Blog Resurrected

Okay, I'm back. Maybe. We'll see how my blogging experiment goes the second time around. The first fared pretty poorly, as the date on my last entry proves. But I'm in graduate school now, and have an immense amount of unstructured time on my hands, so perhaps this can be my latest form of procrastination, following reading the New York Times (and all of the reader comments), watching good and bad television on the internet, nurturing a growing infatuation with Netflix, and taking unnecessarily long strolls through my new neighborhood. I moved to Columbus, Ohio about a month and a half ago to pursue a Masters (or PhD?) in Arts Policy and Administration at the Ohio State University. I am technically a student in the Art Education Department, but I also spend a good bit of my time at the School of Public Affairs. So far, so good, though I miss Philly and the people there tremendously.

After a really long art-making hiatus (due in large part to the incredibly time-consuming process of applying to and financing grad school), I am back to painting things...and magic-markering things. I haven't totally decided yet whether to post my latest pieces, since they are simply exercises to get me out of an object-depicting rut. Using Gustav Klimt's paintings as inspiration, I am re-creating their lush backgrounds using magic markers and an over-lay of white cut-outs. I am surprised to discover how difficult magic markers are to control. They force me to think in blocks of color, as blending and tone variance are hard to manipulate. I cannot correct my mistakes "back" to something intended. Instead, I have to let the mistakes dictate a new direction, usually involving a darker color. This is useful for me, because I think I over-rely on the changeable quality of paint. In acrylics, I can and do just paint over it. Oils can be re-worked fairly easily. These are not bad things, but it is nice to remember how mistakes can actually be a good thing for creativity, and a way to let the work evolve on its own terms. I think, after this long description, I must post them (and will do so, once I have a chance to scan them).

In the meantime, I'm just going to throw out some of my old stuff...circa 2006/2007.


I've chosen these three paintings out of homesickness for Philadelphia, and because I think of these paintings as a turning point in my artwork, or rather, the point where my artwork first took on some sort of conceptual theme. The first two, 1536 Pine Street I and II, and the third, Zack's, helped me realize and articulate an interest in space, perception, and memory. Using a "filmstrip" to convey spaces I spent a great deal of time in helped me depict movement and motion as a part of the act of perceiving, and it gave me a flexible framing device. Long narrow hallway views received a long and narrow frame. Wide rooms received a wide frame. I suppose it's not so different than creating a series of paintings in multiple shapes and sizes, but I like how these views are conjoined into a single work in the above strips. I haven't returned to this style since making these three pieces, partially because they were incredibly labor-intensive, and partially because I wasn't sure what else to say with them, but I often reference them when I feel lost or confused in my present practice.