Rothko and uses of materials.

After visiting the National Gallery in DC last year, and taking a number of photos. Most of which didn't come out the way I had hoped because these new cameras pretty much always need a tripod, if you aren't using the flash.

I was visiting the section with all the Rothko's and Newman's, one thing really hit me about the one particular painting from the Seagram Mural job he did. How crappily it had been painted.

As you can see in these pics. The one painting from the Seagram murals has got some pretty crappy paint that Rothko used in these paintings. I don't know what the hell kind of paint he had used on these paintings. But it sure wasn't artists grade oil or acrylic paint.

I've heard many stories about how he was always using cheap materials in his paintings. Which is not what one should be doing when you are a serious painter as he was. You can look in these pics and see where one section of paint has bled through the rest of the paint on top of it. It almost looks as if someone had taken a torch to that section to make the other paint seep through the top coat.

Seeing this really bothered me, as I really try to take as good care of my paintings as I possibly can. As do my other painter friends. Only in my very first paintings were I not using high grade artist acrylic paint.

Thinking about this painting and it's bad aging, leads me to think of the Rothko Chapel in Houston where he has his largest paintings. Which from his uses of materials, and his being stingy with the cash flow he had been given for the set of paintings. We today will never be able to see the paintings as they were when they left his studio. I know they have been "restored" but in cases of restoration, it never turns out the same way as the original had been the day it was finished. If you want to learn a bit about how restorers can be, just read the book "I was Vermeer"...it'll tell you about a number of ways restorers over the years have screwed up painting after painting.









Here's where you can really see some of the results of using inferior materials. Thankfully he didn't do this on all of his paintings.

So in lieu of the above. Please let me say to all of you painters out there who wish to be selling paintings like crazy. Give a thought to the future and how you would want these paintings to look after 50 years, 100 years, and then ask yourself...is this house paint really something I should be using on this canvas. Think about the people who will become your patrons, spending their well earned money on a painting of yours only to have it fall apart after 15-20 years. And go to your local artist supply store and put down some money on the good stuff. You'll feel a lot better about it in the future, when you can look at your paintings and they still look as good as the day you finished them.

I have also seen a number of older Twombly's where they are now under glass, as the paint has literally fallen off the weave of the canvas.



Oh it's so sad to see great paintings go bad.

A Rookie Mistake

Yesterday. I reverted myself to an earlier state of being, when I realized that I had thinned down the paint mixture a bit too much, while finishing up a painting. Why didn't I simply work with the paint the way it had originally been in it's nice plastic can. Doing the directions I normally use for creating the pouring on my painting. I remembered back to how thin and gorgeous some of my earlier paintings had been and wanted to attempt to produce something akin to that feeling again. I guess back then I must have really been on the edge of pigment destruction, for all those pourings came out in a very matte manner. While the paintings I make today have much more of a gloss surface. Through my attempts and successes at glazing, I might have went a bit far in that manner also which didn't allow more paint to stick to it...but I don't think that was the problem. I simply got overzealous and mixed far too much water into the containers I use for this particular stage of my painting.

Even before I began work that day. I knew something was a miss. When I went to mix the colors with the end of my paintbrush. I noted that the paint seemed to really wanna come off the brush when I pulled it from the can full of color. It's always the little things that you should REALLY take note of and make sure that when you see little hints, you take them into consideration. Had I done that yesterday, I might be sitting here looking at a newly finished painting. Alas, I now sit here looking at the results and remains of the mistake I made yesterday. A wonderful yellow painting with errie, ugly, dirty looking paint caked upon many parts of the surface. Sections of the wood filler that I could not get the wasted paint from.

Not to worry too much about it. I will begin from stage 4 and will rectify this into a beautiful painting, of small scale but large in heart.

Not About Alan Ebnother

I could probably write a thousand words on how much my life has been touched by the personality and painting of Alan Ebnother...but I won't. I'll leave that for my archives.

One thing I can gladly tell you is how I got to know Alan and his painting. We met in July 2004 when I made my first trip to NYC to visit our mutual friend Joseph Marioni. I originally thought that while sitting in my crowded and smelling greyhound seat for around 11 hours, which I didn't sleep at all through it. That I would simply be meeting Joe and hanging with him through my visit. Not so. After meeting Joe in the bus terminal and making my way down the street with my arms feeling like jello, and trying to take in the situations I was in. I'm a 29 year old guy, visiting the biggest city in the world for the first time. Going to visit and hang with my favorite painter. Trying to take in all the sites at once during that first stroll down 8th Avenue.

Skipping ahead a bit. We met Alan at Joes, and proceeded to hit up the Hells Kitchen Diner for breakfast. Awesome place with great food. Heading out to Chelsea to see the galleries, and hearing Joe and Alan speak about the different spaces, I felt for the first time like a real artist, hanging out with other real painters. Trying to soak in as much as I could, and writing this. Realizing I can remember a LOT more than I give myself credit for.



Since that day, it took me awhile to get back in touch with Alan, but I knew it was something that I really wanted to do. You know how sometimes you feel compelled to wanna meet someone. You feel that maybe they have something that you are supposed to learn from that person, and you wanna find out what it is.

It wasn't till about a few years ago...I think. That I finally met Alan again online. Thank God for Myspace and it's technology which helps you to get to meet and learn about other people. This was before everyone jumped on the FB bandwagon, which I have found far more interest in.

Alan is always on FB, sharing new photos of his new paintings and him mixing his own paints. He's given me countless ideas about painting and about life.



And I just realized that i've said too much. The rest is between the two of us, and all of our friends on Facebook. HEHEHEHE.



So go add him as a friend and get to know Alan and his wonderful paintings. The rest is up to you. You'll just have to wait for the Biography to learn more.

Cheers and have a wonderful week! J

Two New Paintings...and a dream.

It's been awhile since I last updated my blog. I've been doing quite a few things. Trying to plan for a book, trying to make some $$, researching painting techniques I have yet to try. Here are the results of my journey into more colors and more depth in my colors within the painting.

Both are painted within a month of each other. And are both the same size. 

24" W X 25.13" H.

07-23-2009



Within this painting, I was focusing more on creating color I have yet to use. I wanted a nice creamy color to try out. I feel it is a success and will be working more in these creamy types of colors in the near future.



I have begun to take my photographs of my paintings differently. In the hopes of giving the viewer more of a sense of the scale of the painting, and of the subtleties of the color and texture.

I was speaking with a painter friend who noted that when we cut the painting out of the background, we take away from the scale of looking at the painting where it belongs, on the wall. And therefore it makes our viewing of the painting unrealistic. So he suggested taking pics of the painting in three sections. First, to take a full image of the painting with it's background and the views of the shadows on the wall. Second, to take an image with more items around the painting, which gives more of a sense of scale. Just how big the actual painting really is. As it is in relation to other items. Third, take an image of the painting from it's side, as taking a photo from the side gives more a sense of depth in the painting, as it also gives you a sense of the texture within/on the painting.

I have been following this method and I feel it truly is making the imagery you see on this computer screen, just a little bit more like being there in reality.





The color got a bit away from me in Photoshop with this detail image, but from the previous images, you can see it's true color.
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In this set of images on this painting. I was experimenting with pearl colors. These are colors that have a slightly glittery look to them. Some people think of it as a gimmick, alas, others find it adds much depth to a color. I will not hazard to tell you my thoughts on it, as of right now I still have yet to form a concise view on the subject of pearls in color.

Using a great green for the ground and a paynes gray for the poured color. It creates a very deep sense of darkness within color. I haven't worked very much in dark colors in the past, so I'm still finding my way around with many many colors. There is much work still to do. Thank God!

07-02-2009

Hope you are enjoying your day. 

Jeffrey

Thursz and the Radical Painting Group

I've been doing some snooping around the net and recently came across a cache of photos of Thursz and his paintings. I was even lucky enough to find a photo of the Radical Painting group of the late 70's and early 80's.

Which included (L-R) Erik Saxon, Phil Sims, Merrill Wagner, Dale Henry, Doug Sanderson, Susanna Tanger, Anders Knutsson, Marcia Hafif, Jerry Zeniuk, Frederic Matys Thursz.

Missing from the photo is Joseph Marioni and Olivier Mosset . I really don't know why they were missing from the photo. Seeing as how much a part of the group they were.



There was a lot more to this group than meets the eye. They were a group of people who were looking to begin painting again. Hence the term RADICAL. With it's meanings in the word ROOT. They were looking to get to the root of painting, which is simply color and it's surface, it's objectivity. Most of them just took different means and techniques to get to where they wanted to be with their paintings.

The group itself was begun with Olivier Mosset and Marcia Hafif, and grew from there. Until around 1984 when the group all but disbanded.



I wanted to share this great photo I also found of Thursz' studio in Ossining New York. What height to that ceiling which allowed for so much light to reach those paintings, there was probably almost no reason to even have artificial light in the room.

Studio Photo by E. Tulchin.

I also wanted to share some other photos of his work here.



Orison 1 and 2. 1990-1992 221X74cm each.



#4 1974 74.5 X 74.5 cm

Enjoy the wonderful paintings.

A Sanctuary for Light

Just wanted to show some photos I received from my friend Alan Ebnother and the people at Art:Basel who took the last two pics of the installation from Joseph Marioni's Sanctuary for Light at this years Art:Basel. I'm looking forward to getting more photos from Joe of the installation, which should be in my inbox in a few days. Then I'll be happy to share these pics with everyone on here.



Pic courtesy of Alan Ebnother.



Pics courtesy of Art:Basel.



Included here is a press release for the show.
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This is a unique opportunity to see a major work installed to his specification. The room is 750 meters square and part of the presentation of a four part work designed for the room as one piece, each working in transition to each other within the scaled environment that he designed.

"Marioni has conceived this special project as a model for painting environments that he proposes to create in specific public and private spaces. The unique element in Marioni’s vision is that his paintings will be created on site and in an encounter with the natural light of each location. Each Marioni ‘Contemplation Room’ will belong to its special environment. My sense is that this initiative represents something innovative, and I am confident that you will want to discover this experience for yourself in Basel.

Mindful of Rothko’s thoughts on how his paintings should be grouped together, which culminated in his celebrated chapel at the de Menil Foundation, and embracing later notions of site specificity from Minimalism, Marioni envisages an exploration of the encounter between color, local natural light and specific architecture. Where Rothko’s paintings look inward and seek seclusion, Marioni’s vision leads painting into a distinct relationship with the global environment of the future."

Enjoy and have a wonderful week.

J

My week in PA

Been spending a few days reflecting on my past week with my friend and painter Joseph Marioni. It seems like everytime I talk to Joe, in person or on the phone, I learn a ton of new things. About painting, about life. The guy just seems to know a ton of fantastic information. So much so that when I'm around him I don't wanna ask too much to tick him off from this young'un asking too many questions.



I remember him telling me about his space in PA and how nice it was. I never got the idea in my head about how it was until I saw it. It just made me wonder if I have any depth to my imagination, as I seem to not be able to do much for visualization of spaces and the scale of paintings. It could very well come from the scale of my paintings being so much smaller than those of the painters whom I admire.



I took a few photos while I was there. I never did ask Joe to take a photo with me, I don't know why I did that, could come from my desire to not impose myself onto people, but sometimes I do need to be a bit more on the pushy side.

Anyway here are some of the various pics I took.



Here's a photo of the first floor gallery space with Joe's paintings and some of mine that I brought to show with him. He had only seen my work in reproduction, like so many other people.



Here's the wall with one of Joe's stretchers. A friend remarked that this stretcher is more Art than most people's art...which I agree. If only you could see this magnificent piece of woodwork.



I got to help Joe uncrate this painting after Joe, Stephen and I spent some time moving the crates around. Man those things are built like a tank.

I also got to meet another great painter while I was there. Stephen Bennett, the Portrait Painter. An amazing painter who travels the world painting indigenous people of the land. Along with his many commissions. A truly nice guy who has a love for life and a love of music. The guy is really into House music, so I gave him a few cd's of my mixes, to which he remarked that they were better than a bunch of the cd's he had actually bought. So THANKS Stephen!

If you are going to Basel this year and the Art:Basel. Make a point to check out the Joseph Marioni exhibition there with 4 of his large format paintings. They really are tremendous and I can only wish I too was going there to see those paintings.

Have a wonderful week. J