Maryanna Hoggart and Stones 1

I’ll take ownership that I always feel a special feeling after purchasing a piece of artwork.  It is a celebration of beauty and tipping ones hat to the goodness of life.  Several months back I dropped by Guardino Gallery in Portland (http://www.guardinogallery.com/) where I show my work to say hello.  That day, I discovered the work of Maryanna Hoggart.  Maybe it was because she is a transplant from Arizona, but there was a resonance I felt with her work.

Maryanna Hoggart: Stones I, Ink, Watercolor, Charcoal & Pastel on Paper., 10 x 14"

So I purchased the above piece because it some how spoke to me.  But have you ever gotten something and then suddenly had a realization about it?  Here was mine about this work:

You may know the example in the New Testament that a father, when asked by his son for bread, will give him bread not a stone.  Or if his son asks him for a fish, he will not give him a snake, he’ll give him a fish!  (Matt 7:9-12) But what if you did receive stones and snakes when you asked for food?  Perhaps you even kept asking because you hoped maybe once in a while you would get bread and fish.  There was a chance maybe things would change?   What I came to terms with was that over time maybe God can even redeem stones and snakes, and make them beautiful.  One can hope don’t you think? All things can be made new can’t they?

Maryanna’s piece has become a nice reminder of that, at least for me.  Here is her website where you can see more of her work:  http://www.maryannahoggatt.com/

 

It’s the small things….

Thomas Doyle, Armistice, Mixed media, 25 x 21 x 18 inches, 2011 (detail)

Thomas Doyle, Acceptable losses, Mixed media, 16 x 13.5 inches diameter, 2008

My intermediate mixed media students are launching into their last art project for the semester which involves creating a small scene or environment.  Remember as a kid making those little dioramas for history class or the like?  “Here is a scene of life in ancient Greece, complete with sheep and naked statuary.” “Here is a sculpture of the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the wonders of the ancient world! Notice the cast resin water that looks so real.”  (I actually did that one.)  Nothing like cutting up styrofoam and going to town with plaster, glue, paint, and dried moss!  Man, I’m sure I won something with that one in fifth grade.  It was heavy.

Regardless, there are a number of artist today that are creating quite intriguing small environments that we’re looking at.  I’d highly recommend that you check out Alan Wolfson’s interpretations of urban life:  http://www.alanwolfson.net/  as well as the narrative puzzles of Thomas Doyle:  http://www.thomasdoyle.net/  Their work makes me conclude that we are people in a complex world that is darn interesting to look at.  Enjoy.

Alan Wolfson, "TOWER OF PIZZA" (1985), 14 x 17 3/8 x 17 1/4 inches

 

The King Knows How

I don’t know about you, but musicians have profoundly affected my artwork just as much, if not more than visual artists have.  There are a number of them that I have followed since right out of college and graduate school.    What has impressed me is the ones that have just simply plugged away making quality work, regardless of current trends.  Perhaps that’s the hope I have for myself as an artist as well.  I admire them greatly.

Groups such as Innocence Mission, and Over the Rhine have amazed me with their consistency and pluck, and individuals such as Eddie Reader, Richard Shindell, Luka Bloom, Patty Griffin and Julie and Buddy Miller, don’t cease to make music that shows skill of heart, lyric, and musicianship. I ran onto this video of Over The Rhine performing at a venue in Memphis that I enjoyed, thought you might as well.  Good art is a very good thing no matter what art form it may be.

 

Millions of Bits and Pieces

Mary McCleary, "What is Hidden Everywhere" mixed media collage on paper

Mary McCleary, "A Hundred Familiar Objects Which No Longer Exist" mixed media collage on paper

I met Mary McCleary years back at a conference when I got to see a broad swath of her work at an exhibition she was having in Dallas.  I immediately became a fan. It’s also a delight to meet an artist who is as kind and as approachable as her work as McCleary was.

Speaking about her today in one of my classes I thought I’d share her work with you here if you haven’t seen it.  She is a meticulous narrative painter at heart with a wonderful sense of depth, insight, and irony in her work.  Technically the pieces are just a wonder to behold, as she constructs them out of thousands of little objects: painted chips, twigs, rope and trinkets.  Check out her site that is overflowing with images of artistic integrity, tradition, and innovation at:  http://www.marymccleary.com/index.html

(Click on the photos in this post to see them larger.)

Mary McCleary, "Praising the Beauty of What is Transient" mixed media collage on paper

Mary McCleary, "Allegory of the Senses" mixed media collage on paper

 

Gober and Celmins, a Conversation

 

Robert Gober "Untitled" 1991. Wood, beeswax, leather, fabric, and human hair

 

In my Contemporary Art Forms class we are reading excerpts from a very fun tome of a book called, “pressPLAY Contemporary Artists in Conversation.”  (published by Phaidon:   http://www.phaidon.com/store/art/pressplay-9780714845333/ Some interviews in it are better than others; avoid Richard Deacon and Lorna Simpson).

A wonderful dialog was that of Robert Gober with Vija Celmins.  Here are some quotes that resonated with us:

“I get very frustrated when people ask me, ‘What does your sculpture mean?’ I respond by talking about what it’s made of and they get impatient, as though I’m avoiding the question.  But I feel that unless you know what it’s physically made of you can’t begin to understand it.  A lot of times the metaphors are imbedded right in the medium and the way that you work.” Robert Gober

“And I was thinking even if nobody gets it, I had a feeling that I could go and I could work.  I don’t know, it’s like building a self through the work.  And then the work sort of reflects some aspects of yourself.  And I don’t mean the brain. I mean like, some aspects of your body and your emotions – and your brain.” Vija Celmins commenting on making her artwork when she felt her art didn’t fit into the art market in California.

 

Untitled (Big Sea #1), Vija Celmins, Pencil, 1969— Courtesy McKee Gallery, N.Y.

 

“I would go driving around in the New Mexico desert consoling myself by mindlessly picking up rocks and throwing them in my car.  Later, unloading them in my studio, I had this moment of inspiration.  They seemed so beautiful, I wanted to make them myself.  I wanted to see how close I could come; that’s how the piece started.  There was never any symbolism or any real idea.  I just went back to looking, which I guess is a theme that runs through my work.  Looking at stuff and sort of regenerating something in me that keeps wanting to live – something that sustains me that I’d forgotten about.“ Vija Celmins commenting on her piece “To Fix the Image in Memory”

 

Vija Celmins " To Fix the Image in Memory" (1977-82) Elleven small stones and their duplicates, made of painted cast bronze.

 

 

Under the surface with Nicholas Evans

Entombed - Jesus in the Midst by Nicholas Evans. (c) Trustees of the Nicholas Evans Estate

I heard recently of a very interesting artist by the name of Nicholas Evans.  I heard about him on a podcast of a BBC’s radio Wales program called “All Things Considered.”  Evans who lived the majority of his life as a preacher only came to art later on his life and felt the Spirit gave him the works he had to paint.

Also known as Nick Evans in the art world, his work explores the lives of miners in his community in Wales but with a spiritual perspective.  He viewed the miners and the mines as a wonderful allegory of our spiritual life here on earth; where we are stuck below the surface with a whole additional beautiful world waiting for us above. Although his work looks very dark, Evans was a very cheery man who painted the majority of his work in his bedroom.

With no formal training, his work has a wonderful flair, and the interview with his two son’s was very fun to hear.  Check it out if you have a chance:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/sites/allthingsconsidered/updates/20100613.shtml

"Transport to the far end" Creator: Nicholas Evans, Date: 1976 © Victor Evans

Nick Evans - Emaciated Miners (1979)

 

Kienholz’s Wear and Tear

Ed Kienholz's installation "Roxy's" that was at the David Zwirmer Gallery in New York (click it to see it bigger)

While in New York I was pleasantly surprised to run into an artist, Ed Kienholz that had a profound affect on me in undergraduate, and even more so in graduate school at Washington State University.  I had an instructor Bob Helm who was friends with him who would tell me of his colorful visits to Kienholz’s property and studio in Montana where he created his work.  Bob would tell stories of cast alumninum foxes in the woods and chandeliers in the trees.

A piece of Kienholz's work that is at the Portland Art Museum

Ed Kienholz along with his wife Nancy Reddin made assemblage tableaus that made political, social and psychological statements about the stuff of life.  I was always impressed with his use of materials and his williness to keep things messy on all levels of the work.

At one of David Zwirner’s galleries in Chelsea in June I found Kienholz’s recreation of the lobby of a 1940′s brothel entitled “Roxy’s.”  Although I had seen a retrospective of his work in Los Angeles some time ago, I had never seen this piece in person.  It was a site to behold.

You can investigate more of his work here:

http://www.beatmuseum.org/kienholz/edkienholz.html

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=37830

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/kienholz_edward.html

 

The Marquetry of Tattered Walls

* ALISON ELIZABETH TAYLOR Squatter Doorway, 2009 Wood veneer, shellac 53 X 46 1/2 inches

While wandering around as many galleries I could in the Chelsea district in New York as of late, one show that struck me with it’s skill and concept was Alison Elizabeth Taylor’s exhibition “Foreclosed” at the James Cohan Gallery.

Using the traditional method of doing inlays of wood veneers called marquetry, Taylor created a variety of wooden panel images in different varieties and colors of wood showing parts of walls that had been dismantled or torn apart by their disgruntled owners.  The show was interesting both in concept and method, a hard combo to come by these days.  You can see more of her work on the James Cohan Gallery website:  http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/alison-elizabeth-taylor/

Ironically I was listening to a podcast that I get, Studio 360 with Kurt Anderson, only to find that he featured her in a recent radio interview.  It’s worth a listen:  http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2010/06/04

* ALISON ELIZABETH TAYLOR Security House, 2008-10 Wood veneer, shellac 93 X 122 inches

 

The intriuging work of Hilary White

Hilary White, "Rein, Rain, Reign" mixed media with rotating motor 49″ x 23.5″ 2008

I ran onto a very interesting artist while in Philadelphia.  I didn’t encounter her work in an art gallery, but she was my waitress at a delightful restaurant in old town. Funny how things work out that way eh?

Her work is a great combination of symbolism, contemporary asthetics, graphic design, and faith.  A wonderful combination indeed.  Check out her work at:  http://hilarywhiteart.com

Hilary White, "Give Into, Given To" mixed media with light 71″ x 40″ 2007

 

Tell the story of your own village.

Christian Boltanski, «Réliquaire», 1990

For many years I have been a fan of the artist Christian Boltansky.  Recently I have been reading an interview with him.  Here are some quotes I liked:

“The big problem in art is being able to tell the story of your own village, while at the same time having your village become everyone’s village.  I want to be faceless.  I hold a mirror to my face so that those who look at me see themselves and therefore I disappear.”

“I think that aesthetics means nothing.  There is no such thing as a beautiful or non-beautiful thing.  There is art that works and art that doesn’t.  It’s about whether a work can touch people.”…”Perhaps there’s no such thing as a good or a bad piece, rather it’s about whether a piece can work at one given moment, about whether it can move us and speak to us.  I don’t believe in aesthetics, but then I don’t think anybody does.”

“A good work of art can never be read in one way.”

(all quotes from the book, press PLAY contemporary artists in conversation by Phaidon press)