Everything is Peachy in Babylon: Mix Tape
Here is a short mix of songs that have had an influence on my upcoming show in Barbados, “Everything is Peachy in Babylon”
Babylon System – Bob Marley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9RwgP26Ipo
Rastaman Chant – Bob Marley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxlzX52-Ajw
Black Bird – The Beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5CUHHGlQg0
People are Strange – The Doors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3CHi_9sxj0
The Seventh Seal – Groundation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2O7YpENesw
Soul Rebel – Bob Marley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC_WG4nqgFE
I will let you know if there are more!
Big update
It’s been a while since I posted last and I’ve been busy making new work. Here are several of my new pieces ready to go to Barbados in March!
Genuflection to Degas
This is the visual artists’ equivalent to practicing scales. When learning to play music, you first play other people’s music so that you can then have the repertoire to create your own. This is a stencil I made from one of Degas’ dancer paintings. By emulating Degas’ style and composition I am continuing to think through my own process.
This was done on batik paper. I think the image has a sort of Rothko effect in front of the pattern. Enjoy.
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| From Drop Box |
Musings on musing
It has been a while since I posted photos of new work. As of March, I had to pack up my studio on E Griffin St. It was a mutual decision between me and the artist I was renting from. I will be moving to a new space soon and will continue working. As for right now, my studio is packed up in a storage unit.
With this time of creative abstinence I’m spending time contemplating my content and expression.
I visited a Hung Liu exhibition that was in Dallas last week and was thoroughly inspired.
Someone recently made a comment to me that they thought that I am disconnected from my primary content of Afro-Caribbean images and motifs. This has been a lot to process. While I left Grenada 9 years ago now, my 17 years in the Caribbean still represent my fundamental cultural perspective. However well I may acclimatize or accommodate US culture, adaptation is not to be confused with ethno-cultural amnesia.
So what do I make? I am culturally and thematically heterogeneous in a field that prizes focus and singularity. I have painted themes of music, personalities, portraits, and figures. My philosophies and artistic direction change without warning. Currently I am straddling two styles. One, using oil paint and chemicals to create a transient effect of the human expression, and the other, a more street art style approach using adapted photos and creating stencils.
My multiplicity begs pause.
As I sit, absent of materials, I look for a muse and I am without.
I have a solo show slated in Barbados for March of 2012 and I have a lot of work to do. On top of that the questions of my content and even my market linger.
Newest Iteration
Here is the latest iteration of the stencil I made. I just put the black layer on today. All the layers are oil paint and put on by brush. There are 3 layers of stencil but 4 layers of color not including the background. The light blue/grey color showing through was the first attempt on the second layer before adding the plum color and some drips. Enjoy!
More Stencil on Paper
Here is another small iteration on paper. The pattern in the background is bronze rosettes.
New Work!
Thank you to all who have patiently been waiting for new work from me! I have been working on this 36″x48″ market scene for a few months and now I am finally done. All three layers, white, grey and black and can be seen in the photos below.
The concept behind this piece, besides exploring the medium of stenciling, is the underlying idea of fractals. A succinct explanation is that fractals are a metaphor for life. A persons’ daily pattern, or habits, or lifestyles repeat themselves on increasingly larger scales. A person’s day is a smaller iteration of their week, month and year. A fractal is a large pattern that is made up of infinitely smaller patterns that many times are mirror images of the larger pattern they make up.
I used a stenciling technique where I burned the shapes that make up the image out of a thick plastic. Many of the shapes when seen independently resemble coastlines and other fractals found in nature. Having spent months burning out the shapes I will now be able to repeat the application of the shapes in what I call iterations. Even the process of being able to produce more work based on my original efforts can be understood as a ‘fractal process’.
This particular market scene is a sort of fractal expression of food production. Not only is it a market scene as a whole where food is distributed but there is a a large pot in the center of the piece distributing food to a smaller amount of people and then finally there is the intimate image of a baby nursing. This intimate illustration of food production then emanates back out and portrays the marketplace as an intimate institution.
The smaller piece is done on paper that has a bronze leaf pattern in vertical columns, the larger piece is 30″x40″ and is done on canvas.
Update: Sound Project
I made a few changes and I think I should be done working on this one for now. Let me know what you think.
There is no movement without rhythm
Many of you who know me know that I am also a musician – steeped in the rhythmic culture of traditional dance in Grenada and then supplemented since then with other rhythmic languages. This video reminds me of my time in Ghana where I drummed with a master Dagbani drummer for almost 4 months. To him, drumming without communicating is making noise. Each cadence had a literal, oral transliteration (transrhythmation?).
Enjoy this video, it takes a little time to get through, but well worth it.
Hiatus
Since May I have not been able to spend a lot of intentional time in the studio. However, the Cedars Gallery Tour is coming up and I will be there!
Right now I am working on a large multi layer stencil while also doing some small figure studies and other stencil work.
I have been increasingly busy with school. I am finding that grad school plus a job means there isn’t a lot of time to do other things. I have managed to keep my plate full and recently I have been looking for things to cut out of the schedule.
The most recent cut is that I will no longer be providing canvas stretching services. As of November, I will be downsizing the studio and not taking any more canvas orders. I was glad to have provided the service over the past year (see www.stretchmycanvas.com). I am also glad to let that portion of my schedule go.
The point of freeing up my schedule some is so that I can spend more time in the studio painting so hopefully I will be able to put some new work up soon! Hopefully I haven’t lost too many of you due to my silence!
Lion in the Winter Quote
I don’t watch many old movies – but one of my housemates does. This is an enriching quote from Lion in the Winter (1968). Eleanor is played by Katharine Hepburn.
Prince John: A knife! He’s got a knife!
Eleanor: Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It’s 1183 and we’re barbarians! How clear we make it. Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war: not history’s forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor any other thing. We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten. For the love of God, can’t we love one another just a little – that’s how peace begins. We have so much to love each other for. We have such possibilities, my children. We could change the world.
Different Trajectories in Art History
I really enjoy the reality that the History of art is not monopolized by the history of western art. Part of the problem of the institutionalization of art education is the necessary linear focus of art history. I just finished a paper for an art history class that traced Hung Liu’s influences through Chinese Socialist Realist and Soviet Socialist Realists. These are not typical movements covered in an art history class and I enjoy the fact that there are many trajectories in art history and the History of art is not linear. Would love to engage with you on this!
Ben Howe Stencil
Ben Howe did this centipede piece as part of the Melbourne Stencil Festival in 2009. He was highly comended as an emerging artist. Amazing work! Enjoy.
Schedule for the next few days
This is as much for me and managing my time as for sharing a little of my life with you all.
Tonight – Going to see Michael Okeefe’s show at Valley House Art Gallery
Saturday Morning/Afternoon – I will be bartending at Yucatan Taco Stand in Frisco
Saturday Night – I will be doing an event as Liquid Artisan Bartending Specialists.
Sunday Morning – I’ll be at Watermark
Sunday Afternoon – Will be spending some time with some friends
Sunday Night – I’ll be back at work at Yucatan Taco Stand.
Monday morning – I’ll be at the studio finishing up some orders.
Later Monday morning – I will be at my Math class
Monday evening – I will working my first shift at the Sheraton in downtown Dallas.
Tuesday is to be determined but I think I’ll be able to spend some time down at the studio, doing orders and maybe even paint! In all, I counted about 5 jobs that I work in one capacity or another (not including my new job at the Sheraton). It’s helpful to type things out like this so I don’t go crazy 
Very cool stencil art
I saw this image online and I believe it’s one of Banksy’s from the 2008 Cans Festival. The technique is very cool and I can easily see myself experimenting with this. I have different subject matter in mind but I love the juxtaposition of the stencil along with the colors and form of the drips!
Update
The weather has been improving and it has been nice spending time at the studio without having to see my breath. I am currently working on some pieces to potentially show at the Shanghai Expo 2010 as a representative from Grenada. You can see more about the expo here: http://en.expo2010.cn/
I heard back from SMU that they prefer I not pursue my MFA degree with them. While disappointing I am not devastated. Here are a few reasons why:
1. The application process for art is subjective depending on the preferences of the reviewers. Not only is painting the most popular program but I work mainly with the figure which is a bit of an “F” word in the art world. People either love it or hate it. It’s either a refreshing reprisal of a classical subject which is timeless and relevant or it is seen as a passe expression and the automaton subject of art schools.
2. I have a certain perspective on art that is born from my experience as an entrepreneur, my upbringing in the Caribbean, my interaction with art and artists of the Caribbean, and my liberal arts education. This perspective is difficult to conform into the American art school conversation. For the most part I am much more interested in the communicative aspect of art as opposed to the long running inside conversation of art talking about art. (Let me know if you would like to hear more about this, this point is beyond the scope of this blog). I have felt the pressure from some of the classes I’ve taken to work harder on being “painterly” and asking questions about line, form, composition and color in a way that hasn’t been done before. Fair enough – but to me if you are not using these elements to communicate a message outside of itself, then you are engaging in artistic self stimulation.
3. I have been enjoying improving my technique (so as to better communicate my message), and I have been gaining momentum over the past few years in my art career. The main reason for an MFA is to teach, which I would like to do. I would especially like to teach art in Grenada from a West Indian artistic perspective. I do not need an MFA, however, to become a better artist. I can network with more mature artists and I can view and read about art in order to better myself. I can continue exhibiting my work and look for new arenas for my art.
4. With my liberal arts education, I can easily go from one field to the other. My plan B is to embrace my entrepreneurial leanings and pursue an M.S. degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Texas at Dallas. Not only would this degree enable me to run my current businesses better but that I could help others start and run their own businesses. I could also have the option to teach. Perhaps one of the projects in the future would be to start an art school in Grenada
5. I really enjoy working on my own in my own studio. I enjoy the opportunity to explore and experiment on my own time. It can be very wearying to be critiqued at every turn or to adjust your style to placate an instructor.
So that’s where I’m at for right now! If you would like to come visit me at the studio let me know!
New Painting
I’ve been back in the studio and this is the latest fruit of my labor. It is 48″x48″ and I wanted to see what effect my technique has with larger subjects. I did a few things differently, including attempting a ‘dripping grisaille’ before adding layers of color. I think I have to let it sink in a little before deciding whether I will make it a mainstay of my process. I love the light in this piece and the emotion.
I think I am having to come to grips with the fact that I may be a colorist. This may be a result of my childhood in Grenada. My eyes are not satisfied with dull and flat colors. I initially did this piece in flesh tones and was unsatisfied with it until I added in some reds, oranges and blues.
Here is a link to some well-known colorists or fauvists: Wiki Fauves
Enjoy!
Fractals
I just wanted to put a quick post on my thoughts on fractals! For those not in the know, fractals are basically a visual representation of a mathematical expression that results in a pattern of infinite detail. Not only do we see fractal patterns all the time, like in nature (tree branches are an organic fractal) but we think and even live in forms of fractals.
I realized that there were some fractal-like patterns emerging from my paintings. See the pic below:
Expanding on the idea of “what exactly is it to paint people” is the idea that people are fractal expressions. Not only do we have biological expressions such as our nervous and cardiovascular systems but also in the way our brain processes and transmits information. Developing that idea – we live out patterns. Any one day in your life should be an approximate snapshot of a year of your life. Granted your life will increase in complexity from childhood to adulthood, similarly so do fractal patterns. It gives me a sense of purpose to consider that my daily activities represent my annual priorities which will ultimately determine my life pattern.
On that note – I think fractals are beautiful – in fact, most people do. Because of the way the brain processes patterns and aesthetics, fractals are biologically visually appealing. One of the factors that made Jackson Pollock’s work so compelling was that it was fractal in nature. This component of his work differentiates himself from many abstract expressionist imitators. Pollock’s work was enjoy long before fractals were “discovered” in about 1978.
I am going to be looking for ways to use fractals in my paintings more intentionally as another layer of meaning. To help conceptualize fractals I started using a program called fractal domains. Here is an image I created using this program:
What’s going on at the studio?
Since coming back from the Barbados show I have had some time to get back to the studio. The walls are more bare because a lot of my paintings are out in the world now. I’ve cleaned up the place some and had a workspace ‘reset’.
Canvas orders through http://www.stretchmycanvas.com has been steady but I would love some more volume. If you’re an artist that has been wondering about custom stretched canvas I would love to help!
As it is getting warmer I am continuing to get a feel for artists that may want to come in and share a model in a group drawing/painting figure session. I have a list of interested artists started and if you’d like to join the list, I can let you know when we get underway. Sessions will be about 3 hours and the number of times a week will depend on demand. We will probably do it for about $15 a session which covers the cost of the model as well as the cost of keeping the studio open. These will be non-instructed sessions where you can get peer review if you like, otherwise you can experiment and work on your own concepts outside of an academic environment. This is great if you need to brush up on your figure drawing without taking a semester of classes. Or you can supplement your classes with sessions at the studio and watch your teacher marvel at your quick improvement. You can contact me if all this sounds good! Also, if you have any suggestions about how to make the time more effective for you, I would love to hear it.
Otherwise, I’m continuing to paint with a couple shows in the future and wanting to get involved in some juried exhibitions. I enjoy visitors, if you would like to come by and see what I’m up to – let me know!
You Tube from B’dos
Sorry I’m so late in putting this up – this is from the night of the opening:
Unorthodox method for stretching canvas
This article will not be interesting to everyone. I had a hard time convincing my wife that it was interesting. The traditional method for stretching canvases over a stretcher or strainer is to stretch from the center out to the corners. It’s logical, it’s traditional, it’s the way things are done.
James Bernstein is an art conservator and otherwise spends an inordinate amount of time thinking about how paint behaves on canvas and how canvas behaves on a strainer/stretcher.
This article he wrote is pretty revolutionary to me and I may start stretching my canvases this way. You can find his article here: http://www.goldenpaints.com/justpaint/jp17article1.php
Hung Liu: My art crush
If you have not yet visited Hung Liu’s link I have posted www.hungliu.com, take a moment to see some of her work in YouTube format.
Some of the images seem to be faded with the quality of image but I think her work is absolutely beautiful. It hits all my points – figurative and political with undertones of impermanence.
Hung Liu is a Chinese American artist currently teaching at Mills College in Oakland California. She was initial trained as a Chinese Socialist Realist and her current work represents some balking against those traditional methods.
My Studio
I know there are some who have been waiting for pictures of the new studio! I finally have some pictures for you.
This is the door cracked open to my studio
This is just inside the door. The canvases on the sides of the room are 7'x7'
looking back towards the entry to the right
looking back at entry to the left
This is the left view of the back room. This is storage side
This is the side of the room I'll use for painting
Standing in the back room looking towards the entry
Needless to say, I’m very happy to have the space! I can work on stretchers and paintings without being cramped. This space was made possible by Rick Maxwell a Dallas sculptor and professor of art.
