Piety and Desire...continued

Preliminary sketches

Lately, I've been working on large scale paintings on paper. (The two images shown here are small scale studies for the larger paintings) I found some paper that comes in 60yd rolls. It's a synthetic watercolor paper made by Yupo. Last night I finished the roll and need to order a new one. I managed to get 3 paintings out of the roll. Each painting is 5ft x 9ft. I lOVE working this large and I want to take advantage of the space my studio offers to work this way.

What first started as a plan to work with landscape in new media, turned into a formal study in painting. What I realized, after all this time, is the elements of the landscape and form that I photographed and superimposed with my organic, fluid paintings are actual formal studies of line, form and color. The imagery I used was secondary to these elements.

Being in grad school, I sometimes feel like I repeat myself, my ideas and the things that interest me. The two things that kept repeating in my dialogues were the fluidity of paint and the sharp angles of architecture. These two elements have always interested me in the work I produce. It's when those two elements combine that I get the most excited. Somehow those distinct forms create a dissonance and harmony that, for me, have become metaphors for many ideas: piety/desire, male/female, organic/manmade.

When I finally reduced those elements to basic form and shape I came up with the square, gestural marks and color. I don't feel that I will tire of exploring these elements for awhile and I plan on continuing to focus on this series for the remainder of my time in school.

I've been working on paintings for a show in September at Cactus Bra where I'll be exhibiting these new large scale paintings on paper.

Sketching

I've started working on paper again. It's a synthetic paper that looks and feels like mylar, but it isn't. I found a roll of it (5ftx60yds) online and I bought it. It feels a bit strange working in a larger format, especially in water media. I'm working on a few sketches and smaller paintings to play with composition and form. The first large painting was new and now that I have a better idea of how the paper works with my puddles of paint I can move forward and plan out my compositions. Although, I kinda enjoyed just going at the paper and just responding to my previous brushstroke. Photos coming soon...

Going Green

So I've been having this hankerin' to work with seeds and plants. I haven't put my hands in the dirt for a long time now and I miss it. It's a love/hate relationship i have with gardening. I love to buy plants, watch them grow and sometimes reap the benefits of their fruit or flowers. I hate to take care of plants - like watering. It's simple and yet I can't find the motivation to do it. So I had to come up with a system of gardening that I call Lazy Gardening. If it needs massive amounts of water...it ain't gonna happen. If it's delicate and needs special soil that isn't already there...it ain't gonna happen. I want to plant it and let it fend for itself. That's my style. If it survives the heat and drought of South Texas, then we have a winner. Survival of the fittest. Soooo, the cactus is my friend and tomatoes are too.

This desire to plant has taken me on an internet research frenzy for artists working with plants or in the urban landscape. And this is what I've found so far...
MOSS GRAFFITI - which i am super excited to try if only i can find that missing piece from my blender...
VERTICAL GARDENS - if only i knew a botanist to collaborate with...

I found another artist who creates these miniature landscapes in public spaces. They are so tiny, only if you were really paying attention to your surroundings would you see them. Link to her website coming soon...

So we'll see what kind of green art i can come up this summer. I'm thinking a Virgin Mary portrait made of grass on some public space would go over well...

Ah, Mes Amis

I just love it when people are brilliant. Tenor Juan Diego Florez performed "La Fille du Regiment" at the Metropolitan Opera. He hit 9 C's and gave a solo encore. Solo encores were banned for the most part during the 20th Century. The last solo encore performed at the Met was Luciano Pavorati in 1994. Just listening to the recording gave me goosebumps. I wish I was there to see and hear it in person. According to the NY Times..." It was one of those thrilling moments that opera impresarios live for." Brilliant. Click on the title to hear...

Pippa Bacca

I read about Pippa Bacca this weekend in the NYTimes. She was an Italian performance artist. I was saddened to read that during her "trip for peace" performance she was raped and murdered. It's taken me a few days to wrap my head around this incident and I still don't have words to describe how it makes me feel.

Sometimes, I think that I wear rose colored glasses - wishing that the world I lived in was better, greener, happier, safer - and trying to find the poetic in everything, even the mundane. Sometimes I think that my work can make a difference, at least in one person. How did Pippa Bacca's life change the world? Did it bring the global harmony she was seeking? Did it bring out the best in people?

-Altruism-coined by Auguste Comte, the French founder of positivism, in order to describe the ethical doctrine he supported. He believed that individuals had a moral obligation to serve the interest of others or the "greater good" of humanity. Comte says, in his Catechisme Positiviste, that "[the] social point of view cannot tolerate the notion of rights, for such notion rests on individualism. We are born under a load of obligations of every kind, to our predecessors, to our successors, to our contemporaries. After our birth these obligations increase or accumulate, for it is some time before we can return any service.... This ["to live for others"], the definitive formula of human morality, gives a direct sanction exclusively to our instincts of benevolence, the common source of happiness and duty. [Man must serve] Humanity, who we are entirely."

This Guy Rocks...

Olafur Eliasson

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/17/arts/2008418elia2_index.html#

My Advancement

During the course of my graduate studies at UTSA I will have a total of 3 reviews with the faculty. The first one happened after the first semester with the whole faculty. The second review or 'advancement' happened on Monday with 3 of my professors plus one guest. What I like about these reviews is the opportunity to hear feedback and suggestions.
After each one, I've gained names of artists to research and a renewed enthusiasm moving foreward. I wanted to list a few of the artists that were suggested to me:
Anselm Kiefer
Ross Bleckner
Whitney Brothers
Norman Mclaren
Robert Breer

Wallace Stevens...
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Blackbirds...

I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.