...after a year
....I'm surprised this site still exists.
Right now I'm taking a break from feverishly attempting to finish paintings for my show that open on November 6th. It's impossibly hot in the studio. It only got to the low 80s today, but this being the 7th floor of a giant brick factory, the heat and humidity is intensified to uncomfortable levels. The six fans that are on don't seem to be doing much good.
I imagine that I'm going to be here until 3 am or so. The painting is going surprisingly well. I'm slowly discovering why I paint the way I do. It sounds silly to say that after 36 years, but screw it. I've seen a lot of painting recently, work that I couldn't imagine doing myself.....on many levels. Work that I love, but still nothing I could see myself doing. I'm trying to use as little paint as possible. I like the immediacy of this approach. I liken it to playing a song live. Once a note is played you can't go back and replay it. It's over. I'm trying to bring that approach to painting. I've never liked working and reworking a part of a picture. I see a lot of other painters doing that, and when they do it it looks great, but I've never been interested in that approach to work.
It always bothers me when people say that my work is photorealistic, because I just don't see it. I want to sit them down and show them true photorealistic work and show them the difference. The point of my work is not to reproduce the photo that I took, but more the moment that the photo was taken.........or more to the point the spark in my brain that led me to take the photo. The surface of my work is usually very dry and rough....the texture of the canvas is visible. I guess I want that texture to interfere with the image that people see.
Right now I'm taking a break from feverishly attempting to finish paintings for my show that open on November 6th. It's impossibly hot in the studio. It only got to the low 80s today, but this being the 7th floor of a giant brick factory, the heat and humidity is intensified to uncomfortable levels. The six fans that are on don't seem to be doing much good.
I imagine that I'm going to be here until 3 am or so. The painting is going surprisingly well. I'm slowly discovering why I paint the way I do. It sounds silly to say that after 36 years, but screw it. I've seen a lot of painting recently, work that I couldn't imagine doing myself.....on many levels. Work that I love, but still nothing I could see myself doing. I'm trying to use as little paint as possible. I like the immediacy of this approach. I liken it to playing a song live. Once a note is played you can't go back and replay it. It's over. I'm trying to bring that approach to painting. I've never liked working and reworking a part of a picture. I see a lot of other painters doing that, and when they do it it looks great, but I've never been interested in that approach to work.
It always bothers me when people say that my work is photorealistic, because I just don't see it. I want to sit them down and show them true photorealistic work and show them the difference. The point of my work is not to reproduce the photo that I took, but more the moment that the photo was taken.........or more to the point the spark in my brain that led me to take the photo. The surface of my work is usually very dry and rough....the texture of the canvas is visible. I guess I want that texture to interfere with the image that people see.
posted by A.J. at Tuesday, August 18, 2009
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