Rauschenberg at Gemini

Robert Rauscheberg's 1967 Lithograph print "Booster" was the first of several things. It was the largest hand made lithographic print of it's time, requring two lithographic stones, one after another, at the Gemini studio in LA. It was also the first print to juxtapose silk screening with lithography. What started as an experiment ended up as a turning point for both the artist and Gemini.

"Booster" 1967 

Are there any artists left today who are breaking ground on new ways to paint, print, sculpt, or anything? Is there anything left undone? Of course the art world underwent change in the past 50 years, since artists like Rauschenberg were around doing never-before-attempted experiments, but I wonder if there are still materials, techniques, or tools that have yet to be unveiled. I guess it's not all that likely...

It's hard not to find something you like in an exhibit like "Rauschenberg at Gemini" (currently showing at the Philbrook museum in Tulsa). The artist did so much and in a countless variety of materials and tools. There is cardboard, textile, traditional prints, prints on polyurethane sculptures, prints onto clear vinyl curtains and draperies. This is an artist who was not interested in maintaining a consistent theme or style, nor did he seem to care to much about public reception...

What did he care about? The potential within ordinary materials. He didn't believe in confining art to paint, clay and canvas. He embraced a range of ordinary items and incorporated them freely into his work, saying "I've always been more attracted to familiar or ordinary things because I find them a lot more mysterious." And, really, what do we know about the possibilities of rope, cardboard or metals to become art work? Nothing, unless we try...

"You begin with the possibilites of the material." - Robert Rauscheberg

It is so deliciously affirming to have a world-renowned artist like Rauschenberg advocating all of the most valuable things I have learned from Reggio Emilia, the things I try to impart to children when I teach art, and what I believe most deeply when I observe and create art myself. 

Google Art Project

Have you seen this yet? This is awesome. You've got to try this.

http://www.googleartproject.com/

blank canvases as yet outnumbering quality finished pieces....

I don't quite know what my problem is...some of these canvases are a bit...warped. Taking a good square-on photo has proven tricky. Nevertheless- here is the completed cool-color line study and collage line study. Unfortunately, I've reached another brick wall.  

Shadow artist

Larry Kagan creates sculptures out of steel wire that appear abstract and formless. Flip a switch, and the shadows they cast reveal the real purpose and thought behind the formless wire. Using shadow as his medium, Kagan explores ways of encrypting form into inanimate material, and challenges the viewer to transition from seeing an abstract image to seeing something representational quickly and with a mere shift in lighting. It is a challenge to our perceptions and it is a wonder to behold.

Earlier this year, I read about a project on shadows conducted by preschool children in Reggio Emilia. It is such a mystifying subject- what are these dark things that follow us around sometimes? Where do they come from and what are they for? What do they symbolize? The children's ideas are not too far off, actually...

Back to the grind...

Having "painter's block" for the past few weeks was the result of a number of factors. I hadn't painted in a while, as I transitioned from Portland to Tulsa, but also I've struggled with choosing subject matter. After my course in the winter, I took away many ideas for developing the series I had begun- increasing scale, and going back to the amorphous shapes that I began with in the fall... returning to these was the key to getting back into the grind, however- I could stand to break out of the abstract again. The problem is, I must see the face in order to paint it, and I have find a face that I care to paint....that tends to take time. In the mean time, here is what I've done:

A scaled-up line study with pinks. Though elongated, this does not really take my previous work any further or develop it in any way. I do like it's simplicity and the way the colors work together, but I will not feel at ease without progress. 24X40"

A line study with yarn. 8X10". I am tempted to take away the line and leave the shapes alone but I fear that it will strongly detract from the composition. Fear never got the artist anywhere...

An experiment in creating depth. Thus far, I do not get the sense that the shapes are approaching or escaping the lines any more than were they flat. I'll look at this further when it is complete. Actually, my father asked why I never leave any spaces blank in these compositions....I can't imagine it would appeal to me more than filling it in, but it's another route to consider... 32X48"

Patrick Heron

Here I am- home for over a week with around 11 huge canvases at my complete disposal. All of the time and resources I could ask for.....and my mind is totally blank. No ideas. Barely enough motivation to lift a paintbrush and casually contemplate its contours.

So, instead, I research. Ideas have to come from somewhere, after all.

Patrick Heron, a British painter, writer and designer, has a unique style that seems at times like Matisse's paper cut-outs, and at other times like Rothko's colored blocks and lines. He composes his works with color at the forefront of meaning and importance. Using bold, bright colors and large blocks or shapes of each one, he draws the viewer in to his designs like bees to a flower.