Summer

Okay, I'll start off with that i've finally posted an update to my website (www.bencressy.com) and made a few changes. Well, maybe i'm testing a change. Instead of forcing the viewer to navigate via 'superthumbs' to pages of a few select paintings that fit together, I've put all the thumbnails on one page. The page ends up being 315k and this is what i would call sloppy web design, or maybe design for the broadband age. Of course, it probably doesn't work so well for those lucky enought to be able to browse the web on their phones. I also implemented 'thickbox' which makes it easy to browse through images via 'next/previous' links instead of having to go back to thumbnails and then click the next image. For the time being the change is only on the studio side.

Anyway, on to painting news. I've been plugging away and trying to finish a couple of paintings. One is another exploration of a 'bar' painting. I've been battling the color relationships of the major forms, and spent some time moving tape to find the placement of the pure abstract element that i have yet to label with an easily understandable explanation. Well, here it is... I think it's close to finished, but anything can happen.

Icarus or Annunciation, 2008, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches

Another painting that I had been working on for awhile is complete. It stands out as something different, so i'm not sure how or if it will be presented within the current body of work. Perhaps a few more will follow it and flesh out the notion. It came out of the earlier hallway interiors.

Guardian Exit, 2008, oil on canvas, 48 x 36inches

I made a few studies of the figure (admitedly from a photo) before diving in and enjoyed that each time had a very different expression.

Situational experience

I've been thinking about how a painting lives in the world.
Most artist spend inordinate amounts of time contemplating an individual piece while in the process of creating it, and there by gain a multitude of insights and associations that are rarely communicable in this age of elevator pitch statements. But 'expressible content' and immediate 'visual parsing' aside, there is often so much more to the reality of the individual piece that gets left out of the representational image that we're used to seeing. Much of this is dependent on the situation that the painting is seen.

To get specific, I have a painting (Entice: Existent) that looks a warm red-purple under regular household or gallery lights (which are super yellow). Seen in natural light the color has a strikingly different experience - it turns to a periwinkle blue purple. And then there is the reality that there is often glare in a house that can make a painting difficult to see, but if you're lucky it shows off another aspect to the piece. Relative reflective qualities are something that i've been trying to incorporate for awhile, and it plays nicely with between colorfield and 'object' elements .
Here is an example.








The presence of surface qualities is something that never really comes across in a photo. Seeing the play of glazes, or the sensation of bushwork is almost always lost. I would rather have the painting give more to the viewer in person than the representative image of print and web though, but sometimes it is frustrating knowing how much is lost.

The final thing worth mentioning is how a frame finishes a piece. There has been a trend in contemporary art to not frame a painting. It gets expensive quickly, and framing styles tend to date a piece, but simply addressing the edges makes for a more elegant finish... Call me old fashioned.

Threshold revisted

A painting can be perfect in a particular situation and fail in another. I had a painting that would absolutely sing in a dark red room. Unfortunately, i don't have a dark red room, and while i know it would look great in that situation, it looked a bit heavy on white walls. The gallery situation of white walls is unfortunately the standard, and most people have light colored walls. so it goes...
So i decided to revisit this painting and make it more 'white wall pleasant'. Now it might go even better on a dark red wall ; )

Threshold, 2007-08, oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches

Some Landscapes

It had been a rather cold and windy spring for San Francisco and the surrounding area, making it less pleasant for painting landscapes. I was able to paint a few that I'm happy with that seemed to bode well, continuing from the fall seasons work.

So here are a couple...

Golden Gate Park, Wispy Fog, 2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 16

Lincoln Park Hole 6, 2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.

And a few more.. For the most part I try to stay true to the oneshot plein air tradition, but these required some touch ups in the studio.

Golden Gate Park, Marx Meadow, 2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 16

Presidio Bluffs Loop, 2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 16

Occasionally I try to push the abstraction even further while remaining true to the location. At a certain point though the work can be done in the studio (it was cold!).

Muir Beach Hills, 2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 16