Archive for the ‘Artists’ category

I’m looking forward to the opening on April 30 of Common Swell, a group show I’m in along with four other lovely and talented artists at Together Gallery’s brand new space at 2916 NE Alberta. I have fond memories of many hours in the print shop with Allyson Mellberg and Catherine Stack when we were in school together at MIAD. I miss the print shop!! We’ll be joined by Jeremy Taylor and Matthew Feyld, both inspirational for me in different ways. 

Curleds (AP/a), six color gocco print by Jeremy Taylor

Allyson and Jeremy often work collaboratively, though not always, on elegant renderings of animals and people suffering from various maladies and growths, in an effort to visualize the deleterious effects of our society’s handling of toxic materials. They use all non toxic materials - natural pigments derived from sources such as walnuts, spinach, and squid ink. They also make soft sculptures and ceramic pieces. 

Allyson Mellberg

Matthew Feyld paints a mean crisp edge! I have been a fan of Matthew’s since my early days on flickr. He is a prolific and gifted painter who has fleshed out a very recognizable stylized form of figurative paintings. They are very graphic, flat shapes with exaggerated proportions. I read his paintings as dramatic depictions of states of mind. I think the earlier ones from a couple years ago dealt more with fear and possibly a touch of shame and embarrassment - men with shirts, but no pants, like those awkward dreams when one suddenly realizes that they forgot to get dressed before going to work. Lately, his paintings seem to have transitioned to a more satisfied but still shocked stage, the figures are more rotund and balance fruit bowls, wear cheery patterned sweaters, and generally look like they are feeling somewhat better.

Matthew Feyld

Catherine has recently launched a new website, which I am so excited about! She finished up grad school in Boston last year I believe and now lives in Brooklyn. I was happy to get to see her, if only for a few minutes, last December when I was there. She has been making lovely etchings and paper sculptures, and has a lovely artist statement to boot: 

Out of Proportion, etching on muslin by Catherine Stack

Stepping Off, 8x10 acrylic gouache on panel by Betsy Walton

I recently visited Fontanelle Gallery here in Portland to see Mark Warren Jacques’ show, which has since been replaced by Long Live the Ephemeral, curated by Ryan Jacob Smith. I am an ardent fan of Mark’s. And now I am fan of Fontanelle. Their online shop is worth a visit. They have gems from Mark, Patrick Gildersleeves, and Coral Silverman, among many other treats. If I had my druthers, I would have quite a few of these for my very own….

Everything/Nothing/Life is Short, by Mark Warren Jacques

Shibuya Cabinyo: Party Under The Milky Stars, by  Patrick Gildersleeves

I found Stacey’s work at The Drawing Center. Her statement encapsulates what I love best about being an artist:

“For four years I have been using gouache on paper to explore the possibilities of new spatial compositions, color harmonies and elaborate doodles. I work unscripted, allowing myself to be inspired by tingling sensations and funny thoughts rather than by rational ideas of what to paint.

I usually begin work by laying down some color as a wash or form. Pieces of a story appear and as these images become too candid, I must sublimate them until formal aspects of composition, color, form and line fall into place.This process is a repetitive digression until the work is humbly revealed.

If I want apples, I get kumquats. I tell myself to draw a pig, but the pig ends up looking like a mouse. No matter, because I want to be in a world without rules, a lawless state. The fun is in the optic poetry, the improvisation and the non sequiturs. Drawing plays a role as a means to developing my thoughts but I am more interested in stuff that gets stacked or goes around in circles, visual rhymes and repetitions, tight spaces and spaciousness, patterns and decorations, and any improbable arrangement of these things. An unexpected, yet anticipated, commentary or composition must come about before the piece is resolved. When the gumball drops out of the machine, I am done.”

I spotted this image today on art lovers new york, while researching for a short trip I’m planning to New York in a couple weeks. Collected the photo as a reference that mirrors themes in my own work. 

The piece was in the Fall 2008 Contemporary Auction at Phillips de Pury.  And here’s the details: 

Christian Holstad
When the color runs out, 1993-94
Ceramic, Spanish moss, human hair, and cotton thread.
installation dimensions variable/as shown 84 x 23-1/2 x 72 in.

I love Mark’s work. I love it so much, and my husband loves it so much, that we bought one of his paintings. I’m pretty sure its the first time we have acquired an original painting that did not involve a trade of some sort. Initially, it seemed like the attraction was on a purely aesthetic level, until I started to put this post together and became aware of connections between the image and current events, both in the spiritual sense and the material sense. 

The painting is called ”A Man Alone Thinking About Many Things Including: Sex, Religion, Spirituality, The Bad Shape Our Environment is in, Money Problems, Abstract Art, Solitude, Love, Eating Healthy, Etc., While Painting”

I love seeing the high level of focus and care that Mark put in this painting.

The image itself looks like a new manifestation of an ancient symbol of the all-seeing eye or Eye of Providence with roots in ancient Egypt, Buddhist scripture, and early Christian symbology. I am not sure if that is what Mark specifically intended, but it certainly jumps out at me. 

To my modern eye, the big iris-like circle depicts the eye of universal awareness and the triangle represents the light of consciousness streaming out of it, or maybe in to it. Chicken or the egg.

With this interpretation of the symbol in mind, its interesting to consider that the Eye of Providence image appears on our dollar bill and the Great Seal of the United States, especially in light of the economic conditions we are facing today.  Systemic unconsciousness seems to be one of the primary drivers of the crisis we are now facing.  The Great Seal’s call to consciousness is right on the money.  

To top off the irony, this symbol was added to our dollar bill in 1935, right in the middle of the Great Depression.  

Now I have another prominent reminder in my living room, right here on the proverbial Main Street, which is great since I rarely carry cash and I work from home. 

For now, my renewed awareness of all things financial is translating into eating at home, turning the heat down, and working on growing my own food. I hope this will preserve our capital so that we can continue to support the individuals and businesses we admire in thanks for their support of us. I’m also really enjoying it.

I do want to clarify that my appreciation of this painting is not limited to its relationship to our present financial circumstances, I think the symbol’s relevance can be universally applied to all the facets of our experience, as suggested by the title. 

Mark has a website and a lovely video about his work called ‘Ollie the Mind Gap’ right here.

I’ll close with the poem Mark included on the back of the frame: 

Happy the man whose wish and care

A few paternal acres bound, 

Content to breath his native air

    In his own ground

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread

Whose flocks supply him with attire;

Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

    In winter fire

Blest, who can uncern’dly find

Hours, days, and years slide soft away

In health of body, peace of mind;

   Quiet by day

Sound sleep by night, study and ease

Together mixed; sweet recreation;

And innocence, which most does please 

   With meditation

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

Thus unlamented let me die;

Steal from the world, and not a stone

    Tell where I lie.

-AP