An engraving after Domenico Feti (c. 1589-1623) of Durer's Melencolia I.
LUNES, EL QUINCE DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
I'm just about ready to start painting a larger work on metal based on a history of painting (my take, of course). It's a composition of some images I've used before. Left to right: a caveman from a 2008 painting, Art Openings; another 2008 painting, Travel Fund (which I've been discussing all last week) and a detail from a 2009 retablo of Jackson Pollock painting, based on a Rudolph Burckhardt photograph.
I'm just about ready to start painting a larger work on metal based on a history of painting (my take, of course). It's a composition of some images I've used before. Left to right: a caveman from a 2008 painting, Art Openings; another 2008 painting, Travel Fund (which I've been discussing all last week) and a detail from a 2009 retablo of Jackson Pollock painting, based on a Rudolph Burckhardt photograph.
SABATO, EL TRECE DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Two installation photographs of my work in a recent exhibition at PAULNACHE, Gisborne called 'Represent'. I've got four new works in the exhibition, a new painting on canvas and three new crucifixes. The exhibition runs from the 5th to the 27th of March, 2010.
Two installation photographs of my work in a recent exhibition at PAULNACHE, Gisborne called 'Represent'. I've got four new works in the exhibition, a new painting on canvas and three new crucifixes. The exhibition runs from the 5th to the 27th of March, 2010.
JUEVES, EL ONCE DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Another Chardin monkey comparison, this time with his own work. On the left is a portrait of artist, art dealer, collector and teacher, Joseph Aved, painted by Chardin in 1740. Aved was apparently both Chardin and Boucher's tutor and by the looks of it, the model for The Monkey as Antiquarian (right; circa 1740). While Aved is pensively reading from a heafty tome, the monkey excitedly studies his new find, a coin - ready to be placed in a coin album sitting on the table. There are two versions of this painting - the one below and another one, reversed with an oval framed vignette. I'll post an image of that one tomorrow.
Another Chardin monkey comparison, this time with his own work. On the left is a portrait of artist, art dealer, collector and teacher, Joseph Aved, painted by Chardin in 1740. Aved was apparently both Chardin and Boucher's tutor and by the looks of it, the model for The Monkey as Antiquarian (right; circa 1740). While Aved is pensively reading from a heafty tome, the monkey excitedly studies his new find, a coin - ready to be placed in a coin album sitting on the table. There are two versions of this painting - the one below and another one, reversed with an oval framed vignette. I'll post an image of that one tomorrow.
MIERCOLES, EL DIEZ DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
A comparison between yesterday's Chardin Le Singe Peintre (right, 1740) and Francois Boucher's Self-Portrait At Easel (left, 1720, also in The Louvre, Paris). After looking at Chardin's painting monkey, I remembered a portrait of an artist painting that I'd seen recently in a book, a work similar in composition to the Chardin. After a bit of hunting, I found the Boucher self-portrait, painted when he was eighteen years old.
Boucher and Chardin were contemporaries but I haven't seen or read any references to a competitive spirit between them, yet it seems there is a striking resemblance between the two paintings so I can't but help thinking that Chardin is perhaps parodying the ostentatiousness of Boucher's Rococo paintings. From what I've seen of Chardin's paintings in the flesh, his work had very little to do with the conventions of Rococo painting from the Baroque period. Perhaps it's Chardin's comment (as a stylistic outsider), on his 'take' of Rococo painting at the time.
A comparison between yesterday's Chardin Le Singe Peintre (right, 1740) and Francois Boucher's Self-Portrait At Easel (left, 1720, also in The Louvre, Paris). After looking at Chardin's painting monkey, I remembered a portrait of an artist painting that I'd seen recently in a book, a work similar in composition to the Chardin. After a bit of hunting, I found the Boucher self-portrait, painted when he was eighteen years old.
Boucher and Chardin were contemporaries but I haven't seen or read any references to a competitive spirit between them, yet it seems there is a striking resemblance between the two paintings so I can't but help thinking that Chardin is perhaps parodying the ostentatiousness of Boucher's Rococo paintings. From what I've seen of Chardin's paintings in the flesh, his work had very little to do with the conventions of Rococo painting from the Baroque period. Perhaps it's Chardin's comment (as a stylistic outsider), on his 'take' of Rococo painting at the time.
MARTES, EL NUEVE DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
I've included here a painting I completed a month after arriving back in New Zealand after five months of travelling around USA, Europe and Hong Kong. The painting is called 'Travel Fund' (1000mm x 800mm) and is based on a painting by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin called 'Le Singe Peintre' (The Monkey Painter, executed around 1740). The image on the left is photographed from the original painting in The Louvre, in Paris. (frame included).
My version comments on my want to raise more funds to travel again, so in turn becoming a painting monkey, gathering those funds (if only it was as easy as painting!) - a means to an end. The other reason for using the Chardin was to update the parody of the 'monkey' paintings (I believe he painted several versions in different settings and vocations) and look at it in contemporary terms of visual engagement outside of New Zealand's artistic culture, looking at Western influence and to resist becoming, as Philip Guston puts it in the introduction to his 1978 Minnesota lecture, a painting monkey.
I've included here a painting I completed a month after arriving back in New Zealand after five months of travelling around USA, Europe and Hong Kong. The painting is called 'Travel Fund' (1000mm x 800mm) and is based on a painting by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin called 'Le Singe Peintre' (The Monkey Painter, executed around 1740). The image on the left is photographed from the original painting in The Louvre, in Paris. (frame included).
My version comments on my want to raise more funds to travel again, so in turn becoming a painting monkey, gathering those funds (if only it was as easy as painting!) - a means to an end. The other reason for using the Chardin was to update the parody of the 'monkey' paintings (I believe he painted several versions in different settings and vocations) and look at it in contemporary terms of visual engagement outside of New Zealand's artistic culture, looking at Western influence and to resist becoming, as Philip Guston puts it in the introduction to his 1978 Minnesota lecture, a painting monkey.
LUNES, EL OCHO DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Two years today.
This ex-voto seems all that bit more relevant now with the Pixies playing Doolittle in its entirety in Auckland this coming Thursday and Friday.
Two years today.
This ex-voto seems all that bit more relevant now with the Pixies playing Doolittle in its entirety in Auckland this coming Thursday and Friday.
DOMINGO, EL SIETE DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
I was looking through a Milan Kunc book I bought recently and spied a milk carton, similar to the ones I painted in 1997 (mentioned in this blog) and also in my 2008 painting 'Travelling May Induce Calcium Deficiency'. We both have used a 'milch' label, which I decided to use as when we were travelling around Germany in 2008, there was some conspiracy with dairy processing plants in Germany at the time - something to do with milk tampering of some sorts. I also included 'malk' which comes from a Simpsons episode where Springfield Elementary needed to make budget cuts so they supplied the students with 'malk'.
I've been looking at my 'Calcium Deficiency' painting recently because I've decided to do another version of it, up-scaled and with a few different techniques. I've specifically remodelled the figure's face, combining a three-quarter view of the Sphinx's head with a three-quarter view of Angelina Jolie's face. There's a few other aspects i'll be tweaking or roughing up, as the painting needs...
left: Milan Kunc, Easy Rider, 1992
I was looking through a Milan Kunc book I bought recently and spied a milk carton, similar to the ones I painted in 1997 (mentioned in this blog) and also in my 2008 painting 'Travelling May Induce Calcium Deficiency'. We both have used a 'milch' label, which I decided to use as when we were travelling around Germany in 2008, there was some conspiracy with dairy processing plants in Germany at the time - something to do with milk tampering of some sorts. I also included 'malk' which comes from a Simpsons episode where Springfield Elementary needed to make budget cuts so they supplied the students with 'malk'.
I've been looking at my 'Calcium Deficiency' painting recently because I've decided to do another version of it, up-scaled and with a few different techniques. I've specifically remodelled the figure's face, combining a three-quarter view of the Sphinx's head with a three-quarter view of Angelina Jolie's face. There's a few other aspects i'll be tweaking or roughing up, as the painting needs...
left: Milan Kunc, Easy Rider, 1992
JUEVES, EL CUATRO DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Another tooth reference, exactly a decade apart. The work on the left was painted in 1997 while I was at art-school and was part of an installation of paintings called '69 Ways To Make Me Look Stupid'. The text says 'wisdom doesn't come from your teeth' and depicts a lollypop skull looking at a mail box. The ex-voto on the right, again about teeth, ended up just being a sensitivity issue.
Another tooth reference, exactly a decade apart. The work on the left was painted in 1997 while I was at art-school and was part of an installation of paintings called '69 Ways To Make Me Look Stupid'. The text says 'wisdom doesn't come from your teeth' and depicts a lollypop skull looking at a mail box. The ex-voto on the right, again about teeth, ended up just being a sensitivity issue.
MIERCOLES, EL TRES DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
A new painting, Culturally Baroque (oil on canvas, 400mm x 300mm, courtesy of PAULNACHE). The title of the painting is also the title for a ceramic sculpture that will be part of my exhibition, Malfunction Baroque at the Rayner Brothers Gallery in Whanganui, opening 1st of April, 2010. The exhibition includes seventeen new ceramic sculptures and plates.
A new painting, Culturally Baroque (oil on canvas, 400mm x 300mm, courtesy of PAULNACHE). The title of the painting is also the title for a ceramic sculpture that will be part of my exhibition, Malfunction Baroque at the Rayner Brothers Gallery in Whanganui, opening 1st of April, 2010. The exhibition includes seventeen new ceramic sculptures and plates.
MARTES, EL DOS DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Tonight I have three paintings (one new, two old) in a faculty exhibition at the Federal Gallery in Whanganui. The Federal is the institutional exhibition space of UCOL, Whanganui and is named after its original premises, the Federal Hotel located on the corner of Taupo Quay and Market Place. I believe the exhibition will include work by tutors from Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Fashion Design and CAD. The exhibition opens at 5pm, 2nd of March and finishes on the 13th of March, 2010.
from left to right: Mother Nature, 2009; Parochial Martyr Corazon, 2010; The Beginning of the End, 2009. All oil on metal, 360mm x 290mm each.
Tonight I have three paintings (one new, two old) in a faculty exhibition at the Federal Gallery in Whanganui. The Federal is the institutional exhibition space of UCOL, Whanganui and is named after its original premises, the Federal Hotel located on the corner of Taupo Quay and Market Place. I believe the exhibition will include work by tutors from Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Fashion Design and CAD. The exhibition opens at 5pm, 2nd of March and finishes on the 13th of March, 2010.
from left to right: Mother Nature, 2009; Parochial Martyr Corazon, 2010; The Beginning of the End, 2009. All oil on metal, 360mm x 290mm each.
LUNES, EL UNO DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Matthew Summers had presented a small group of perfectly-formed paintings available for purchase on his blog/website. There are nine paintings presented in total and belong to a series of works that reference landscapes overseas that Matthew has visited and sketched.
Matthew was recently included in Warwick Brown's 'Seen This Century - 100 Contemporary New Zealand Artists'. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout New Zealand, including an exhibition my partner and I curated at the Sarjeant Gallery, called Prologue. You can see some examples of his work in the exhibition here. On the Prologue website, please click on the four paintings in a grid format on the lower photograph to view Matthew's paintings.
Matthew was recently included in Warwick Brown's 'Seen This Century - 100 Contemporary New Zealand Artists'. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout New Zealand, including an exhibition my partner and I curated at the Sarjeant Gallery, called Prologue. You can see some examples of his work in the exhibition here. On the Prologue website, please click on the four paintings in a grid format on the lower photograph to view Matthew's paintings.
DOMINGO, EL VEINTIOCHO DE FEBRERO, VEINTE-DIEZ
I took an epic, yet uber-quick trip down to Wellington to see The 3ds play at San Francisco Bath House on Friday night. It was a stunning gig, with an almost identical setlist to what they played at the Laneways Festival about a month ago. I love the inclusion of The Young and The Restless from The Venus Trail, one of my favourite all-time songs (second on the setlist). A couple of strange events happened that evening too, for instance,I found out that it was David Mitchell's son Oscar who rescued myself and my friend Aaron from being crushed by a massive garden umbrella at Nikau Cafe by the City Gallery, just hours prior to the gig.
Below are a couple of terrible cell-phone pics of David Mitchell.
I took an epic, yet uber-quick trip down to Wellington to see The 3ds play at San Francisco Bath House on Friday night. It was a stunning gig, with an almost identical setlist to what they played at the Laneways Festival about a month ago. I love the inclusion of The Young and The Restless from The Venus Trail, one of my favourite all-time songs (second on the setlist). A couple of strange events happened that evening too, for instance,I found out that it was David Mitchell's son Oscar who rescued myself and my friend Aaron from being crushed by a massive garden umbrella at Nikau Cafe by the City Gallery, just hours prior to the gig.
Below are a couple of terrible cell-phone pics of David Mitchell.
SABATO, EL VEINTISIETE DE FEBRERO, VEINTE-DIEZ
The two images on the left of the milk cartons were painted in my final year at art school in 1998, lamenting the fact that two of my paintings (one, a pink painting of a boxer dog called Morgan and the second, an oddly shaped canvas depicting an abstracted Martin Puryear sculpture) 'disappeared' from my studio the previous year. I'm not too cut up about it, despite the fact that I hope whoever took those paintings suffers an eye-gouging from the painting falling off the wall, or something similar and as effective.
Anyway, I just thought it interesting that almost exactly 10 years later, I painted two milk cartons on 'Travelling May Induce Calcium Deficiency', 2008, oil on canvas, 1000mm x 800mm.
The two images on the left of the milk cartons were painted in my final year at art school in 1998, lamenting the fact that two of my paintings (one, a pink painting of a boxer dog called Morgan and the second, an oddly shaped canvas depicting an abstracted Martin Puryear sculpture) 'disappeared' from my studio the previous year. I'm not too cut up about it, despite the fact that I hope whoever took those paintings suffers an eye-gouging from the painting falling off the wall, or something similar and as effective.
Anyway, I just thought it interesting that almost exactly 10 years later, I painted two milk cartons on 'Travelling May Induce Calcium Deficiency', 2008, oil on canvas, 1000mm x 800mm.
VIERNES, EL VEINTISEIS DE FEBRERO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Our friend Kendra has recently headed back to the USA. I painted this ex-voto for her departure, mostly because I was supposed to make Kendra a mug to swap the one she made for me. I'll post images of Kendra's mug soon. You can visit Kendra's blog here.
Our friend Kendra has recently headed back to the USA. I painted this ex-voto for her departure, mostly because I was supposed to make Kendra a mug to swap the one she made for me. I'll post images of Kendra's mug soon. You can visit Kendra's blog here.
JUEVES, EL VEINTICINCO DE FEBRERO, VEINTE-DIEZ
I'd been talking with a friend about where the chain is going in a recent painting I'm half-way through. (the She-Wolf with apt Romulus and Remus replacements) I like the mystery of ambiguity and like to open possibilities of 'reading' rather than hammer down the idea. Roy Dunningham summed it up pretty well in a statement from this article,
"...This diversity of sources creates a guessing game for viewers. When are the sometimes strange combinations of images truly impulsive as in pure surrealism, and when is there a deliberate agenda to be deciphered by the viewer? Sometimes it may be the sheer fun of creating visual puns and conundrums or some serious social comment to which the text gives a clue..."
I recently remembered a work that I had seen while over in Washington DC, a Martin Puryear sculpture that uses the same ambiguity or multiple reading - Le Prix (2005, below right) I think, is a fantastic allegory and analogy for being an artist. What is the ring of the chain being suspended by? What is pulling it? Where is it trying to get to? The title Le Prix, in translation can either mean the prize or the price - to me, commenting on the so-called muse of art-making, the sacrifice of the artist and the rewards of making art.
I'd been talking with a friend about where the chain is going in a recent painting I'm half-way through. (the She-Wolf with apt Romulus and Remus replacements) I like the mystery of ambiguity and like to open possibilities of 'reading' rather than hammer down the idea. Roy Dunningham summed it up pretty well in a statement from this article,
"...This diversity of sources creates a guessing game for viewers. When are the sometimes strange combinations of images truly impulsive as in pure surrealism, and when is there a deliberate agenda to be deciphered by the viewer? Sometimes it may be the sheer fun of creating visual puns and conundrums or some serious social comment to which the text gives a clue..."
I recently remembered a work that I had seen while over in Washington DC, a Martin Puryear sculpture that uses the same ambiguity or multiple reading - Le Prix (2005, below right) I think, is a fantastic allegory and analogy for being an artist. What is the ring of the chain being suspended by? What is pulling it? Where is it trying to get to? The title Le Prix, in translation can either mean the prize or the price - to me, commenting on the so-called muse of art-making, the sacrifice of the artist and the rewards of making art.
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