Works on Paper

Works on paper, while a medium I use throughout my work, are a particular area of practice in the studio. I just uploaded some preparatory studies for my new Flora and Fauna Investigations, the body of work I have been working on since the fall. Here is an example on the right. You can see more images from this series here.

Sketches or preparatory works can help develop a kind of rhythm in the work, which is how I use them. I create a space for the development of a back and forth, a habitual or practice of mark making. The dots and squares painted here began as these simple sketches and evolved into the more complex works I am referring to as Flora and Fauna Investigations, formerly known as Rhizomatic Foam.

Pink and Yellow Foam

This Foam Series has been occupying a lot of my mind and studio time lately. I had been calling the series Rhizomatic Foam, but as a title have decided to bench the term Rhizomatic. A little too obscure to be friendly and I am opting for friendly. I had thought this piece finished but am in new cycle of sending work around and needed to fully resolve some outstanding issues the piece still had before I felt OK about submitting it to a particular show I am interested in.  

So, I pulled the piece out of the box it had been stored in for the past couple of months and first cut a piece of foamboard a few inches smaller than the drawing/sculpture. I have been covering the foam board with patterned fabric that creates an added layer under the structure of the drawing. This layer is actually a kind of pedestal, a way of asserting the piece forward slightly from behind, thrusting it out into space a bit. The fabric is patterned with dots or in this case stripes. The black and white pattern add another dimension of information, texture and zip that I like under the white paper.

The ceramic and paper-clay balls on top further articulates the objectness I am after. Instead of a drawing, the piece has been transformed into an object or a thing through the added layer of balls and the foamboard. A piece of paper, working through the identity of drawing, then painting and finally becoming sculpture brings the whole affair into new territory.

Drawing as sculpture, sculpture as contemplative moment in time and space, playing with notions of human-ness in the form of bubble, foam or balls of ceramic, paper-clay painted and hanging on the piece, engaged with symbols of nature iterate the impression of nature, standing in reserve, set aside yet participating in the totality of the object, drawing as sculpture, beautiful, mysterious, affectionate and entertaining, adding to the general dialogue about being and time. 

Archiving

This week begins the arduous task of going through work, starting early on, photographing it, categorizing it, measuring it and putting it into a data system. My art practice is life long and I have accumulated quite a lot of flotsam and jetsom from that daily ritual. As a some time lone practitioner, I have developed whole bodies of work that have not seen the light of day in many a moon and therefore haven't been engaged in a critical, relational back and forth about their meaning. These critical discussions are essential components in an artist's development. I am looking forward to reviewing the work with the new addition to my studio, the very talented Tatiana Klacsmann, a skilled professional and begin getting back into a more robust interaction with a broader world in terms of some intimate work I have made over the past 20 years. Here is the beginning.

Jacobs Ladder, 1992, 6" x 6",
pencil and watercolor on paper, private collection 

Part of the inspiration for this project stems from a resurgence in interest in this early work. This summer, Thompson Giroux Gallery in Chatham, NY showed a selection of these drawings in the group show, The Mysteries of Love and Life. I am honored to have part of this exhibition and glad to show these pieces, some for the first time ever.

Flock of Dots Skipping Rope, 1992, 6" x 6"
pencil and watercolor on paper

Form and Line Collision, 1992, 6" x 6"
pencil and watercolor

Lyrical Line Gesture #2, 1992, 6" x 6"
watercolor and pencil on paper

Lyrical Line Drawing #3, 1992, 6" x 6"
watercolor and pencil on paper

Lyrical Line Drawing, 1992, 6" x 6"
watercolor and pencil on paper

So, there is a bit of history. Next, will be more the current work, this year, this fall and also last fall. Working with ideas being generated in my studies of philosophy. Reading Hegel and thinkers writing about Hegel. Today, Lacan.