Caught in the act

Today was one of those days where things flowed nicely. The sun was out and it was warm, two factors that heavily contributed to my good frame of mind for most of the day.

I worked in the vault room at Bridgette Mayer again today and things are moving along nicely. This past Tuesday I started painting on the walls to move myself past the little rut I felt last week. I continued painting today and the work is coming out well, warts and all.

Fellow artist and blogger, Rob Matthews, came by for a bit. We talked about the exhibit and installation piece, This Moment. We talked at length about my processes in regards to the site-specific work what effect(s) it has had on my work habits. Rob was kind enough to blog about the show and our talk on Matthews The Younger. There are some photos of the vault room work there, as well. I've taken a ton of photos to document the piece and experience but I'm having a difficult finding time to deal with them right now. I'll definitely get some up soon.

One thing that has come up for me is negotiating the space so that I can see what I've done-there is little room to step back to see what I've just done. Unlike being in my studio and having several feet to a few yards to step back and observe my work, in the vault room there's just about five feet in any direction. I also have to pay attention to several planes of surface (four walls and the ceiling, plus various places where wood is attached to the walls) at one time.

Because of the space issue, the work becomes somewhat confrontational for me, at times. Particularly since I've begun painting. The marks of the paintbrushes are much different and bolder than the marks I made previously with the Caran D'ache sticks. From the start of this project, I've never felt claustrophobic in the space, but since I've started painting, I've experienced a little discomfort because my nose is constantly in it. The only way to step back is to get just outside the doorway and look in from there and observe.

The room has begun to resemble one of my paintings but on a slightly grander scale than usual. When I first walked in this morning, I thought that it felt like some kind of grotto or lost place, part of an abandoned building, perhaps? I don't know, but that space is beginning to take on some history of its own.