From the archives: 2009

Throwback with two paintings from my 2009 solo show at the Bridgette Mayer Gallery titled Right Now, This Moment. 

Left: Nest, 2009, acrylic on panel, 24 x 24 inches

Right: Masks, 2009, acrylic on panel, 30 x 40 inches

Tim McFarlane.com

'This Moment' extended

This Moment (northwest corner and floor)

This Moment (upper north wall)

This Moment (entrance)

Above: some images of the final result of This Moment

I'm still wading through a lot of thoughts I have about the project, which is why I haven't posted much about it thus far. Originally, I was going to post entries about my experiences while the piece was in progress, but there was too much to work through mentally. Now that I've completed it, I've begun filtering through some the stuff in my head and putting it into a somewhat coherent form. Stay tuned for more on this.

Tomorrow (April 25th) marks the end of my solo show at Bridgette Mayer, but This Moment, the site-specific piece I worked on during the month, and finished a couple of days ago, will be on view through the month of May. So, gallery visitors who didn't have a chance to see it in progress have another month to view the finished state, alongside the newest works of fellow gallery artist, Elyce Abrams.

I'd also like to acknowledge some fellow bloggers who mentioned the show over the past month, including, Steven Alexander, Jen Bradford, Roberta Fallon at The Artblog, Shauna Lee Lange, Matthew Langley, Rob Matthews, and Vincent Romaniello. I don't think I missed anyone, but if I did, thank you, too!

'Right Now' in photos and 'This Moment' in words

left: Little Speaker Groove, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 36" x 36"

right: Streaming, 2008, ink on paper, 60" x 50"

left: Gravity's Architecture, 2009, acrylic on panel, 16" x 16"

center: Cycles: Expansion and Cycles: Contraction, both 2009, acrylic on panel, 16" x 16"

right: Restless Wanderer, 2009, acrylic on panel, 16" x 16"

A Promise Kept, 2009, acrylic on panel, 16" x 20"

left: Candy Coated, 2008, acrylic on panel, 24" x 24"

right: Halcyon, 2008, acrylic on panel, 24" x 24"

Set of untitled works on paper. All 2009, water media on paper, 11" x 10"


left: Twist, 2009, acrylic on panel, 24" x 24"

right: Masks, 2009, acrylic on panel, 30" x 40"

right: 'Argo', 2009, acrylic on panel, 20" x 16"

right: Rising, 2009, acrylic on paper, 50" x 50"

The opening went very well last Friday-well attended and good feedback about the work. I even got to meet Pam Farrell in person (thanks for making the journey down!). The night was great until I realized at dinner that I'd lost my wedding ring. I and a few other people tried to find it to no avail. I gave it up for lost until I received a call from Bridgette last night.

It was trash night for the gallery's area and Bridgette's assistant, Sophie, went beyond the call of duty and decided to look once more for the ring. She found it at the bottom of a small trash bag that was from the opening reception, which means the ring slipped off of my finger while I was drying my hands. So, many, many thinks to Sophie!!

This is the second time I've lost and recovered this ring. I think a resizing is in my near future.

It's been a busy, busy week as I've been working in the gallery's vault room on an on-going piece called This Moment. This is the first time I've attempted a site-specific work and so far, it's been just as challenging as any other work except for the fact that I'm going through all of the 'what the f%$k am I doing?' bits in a fairly public space. Actually I just got to that phase yesterday after three previous sessions in here. I spent today trying to find a way forward and I may have. We'll see tomorrow.

What I'm doing is drawing directly on the walls of the space with water-soluable Caran D'ache crayons. I'm operating without much of a plan, except that I have more space to work with, along with all of the particular aspects that come along with said space. The space is roughly 115 inches high, 71 inches across the back wall and 61 inches deep, so not that large. The most frequently asked question from gallery visitors about this project, is "Aren't you claustrophobic in here?" Actually, no, not at all. Of course, if I had to stay in there against my will with no sunlight, well, yeah, I might go a bit mad.

The walls are concrete with enough variances in texture to keep things interesting and a vaulted ceiling that makes for really nice acoustic affects. There's a vaulted ceiling which makes for cool acoustics. It's a great space for working with sound, which is something I might consider in the future, if I get to use this space again. It's interesting listening to music in there because of the way sound waves echo and change when I turn my head one way or the other.

As far as documentation goes, I've taken tons of photos showing the progression of This Moment and have edited a few, so I'll get something visual up soon in another post. I've also done some short videos of me working. Most of them are less than a minute and a few a little longer. Before starting, I thought the visual documentation would get in the way of the actual drawing, but documenting my work has become more of a regular part of my routine than I thought, which has eased the whole process quite a bit.

Looking forward to whatever is going happen in there tomorrow (famous last words, haha).

Ready to go

Spent some time at the gallery yesterday tweaking the layout for the show. It's always tough making choices about what should stay up and what needs to sit on the sidelines, but out of those tough choices often come good results. I think what we came up with works.

Here's info about the show:

Tim McFarlane

Right Now
New paintings and works on paper.

This Moment (vault room)
A temporary, site-specific work that will be done in the vault room project space during the course of the exhibition.

March 31-April 25, 2009

Opening Reception:
First Friday, April 3, 2009
6-8:30pm

Bridgette Mayer Gallery
709 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.413.8893
bridgetteart@earthlink.net
www.bridgettemayergallery.com

Preview of some works on the Bridgette Mayer website: Tim McFarlane