Almost there

Detail of new painting

I'm in the home-stretch with preparations for my next exhibition. Most of the work is done. I'm just trying to finish up a couple of final pieces before next weekend. As usual, I'm seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel of wrestling with paint, ideas and deadlines. Just a few weeks ago, I was seriously wondering if I'd be able to pull it all together and have enough work to show that I was happy with.

So far, so good. I'm still scrutinizing what I've been working on but for the most part, I'm satisfied with what I'm seeing. I still need some time to take in what I've done; I'm way too close to it all. I think that once I see the work outside of the studio and have a chance to reflect, I'll start having a clearer view of what I've been doing.

One of the things about having shows is being able to look at the paintings out of the studio context. Putting them in a new context that's outside of my own internal world, where they sprange from, gives me the chance to look at them with new eyes. Most of the paintings have already been out of the studio for the past week and-a-half. They had to be photographed and were then delivered to the gallery so my only contact with them have been through photos and memory.

It'll be interesting to see what I think in a couple of weeks...

Richard Serra at MoMA

A short time-lapse video showing the installation of two of Ricard Serra'ssculptures in MoMA's sculpture garden.

MoMA will be mounting a 40 year retrospective of his work beginning in June. I'm really looking forward to seeing this show. I've been a fan of Serra's work for a long time, but I've never seen much of his work in person. Back in the early 90's, I actually discovered his work accidentally during my first trip to New York. The show was at MoMA. I only remember walking into this one room and being surrounded with these huge steel plates (I think the piece was Circuit) that were coming from each corner of the room. I didn't know who Serra was at the time, but I liked his work.

A year or so later, I returned to Temple University after a five year hiatus. I discovered the third floor section of art books in Paley Library on the main campus and found a number of books about Serra that were published in Germany. I made the connection with the work I saw in New York previously and was hooked. I mainly responded to his use of a basic construction material in the making of his works. I also admired his thought processes and dedication to continually experimenting with perceptions of space, weight, and balance. I also like that he has continued to push his work and ideas to new places over the years while maintaining a sense of freshness while using the same materials he has for years, as well as continuing to work on a scale that not many would attempt...or who have the means to do so...

line in sight

Got a bunch of paintings out of the studio this morning to be photographed. From there, they'll go to the gallery. The best thing was being able to get a 60" x 72" piece down the stairs and out of the door. Had it been any wider than 72", I would have had to deal with lowering it out of the window, like I did for "All That Could Be", which is 60" x 84". I don't think I'll be working on anything much larger.

Speaking of canvas sizes, every now and then I'll try out new combinations of stretcher bars to see how that size feels when worked on. For a while, it was 36"x36". Lately, for some reason, 28"x32" has been a favorite.

For the most part, what's going to be in the show is done, but I'm still working on a couple of more canvases which should be done in the coming two weeks. Now that this is wrapping up, I'm turning my attention towards work that I'll do for the show at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in the fall.

......




Recent paintings by Rebecca Saylor Sack

Yesterday, Rebecca Saylor Sack stopped by for the second leg of our studio visits. We talked shop for a bit, trading comments about my recent works, art in general, and galleries. We went back and forth with comments about the latest paintings, always a good thing for me at times like this since my nose has been in them for the past few months. Along the way, she mentioned that she was chosen to receive a Fleisher Challenge exhibition for this year, so big congratulations to her on that accomplishment.

short day

I didn't get up to the studio as early as I wanted to this morning, but I did pretty good with the time I did spend there. I left by mid-afternoon because my studio mate was bringing a friend and his adult art class by to see the space. She asked me a while ago if I wanted to be involved and at first I agreed to, but then thought about the timing and declined. I'm just not in the right headspace at the moment to deal with hosting anyone at the studio just before a big show...especially strangers.

I also needed to leave early because I desperately needed to catch up on some cleaning around the apartment. I've had a pile of dishes in the sink for too long. I just washed what I needed at the moment and left everything there. Between my work and hectic studio schedule, dishes aren't on the daily priority list. I got through them this afternoon, though. It's kind of nice seeing the bottom of the sink again. There's also a good deal less cat fur and dust around, too, which is good.

I could really use a nap, but not much time for that. It's already after 6pm and I have to get cleaned up and head out to catch some First Friday openings. If it weren't for a couple of people I know having openings tonight, I'd be on the couch right now. It's ok, I'll just head back home early. I need to anyway, since I have to be back in the studio first thing in the morning. Need to finish up a couple of things and then some works are going to be picked up to be photographed tomorrow evening...

statements, pt. II

Here's the statement I wrote up earlier this week. This version is written in the third person because it's being used for an ad for my show in the Gallery Guide. I've written statements like this before, but it's always a little strange to write about one's self in the third person. I'm going to rework it in the singular voice and change a couple of small things, but overall, I think it works for where I am with my work at the moment....

"When is Now"

Inspired by the ambiguities created in the chaos and quiet of overlapping events that make up everyday life, from the macro to the micro, Tim McFarlane continues to challenge himself and the viewer with the exploration of painterly linear abstraction. At the same time, he is moving his paintings into new directions in this new body of work.

McFarlane employs a loosened, wet-on-wet technique to produce networks of sometimes dense, layered fields of color in his new compositions. This technique allows for a wide spectrum of color and brushstroke complexity from one layer to another, creating shifts in depth without the use of traditional perspective.

McFarlane also engages the viewer with a heightened sense of emotional content through the use of rectangular canvases. While relying on a mostly square format in past works, here McFarlane has shifted to the horizontal and vertical. The format allows for expansion of the forms across the painted field while also enabling the viewer the potential to connect with the works through his or her experiences in the world, thus creating an open-ended emotional space for the viewer to explore.

online curating

I was asked by artist, Timothy Buckwalter to curate a show of his drawings. Every week, Buckwalter has a different curator for his works. He posts the selected pieces online for about 6 days and moves to the next set of selected works on the following Tuesday.

The show I curated consists of about ten text drawings Buckwalter has done. The title of the show is 'Under The Skin'. The common threads I found running throughout the ones I chose resonated with me largely because of the times we live in. That, and the unversal emotional content they contain...

statements

Writing artist statements can be downright annoying sometimes. The problems are usually confined to the beginning of the process, especially after there has been a fairly significant change in my work, as there has been over the past year or so. It's difficult enough trying to figure out just what I'm doing with the work itself, adding trying to figure out how to translate and convey whatever meanings/feelings I have about it to the outside world can be headache-inducing.

I've just gone through this process again for my upcoming show and I think I've gotten it as concise as possible without sounding too bloated nor too vague. I try to keep my language in a place where there's obvioiusly some thought behind it, but at the same time, I don't want to alienate potential readers with art-speak and possibly put them to sleep in the process. Nor do I want to sound pretentious and put viewers off from the work entirely, which can be easy to do with contemporary abstraction.

The best writing from artists, in terms of statements, articulates their ideas and processes in an educated, concise manner without being intellectually condescending, deliberately obtuse, or plain lazy. As with other writing, the audience has to be considered. In the case of artist statements, the potential audience is going to be people from usually a wide range of experiences; from art students and peers to 'the man on the street' who may come into contact with one's work and wants to learn more about it and the artist.

I try to hold myself to a high standard when writing my statements. I fail a lot and have certainly missed the mark at times; at other times, I've nailed it. Just like the work itself, writing about it is an on-going process. It's also one that will define what you leave behind. Some people are perfectly happy to leave it to others to define what you made, which is going to happen, anyway. However, I believe it's important for the artist to have a voice in whatever future history there is about the work, in addition to those of critics, curators, gallery owners, museum boards, etc...At the very least, the artist's ideas at the time can be known.

The present is important to consider also. When I jot down notes which might lead to a formal statement, I'm also clarifying for myself what might be going on with my work. On top of that, it aids in allowing me to be clear when I'm talking to others about my work. There's a repository to look back on and gain insight from so that any future writings might be seen as part of a continuing thought process...

Moo

(*click photo for larger size*)

New business cards arrived in the mail today, courtesy of Moo. The front images are from recent paintings and the cards are small, but functional at 28mm x 70mm. The paper stock is nice and heavy, also. If you have a Flickr account, you can have cards printed from photo images you have online. You get 100 cards for $20 (plus shipping which brings it to around $24). You can choose the color of type and they give you about six fields that can be filled out with text.

I love the cards and they seem to be a hit with people I've given them to, also. This is the second set I'm working with; my fianceé surprised me with the first set when she came here in December...

behind the lids

Just over a month before the show and things are typically up and down. Mostly up, I have to admit. There's just a lot to attend to at this point in the process of getting ready for an exhibition. My grand plan was to be up at the studio by 9 or 9:30am today to get some painting done. Then, I would deliver a couple of paintings to be photographed for the exhibition card and Gallery Guide ad. The latter part was accomplished, but I didn't get up to the studio until nearly 12:30, which means going straight to the gallery, grabbing the paintings and a cab.

Got back to the studio, had lunch and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Didn't get a thing done while I was up there except some magazine reading after the nap. My studio mate came in and after relating how non-productive I'd been all afternoon she said something to the effect that "sometimes it's enough to just be in the space looking at what you've done and thinking". A good point. One that I don't think about often enough. When I'm in the midst of completing work for a show, I feel like I have to get something done in the way of either painting or prepping canvases in order to feel like I'm getting anything accomplished.

Art is as much about the looking as it is the doing. I do a fair amount of thinking about my work as I'm painting. There are times when I'll work on something for 30-45 minutes and spend another 10 or so looking at what I've just done; figuring out what is working and what isn't. It's rare that I'll spend whole afternoons or days, even being in there and not physically doing anything. Today I couldn't muster the mental nor physical energy to do much. I ate lunch, napped, read, and stared at paintings getting a feel for where I am with the finished ones and what I might do with the ones in progress.

The longer I sat there, the more comfortable I was with the thought of leaving without having laid paint to canvas. I just let it go and rode home looking forward to tomorrow...more rested and ready to go...

slipping from here to there

Today was supposed to happen this past Saturday. I had big plans to get in the studio for most of this long holiday weekend, but I wasn't feeling good and wound up losing out on two of those days. As I like to say, life happens...

It was a different story today altogether. I met up with Jessica Puma for art conversation in my studio. We talked about the new stuff I have in various stages of completion as well as some older works. It's always good to talk with someone about what's going on with the work. I live in my head with it all of the time and it's very difficult to have perspective sometimes.

She took off to meet a friend for lunch and I headed over to Utrecht to pick up a couple of things. I'd had a 20% off coupon from them sitting by my computer for over a month and today was the last day for it to be used. There have been quite a few of those things that I've just forgotten about. I usually find them a month or more past the expiration date under some god-forsaken pile of bills, exhibition invites, and whatever else... I was proud that I even remembered to take it with me. I bought a grinding stone to use with a stick of sumi ink Jessica gave me last week when I was at her studio. I also got a pack of four 'gesso panels' to experiment with, as well as a box of water-soluable paint sicks.



Back in the studio...after painting for a couple of hours, I had one of those moments that I don't notice always, but it happens. I realized that I'd slipped into my working groove for this project, this series of new paintings. Of course I'm worried about finishing everything and wondering if it will live up to my standards, but I'm feeling more in control of the process. The past few weeks I've been fueled more by panic than anything else, because of my late start. Now, though, I'm not panicing as much. Instead, I'm seeing several works begining to take shape, ideas flowing from one to the other and a real dialogue is starting to happen for me.

That wasn't there last week. I had no works that I considered finished, but that's changed this week. Several pieces are getting to the place where more minor changes in details are needed, while I've designated others 'finished'. I'll see how I feel about those in another week or two, but right now I'm ready to leave them be...

Studio visit with Jessica Puma

Went to a friend's studio for the first time today. I've known Jessica Puma for about a couple of years. We've been talking about trading studio visits for at least the past year. You know how life goes sometimes; you're busy, they're busy, you fall out of touch and back again. Anyway, we finally got our act together and hung out at her work space for a bit Friday afternoon...

*click photos for larger sizes*



Jessica is a painter but for some months now, she's been working on drawings with collage elements in them. Her formal concerns are architectural, but on top of that base she forms layer upon layer of emotional content. Part of her process involves using parts of old drawings and bringing them into the new work, forming new surface and emotional textures.

According to Jessica, her drawings evolve "organically", meaning there's no preplanning involved and resolution comes slowly. There's a lot of going back and forth between unfinished drawings, letting them sit for a bit then adding lines, forms, or glueing something down here or there until the drawing is completed.

Blanks

Blanks

It's true, a blank canvas is a little scary. The truth is I love having a bunch of blanks around to work on, especially with a couple of deadlines looming. Things are moving along for my upcoming show in June. I'm not as far along as I'd like to be, but I always feel like that before big shows.

I've stretched a couple of larger canvases over the past week. I'm figuring out ways to deal with bracing them in the rear and so far, it's working out. I have to improve my measuring so there's less waste and less time spent trimming. I'd rather have to trim the wood than have it be too short. I also found out that if you tighten the screws in the 'T' braces too much, the wood will tend to bow out after stretching. I wound up loosening the screws and left the canvas on the floor overnight. Today, everything was fine. I re-tightened the screws and everything was good to go.

I often don't like the process of prepping canvases, but now that I have a process down and materials at hand, it's not so bad. Next week I'll hate it again...

leaning straight

left: old and busted
right: new and shiny hotness

Really, it's the little things that count. I've used the leaning tower of a cart on the left for more than a year or so. I finally got around to replacing it today. The new one was actually a spontaneous purchase. I happened to be in Loews looking for some hardware when that lightbulb went off over my head (new flourescent one at that). I felt proud of myself because I'm so prone to forgetting that I need to replace certain things because I come from the school of, "eh, it's almost falling apart...BUT it's still standing...".

I'm slowly working my way out of that mindset...

stacks

Hanging Stack
grapihte, oil stick on paper


Floater Stack
grapihte, oil stick on paper

(click images for larger sizes)

These are images of two drawings from a couple of years ago that I mentioned in this post. Rebecca Crowell wondered what they looked like and I finally got around to photographing what I had in the studio.

I did a bunch of these in 2005 and I'm thinking about continuing with the series, called "Stacks". The idea grew out of observing floorboards in my studio. The building is probably nearly a century old and was once a factory of some sort. Consequently, what were once flat, even floorboards are now very worn and irregular in spacing and surface from years of use. The irregularities were what intrigued me the most. I also wanted the 'stacks' to more or less float in space as opposed to being anchored somehow to the edges of the drawing surface.

Commission complete

L: Float On II
R:Float On I
both are 60" x 50", acrylic on canvas
(click photo for larger size)

New paintings completed recently for a commission. Met with the client and Bridgette at the studio on Monday and the client chose the one on the left, Float On II.

Something new

Click To Play

I was done with painting last night and remembered that I have video capacities on my camera. I hadn't forgotten, really, but it's taken me a while to return to experimenting with it. Last October, I had a computer meltdown and had to have my old one replaced. At the same time, I had just barely begun to understand the processes involved with creating and posting videos online.

Last night, after I was done with painting for the day, I decided to turn the video function on and get back into the video habit I began last fall. I'm thinking about doing an ongoing series of video studio journals along with other ideas. As much as I like the creative possibilities, there's the inevitable time-suck that comes along with experimenting with new media (new to me, that is), but I'm looking forward to whatever may come next...

Then again...

Seriously, I needed more sleep than I thought last night. Sometimes, ideas that come to you in a sleep-deprived state of mind should sometimes remain just ideas. For example, I set about working on some of the ideas I wrote about in my last post today. Sadly, I remembered that I'd already engaged said ideas last year sometime and had proof of their failure.

Basically, the 'stack' drawings with graphite and oil stick are best left to that medium; not enlarged from the 12" x 12" format they were originally done in and defintirely not with other materials. They just don't work. Today, found a couple of experimental works on paper where I used acrylic paint and medium in an attempt to replicate the smaller graphite stack drawings. The newer attempts completely lacked the spirit of the earlier drawings in two ways; the beauty of the graphite over-laid with oil stick was completely lost when I used ink or acrylic paint with brushes. The size, quality of line, and beauty of the pencil lines softened with a layer of clear or white oil stick are integral to the successes I had with the older drawings, most of which I did in 2005.

Some drawings are just never meant to be worked up into paintings. I have sketchbooks full of sketches and color thumbnails that have never made it to fully-realized paintings or other works; they might look great as a little sketch, but once taken beyond that realm, they'll sometimes just fall flat. That's the beauty of art, though. If you never attempt to push things, you never know what's possible or what's best left alone.

I don't need no stinkin' sleep...

Studio Corner


I didn't sleep enough last night (for a change). I was tired as hell today, but had to be in the studio.

Worked on a couple of small paintings and re-worked two paintings on paper that I began last week. Tomorrow I need to get going on the large canvas I stretched last week. The show is coming up fast and I don't have the work I want done yet. There's some things moving along, but not enough and not the works I want to show. It's coming together, though...I can feel it happening...

......

I've mentioned already that I'm tired and have the red eyes to show for it. Yet, my mind is racing with ideas and excitement when I should be sleeping right now. In fact, if it were warmer and I wasn't in such a need of sleep, I'd be up in the studio working out the painting ideas confined to my head for the time being. Just an hour ago I was just about to crawl under the covers until E suggested taking a shower. I always take a shower before bed but this was one of those nights where an exception was about to be made.

Before getting in the shower, I'm read a little of the latest book of writings of painter Sean Scully, when I started thinking about my work after reading something about his. Just like that, I almost felt fully awake. I don't know what to call it, but it was one of those moments when your brain snaps to attention and suddenly you find yourself thinking at a mile a minute. Just a moment before I would have fallen asleep on the bathroom floor. Now I'm ready to tackle a new idea...

Globalartism

Two Artists Talking: Miami-me-me-me

I found the above blog post on Two Artists Talking (Joanne Mattera and Chris Ashley) and interesting for it's look at the possibile ways art practice is changing due to the shifting of art marketing in recent years. Basically, there seems to be a movement towards ever slicker, celebrity/personality-driven art fairs that are run on an "entertainment...consumerism" model of globalism, where, according to the post's author, Chris Ashley, "...mostly it is about the bottom line, profit."

LIke Ashley, I'm a fan of the 'album' approach to an artist's career, where you might get to see the development of their work over time in a gallery or museum show and not just 'the hits'. I like seeing works that might not have been completely successful but were important to a particular artist's development. Art fairs certainly have their place, but what disturbs me is if the bottom-line approach becomes the model for other arts institutions (galleries, museums, etc...). That's already what happens with block-buster shows museums come up with to ensure more cash flow at the front door. However, what will happen if that's the only model for exhibiting art.

I like to think that will never really come to pass on a large scale; that there will still be places to experience the album effect of an artist's career and not the top ten hits version. Retrospectives serve this very purpose, but if a 'for profit' model predominiated, who knows what we'll have...

New show

New exhibit I'm a part of in West Philly at the Green Line|Powelton.

Here are the details:
AltGeo loosened structures for line and color
Chris Ashley (Oakland), James Erikson (Phila), P. Timothy Gierschick II (Phila), Rodney Harder (NYC), Jerome Hershey (Lancaster PA), Jeffrey Cortland Jones (Cincinnati), Tim McFarlane (Phila), Linn Meyers (Washington DC), Vincent Romaniello (Phila), Anne Seidman (Phila), Paige Williams (Cincinnati)
Curated by Douglas Witmer

February 5 - March 31, 2007
Reception Friday March 9, 6-9pm

Green Line | Powelton
3649 Lancaster Avenue Philadelphia
215-222-3431
http://www.greenlinecafe.com/altgeo.html