Quote of the day 12-31-2010

For my last quote for this year. I make a very important entry. One by Marcel Proust...A French novelist and critic and one hell of a thinker.

"Authentic Art has no use for proclamations...It accomplishes it's work in silence."

Such a powerful phrase. It rings so true to most of the painters I admire today.


















Thank you for reading...have a wonderful day.

Jeffrey

Quote for the day 12-22-2010

Today's quote comes from the great painter Barnett Newman.

"The new Painter is concerned not with his own feelings or with the mystery of his own personality, but the penetration into the world mystery. His imagination is therefore attempting to dig into metaphysical secrets. To that extent his art is concerned with the sublime. It is a religious art which through symbols will catch the basic truth of life which is it's sense of tragedy."

Written in 1945 Long before the birth of Onement. But you can almost see the future out of this writing from three years earlier.



Cheers.

New thoughts on Brice Marden.

I was watching this video on Brice Marden again today, and hearing him speak about his painting and the ways in which he was applying the glazes, all the webs of color made me think of DNA and it's ever stringy substances. I was reminded of what Julian Schnabel said about Brice that his gray paintings were a panel of meaning on which to begin painting again. I look at his work today as if he has moved into painting the DNA of art...of painting itself.

I'm sure my comments might have some repercussions, but alas if it weren't for people speaking their minds, civilization would never move forward.

2nd most interesting blog...

As you would think, obviously I hold my own blog in high regard. But lately I've been spending a lot of time reading The Left Bank Art Blog.

It is a blog written by...
Charles Kessler

Irene Borngraeber

Tom Mcglynn

Carl Belz

Kyle Gallup

This blog has got some of the most interesting posts about art that I have found and I'm looking forward to new posts. I definitely suggest checking them out.

Cheers, Jeffrey

11-07-2010

I just put up my newest finished painting on the website. Felt like this time instead of putting the same images on here. I'd focus this space on showing the detail images from the photoshoot.

If you desire to see the full original work, you can do so here...

Many Thanks for viewing.

Quote of the day 11-02-2010

Today's quote comes from art critic Harold Rosenberg.

"Bad painters can be produced by a phrase, but a good painter is never identical with any definition."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Rosenberg

10-29-2010

New painting
"10-29-2010"
4ft X 3ft
Acrylic and Wood Filler on Canvas



Detail images of the left lower corner and the center of the painting lead you more into the many intricate details in variations on color and texture.





Enjoy, and thanks for looking. You can click on the images for larger views.

J

I finally got to see one.

I finally got to see this wonderful Adolf Reinhardt painting. 5ft square. Black. But not truly black. It is a slow painting that unfolds with the more time you put into viewing it. Sometimes I began to wonder if I were seeing things just from looking at all the black for so long. But it did begin to work it's magic on me and I began to see the red, the violet within the painting. The strange thing is that, of the reproductions I have seen of these paintings. You usually can see what looks like a cross pattern within the painting, with the cross being painted with a glossy sheen and the rest a very matte paint. But this one in particular did not have any of the sheen whatsoever. Which kinda threw me a bit, as I always thought that each one had that cross pattern within it. For as much as I looked at it, I could see no pattern within the painting at all. There are slight views that let you think there is an almost checkerboard pattern within it, but I don't know what I think as to that matter. All I know, is that I FINALLY got to see one. After all these years...more than a decade, I finally got to see one of the Reinhardt square black paintings. After viewing the rest of the ab-ex show at Moma, I now feel even more minuscule as a painter. These were painters that really hit you over the head with their work. Which makes me wanna work on my paintings even more to find what they found. That power, that intensity, that scale. Seeing Barnett Newman's painting Vir Heroicus Sublimis really made me realize what scale is truly all about. It stands before you, defiant of your thoughts and pushes right back at you. I still can't get these images out of my head.



1963. Oil on canvas, 60 x 60" (152.4 x 152.4 cm). Gift of Mrs. Morton J. Hornick. © 2010 Estate of Ad Reinhardt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

If you get the chance while this show is up. I highly recommend that you drop your preconception about New York and get there to witness this amazing show of all the Abstract Expressionists (Though I think they missed Milton Resnick)

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ATA%3AE%3AAbExFeatured&page_number=8&template_id=1&sort_order=1

Joseph Marioni in Art in America

 Wanted to share with all his fans, a great article on the painter written by Barry Schwabsky for Art In America magazine. It's from June 1999 when Marioni was in the middle of his exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art, which I wish I had spent more time down there by myself soaking up the color worlds.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/zjtdtv

Enjoy the article and the fabulous images from his show at Peter Blum in 1998.

Three.

Since my trip to DC a few months ago. I have been working on these new paintings. Allowing each material to remain separate but yet unified with the final painting. These new paintings have a whole new degree of depth to the colors and to the surface. I'm looking forward to all my new work in the future. Especially trying this out on some large canvases.

"07-25-2010"
22" X 16"
A/WF/C



"07-31-2010"
22" X 16"
A/WF/C



"08-21-2010 (Above)"
34" X 26"
A/WF/C



"08-21-2010 (Above)" Side View
34" X 26"
A/WF/C

I do hope that one day you will be able to view and take in these paintings in person.

Papers on Painting and Color.

I have been sharing these papers on Painting from The Painter: Joseph Marioni on his Facebook page for quite a while now. I wanted to take this moment to place these on here so that his fans and friends can read some of his amazing pieces on Painting.

In case you are wondering, Joe has given me full permission to share these with the public on here.

I have a number of his other older papers on painting, but will have to edit them again, as I have misplaced the PDF's of them, but will have them on here in the next few days.

Download The Radical Place of Painting.pdf here...
http://www.sendspace.com/file/u1ke3w

Download Marioni & Goetz - A Dialogue.pdf here...
http://rapidshare.com/files/390097744/Marioni___Goetz_-_A_Dialogue.pdf.html

Thanks and Enjoy these amazing papers on Painting. The paper "A Dialogue with Ingvild Goetz" is one of my personal favorites. Read it and I think you'll know why.

UPDATE

Here are the other three PDF's of Marioni's Papers that I have digitized at this time.


Download Joseph Marioni - Marioni & Hannelore Kersting - A Dialogue.pdf here...
http://www.sendspace.com/file/adktlh

Download Joseph Marioni - Noting Color.pdf here...
http://www.sendspace.com/file/p6z9lo

Download Joseph Marioni - Socrates and the Alligator.pdf here...
http://www.sendspace.com/file/zavpei

Enjoy!

Quote of the Day, July 24, 2010

I'm making this for tomorrow since it's already so late in the day. I have been reading Joseph Marioni's paper on the Specific Performance of Robert Ryman and he has pointed out something that I think every modern painter would also feel.

"The practice of modern painting implies a development of the form. Let me also make it clear that this does not mean there is a quest for an absolute or an end game to its pursuit; the development of modern painting is for clarity and full disclosure of the form itself."



You can read the entire paper of Marioni's from Paul Rodger's gallery's website at http://www.paulrodgers9w.com, there you can find it under the writings section. Be sure to check out his site too, as he show's some amazing artists.

Trip to Washington D.C.

I finally decided to write up a bit about my trip to Washington D.C. a few weeks ago. First off. It took about 6 hours to drive down there. What a journey driving in my car, I like driving in it as it's quite comfortable to ride in. I got to D.C. and when I reached the city, I immediately forgot a turn I was supposed to take, and ended up spending another 20 Minutes trying to get back to where I needed to go to make it to the hotel. D.C. can be even worse than NYC with their roads. NYC is way more efficient in their uses of road planning than D.C. is. I do not recommend driving through D.C. if you aren't already used to it. Take a cab or go on the trains and then walk the rest of the way.

I finally got to my hotel which is called the Embassy Inn, not a bad place, but not worth the $160 a night to stay there. I ended up in a basement room which barely had any air conditioning. No view whatsoever, but you don't go to D.C. to stay in a hotel all the time. I don't know why these places never have a mini-fridge so I can keep drinks cool. They are not dedicated to customer service I guess.



Joseph Marioni speaking on Robert Ryman.

I met up with Joseph Marioni, Wade Wilson and Paul Rodgers after checking in. We all decided to meet up later at the Phillips Collection to hear Marioni's talk on Robert Ryman, which BTW was intense. I got to walk to the Phillips with Wade and we quickly got to know each other and found out we have a lot of the same thoughts on many fronts.

The Phillips Collection is an awesome place for modern art, and also for portraiture and landscape painters of the past. Lots of fantastic painting in that place. They had a wonderful small De Kooning that I was interested to see. Though it's always hard to view a painting behind a piece of glass. I was searching for a wonderful Guston painting from the 50's but alas they must have put it in storage. That was a real let down for me, as it's the only Guston from his Ab-Ex period that i've gotten to see and it's quite stunning.

The Rothko Room as always is quite amazing. Always a very quiet place for introspection. The lighting in there seemed to be even darker than I remembered from the last time I witnessed the room. The paintings always look so somber in there. The tension within the paintings really get's one in the gut, twisting your insides, only letting you go when you finally decide to leave the room.

Friday, the four of us decided on another trip to the Phillips where Marioni told us about the ways he is planning on doing his show there next year. I can't wait to see the show. I know with Joe's love for art and how things are situated will make the rooms look quite exquisite.

Next up was visiting the Hirshhorn Museum and the BIG Yves Klein show. Oh man, it was amazing to finally see these 12 ft wide paintings you only ever dreamed about seeing. The scale is overwhelming when you've only ever seen them in a book. Times like these make me think that art books should always be very big to help give you a slightly better sense of the scale of the paintings. It is amazing to get to walk around a show, well shows with all the extra rooms of art they have at the Hirshhorn, with a group of gentlemen that REALLY know their art. I felt like not only was I getting to finally see these paintings, but I was getting history lessons and painting lessons at the same time. After the Klein show, we escalated up to the third floor to see their permanent collection. Which included a room of four HUGE Clyfford Still paintings. I think each one was about the same size. One blue painting in particular really grabbed me and didn't want to let go. I felt like to really take this room in, I would have had to stand...they didn't have a bench in that room...in front of each painting for a few hours and really soak in it's aura.

The Sugimoto room really messes with your head as you walk in there. The room was almost completely dark, other than a set of I think 6 large format photographs of his famous seascapes. All lit with theatre lighting to really keep each photograph under it's own special light, not disturbing the others. Another room I wish I could spend a day inside. Along with the Satie like music coming from the film next door, it really made for an ominous room. I made sure to pick up the Klein book there, which is the most photographic intense book on Klein ever produced. I also made a point to pick up the DVD there, which is an hour long documentary on Klein that is very in depth and allows you to see so much more video of Yves than seen before.

After that was the NGA. But this time it was only myself and Joe. As Wade had a meeting and was also meeting up with Painter Jill Moser. Joe went almost right for the Barnett Newman room with all the Stations of the Cross paintings. I gotta admit that the room does look way better than before. They have closed it off from the other rooms that were behind it, so now it is it's own space. I think they even lowered the lighting a bit as the paintings looked really great in this new room. Outside the room they had Helen Frankenthaler's Mountains and Sea painting, which is known as the first of the Color-Field paintings. So pleased was I to finally get to see this monumental painting. Which after repeated viewings, really began to look like an abstracted painting of flowers, and not necessarily a color-field painting. It was amazing that Helen let the NGA have it for a time, THANKS Helen for letting me finally get to see this amazing painting!

After a while we finally met back up with Wade and I got to meet Jill Moser, who I've known of since 99 when she had a show at Jan Maiden Fine Art in Columbus Ohio. That place was the eye opener of my life. I got to learn of oh so many amazing painters that she had shown. We all went right back to the Newman room. I think maybe Joe wanted to set up camp in there, I could tell he Really dug that room, as I did. Now I just wish that the NGA had a big "Who's Afraid" painting, so I didn't have to go across the pond to see one. We finally made it to the Rothko Room in the tower a bit before the place closed for the day. Man what a sight....I made sure to let them all walk way ahead of me so when I saw it for the first time my view wasn't blocked by anyone. Seeing a group of paintings like that really does make you feel small and insignificant. Which is what Mark was probably going for when making them. That along with the Morton Feldman "Rothko Chapel" playing in the room made for a very serious and ominous feeling that just kind of penetrated your core. I can only wish that I can see it again and there not be anyone else in the room to walk past me next time. I wish Paul could've seen it with us, but i'm sure he's probably seen it when it first came up. He had to head back to NYC that day. And after we finished our viewing of the NGA, we all took Jill to the train station too so she could head back home. I tell ya it must be nice to know you are only an hour or so train ride from NYC to DC. But I guess like anything, you do it so often and eventually you take it for granted.

The next day was pretty much packing, hanging out a bit with Wade and Joe, and heading home. Another fine trip to DC under my belt. I definitely think next time I'm not going in summer and i'm going to stay a few extra days to really see more museums and galleries. We did go to the Lincoln Monument and the Vietnam Memorial along with walking down the mall to see the WWII memorial. All amazing monuments dedicated to those who helped shape and protect our country.

Here's the photos from my trip...enjoy.



That first look was amazing.



I always look at the edges. It's really one of the best ways to take pics of these paintings.



Joe standing with the Rothkos.



From Joe's talk at the Phillips. That's Wade and Paul. Not taken very well...but it's a great memory for me.



The night sky above DuPont Circle.



Anthony Caro in the NGA. It was one of his "ledge" pieces.



Joseph Marioni: The Painter and Wade Wilson at the Memorial.



Joseph Marioni and Myself at the Lincoln Memorial.



The Washington Monument as seen from the Lincoln Memorial.



The WWII Memorial.

New Painting...New Seasons

As the seasons are about to change from Spring to Summer. Change is literally in the air. So I thought a little change up in my methods were in bloom. Though it's not really a change, I thought I would make a painting reminiscent of an older painting. But more with my knowledge of painting as it is now.

"06-12-2010 (Seasonal)"
22" X 20"
Acrylic and Wood Filler on Canvas



If you wanna take a look at the painting past that I wished to revisit. Please take a look at it here.

http://www.jeffreycollins.us/images/2001/Untitled_Red_Orange_LARGE.jpg

Michael Toenges on Rudolf De Crignis

Translated with love from the German into English by myself.

I am with Rudolf in the summer of 2005 on tour, a day when we have time to take us a drive, leaving the town slowly and always looking to the sky. We let ourselves drift, drive through the backyard, through streets and small parks - also increasingly out of town.

If on the former and long since forgotten by the airport, where the Trummer-flowers grow between the remains of the concrete slope, where some minor places are few, and where the sidewalks of a small garden next to the motorway, and cross under about.
The underpass of the railway to the big auto factory is half under water, some small trips we push. Industry terrain are emerging between the small woods, not to mention the row houses and suburbs. We look at the garden and eat an ice cream at the old church sitting under a tree.

Meadows and forests are great, some corn fields are now between the settlements. Over a narrow bridge, leads the way now between the forest and a green field toward the silvery leaves of a group of trees. The leaves move in the wind and the field extends for a moment into the infinite. Every time I arrived at that place, I hold otherwise.

Rudolf is ahead and I will have to pronounce and say to him, he sees it too. He sees it very well and he had to do myself. He stops and says to me: Look, is it not ready?

August Hoviele on Rudolf De Crignis

Translated from German to English by Jeffrey Collins (ME).

When I was in 1992 for the first time the studio in Soho Rudolf De Crignis visited was a very special experience for me.

It was my third studio visit that day, the two previous artists were Americans and talking about their work as pastors of their church on the west coast. In the studio of Rudolf De Crignis silence came over me, the artist Sat silent at his desk, there was no word spoken.

Was silence, only silence, or silence and contemplation. The atmosphere gave me a very wonderful feeling. I was quiet and undisturbed look at some beautiful blue paintings.

I was no longer in new york but in Sénanque, in the chapel of the Cistercian monastery. This special feeling is I always stayed. If I were a painting by Rudolf De Crignis stand and try to penetrate into that beautiful blue plane, I feel that sensation still.

In later years, I spend many warm and intense contact was fortunate to get to know the artist. It was a very quiet but strong personality, honesty and integrity, highly critical of his own work, open to other artists.



Although his artistic path to be followed very well knew, he was anxious and uncertain about the things he was doing. Paul Cezanne was never far away.

With the death of Rudolf I lost a very close friend and adviser, but we all have lost a great artist.

Rudolf, the beautiful moments I will never forget and I will continue your work I personal effects lovingly cherish.

Goodbye

Quote of the day 4-13-2010

Another Rosenquist quote for today. Reading this book has got plenty of remarks about the state of artists these days and I wanted to share some of his wisdom with all my friends on here.

"I felt as if the craft of traditional painting had gotten mislaid; you no longer learned your trade from a master painter, but from books and classes, and it occurred to me that looking for art in art schools was like looking for your wallet under a streetlamp when you hadn't lost it there."

Enjoy your day. Now go do something and be creative about it. Just don't hurt anyone in the process.

Cheers. J



Image taken from...

http://www.topsyturvystyle.com/2009/04/james-rosenquist-starting-over.html

Quote of the day 4-12-2010

Today I'm just beginning my read of the James Rosenquist biography. The book is called "Painting Below Zero". I would put up a link to it somewhere but no one is giving me a percentage if you buy it from my link. ;-)

Anyway. I've perused it's contents and have now begun to truly read through it. I'm only 4 pages into it and I've come across a quote I would like to share with you.

"There's no scale in the brain. An image of the most colossal monument and the tiniest ant can rest side by side in your mind. The mundane and the bizarre can fuse into a language of images that float to the surface when you least expect it."



Already I'm finding more and more amazing thoughts from the mind of Rosenquist. I'm already rating this book 4 stars...I can't give it 5 already because that would be favoritism now wouldn't it. ;-)

RED

Nothing more needs to be said.

New Paintings 2010.

Just got the website updated with these photos of these paintings. As you can see here. Click 'em and you can see in amazing detail.






















"01-15-2010 (Always Up To You)"
34" X 26"





















"03-13-2010 (For D.A.C.)"
36" X 30"





















"03-20-2010"
36" X 30"

Enjoy. Be sure to check out JEFFREY COLLINS: PAINTER for full updates every month or so.

New paintings, new year.

Just got a few new paintings finished. This is the newest and so far the only one I've taken pics of. Deep Black-Violet over Ultramarine on a very slightly yellowish ground. A hauntingly deep color that is deep enough to want to swim inside.

"01-18-2010 (Shield)" 36" X 28" Acrylic and Wood Filler on Canvas.























Click the pic to see the full image. Any interested parties are welcome.

Quote of the day, Jan 4, 2010

Wow. New year, new thoughts, new plans, new creativity. And here's a quote to light your artistic fire for the year.

It comes from my favorite sculptor Richard Serra.



"Unexpected youth will always change the course, because they'll always transgress, those people whom have come before."





Big thanks for those that have taken these wonderful pictures of the artist.

Hope everyone has a fantastic year.