I want to go back home and PAINT

Franz Kline

Untitled

1959

 

I have come to the conclusion that my excessive use of water on a canvas is becoming a problem. From all the artists I have looked at that I have liked, most of them show very thick layers of paint and texture. The problem is that I don't even know where to start in terms of 'high quality' paint that I could use and would let me achieve that rich color texture just like Kline's work. Unlike my paintings, Kline's paintings do not seem as washed out. Instead his work is able to keep a certain vibrance. My work on the other hand, seems to lose its color very quickly.
I need to work on that. 

Do Its Own Thing

Mark Toby

Trio

1970

 

Mark Toby

Canticle

Casein on Paper

1954

 

 

I still don't understand how people can let their paintings do their own thing. Whenever I paint on a canvas I feel like I am controlling way too much the flow of the drips of paint and the splashes. Mark Toby was an American painter from Wisconsin who focused mostly on abstract paintings. He is also well know for his 'white writing' which is a sort of caligraphy on abstract fields. Apparently Toby's painting Bars and Flails inspired Pollock's Blue Poles.

Daylight Dawning

Theresa Paden

Daylight Dawning

Portal

Female abstract painter, Theresa Paden does a lot of work that involves her emotions and her love for paint. “My abstract paintings allow me to explore color, light, and texture. Each painting is a joyful journey of layering colors and letting my heart lead the way.“ In her recent work Portal, you can clearly see the rich texture and use of thick layers - something I have not been able to achieve in most of my paintings. 

Art for Obama

Brice Marden

Obama Letter

I am not a big US politics fan but this artwork was made by Bruce Marden for Barack Obama. In an attempt to aid the Democratic re-election campaign, Marden participated in the "Artists for Obama" campaign fundraiser where he donated his work in support of the democratic party. The fundraiser included lithographs, etchings and screen printings. I am not really sure what Marden was trying to convey in this painting but I really his work because it has that minimalism aspect of simplifying art down to a color.  

Painting is Medium of Time

Valerie Favre

Going back to the idea of being able to add more depth to my work, abstract painter Valerie Favre does a lot of work that involve the sort of color scheme I like to work on. Her work is mostly related with space and time. One of the things I really like about her work is that she creates very soft and subtle smoke forms in her paintings without any signs of brush stroke or tool interventions. I want to learn how to be as subtle as possible with my brush strokes. 

Brazil

Derek Hess

Forsake

Ink and Acrylics

Derek Hess is an artist from Cleveland that does a lot of work with pen, ink and acrylics. Hess was one of my favorite artists back in high school and he was the one who inspired me to start using mixed media rather than just oils or acrylics. He was also the one that got me obsessed with the skulls and weird angels. 

"Don't sell yourself out"

Mark Licari

Acrylic and Pencil on Wall

2011

Back in the day when I was in high school I used to have an obsession with charcoal and pencil drawings. I used to draw skulls and very creepy angels with broken wings (no I was not an emo) I stopped doing pencil drawings because the idea of getting too technical with my drawings was boring me. I have always been a perfectionist and drawing became more of a tedious work I had to 'get right' rather than something I really enjoyed. Licari's work reminds me of the kind of drawings I used to make. There was a point in high school where I transitioned from drawing to abstract painting where I even started doing both (drawings on top of an abstract landscape). It wouldn't be a bad idea to go back to the old ways in the future. 

Hasted Kraeutler Gallery

Ellen Schneiderman

Subterrane 

2011

3EUE Fissure

2011

One thing that caught my attention the other day during critique was Allen saying how my work hanging on clippers made him want to snatch it away. i DON'T WANT people perceiving my work as fragile - hanging on clippers. I want my work to be able to give a sense of depth, having rich high quality. Perhaps, I still have a long way to go in coming up with new ways to make my work look less fragile. Schneiderman's work accomplishes this depth and rich texture. I want to learn how to do that but I am very frugal and I don't like to use up much of my materials.  I like to use a lot of water on my paintings. I should probably be less controlling of how MUCH paint I use. 

Rejection

Charles Marburg

Untitled, 2011, oil on panel, 12 x 12 in.

2012

Every time I google 'abstract expressionism paintings' I get paintings that involve flowery landscapes or paintings with too much literal information on them. Though I am a great fan of Marburg's work, I could never see myself doing or using pastel light colors on a canvas. My preference has and would always lean towards the dark side of the spectrum. Marburg's work composition and texture effects are pretty cool.

There are two things in life I really suck at doing: dancing and writing

Demetrius Maneuselis

P10.mar.02.01g

acrylic on paper

P11.may.18.01a

Before I started doing abstract paintings with mixed media I used to sketch a lot of abstract drawings on a journal. I was never sure what medium I wanted to focus on and from that on I started developing new ways of expanding my sketches. I first started using carbon, then crayons and then I decided to take it to a whole new  level when I started using actual acrylics on a canvas -  that of course turned into house paint. Maneuselis work reminds me of my old journal. 

I still look it at from time to time to get new ideas.

Chelsea

Artist: Unknown

Titles: Unknown

(Unable to remember) 

In my last trip to new york city I had the opportunity of meeting with another female artist who was doing abstract paintings and was exhibiting her artwork in Chelsea. The place was not exactly a gallery but a rented space right in the middle of a market. There was another japanese artist sharing the space who had some work up in there as well. In the entrance they had a piano that people could play which I thought was pretty cool.

By the time I was visiting the space I was currently working on a painting that I had been dreading on to stretch on a canvas simply because I knew how costly it would be to ship it back home. I had never seen unstretched paintings like that in an exhibition before  and so from that moment on I started hanging my paintings in my studio with clippers. Being a broke college student I have decided not to stretch any paintings until the day that I can financially support myself. 

Below: One of my works hanging at my studio.

Never thought I could say this but I am really digging the clippers look. 

Canto V

Canto V

Barnett Newmann

(1963)

"I hope that my painting has the impact of giving someone, as it did me, the feeling of his own totality, of his own separateness, of his own individuality." - Barnett Newman

"My child could paint that"

- and then there is people like this. 

Unfortunately, as much as I would like to disapprove of the above, truth of the matter is - YES your child could paint that. As a matter of fact, your child could have probably even elaborated a more complex and more aesthetically pleasing painting than Barnett ever could.

But the real question remains - Why do we value artwork the way we do? What determines the line between 'good artwork' and 'bad artwork'? 

Many people spend many years studying the aesthetics and lives of artists, they elaborate extensive analysis on one single painting and yet are able to make a living out of it. But, Why?

What is it about humans that make professions like this even possible? 

After all, art is merely unproductive labour with no intentions whatsoever to influence actions.

Yet, people like to go to museums, make riots and controversies out of paintings, commit murder, have sex and even make legal decisions based on the art market. 

Art is what we make of it. 

The reason why your 5 year old daughter's painting is not in a museum is because nobody really thought your child's work was worthy enough to be in a museum. 

Art is nothing but a crystal clear reflection of who we are as a society and who we are as individuals - nothing else.

Newman's successful simplification of art down to one single color or shape still amazes me up to this day. 

Foceaute

Foceaute

Acrylic on Canvas

Ed Moses

"I just wait until it goes 'Pow!" said Ed Moses in one of his interviews when referring to the process of art making. Perhaps that statement best represents what it is like for me to paint in my studio. Instead of analyzing and brainstorming what I am going to do next, I like to get myself involved in the process of selecting a specific color scheme based on my mood. Sometimes I pick dark reds, sometimes only black - it all depends on how I am feeling and how inspired I am to represent my emotions on canvas. 

Just like Moses, I like to immerse myself in the process of art making by splashing and throwing all sorts of materials onto the canvas. I never know what I am going to do next or what the end result is going to look like. All i know is that I am not scared to destroy, burn or include any sort of material into my workflow. 

...that my friends is what I like to call ART

Eyes in The Heat

Eyes in the Heat
Jackson Pollock
(1946)

Classic Jackson Pollock painting one of my favorites in the abstract expressionism movement. I hate still life, landscapes and realistic representations of the world. I love to use all sorts of materials on canvas to create very subjective expressionistic themes.