SABATO, EL DOS DE ENERO, VIENTE-DIEZ
Last Malevich reference, there's more, but that's enough for now. The two smaller canvases depict personified versions of the exterior niches on the Sarjeant Gallery, screaming. These works were painted at the height of Michael Laws' verbal and financial attacks on the Gallery.

Suprematist Scream, 2006, oil on three linen canvases, 760mm x 780mm

VIERNES, EL PRIMER DIA DE VEINTE DIEZ
To keep some consistency over the new year change-over, here's s couple of more works with Malevich references in some larger paintings:
left: detail from Numbskull (After Bosch) 2009, oil on canvas, 800mm x 1000mm
right: Foreign Coincidences, 2008, oil on canvas, 800mm x 1000mm

P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR
(left: At Sanson Cemetery. Photo by JK Russ; Right: Melancolia (After Durer) 2009, oil on metal, 360mm x 290mm)

JUEVES, EL TRIENTA Y UNO E DICIEMBRE, EL DIA PASADO DE DOS MIL NUEVE.
Some ex-votos with Malevich references in them, mostly of his Suprematist Painting: Eight Red Rectangles, 1915 in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
This painting was shown in Wellington as part of a Stedelijk touring exhibition called Exhibition Of The Century at the City Gallery, Wellington in 1998. It was my last year at art school and although having been over to the UK the previous year, seeing a selection of international artworks on home soil was a buzz, especially the Malevich. It's rough, paint-crazed surface and visible aesthetic decision-making of the scale and placement of the shapes was an eye opener. Its scale impacted on me too, especially compared to say, Sean Scully's painting (I'm not putting down Scully- I'm a huge fan, but just commenting on scale after seeing a large survey show of his work in Manchester in 1997). It really brought home the fact that its probably harder to paint a small painting with impact than it is to use the bombasity of a heroic scale.

MIERCOLES, EL TRIENTA DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
Back to work today, 11pm in the studio, channelling Kasimir Malevich after preparing some surfaces for new ex-votos and larger retablo paintings.

MARTES, EL DIECINUEVE DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
Thinking about Monday morning, travelling again and life in general.

(detail taken from a crucifix: 22nd Aug 2008: Cross That One Off The List, London)

LUNES, EL VEINTIOCHO DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
Boxing Day holiday / Havelock North High School / Konini Road animal reunion.

CRUZ DE DOMINGO, EL VIENTISIETE DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
A ceramic crucifix on a grave at the Sanson Cemetery in the Manawatu. I got Jo to take this photo as I thought it would be good to compare to the hand-coloured photograph that I posted a few weeks ago.

DIA DE LA NAVIDAD, EL VIENTICINCO DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE

JUEVES, EL VIENTICUATRO DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
At this exact moment over in Catalonia, Spain; kids are beating poor little Tió de Nadal with sticks to make him poop. I bet he's hanging out to poop out the onion so his job is complete for another year.

MIERCOLES, EL VIENTITRES DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
Something I whipped up for the festive wrestling fans out there.

MARTES, EL VIENTIDOS DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
A detail of the fixed corpus I mentioned the other day (Sunday, I think?)

LUNES, EL VIENTIUNO DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
A new ceramic work completed yesterday based on Durer's Melancholia print. The figure is holding a new New Zealand ten cent piece and the small bowl is intended as a coin holder.

DOMINGO, EL VIENTE DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
I realise I haven't posted a cruz de la semana for quite a while, but here's a studio shot with a new crucifix I picked up last week. You can see the crucifix to the bottom left of the large framed painting on the wall. The corpus is cast plaster that had sustained damaged around the head, arms and on the right knee. I spent a couple fo hours filling and sanding, then painted it with a tinted undercoat to keep the tone and surface of the original plaster. I've also made a new INRI sign for it as well.

SABATO, EL DIECINUEVE DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
I recently received a book on Milan Kunc, a Czech artist born in 1944, great stuff that could be described as kitsch, but of course that's from a modernist frame of mind. The image below is titled The Edge Of Dispair, 1983.
Na pokraji zoufalství. akryl na plátně, 140 x 160 cm, sbírka Museum Hessenského kraje, Darmstadt
courtesy of Galerie Caesar

VIERNES, EL DIECIOCHO DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
A few more earlier works of mine with coffins in them:
(from top right: Head Case, 2000, oil on ply, 190mm x 100mm; Darkness & Light, 2003, oil on canvas, 410mm x 310mm, Private Collection, Auckland; Interior Silence, 1999, oil on board, 240mm x 130mm)

JUEVES, EL DIECISIETE DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
A ceramic piece I finished yesterday, based on the monochrome painting in yesterday's post.

MIERCOLES, EL DIECISEIS DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
Another idea, galvanized. Sorry for the bad image on the right, its taken from a general studio shot. I'll post the new retablo on this site once it's complete.

MARTES, EL QUINCE DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
The 'galvanized' idea from yesterday's post came from the 1836 image below. After visiting Bologna in 2004 and seeing Galvani's statue there, I did a bit of research and reading on him and his frog legs experiment. Of course, there's lots of parallels with Frankenstein and I like the analogy with reinvigorating worn -out art ideas. In the case of Galvanized Hand, I was wanting to reinvigorate the use of lightbulbs with owls on them (see below). An inanimate cast of my hand, painted in a mortuary-green colour, provided a successful foil to the lightbulb

LUNES, EL CARTORCE DE DICIEMBRE, DOS MIL NUEVE
I've got a sculptural piece titled Galvanized Hand in '90 Years, 90 Works' at the Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui. The work was part of my exhibition, The Museum of Inherent Vice at the Sarjeant in 2007. There's some text that goes with the work, written by Senior Curator, Greg Anderson; which I'll post on this site soon. I must say, it's pretty nice to be grouped with Ed Ruscha.