A few days ago I participated in a critique with ten other people. As part of the critique, I explained my Near Mint/Mint project and asked everyone in the room to participate. I handed everyone a baseball card and a sharpie. They were instructed to sign the card with there name, alter it in whatever way they wanted, and pass the card to the right. We did this until each card had passed through the hands of each person. The participants included Namon and Katie Bills, Steven and Sarah Stradley, Ehren Clark, Heather Teran, Liz Matthews, Shawn Stradley, a gentleman name Brian, and Justin and Camille Wheatley. These are the results, front and back:
Splice
This series is influenced by artist and art educator Jorge Lucero. The images used in sports cards are carefully placed inside a small frame. I found it rewarding to remove and adjust parts of the frame and images to create new interest in photographs that are repetitive and lacking in creativity. Below are four examples from this series of 100.
New Painting: Behind
35" x 35"
Mixed media
Near Mint/Mint: Collages
To address questions (11) "Can an object be changed by the collector in a way that makes it more valuable to the collector and less valuable to everyone else?" and (12) "Can I change the collected object in a way that it becomes more valuable to the collector and to everyone else?" I created a series of collages on baseball cards. As the collector, I am pleased with the collages, and without a doubt they have more value to me than before.
A Side Project: Near Mint/Mint
Jose Canseco. 3.5" x 2.5" mixed media. This piece addresses the obsession with mint condition. By crumbling the card up I created something that I find more interesting than before. I then signed the card and am now calling it art. I destroyed any value the card had as a baseball card and am asking if it has value as a work of art.
Near Mint/Mint*
Baseball cards were an important part of my pre-adolescence. The memories that linger with the boxes and binders full of cards are good ones. At the time the cards weren’t necessarily about a love for the game or the players, but more about how much each one was “worth.” There was a monthly magazine that had lists of every card produced from every major brand since the beginning. It would tell the value of a card and if it had gone up or down.
I spent a huge portion of my paper route earnings on collecting thousands of baseball cards. I don’t regret it, but there is a bit of a shadow that hangs over my collection. None of the cards are valued anywhere near what they were nearly twenty-five years ago. What we were all told was a sound investment was a bust. But I didn’t stop collecting cards because they would end up being worth nothing. I stopped collecting cards because the companies began making special editions with high-gloss surfaces and gold leafed logos and the cost of a pack became too much. Even as a pre-teen I recognized something was wrong. It seemed like Topps, Score, Fleer and all the others were getting greedy and didn’t care the kid on the bike that couldn’t buy a pack any more. I still have those cards. The emotional and literal investment has kept me from getting rid of them. I have touched and looked at every single one of them hundreds of times. Over the past three years I have thought about ways to address my childhood obsession through art. This will be my first attempt.
This project is an effort to explore the following thoughts. This list is completely tangible and will be added to and possibly subtracted from as the project progresses.
1. What is the relationship that we have with objects we collect and can that relationship change over time?
2. Why is it so important that objects be “mint” condition?
3. If I love an object so much that it loses its “mint” status, is that object less valuable to me as the owner?
4. Who controls the worth of an object and why should they be able to?
5. Is collecting objects worthwhile?
6. Are my art works just objects to be collected? Isn’t there a certain amount of irony in this?
7. If no one knew about my collected objects other than myself, would I still collect them?
8. How do I come to terms with all of the money I spent as a young kid collecting cards?
9. Can I enjoy objects that other people have collected just as much as if I were the owner of the object I was trying to enjoy?
10. Does an object that I have coveted for some time become less important or special once I have gained ownership of it?
11. Can an object be changed by the collector in a way that makes it more valuable to the collector and less valuable to everyone else?
12. Can I change the collected object in a way that it becomes more valuable to myself and to everyone else?
This project will continue until I feel like it is done. I will add works of art as they are completed.
*Term used to describe the condition of a card or other collectable that is in perfect or near perfect condition
The Barn
When I first posted an image of this painting on Instagram, I made the statement "Everyone needs to do a painting of a barn every three years or so." I wasn't kidding. Doing this painting was just what I needed. It was completely enjoyable. I am used to fighting with my work, but this was nothing of the sort. When talking about this to a friend, I told him that paintings, and any art work for that matter, are a battle. It is never an easy process. I go through so many ups and downs when I'm working on something that its a miracle anything ever gets declared finished. I don't mind the battle though. I enjoy it. If I have to fight to make a work of art successful, then I feel that accomplishment of knowing the battle was won.
As Long As We Know by Ehren Clark
This can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/utahartcritic
I am VERY excited to write this piece. It is called, “As Long as We Know,” because as long as we know that is the only thing that really matters as the art world is a level playing field and we must not disqualify ourselves before the games begin. As long as we know, we can be certain RANDALL LAKE is a world leader in expressive plein air impressionism which he handles with a palette rich and lush in hues that make his scenes full of vitality and essence of living. Lake has been around and paid his dues. Few can even touch him, here, there anywhere.
As long as we know, with credibility OONJU CHUN is an international leader in the very demanding art of total abstraction. She graces her canvases with a lighter side of the abstract that is airy and spontaneous and sophisticated in the art of Zen that strikes a balance in tonality with a joviality of intermediate hue that brings it to life.
As long as we know PAUL VINCENT BERNARD can be assured he is a world leader in abstract-semi representation. He is a master print maker and ostensibly there is no other printmaker alive who is better and has his methodology which is incredibly intensive, the line being so important to him, it coming to life as he digs it with his tuler in a density that recognizes open spaces and abstract shapes as canny subjects.
As long as we know JEFF PUGH IS a representational semi-abstractionist foremost on the international stage. Jeff plans his compositions to an incredible extent putting thought and effort into every compositional choice that he makes, which each read on many literal artistic levels, biographical, spiritual, formal, abstract, stylistically singular. It is truly a marvel how these components all come together with this amount of meaning and to put Pugh on a lesser plane of accomplishment simply because he lives in Salt Lake City is about as great an insult as there can be on who WE are.
As long as we know SUZANNE STORER from Ogden, who is showing now at The Gallery @ Library Square, is a sculptor but literally uncontested in her expressive abilities and formal extremes. Suzanne has broken major ground as she uses the nude and finds a distinctive angle and using first an exacting drawing of the subject using a rule of thirds, starts from this unique vantage point and utilizes all of her talents as a ceramist and builds that sculpture from something flat into three-dimentions and there is absolutely nothing like it and she is a world leader in sculptural avant-gardism. (Look for a feature I wrote on her in this weeks 15bytes Artists of Utah).
As long as we know another sculptor whose preeminence as a philosophical conceptual sculptor cannot be denied whose work is leading in the avant-garde, a full time professor at BYU is BRIAN CHRISTENSEN who is also a full time innovator, who ranks at the top of the field internationally.
As long as we know JUSTIN WHEATLEY may easily be one of the top 30 something painters alive. What he accomplishes in formal construction is always progressing and always extraordinarily focused in its articulation and manifestation being multi-media but very clean and linear using painting along with photography and paper to create two or three diminutional pieces that have a look that is nothing short of world class professionalism. But where world class professionalism ends Wheatley keeps going as the crust is the exterior of the core and these paintings and sculptures are in content existential in every aspect of their creation questioning the existentiality beyond walls, beyond the exterior, beyond today, beyond the facade, beyond what we understand and what we don’t. His work is philosophically huge and is a universal questioning of reality. I’d like to see any New Yorker or Californian try to compare themselves even if purely in form and only then in content and there are simply none out there who are up to the task, who will shy away with the amorphous, the arbitrary, the design, the street, the pretentiously jejune, the replicated, the politicized, the kitsch.
As long as we know, SLC, and there are more of you, many more, that is what really matters.
White House Blue Window
24" x 28"
Acrylic
White House Blue Window
This is a continuation of my efforts to be happy with a painting made mostly of white. Modern architecture lends itself nicely as a subject and I think it's a success.
CODA Gallery, Park City
Dropping of new work at CODA Gallery in Park City
Stepping in to CODA gallery is a highlight of any trip to Park City. Owners Jen and Scott have put together an eclectic collection of art that is continuously changing and there is always something interesting to look at. On this trip I was dropping off work. It's always nice to talk to Jen and Scott and I appreciate how well they treat me as one of their represented artists.
Check out their site at: http://codaparkcity.com/
Essen
18" x 12.75"
Mixed media (acrylic and collage)
The White Painting
A few years back I read a novel by Noah Charney called The Art Thief. The book introduced me to the white paintings of Kazimir Malevich. Though the book had about as much depth as the paper it was written on, the paintings it talks about go far beyond solid white. Ever since I have been interested in creating a work of my own that is almost all white. I started this painting back in 2010 and have done battle with it now and again ever since. Today I feel like it's done.
Jeff Pugh and Ehren Clark
I just read an article in 15Bytes by Ehren Clark about Jeff Pugh. I have a lot of respect for the work of both of these people. Even more, I have a lot of respect for them as individuals. They are both incredible people with a firm belief in what they do. Jeff creates beautiful work and is eager to help others do the same. Ehren's articles are the type that you want to read again and again, always finding something new in the intricate words. Take a look:
http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/jeff-pugh/
More Modern
This is the second painting in a series of mid-century modern homes.
White House Brown Door
24" x 36"
Acrylic
A couple of drawings
Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and sketch. A couple of weeks ago I made about ten collages with the intent of drawing on them. These are the first two.
Avenues House #1
8" x 8"
Graphite on paper collage
Avenues House #2
6" x 6"
Graphite on paper collage
A look into the process of curating a show.
The Rio Gallery put together a magnificent show by bringing in some folks from out of state to curate. This video gives us an inside look at the process.
Mixed Media and Works On Paper
Last night we went to one of the best shows we've seen in Salt Lake City all year. Laura Durham, Visual Arts Manager for Utah Arts and Museums, says "I believe this is one of the best Statewide Annual Exhibitions we've had to date." The Mixed Media and Works On Paper show is juried and takes place every three years. I'm happy to be a part of it, and even more thrilled to see work by friends and colleagues Steven Stradley, Namon Bills, Caitlin Connolly, Paul Vincent Bernard, Linnie Brown, Al Denyer, Michelle Montrose, Dan Barney, and Roland Thompson. My piece, The Grass Is Greener , and Dan Barney's E Pluribus Unum: Bipartisan Structure
In the gallery.
My piece, The Grass Is Greener , and Dan Barney's E Pluribus Unum: Bipartisan Structure
Opening night.
Salt Lake City Gallery Stroll October 18th
I'm excited for this months gallery stroll. I have work in three places - Evergreen Art Gallery (3295 S 2000 E), Alpine Art (430 E South Temple), and the Rio (300 S 455 W). The Rio is hosting a juried show with mixed media works and works on paper.
Here's a list of all the participating galleries.
A little bit of LA architecture
On our quick trip to LA last weekend, we were able to see a good amount of art and architecture. In the outskirts of Culver City, in an area called the Hayden Tract, is an industrial complex that has been revitalized by architect Eric Owen Moss.
The place is amazing. We walked a few blocks that were lined with building after building of monuments to contemporary architecture.
Here's a couple of articles about the architect and the place: New Yorker, Patch
Artworks for the Cure: Part II
We had an incredible experience being involved with Artworks for the Cure. Here are a few shots from the events on Friday and Saturday nights. Most of it is artwork, including my two pieces. Colbie Caillat entertained us on Saturday night. The event reached its goal of raising over 1 million dollars for the TJ Martell foundation.
Mid-Century Modern
My wife and I recently went to Palm Springs. She's an architect and I've always like modern design, so we spent a lot of time driving around, looking at what the city has to offer. We weren't disappointed. Here is the first of a series of modern homes.
Wexler House
24" x 48"
Acrylic on panel
Art + Teacher = Inspiration
Since graduating from Utah State University, I have maintained a close relationship with professors and fellow students. I still meet with several of them on a monthly basis for critique and it has kept us all producing art for past seven years. This month I am part of a show at Utah State the features the work of three teachers and our students.
Here's a link to an article about the show in the Utah State Today.