nice

Update: I've just acquired my first piece of Aaron Krach's work. I'm now the happy owner of the t-shirt in the pic below. (Available at the New Museum gift shop).

Aaron Krach  Indestructible Artifact #11: Confidence, 2009

 T-shirt, edition of 500.

Every once in a while I come across something that pulls me in and makes me smile. In this case, it is the work of Aaron Krach. Linking off of One Art World, I clicked on what I thought was a link to a Lower East Side gallery site, but instead turned out to be Aaron's website. What initially grabbed my attention was the t-shirt above. As a practicing psychotherapist and a working artist, its sensibility appealed to me on both counts.

I looked further and found this essay:

Having long been an admirer of Yoko Ono's art, I was moved by this simple declaration of an artist's recognition of meaning and purpose. The essay's closing sentence (called a "kicker" in journalistic terms) was, well, a kicker for me. 

Here are photos of the show (October 2009) that Aaron dedicated his apartment for.

"i curated that show in my apartment because it was something I always wanted to do. i moved my furniture out and put everything up---only work i loved, and only work i wish i had made---and then invited people over during one (long) saturday and sunday. then done."

 My favorite is the handkerchief with the words "there there" embroidered in its center. I found it very moving, and told Aaron in an email that I had once used those words to title a painting because I found them so comforting.

Visit Aaron's website to see his work, and Artists Who Use Text To Say Nice Things to see more about this project, including the names of the artists. Thanks, Aaron. Nice.

new works from All Things Flow

For the past six months or so, I've been working in oil (on canvas, wood panel, paper, and copper). These are a few of the works on paper from the series "All Things Flow".

(re)motion   2010   oil on paper   18" x 30"

approximation  2010  oil on paper  11" x 28"

pale rider   2010   oil on paper  11" x 30"

 

All Things Flow...New Work

I've updated my website with new paintings. The piece below is from an ongoing series of works of oil on canvas, panel, paper, and copper. I've also included encaustic pieces from 2009 as well as some newer digital photos.

From the series All Things Flow

All Things Flow (pink) 

2010

oil on canvas

36 x 36

ya say ya wanna resolution...

Water Ribbon   2009    digital print/photographic image   6" x 36"

Okay, okay...I know the title is a bit of a reach. But it being the new year and all, I thought I'd do a little post on resolutions. Specifically, resolutions relative to my art practice. I'm not particularly good at keeping these promises to myself, but I figure it's got to be worth putting them out there at least. Let's call them goals. In no particular order:

• be kinder to my brushes
• listen to my own voice
  
• spend more time looking, just looking
• trust the process
• get better at knowing when to put the brush down and say it's done
  
• take more chances
• let the damned paint dry
• keep my studio a little neater
• be unafraid

And now friends, fellow artists and bloggers, I invite you to share your art-practice resolutions/goals or comment on mine here...
 

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful holiday season.

pam's big adventure

yet to be titled digital image    pfarrell 2009

I've been meaning to see Roxy Paine's Maelstrom, installed on the Metropolitan Museum of Art roof sculpture garden. But as with many things in my life, these days, I am relying instead on the 'net (and Joanne Mattera and her blog) to provide a vicarious experience. Thanks Joanne! 

Perhaps somewhat inspired by Maelstrom, the image above is the latest in a series of digital pieces I began early last spring and posted on my photo art blog. I've been alternating between trees and water, water and trees.I've been preparing several images from this series to have printed in a large format, and I'm heading to Philly's Silicon Gallery this week to avail myself of their 60" printers and digital printing expertise. Also along for this adventure will be my friend Randy Carone, who provides me invaluable technical advice and assistance. He also plays a mean slide guitar. 

While I have a fair amount of printmaking experience from back in the day, this is my first foray into large format digital printing. Very exciting. I'm trying to suspend my expectations and just go with whatever happens. As my friend photographer John Carlano counseled, these larger images will be "different pictures." So, I'm off with that in mind...

Sue Katz: What's the Big Idea?

I met Sue Katz at the 3rd Annual Montserrat Encaustic Painting Conference in June, when I attended her presentation "What's the Big Idea?", which discussed content in art--her own, and that of a number of other artists. Sue is presenting "What's the Big Idea?" in an open forum that is part of her show with Jozan Treston at Gallery A3 in Amherst, Massachusetts. One of Sue's pieces from the show is below with a short statement. Check out the gallery link for more info.

SPIRALING OUT, 36"x66", encaustic on wood and metal, 2009, Sue Katz

Basically every found object in this piece is old and worn except for the panel with cream white and copper-colored encaustic - proportions aren't exactly two squares in a rectangle now - one member of my family's generations has died and another is declining - so out and into new directions - and so it goes - life keeps happening!