painting in a vacuum

Recently I heard someone refer to making paintings and living in the often isolated world of Taos as "painting in a vacuum". This may be a bit extreme (I saw the Diebenkorn exhibit this past weekend at the Harwood), but I think choosing Taos as place to live has been necessary in my development as an artist. The term "individuation" is used often in reference to the period of one's life which involves rebelling against the influence of parents in search of an individual voice. It may even be a sign of intelligence as children who don't exhibit these characteristic often reach adulthood with little or no drive to be anything other than "employable". As an artist, I've found training and the advice of older artists to be invaluable but the day came when I had to largely ignore the art world especially that which relates to academia in order to make work with meaning for me.

To all the books I never read?

Since when did reading become the most valued means of ingesting new information? I was asked in an interview what I've been reading (reading material related to the art world). I couldn't help but notice that it was frowned upon that I haven't been reading anything art related. Is that bad? Apparently, at least to some. I read art reviews in Mags such as "Art in America" when I want to get frustrated. My perception is that reading reviews about art provides a very small window into the plane of creativity here on earth. I guess if you're interested in who's buying what in Chelsea, art mags are a great place to start, but as a person devoted to making art, I must follow my inspiration and have yet to be inspired to make it to the end of an art review in some art mag reveared by many associated with art business as a very relevant source of information. I may change my mind about this as all of my opinions are subject to change as new information arrives. Of course, I don't see the info arriving at the opinion center of my brain via the pages of some art mag. Recently, I applied to a residency in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

I don't want to come across as someone who thinks that writing about art has no relevance, because I think it does. What I'm thinking and am saying is that much can be learned from the world that may or may not have every been written about or even put into words.

seven lazy steps

For much of my life, I've been interested in spiritual practice or the idea of what spiritual practice may be. I've experimented with many different befief systems and practices but haven't followed through on any. I can say that I "use to" about many things such as meditation, yoga, martial arts and although I sometimes pray, It isn't everyday. The only spiritual practice that I've been continuously involved in would be painting. I think painting is a spiritual practice when there is intent for the process to be so. I'm not sure the intent is always present but it often resurfaces as a consideration, at least. Anyway when I was presented with "The Seven Lazy Steps" , a series of seven affirmations each coinciding with a chakra, I was initially attracted to them because they seemed to represent a practice that I may be able to follow through on (never could work those 12 steps), but I haven't. I have howevever allowed the concept of affirmations relating to specific chakras to provide a framework for a series of paintings.

The paintings I've been working on are largely inspired by my perception of energy and how it relates to my perception of the outside world. The dimensions of the paintings, numbers relating to compostion and color palette are elements of a system designed to create objects representative of a human energy field.

ingredients

I see my art as being part scientific process and part self expression. There is nothing that takes the place of moving paint around on the surface of a canvas, board, etc. One of the biggest attractions of going in to the studio is getting lost in the world of color. At the same time, I find that I need a system which gives me a framework for the process, and of course, the system is subject to change as new information arrives as a result of painting. Often times, in a successful series of paintings, the concept that was the inspiration in the beginning no longer applies in the end. The last painting of a series often points in a direction yet to be resolved.

Are you an abstract painter?

I was asked in an interview recently if I defined myself as an abstract painter. At a cocktail party, this would have been an easy answer, but to myself, I'm not an abstract painter, necessarily. Much of the terms used in our language about art must have been coined by someone who didn't make art. I make the painting I make today, because in the 20 yrs or so that I have been painting, I have arrived at doing the paintings I'm doing now as a result of an investigation. Part of every series or even every painting that I have done has been largely about learning both technically and conceptually leading me to new ways of seeing myself as an artist and in turn inspiring artwork based on a conituously evolving idea and need to make art.