(Final 6/25)
Well, I thought this was going to be the last painting that I started as part of the body of work- at least paintings- that I would be calling a series. There are a number of non-commercial reasons I’ve felt the need to… close this chapter, and reflect on what I learned from these paintings that I should take forward to the next body of work. My thoughts on painting have been in no small measure about the drawing system I’ve used to generate compositions, which is a strategy but not a subject (right?).
Producing the physical cubes has also helped me think about spatial relationships, gravity and light source.
And of course, color! Clearly the latter is something present as an important element (how can it not be to a formalist?), which begs the question can or should it be more clearly a subject.
The piece in the upper left was a very early effort in the series that was abandoned, and the upper right corner held interest for me ever since it was done. This one started from a transparency and tone map as well- that element of making paintings is likely to continue as it allows me more editing control to counter-balance the automatic nature of the drawing.
After having thought this piece was done in March, and sitting with it for several weeks, I began revisiting the edges of the cubes. I realized, in the process of revisiting “cartoon”ing lines on another piece I will be reworking that the paintings are not only more successful in terms of intent with a more clear outline on the cubes (they have a more clear lineage to my visual influences), they need the line conceptually to emphasize their duality as drawings and paintings and compositionally it calms them down more.
Painting After Art is Dead 