Hurry Up and Wait (or 'not so fast!')

As the semester wound down, going into the unknown is both daunting and liberating. With several possibilities in the mix, the subject of these paintings reflect that nearness of decision and choice.

Waiting Room, 2009-10, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

The waiting room. Are we about to go in, or are we already through and having a quick re-think?  Run for the exit?

Last Minute Enticing, 2009-10 oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

Worked on simultaneously with the Waiting Room, this is more about the distraction near the exit. Last minute opportunity around the corner?

Indeterminate Reaction

Early into the semester, I was graciously informed that I wouldn't have a class to teach for the following semester due to further cuts in the community college budget. I've never been one to put all my chips in one basket, so having the various other part time jobs in the mix was a blessing.

 

Indeterminate Reaction, 2009-10, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches

Following from the games played in Contract: Variations of Red, the subject matter takes on more relevance. There is an unknown quality about what is going on in the subset images. In one, there is what could be either a funeral or a celebratory bonfire, while the oversized cropped figure looks on, caught between a state of horror and laughter.  The tabletop items continue themes from earlier paintings.

Contract: Variations of Red

Momentarily freed from the worries that had been plaguing my focus all year...

Contract: Variations of Red, 2009, oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches

Initially an exploration of reds in a color field, this image is more about the abstraction inherent in composition and games with the picture plane.  I've always enjoyed painting colorfields.  The subtle variations of color and surface handling can simultaneously suggest infinite distance or a literal physical presence. There is the plane where the image begins to 'congeal', creating the sensation that you could reach into the space and touch things. There is also the physical plane of the surface of the picture. In this painting you get a sense of multiple planes competing (or getting along). Unfortunately, subtlety isn't something that is captured well in digital images. Art is best seen in person.  Go see some art!

Third Quarter, 2009

Entering the second half of 2009 was quite a whirlwind of uncertainty.  As the semester ended,  it was unlikely that I would be offered a class for the fall due to the California budget crisis affect on the community colleges. Going into the unknown with a negative outlook definitely seeped into my painting, continuing the themes from the beginning of 2009.

Shell Game, 2009, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

The character in the window (or mirror) is supposed to be in charge of the shell game, but it looks like he has lost track of his own game.  In the meantime, the exit appears far away, through what feels simultaneously like a void and a monolithic wall.

 

Comfy Chair, 2009, oil on canvas 28 x 22 inches

The comfy chair unoccupied in a corner awaits. Yet the distance to it seems suffocatingly far, and there is a glimmer of the garden exit perhaps just a little further away through another room. Oh the decisions! 

Beckon, 2009, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

At the end of the summer, not long before the semester began, I was offered a drawing class to teach! In the meantime I had been working with several local galleries updating their databases and preparing their operations for the next transition in the artworld. The garden exit feels a little closer, though things are still a little topsy turvy.

Some landscapes

I can only hope the weather warms up again soon for some more landscape painting while I have the time and the light. The wind in San Francisco can take the fun out of standing in one place for a few hours. The locations I choose are often determined by presence of sun and lack of wind (and maybe the proximity of a restroom). I suspect that if i were to drive 20 miles north, south, or east, this wouldn't be an issue. I know that serious landscape painters would laugh at my thin skinned approach - bourgie bourgeois, a pleasant picnic in a pretty place with nice weather. Ahh the life!

I do want the paintings to have a pleasant seriousness about them. In contemplating form from nature and the thing we call 'art', i hope to capture more than a picture of a place.

Presidio - Lovers Lane Tree, 2009, oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches

Presidio - Grove Receding, 2009, oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches

Reflecting

While I didn't set out to make paintings about the crashing of the economy, the paintings from the first half of 2009 have certainly reflected it.

These empty hallways have a story to tell. Their pictures within converse with each other, simultaneously pulling you in and pushing you out. There is a purposeful 'kookiness' to them with their distorted perspective and loose rendering a mild affront to 'civilized expectations'.

Of course, on another level they are continued explorations of picture plane and color theory.

The Hammering, 2009, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

Emptied, 2009, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

Herald, 2009, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches

Floor space

I am adjusting my working methods to the new realities. I had been spoiled before with the option to leave something on the floor, walking around it or simply not going near it for weeks. The floor gods and i were on pretty good terms. Nowadays, anything on the floor is in the way and must be dealt with immediately. Learning new habits isn't easy though. Another difference is going from a slick wood floor to rugs on carpet. There is a stickyness to walking on rugs on carpets. I feel i may trip over myself at times. So it goes.



I also knew that changing my studio space would change my work. Not having the space to set aside and contemplate almost finished work, the next grouping has felt like it was filling a vacuum. In the past, one work flowed out of and responded to the recent and nearby works. The current set of paintings feels separated, revisiting instead an idea that had begun previously. Now it is taking on the feel of the space. The following three paintings are small. Cramped corridors.

Carrot and Stick, 2009, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Interjection, 2009, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Happy Couple, 2009, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches