July 1, 2015
There are four new paintings living in my studio as of last week. The experience of watching them come to be was shared by good friends – an artist, a poet, a songwriter, a filmmaker, a composer throughout the day and evening a week ago.
Here’s where they came from – a photo of my painting wall taken a year ago, after the #Selfie paintings were done and hanging in the gallery:
This is a huge canvas that has served as the ‘catcher of drips’ on my studio wall for the past six years. The drips on the right were accumulated in five months, the ones on the left over five years.
The plan six years ago when I treated and hung this dropcloth on the south wall of my studio was always to take it down when it got interesting, cut it up, and stretch it into paintings. I did this last Tuesday, which was also a revolving door day here, many visitors – SO exciting. It took some time to find the pieces that fit each stretcher, but I have ten so far that work, with the possibility for one or two more. Here’s the largest one:
I’m in this so you get an idea of scale. This puppy is wider than my wingspan. But it had to be. I see dragons…
Here’s another, medium-sized one that’s quite different. I see a moray eel…
Then there are these two – also mid-sized…
this one is close in size to the previous one. I see sunset at dusk over the water
This one now hangs with the red at the top. It looks like a torrential rain storm
There are six more smaller, more intimate & delicate ones – I’ll post those as well when they’re stretched. These are all paintings about water, by water, which found its way and made its mark with the help of gravity and paint. They’re part of a multi-arts installation/show I plan to launch in October-November (will announce where and when soon when all the details are in place). My hope is that because these are also music-based pieces, it will tour in medium-sized music venues with or without the performance component, and encourage discussion about and around… water.
Ubiquitous water, with it’s cohesion and adhesion properties. Essential water which becomes political when big money gets involved. Reflective water which perhaps tells us more about ourselves than we think.
Water that spiders walk on, that whales swim in, that hangs in the sky as clouds and freezes inside buried pipes. In the paintings that water has made over five years there are sea dragons, moray eels, thunder and lightning, heavy clouds, peaceful reflection. Chagall came into the studio yesterday and thought these would be wonderful things to work with. I agree.
More to come – look for #Water.