.)
Love the work, inconsequetial or not.
July 5, 2009 at 4:55 pm
This is truly luminescent, due to, I think, the matte finish of that cerulean against the slightly glossier warmth. The atmosphere is palpable, in particular, the first and third. I understand your slight dismissal of things you don’t feel are somehow congruous to whatever main body of work you see as the focus. But these fit very much into the context of your other work as far as I see. Making large versions certainly would be fun to see, but I love what i see here, for all its pure ethereal beauty.
July 7, 2009 at 8:12 am
thanks to both of you for your comments.
Andrew, Futurama is a great show!
i think it’s always good to carry a large supply of salt in your pocket to be taken with any feedback you get on anything you do. i figure out what to keep and what to drop as i sift through things over time. sometimes it take a while, even years, but the stuff worth remembering tends to stick.
Tom, thanks for making me think. if i had more time or really just stricter working habits, i think the gaps i see between work like this and the work i feel more solidly about might fill in and i’d become a better artist for it. maybe i’ll hire someone to stand over me with a whip…