I made it to Allison Schulnik’s show at Mark Moore gallery. So good. I tried to get a pic of the canvases from a side angle to show the 2-inch depth of sometimes straight from the tube paint, or the swirls of thick paint making up some mass. It smelled like paint and I’m certain if I had poked my finger here or there, fresh paint would have oozed out from underneath a coiled mound.
Thick impasto is possibly the only technique that I catch myself shying away from. Commitment issues. My work involves so much scraping down, reconfiguring and evolving, that laying down a blob of thick paint, only to decide a few days later, it’s no longer useful, presents major construction problems for me. It’s like a speed bump, or speed humps as they are now called. Still, whenever I look at a painting where impasto serves a purpose for the greater good of the painting, I am excited and motivated to get a little thicker in my own work.
My studio: January's floral arrangement
I need to craft an updated statement rather soon. Without writing a novel, I’m trying to figure out how to weave narratives of the miniature, abstraction and gesture, empty swimming pools, nature and decay, memory, and garden club calendar floral design arrangements into a cohesive paragraph without talking directly about loss or appearing overly melancholic. Tricky.
I’ve had a couple of productive studio days, but then again, studio days are always productive. Still working on the flowers and pools. Still working small-scale. It will be interesting to see how Deitch's arrival in LA affects how contemporary art in LA in defined, produced and received. UPDATE: I just realized how totally out of context the Deitch sentence was next to my previous sentence. I left out the part where I'm feeling hopelessly nostalgic for just paint and hopelessly intimate for just paintings. Did that help bridge the gap?
Yoga is going well. I’ve had a daily practice once again for two weeks now. My body is remembering the postures and I’m getting my strength and flexibility back. I’ve noticed inversions, back bends and twists are where I like spending the most time.
Tonight I’ll be going to hear Christopher Knight lecture at SMC Performing Arts Center.
Lecture: "Criticism, Journalism & Looking @ Art" by LA Times Art Critic Christopher Knight
Thursday, 1/14/2010
The Santa Monica College Art Department, in conjunction with Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, is pleased to present Pulitzer prize finalist Christopher Knight. Free. Call (310) 665-6827.
Location: The Broad Stage at Santa Monica College
7:30 PM
1 comment:
how was the lecture?...i went to a party hosted by moca, with little interaction of art and what it is about. i am excited for/about deitch...the changes will be dynamic and hopeful, think.
alison's show was so ...amazing. i have always been a fan of impasto and the candid use of the fantastical. her flowers are ooky good...inspiration for you?
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