Month: October 2013

Ten Questions…..About Painting

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In compliance with Flash Arts somewhat recent questionnaire (here are the others):

1. Q: What is painting? A: Mark making with oil laced pigments. My interpretation any way.

2. Q: What is your favorite color? A: Chartreuse.

3. Q: Which artist or painter has influenced you? A: I keep thinking about Bonnard. For someone recent, I can’t help but admire Amy Sillman’s work.

4. Q: Is there a work of art you would like to have in your home next to your own work? A: Sure, how about Matisse’s “Interior with Goldfish”.

5. Q: What is the best way to exhibit a painting? A: A nice wall with no competing details. Thanks. Please keep away from the wood paneling.

6. Q: What are the limits of painting? A: Only the one’s the artist puts on them self. Okay, and what ever surface support that can reasonably fit through your studio door frame.

7. Q: How do you start a work — do you have any rituals? A: Lots of puttering, reading, doodling, throwing darts and then it happens.

8. Q: Is there a future for painting or you are one of the last survivors? Q: Never underestimate what drives humanity. We still have books. We still have paintings. We’ll continue to have both.

9. Q: If you were about to be reborn, what would you like to be — still a painter? Q: I guess I found that out by starting and stopping and missing it, so yes, still a painter.

10. Q: Do you think painting is under-appreciated today? A: It certainly isn’t front and center in the mainstream world like it might have been in prior decades. I think it depends on what kind of company you keep. I don’t know if most people actually think much about painting on a daily basis, but during my lifetime I don’t know if they ever did. That being said, it seems like everyone wants to be an artist these days, which of course is open to interpretation.

Aside – The Modern Arts Podcast this week starring the above mentioned Amy Sillman is superb. I literally, like Bonnard’s wife lay in my bathtub Thursday night with my eyes closed and listened to it. Sillman is funny, thoughtful and not shy of commenting on things in her work that some other painters might not own up to. For instance she pokes fun of herself for having a skill set that would allow her to paint cute quite well if need be. She tasked herself with an assignment to paint only adorable subject matter for an extended bit of time (which she discusses in the exchange with Tyler). She stresses (as she has in other interviews) that drawing is central to her work. I’m already a large fan but it is always a delight to hear people talk about their work so candidly.

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I’m particularity fond of a painting that’s in the catalog  One Lump or Two  from her current survey show at the Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston. Sadly no cross country flights planned for this one in the near future. In that parallel universe of a perfect life I  would very much choose to see the show with my own eyes, up close and personal.  At any rate, the painting is titled Them, 2006 (pg. 79). It would go nicely with the Bonnard at the top of the post. The catalog is beautiful and I’m still working my way through the essays.

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More things about Amy. Her website also gives you access to some of her non-painting projects such as her spot on zine Visiting Artist and video shorts made on her iPhone.

The Girl With A Earring

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I came across Ken Johnson’s brief mention in the NYTimes that Girl With Earring and Entourage will be coming to The Frick. Sure enough Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis opens today. I had no idea that Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Earring had not been shown in New York City since 1984. She will be in good company since The Frick is privy to three Vermeers in it’s own collection.

I was lucky enough last April to see this show when it was installed at the de Young in San Francisco and it was quite the treat. I was reminded once again that my brief excursions down to the Bay Area have enriched my museum going life far more than I give credit. This year I was lucky to go more than once getting a chance to return to the de Young in July to see their Diebenkorn exhibit, which I am still trying to wrap my mind around.

I would like to point out the de Young and the Frick enlisted two entirely different marketing campaigns for the same exhibit. Much to my disappointment, there will be no winking girls with pearls at the Frick.

David Park

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I’ve just started reading Nancy Boas book David Park – A Painter’s Life and was excited to see a post about Park on the front front page of The Painter’s Table today, leading to a nice blog entry by Left Bank Art, where writer Carl Belz posts a 1983 essay on a Park exhibition.

Park was a favorite of mine in my early painting years and after seeing the Diebenkorn Berkeley Years exhibit in San Francisco this summer it is hard not to have a restored crush on the Bay Area Figurative painters. Boa’s book is dense and printed in very, very small type which is leading to a slower than usual reading rate, but I am very thrilled to see someone like Park given his due in print. I am a little shocked to find that he died as such a young age (49).

I’m partial to this one:

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David Park, Mother-in-Law, 1954-1955; oil on canvas, 26 in. x 19 1/2 in. (66.04 cm x 49.53 cm); Collection SFMOMA, Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, fractional and promised gift to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © Estate of David Park

Source: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Emily Gherard at Francine Seders

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[Emily Gherard’s Drawings 2013: Wherever Green Is Worn, Francine Seders Gallery]

All good things must come to an end.

I am pleased that I pulled my head out of a fog in time to catch the last few exhibits at the Francine Seders Gallery.

When ever I needed to clear my head I would take a trip to her gallery.

The first exhibit space I visited when I decided to start looking at art again was Francine’s.

I will miss her integrity, most notable in her emphasis of presenting thoughtful exhibits and taking local artists seriously. I enjoyed being able to go to a place where I knew I would see a grown-up show.

I also appreciate that she was a stand alone there on Phinney Ridge. We need more art up here in North Seattle.

Jen Graves profile of Seders from 2006 stated “Seders has a reputation for intellectual sincerity, business honesty, professionalism, and devotion to her artists.

Emily Gherard’s exhibit (photos above) in the upstairs rooms of the gallery looks very much at home in Seders fold. A handful of elegant, tonal works on paper.  Downstairs was work by Michael Stafford and Jacob Lawrence, two of the artists that the gallery is most well known for.

The final few exhibits are being mounted as 2013 winds to a close when the gallery will be shuttered. The final opening is on December 8th, for Norman Lundin, Dale Lindman and Diann Knezovich.

PS. I like this interview of Gherard in her studio on the blog Contemplative Process .