Tester #2 07-08-2017

07-28-2017
9.5" X 6"
Acrylic and Coal Dust on Acrylic Yarn on Painted Wood Chassis

Blackening the beginning of the new year...

01-14-2016
22 X 16 IN
55.88X40.64 CM
Coal Mixed Acrylic on Acrylic Yarn on Painted Wood Chassis

First painting of 2016, continuing the idea of using Coal from the region I was living in as an additive to the paint. This painting was done quite different from the one in 2015, I only mixed the Coal in with the texture instead of dropping the coal on top of the already painted substrate. I decided the previous painting had so much coal on it that it became a bit of a kitschy visual statement. Too out front instead of subtle which is what I work to accomplish in these paintings, a powerful tension and release, but with subtle associations to dimensionality and the void. Maybe even not with the void, but something much less talked about, the INTERIOR. Since most painters only deal with the surface, and use that to talk about voids, but what I bring to you is a REAL VOID, which I simply refer to as the INTERIOR.

This is one of 4 paintings all begun at the same time, all the same size and scale. They began as a statement on pink, but over time, only three have stayed that way. The fourth is being worked on as I type. Wrapping began today, black over Quin Violet, which is one of my favorite colors, but also one of the colors I very rarely work on. I like it so much I never want to try to overdo it with paintings in that color. White and Black are the two colors I can seem to make 100's of paintings in without getting tired of it, maybe it has to do with what scientists refer to as NON-COLORS. Which I personally think is bullshit, they are born of pigments, which means they ARE colors. They have to be born somewhere.

Thanks! Enjoy the imagery, click the images and they will open much larger, if you save them to your hard drive, they will be saved even larger. Swim in the details.

LONG LIVE THE INTERIOR!!!!!

Jeffrey Collins

Moving Sale #3

Here's #3 of the Soft Paintings for sale to help with the move to the NYC area.

Thanks for your contributions.

Painting #3 is:
"11-24-2012 (Black Study #1)
16 X 10"
Acrylic/Wood Filler/Canvas
Price: $150 + $20 for S/H.

Click on image for larger views.

Moving Sale #2

As you can see from my first post, I am having a moving sale of paintings to help with the cost of moving to the NYC area in the near future.

This is this post's painting for sale:
"11-27-2012 (Black Painting #3)"
16 X 9 3/4"
Acrylic/Wood Filler/Canvas
Price: $150 + $20 for S/H.
Click on image for large view.

Moving Sale #1

As some of you know, I am about to move to NYC area in a few months. As a result, I am going to sell some of my smaller soft paintings to help fund the move. They are all priced well and with sturdy shipping. These paintings are attached to the wall with velcro that has been attached to the back, all you need to do is staple the back velcro to the wall and attach the painting to the wall. It saves on the wall and on the painting too.

First painting is:
"12-03-2012 (Black Study #4)"
Acrylic/Wood Filler/Canvas
15.75 X 9.60"
Price: $150 + $20 for S/H.
Click on image for larger view.

Quote of the Day. Jan 1, 2013

For my first post of the new year. Even though in my mind, the year really ends on the 21st when the solstice is. Today I was just remembered of a great artist who passed away on this day in 2005. Steven Parrino. I was told a bunch about him though one of his friends, Daniel Levine. He spoke very well of the man, and it makes me wish I had been able to get to know him too.

Here is a quote that Sharon Butler took from one of his writings.

"I am still concerned with 'art about art', but I am also aware that 'art about art' still reflects the time in which it was made. Content is not denied… Content is not obvious… Content is sustained in the air or the vibe of the work.""

http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2007/10/steve-parrinos-sex-and-death-paintings.html

Here's also another piece on Mr. Parrino by Jerry Saltz.
http://angelfloresjr.multiply.com/journal/item/2080

Banks Violette and Gardar Eide Einarsson did a painting together in 2006 they dedicated to his memory.
http://www.takaishiigallery.com/gallerysora/jp/exhibitions/2006_october_november/For_Steven_Parrino.html

Portrait photo by: David Robbins

Mark Grotjahn

Giving you many insights into Mark Grotjahn's paintings. I wish I could get to see these in person. I'm sure they are so much more intriguing in person. Check it out for yourself at Anton Kern's Gallery in Chelsea NY.



Big thanks to Loren AKA James Kalm for taking his time to document this event.

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