I have several works in an upcoming group show in Brooklyn. The exhibition has a theme: Horses. Theme shows are sometimes iffy, but I have confidence this will be very good. These two mixed media monotype/paintings in progress are part of several final pieces I’m working on for this show. The first one is in a very unresolved stage.
Everyone needs a little rest now and then, and the schedule of work, travel, and blogging got to be a bit much so I decided to hibernate for winter but now winter is OVER and it’s time for new projects.
A friend of mine has 2 Colombian red skin boas that throw off their skins regularly and it got me wondering about the leftovers as a usable material. They are pliable but tough, kind of cellulosy, and depending on what side you leave exposed they are either mildly iridescent or a white fishnet pattern that can be dyed. With this piece I wanted to use colors that were analogous to the natural snake color, which i backed with a slate blue to bring it’s own pattern forward. From there it was just the usual draw, cut, glue process as usual. After being backed with paper the skin cuts beautifully, supporting the finest cuts without tearing.
This is a painting that has gone through a few variations over the past 8 months. I posted the first stage of it here : http://darteboard.com/2012/05/10/bskip-big-sketch-in-progress/ last May. I had a conversation with our own Toni Tiller about it and she exhibited once again her insight with a suggestion concerning the editing of an unresolved area of this abstracted design. The painting successfully translated form, color, value through rhythm and movement but became confused and clunky in the ‘head’ area. I repainted that territory and pulled it into a more tangible architecture. Its done, finally.
Pheromone 2013, 2013, oil on canvas, 38 x 62″
I’m working on a painting now that isn’t at all there yet. Hence, I’m posting detail shots of the surface. Wetting the appetite?
oil on canvas
Tom Bennett
This is arriving late today, and I am not sure what the next few weeks will bring as far as posts are concerned, but I thought it might be fun to show you everyone what I do to make these.
First I take paper, in this case a map, and I scribble on the back of it.
Next I spend a whole bunch of time cutting around all those lines with a scalpel and when I flip it over there is this.
Repeat as necessary. That was thrilling wasn’t it? Next week we might cover gluing, please try to be patient, this information can only be parsed out in digestible bits.
My friend and fellow artist Matthew Best found this cool program in Connecticut that offered 3 free isolation float tank sessions in exchange for a piece of art that will later be sold and the proceeds donated to charity. It sounded weird and fun, always one of my favorite combinations, and off we went. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, though I am also hard pressed to describe it, just like I was hard pressed to understand what I was supposed to be getting out of it creatively. Was I supposed to have visions while in the tank? Get my next big idea?
No, it turned out to be more subtle than that. Firstly, three sessions wasn’t enough for me, I have gone back for 3 more because they were generally relaxing and restorative. Those are two things in short supply and the effects started to demonstrate themselves unexpectedly. When the program started it was in the middle of trying to get ready for this show and my focus was fairly limited, I had my materials, I knew what I was doing and just had to do it, but that is over now and for the first time in awhile those things can shift into something else.
My mind was quiet and I remembered there might be some red flocked paper shoved in the back of the closet 10 years ago, so off I went climbing over a mountain of crap and tumbling into the back recesses where not only was the red paper found but also 2 rolls of gold. SCORE. The atlases JD’s mom sent me ages ago started talking to me too, and from there it all started to come together. The materials dictated themselves, gold as the base because it isn’t good paper for cutting, maps in the middle because it is, and flocked paper on top because of the texture. Easy. Next was the design, the experience and the materials called out for a radiating pattern, and thoughts of meditation, focus, and flow were in the back of my mind. Nothing literal, no anxiety over ideas or results, and even when the paper tore here and there (something that usually sends me into swearing fits) I was unruffled.
This is what happened.
I like it, and will probably make a bunch more, but that shiny paper is a total pain in the ass to photograph.
Here is another one of the collaboration pieces we have been working on. I am all into these over lapping and expanding circles right now, so get used to them because I might be working them for a while. Right now I am just happy that most of the work is done and I have enough to dole out slowly for the next few weeks.
This piece also has a sewn black border that didn’t make it int the scanner bed, so just imagine that right on there ok?
and I am not sure how many more to go, but I am just going to lock myself in my studio this weekend and try to get them all done.
Yeah right.
I’ve discovered this week that my camera has a very unsophisticated view of the color blue in all its varying hues. I was aware of the Canon’s unconcerned attitude about transparent vs opaque, but I was unprepared for this “one blue fits all” motto. According to my Canon (on any setting in any light) there is basically one blue with minor variance of any sort at all. Ultramarine is indistinguishable from Manganese or Phthalocyanine. Cobalt? Prussian? Bah! What’s the difference? In fact, in certain instances, isn’t turquoise pretty much the same thing as lavender? No. Do not file this under hyperbole. Anyway, after shooting and reshooting and cursing and hair-pulling, I resorted to some heavy photoshopping to get these photos which are still not an accurate account of what you’d see if you came over for a studio visit to take a look at my new painting/sculpture thing. Ah well. Here it is.
Yeah, it’s kind of a lumpy puddle, isn’t it? It measures about 18 x 16 x 4 inches, and we’ll designate it “mixed media” because who really cares what it’s made of? Well, if you care to know, you can always ask.
Have a happy weekend!
-Steph
Some small painted monotypes for an upcoming show in Massachussets and a naked monotype which came out looking like Gloria Swanson with big boobs.
Tom Bennett
Beauty 2, monotype with oil overpainting, image 8″ x 6″
Beauty, monotype with oil overpainting, image 8′ x 6″
Sunset Boulevard, monotype on Rives BFK, 12″ x 9″
Mixed Media
Dimensions Variable
Here’s the new piece I mentioned last weekend. I managed to set it up and snap some photos. The green wall… uh, don’t mind the green wall. Actually, I’ve grown used to the green wall so I don’t mind it as a background here nearly as much as I did initially.
So this is how I have it set up for the time being. I plan on trying a few different arrangements. I want to see how it looks with the stick forms hung closer together. I also want to try flipping the bottom part (which, by the way, is a two inch deep two foot square panel that just leans against the wall) 180 degrees. I suppose I need to get a shot from the side that includes the panel in order to give a better idea of the whole.
Speaking of the panel, I’m going to include a shot of it on its own as well as a handful of detail shots to give you a closer look at it. It’s basically a three dimensional painting–not exactly new for me. I incorporated acrylic, flocking fiber, dryer lint, silver leaf, glitter! and various other stuff. I will also include some closeups of the stick thingies. They are another mix of lots of stuff–most of the same stuff as the painting plus more.
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Over and out,
-Steph
The delightful new Javone helped me crank this one out in a little over an hour, which is great because I am hell bent on making them bigger. What would really be fun to do is take a pattern like this and do repeats, then stitch together the repeats. An idea completely stolen from JD, but still hope to bring some of my own style to with the less formal shapes and arrangement of the repeats.
This one also incorporates some contrasting thread choices, but kind of don’t feel like I went far enough in the color choices or tight enough in the stitches for them to really be seen well. Lesson learned.
Let’s see what I can blather on about in this post. Ahh, no, it’s too hot & I’m lazy.
Tom Bennett
oil , mixed media on cradled board. 20′ x 16″
This thing made me crazy, mostly because of mechanical failure, but now that problem is fixed, I have a bad ass sewing machine that doesn’t get all pissy every time I run something difficult through it. What a joy.
Again, JD chose these colors, and I had to figure out the pattern. I went with one of my spirals because I thought it would have enough body, and softness of line to distinguish itself from the grid background without getting eating up.
Now things can really start moving along.
So I will post two little mini’s to make up for it. Oh, and for those who have been following along, there is a new sewing machine in the house, expect something sewn next week.
Queen Makes With – 2.5 x 3.5 cut paper
Empty Portals – 2.5 x 3.5 cut paper
There is nothing quite as delightful as receiving and unexpected and thoughtful gift in the mail and I was lucky enough to have one arrive just before I had to travel west a few weeks ago. Mrs. Hastings, otherwise known as JD’s mom, was kind enough to remember that I was cutting up maps last fall and sent me these.
Atlases!
Look at those fat books filled with pretty maps waiting to be scanned, or if feeling daring, just cut up directly. Kind of been wondering lately if it is worth scanning things like this, and by that I mean paper of course, but paper that feels a little less disposable than magazine paper. The idea of being able to repeat images to create or expand pattern is intriguing, but of course they would have to be printed to do that so it adds another layer of complication. Worth considering though, no?
Anyway, I am in the middle of putting together a “Thank You” gift, and made one of my spring pieces, this one a bit larger than usual, to send along. Hope she likes it (I’m sending a bottle of wine too, just in case she doesn’t).
The great and legendary blue grass guitarist Doc Watson died this week at the age of 89. I saw him perform once about 10 years ago at the Village Vanguard in the west village and it was a truly memorable performance. This is a painting I did over an old monotype of a dog, which I suppose is apropos, considering his blindness and the hang dog blues he sometimes played on his Gibson. It’s a distorted image and not a great likeness, but here’s to Doc.
Doc Watson, oil over monotype on paper, 10″ x 18″
After getting all jazzed up last week about the new materials and all that color and pattern oh how exciting because boy don’t I love new challenges, went upstairs, spread everything out, and picked…
that.
It’s so boring. And if you add a swipe of teal in there it becomes the exact same color scheme as the Ramada Inn circa 1984. I think I must have been terrified when I was looking down at everything, all those pieces, 87 total, and just selected the colors that were safest to me. On the other had there were some successful elements, it was another clarification of how the white thread changes and pulls together the designs, and the actual sewing of the shapes came much ore easily. Not sure if it is worth finishing though.
Agora Gallery - the proud sponsor of the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition, which offers contemporary artists the opportunity to show their original art at one the most acclaimed juried art shows in Chelsea, New York’s art galleries district.
Tom Bennett
darteboard
galinatodorova
Jason Gray
jdhastings
laelia e. mitchell
probrucer
ssstephg
Toni Tiller
