I will say I am pretty ignorant when it comes to famous artists. Uneducated might be a better term. While I know of Jackson Pollock I do not necessarily know what he did. 10 or so years ago the same could be said about Chuck Close. I did not even know his name. I was experimenting with some techniques in a figure drawing class when the professor asked if I was familiar with him. He gave me a book on Close in which, in my typical fashion, I read most of 3 or 4 pages and then studied the pictures. I get that words often repeat the same letter forms and in due time the expectation of finding a new pattern or form of energy is just not there. My mind will wander off into a fabricated animation in my head. A small portion of brain continues to read, but the rest of my mind is off dancing and painting with the illusion of space, time and objects. A small theater of sorts while a disciplined section continues to follow the exhausting pattern or repeated letter form we learned at an early age. The two parts don’t want to work together and the majority of me would just rather play and experiment while creating “what if” scenarios.
So this leads me somewhat to a New Year’s resolution of sorts. That would be to become “educated” on what other artists are doing or have done. Thinking about what I just said as I sit here and type this-”The two parts don’t want to work together” I may be setting myself up for failure. Or am I?
I would start with a 360 page book about Jackson Pollock and Tom Benton. I won’t go into details, but the thing that sticks out most in my mind is that Pollock, while making his famous paintings, was designing around “rhythm”. He used rhythm in his paintings.
Studying the works of Chuck Close, I gather, that the appeal will be his use of color on the surface and the way our brains interpret light and color information. Looking at the two artists side by side I might wonder how in the world can I make this work? I want to introduce rhythm into a calculated and gridded painting? I allowed the questions to take respite in the back of my mind while I went on to other things.
I was preparing for a trip to Florida in which I wanted nothing more than to shut down this wandering, drifting, thought creating process my mind does on a daily basis. I needed a vacation from myself. It just would not listen. As I laid down that evening to go to bed the foundation for this process came to me within the space between my eyeballs and my eyelids. There it was right in front of me while yet right inside of me.
I start this painting (above) with these thoughts in mind. Somewhat hastily and not entirely planned out, but more of the opportunity to release this new found energy and the chance to explore. It’s in it’s early stages and as I paint I improve the idea in my mind with the next painting I am already planning in my head. Had I not told myself to study (read about) the works of Jackson Pollock this year I wonder if my mind would’ve seen this new challenge I’ve recently discovered? Not a complete failure in my attempt at reading.
Stay tuned I think this will be quite interesting in a few months time.
The recent holidays have allowed me time to catch up and start a few new projects. One of them being this painting here. I started it several months ago and have just this week started back into it. It’s going to be of a scene in Bucks County featuring some barns.
I’m looking forward to making the painting more about a barb wired fence in the foreground than the actual barns. Someone recently told me she was sick and tired of the same old Bucks County Barns paintings. I’m hoping with a renewed energy and a twist on focus she (and I) can squeeze in at least one more painting with barns…..
For comments please email me.
The opening for Push Pull Print II was a big success. Several of the participating artists saw some of their prints get sold to collectors and friends. We raised money for an upcoming Push Pull Print show exclusively for kids. The money will help fund underprivileged children participate by supplying materials otherwise unobtainable to these kids due to financial means. It was raised through an onsite screenprinting demonstration that allowed visitors to print their own t-shirt. A number of new faces and artists have asked to join in for the next Push Pull Print show. AND I was able to introduce the artform to many people who have never seen or quite understood what screenprinting is. We had a great evening and thanks to everyone who participated and who came out to the opening. The show will run through the month of December at the gallery.
Countryside Gallery and Radhouse Studios
2 South State Street
Newtown, PA
215-968-2246
Ding ding ding! Let’s welcome back two time returning Push Pull Print artists Susan Fletcher and Anthony Ortiz!
It is showtime!!! Tonight at 7PM!
I am so excited and I guarantee Susan and Tony will both have smiles that outshine mine tonight! They come in to print so ecstatic every time. The enthusiasm they put behind the squeegee and the joy I get to experience watching Tony and Susan print is just so rewarding.
Susan has screenprinted a photograph reproduced on glass and on paper. She later went in and did a wash on the glass and pastel on the paper. During the scheduling process I take every effort to make sure the print goes smoothly and we use the right inks on substrates, we have all the materials we need, we are set-up and ready to go, screens are burned properly, mesh count is correct, off contact is in place,etc. So when one artist leaves it’s very soon after I begin the next one. The ideas one artist gives me on how they plan to finish their piece are too often left incubating in my mind amidst piles of incubators. Then the artist brings the finished pieces back and WOW!!!! They turned out wonderful!
Tony decided to bring the challenge on to me again this time around by printing his piece on canvases he prepainted. The challenge wasn’t so much the canvas, but the fact that it was prestretched AND only 6×6. When we screenprint we need a solid surface to print on. Tony was prepared however and brought some blocking he had made up to put behind the open surface area of the print…..a small glitch though. The stretcher bars were not all exact and the block did not fit all the canvases. After a little cutting and trimming we managed to make it work all the while the ink was setting up nicely in our screen. We don’t want that. So we cleaned that out and charged forward. Take a minute, relax and enjoy the possibilities that lie within and beyond his print.
Looking forward to tonight
Countryside Gallery and Radhouse Studios
2 south State Street
Newtown, PA
215-968-2246
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Angel Harder and Ryan Keller. What do these two artists have in common?
One of Angel’s prints is based on the idea of creating a one dimensional piece and then deconstructing it to make a 3 dimensional piece. If anything could go wrong with the print it was an added bonus for Angel. She was actually excited about the imperfections in the screenprinting process. The hands on manipulation of screenprinting and the possibility that one image does not have to look exactly like the next is fantastic.
Ryan brought to the table the idea of screenprinting onto plexiglas a drawing he had illustrated. He would later build his piece by adding paint to his screenprint then add a painting behind the plexiglas to give a blurred illusion to the reality that is printed. While still a junior in high school Ryan was diagnosed with a heart and blood clotting condition earlier this year. Doctors and medical specialists are still trying to figure out exactly what is going on. I felt this was a powerful representation to the workings and wirings inside of Ryan’s body. What appears on the surface may not be so clear beneath.
Oh yeah, I had posed the question what do these two artists have in common? Of course we have the screenprint to tie them together, but also as we look around the gallery on Friday night what if we also ask ourselves – What do any of these artists have in common? On some level there is passion. Another is uncertainty. Uncertain as to where and/or how their piece will represent them. With that being said, I believe bravery – to explore the creative and represent it before hundreds of people who may not agree with their art. Angel and Ryan share another unique, somewhat abstract, connection. While Angel prints with the thought of deconstructing her prints, Ryan is thinking forward about adding and building to his prints. Now that I have had the pleasure of seeing both completed artworks I can better see the similarity in the two. Angel has reconstructed what once seemed so obvious into something that forces us to pause and think. Ryan too has completed something that once seemed so obvious, but is now in question to the underlyings beneath the plexiglas of his piece. Kind of like Ryan’s heart. An offering for an alternative view of what we thought we knew.
Join the artists Friday December 2, 2011
Countryside Gallery and Radhouse Studios
2 South State Street
Newtown, PA
215-968-2246
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Show time is 2 days away and by use of standard applications of addition and subtraction we can see that there are more artists left than days until our opening. Not to worry because I will be introducing artists today that have links to their artist websites and you will surely learn more about them than I can blog about. Without further ado allow me to present and introduce:
Oil Painter and first time participant – Bonnie Butler
Fine Art Photographer and first time participant – Anthony Flamio
Sculptor and returning Push Pull Print artist – Jonathan Hertzel
Push Pull Print opens:
December 2, 2011 at 7PM
Countryside Gallery and Radhouse Studios
2 South State Street – Newtown, PA
215-968-2246
I first had the opportunity to meet David on an installation I did for him at NYU in New York City. David is a curator of art shows and exhibits. It was scheduled to be a 2 day installation at the University and I was working with 4 people I had never met before. Not a big deal because at some point in our lives we have to meet everyone for the first time. David on the other hand knew 2 of the guys. Myself and the fourth “gentleman” was our first engagement. I could probably write a brief novel on the first day’s events and the installation itself. So in an effort to keep a long story short, but peek your interest I ended up alone in a hotel room sleeping with the fourth “gentleman”. And trust me by “sleeping” I mean just that. Actually with one eye open. Well, probably both eyes were open because he has sleep apnea and needs a rhythmic breathing machine to keep him alive. After some moments spent in the REM mode of sleep you begin to believe you are sharing a bed with Frankenstein or the evil dark lord, Darth Vader. David, Paul and Nick on the other hand had somehow scored their own private accommodations in the hotel……hmmmmm….very funny……
David told me he liked the first Push Pull Print show I put together up at The Gallery at Graphic Imaging in Pipersville. After talking for a bit I told him I have plans for a second one if he’d like to join us. Not as long as the first story, but we don’t need a lot of details to say that he said he’d like to participate. I’m really glad he did because I had the opportunity to sit down with him and brainstorm ideas on possible directions he could take the screen printing. If I haven’t said it before I love ideas. They are what keep me inspired and I feel David and Paul did not come up short with the piece they have built for the Push Pull Print art show on December 2, 2011. It defines David as a curator, a musician, a collage artist and an overall multidimensional person.
Come check it out!
7PM
Countryside Gallery and Radhouse Studio
2 South State Street
Newtown, PA
215-968-2246
If this is your second go ’round with reading all the blog entries about the artists involved with the Push Pull Print art show you will recognize Carol Murray. She is a returning artist to the event and as I recall we had some preconceived images in our minds as to how her 3 color screen print would turn out on record albums for the first show. Overall the print went well – it was the placement of one definable image on top of another unrelated image (the record). It forced the viewer to think – search for the information we had just covered up with the screenprint to reveal the existing image while at the same time we were looking to recognize the image represented by the screenprint. The screenprint was a photo of Carol’s father. Most of the records we printed on were also her fathers’. This is the abstract correlation between the images and the objects.
Now we enter show number 2! Carol is back at it again. A different print, a different medium and these words straight from Carol:
I see a pattern here, however. It appears that the other (or some) artists print their idea, where I print a portion of my idea and then try to turn it into something that I vaguely had in mind.
The beauty of Carol’s comment is “…turn it into something that I vaguely had in mind.” Working with Carol through the process I’m pretty sure she is saying it’s just not turning out the way I had expected. I do admire this though and I want Carol to know that. It is the founding idea behind Push Pull Print – to push your boundaries. I can only imagine it being a wee bit outside of your comfort zone to “pull” ideas together inside your mind and let them go into a process that you may know very little about. And when it doesn’t quite turn out the way you had expected….well this is where great ideas begin to be born.
Come visit Carol at Push Pull Print II
December 2, 2011
7PM
Countryside Gallery and Radhouse Studios
Corners of State and Washington Street.
Newtown, PA
215-968-2246
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Let’s welcome back guest blogger Lauren (LoLo) and her relationship with the “Internationally Famous”Eric Fausnacht (insert applause here):
Eric Fausnacht secretly hates me. Oh, he acts nice to my face, but I know it’s true. He’s the one that ruined my vacation by telling Chris to sign up for the New Hope Arts Festival (one long., painful weekend), he doesn’t like the new color of our living rooms walls (once he heard I picked it) and he puts dead chicken feet in my kitchen sink. If that isn’t enough proof how about this- he has a club against me.
Yup, he’s coming over here with his cool chicken art and trying to get my husband to join his club. First, it was simple bribes like a dozen eggs and homemade jelly. Now, it’s secret handshakes and code words. I’m paranoid you say? Need a few days off from school? Okay, then you prove me wrong. When you meet Eric at Push. Pull. Print. at Radhouse Gallery on Friday, December 2nd do two things: the first part of the infamous chicken dance (oh, you know it) and say, “He-man Women Haters Club UNITE”. If he laughs a loud, funny laugh- you’re in too.
Friday December 2, 2011
Countryside Gallery and Radhouse Studio
2 South State Street
Newtown, PA
215-968-2246
Show starts at 7PM
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November 18, 2011 – Today’s guest blogger, Robert Ryan Kline, also has an appearance on tonight’s television series “Chuck”. Enjoy his experience with super star, Harry Boardman and then watch him on TV tonight.
It’s fascinating watching Harry struggle with the simple task of one foot after the other as he attempts to cross an almost vacant lot. Yet, Harry is no simple man nor is his ability to see the chance to dive head first into good time. His attire for this evening is sunglasses, cut-off jean shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, ski boots and a cowboy hat he found in the back of a pick up truck. I’m not sure if he chose this particular outfit or if the hospital administration dressed him after his short lived visit.
“ Harry, what are you doing in the hospital? Are you ok?” is my initial reaction when receiving his phone call at 4:17a.m. asking if I could give him a ride home.
“ Of course I’ll give you a ride Harry,” I say with no hesitation. There’s no need for an explanation because I know he’ll tell me when the time is right. As long as he’s ok, I know that no matter what he’s gotten himself into this time must be just as thrilling as the time he took a crack at swimming the length of Lake Galena underwater.
“ A catfish the size of a Ford Falcon bit me in my bathing suit area. The struggle below the surface robbed me of my breath leaving me gasping for air. It’s a miracle I made it to shore”, Harry brings to mind as the reason his attempt fell short.
In the hospital parking lot I watch with a steady eye as Harry navigates the asphalt only to fumble with the door handle before settling into the passenger seat. He nods with appreciation & I know not to ask, as much as I want to I dare not intrude.
Instead, he offers a clue to his escapades by asking,” Ryan, What do you know about mixing dry ice & kitty litter with pancake batter?”
~~R. Ryan Kline
Do not miss the shenanigans and creativity of Harry Boardman at the December 2, 2011 Push Pull Print art show and sale!
Countryside Gallery and Radhouse Studio
2 South State Street
Newtown, PA
215-968-2246
Starts at 7PM
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www.harryboardman.com
I will say I am pretty ignorant when it comes to famous artists. Uneducated might be a better term. While I know of Jackson Pollock I do not necessarily know what he did. 10 or so years ago the same could be said about Chuck Close. I did not even know his name. I was experimenting with some techniques in a figure drawing class when the professor asked if I was familiar with him. He gave me a book on Close in which, in my typical fashion, I read most of 3 or 4 pages and then studied the pictures. I get that words often repeat the same letter forms and in due time the expectation of finding a new pattern or form of energy is just not there. My mind will wander off into a fabricated animation in my head. A small portion of brain continues to read, but the rest of my mind is off dancing and painting with the illusion of space, time and objects. A small theater of sorts while a disciplined section continues to follow the exhausting pattern or repeated letter form we learned at an early age. The two parts don’t want to work together and the majority of me would just rather play and experiment while creating “what if” scenarios.
