well, i graduate soon.

right now i'm pumping out works for my final exhibition that will have its opening reception on December 10. i've been getting up around 7:30 every morning, and going to bed around 2:30 every night. tough stuff, but it's a fact that i enjoy perpetual busyness. there's so much to do and so little time. i wish i could add 5 more hours to each day.

after all of this is over i'll restart the regular updates for sure.

in the right direction

another not so great photo.

this one is probably something around 4 feet in diameter.

new one

Horrible picture, forgive me.
It doesn't have a title yet.

I've been doing these paper cutout compositions this summer.
Every time I make a new one they get bigger. The one I'm drawing/cutting/painting right now is 70'x48'in.

excerpt from an interview with Richard Colman

from Juxtapoz Magazine online

CRG: I know that you use Islamic patterning as a reference in your work, and I also noticed that all or most of the faces are hidden/ obscured. I found that pretty interesting because in the Islamic religion, they are not allowed in their artwork to depict the human form. Is there a significance to this Islamic idea of not depicting faces?

RC: I don't really reference Islamic patterning directly, I think it's more that I just build my patterns in the same sort of way. I like figuring out ways to build the different patterns, there is a sort of math to it all that I find interesting. Working out the patterns and actually the whole painting is this process of sort of making and solving a puzzle all at once. I like that.
The faces and other things which are obscured or hidden just comes from wanting to hide things and have secrets in my paintings. I like the idea that you can never really know what's going on and that you can continually find new things in them.

CRG: Second part of that question, also related to Islamic patterning, their use of patterns derived from nature represents the most perfect depiction of the presence of their god. In other religions, in particular the Mandalas that occur in a number of different cultures, they use pattern and repetition as a way to meditate on the presence of some greater power. What are your thoughts on this?

RC: I think working in this way can be very meditative. A lot of times I'll be working and before I know it the whole day has gone by. It's very easy to zone out and lose yourself in this kind of work. As far as reflecting on, or communing with any sort of higher power, I don't know—but I'm not really looking to do that. I just kind of daydream or think about whatever, but I guess if I were real into God, I'd think about that.

self portrait

self portrait, originally uploaded by ugly mouth.

reductive linocut

ART CHICAGO

art chicago

artists of note:

William Steiger, The Blue Mill - 60 x 48

oil on canvas

Tom Wesselmann, Bedroom Painting # 23 - 99.8 x 110.5

oil on shaped canvas

Cordy Reyman, 193 Stairs - 82 x 121 x 2

Acrylic on wood

Erika Lawlor Schmidt, Overwhelming Compassion (Meanwhile, The Arctic Melts), 30 x 40

Collage and Acrylic on Reeves B.F.K.

Adam Scott, Electric Koolaid Acid Punch - 46 x 46

Acrylic on canvas

Nichole Stager, Bracket - 4 x 4

Chromogenic photogram and resin, mixed media.

Ted Larsen, State of Play - 35 x 32

Peter Skvara, Asteroid #4

Michael Burges, Reverse Glass Painting - 23.6 x 16.5

Acrylic, Plexiglass, Aluminum

galleries of note:

eo art lab

verve gallery

rebecca ibel

skestos gabriele

tory folliard gallery

riverhouse van straaten

rebecca hossack art gallery

jill george gallery

roy boyd gallery

lausberg contemporary

zane bennett contemporary art

jim kempner fine art

kavi gupta

hungry man gallery

like the spice gallery

steven zevitas gallery

pele prints

IFPDA

finished

MUSCOVITE/BIOTITE
oil on canvas, 30" x 30"

introduction to personality theory hehe

She covers three slides, I move on...

looks like me from behind (before i cut my hairs)

girl with a bob in a sweatshirt

dude

zipper

as big as your seat

looks like a fat john lennon

On my mind...

I started this on a 16x20 panel (I think) a couple summers ago (self-portrait as a snake. it doesn't quite look like me, and i only had prussian blue, hansa yellow, titanium white, and alizarin crimson). I think it should be the next painting that I start, or perhaps one that I complete over the summer. I have a 28x40 canvas free that I could do it on.

ANNE STAHL interview. new painting.

For ARTP 499 we had to interview an artist in order to prepare for a presentation about that selected artist. I chose the artist Anne Stahl. I'm posting here the interview with her because I think her work is awesome, because it was cool that she did this for me, and also because she had some interesting things to say.

RE: Was your education helpful to your career? If so, in what way(s) has it been helpful?

[Anne Stahl] Yes, very much so. The college I attended was focused on teaching us useful things like: knowledge of materials, technique, philosophy, discipline, critical thinking, other art exposure, art history, etc... The ART would have to come from us and it does.

RE: What has been easy about getting where you are as an artist; what has been challenging?

[Anne Stahl] I have been blessed with an endless supply of ideas and visions. It is hard to make a living and survive poverty, lack of support and culture.

RE: In terms of your career as an artist, if you had to do anything differently, what do you wish you had done?

[Anne Stahl] Not so much done, but I know my work would be much more known and exhibited and bought, if I were more outgoing of a person. But I'm a bit of a hermit and don't like to talk and network at all.

RE: What is the process you take in finding galleries and other places to exhibit your work at? That is, do you research on your own, rely on others, or is it some combination of the two?

[Anne Stahl] Unfortunately I have been ripped off by the majority of the galleries I have dealt with thus far, and so no longer pursue gallery shows. I do enjoy working with agents/dealers who are - in my experience - more professional, courteous and do not hold any of my work. Contracts seem to give artists nothing but responsibilities, because at the end of the day if the other party is not fulfilling the contract, do you have the money to sue them? No. So, THEY can get away with breaching the contract while the artist generally can not.

RE: In your statement you mention working with conservation groups and biologists to learn more about the subjects for your work—could you elaborate a little on this for me? Do you contact them with questions, attend lectures, read articles on/offline, and/or etc.?

[Anne Stahl] Yes, I like to get non-art related opinions and information. This has been very helpful in the past as scientists are often creative people but not visual. Hearing their ideas and thoughts can provide me with triggers of visions that I would not otherwise have had. I believe that science and art are very closely related and find fact are at the source of much of my work.

an assortment

I want this kind of life...
"Fortunately, I am a member of an academic community where I enjoy (not suffer) the privileges (not rights) of rank and tenure. While I never think I have enough time for my own work, in fact I am able to go about painting on a fairly regular and intense basis. I am paid well enough to stay a bit ahead of my debtors, to travel, and to give modest support to causes or projects which seem important.
Moreover, as an artist in an academic community, I have the opportunity to rub ideas daily against the ideas of colleagues and students. Despite the burdens of administrivia and the irritations of committee work, I teach courses in subjects I value. At least a certain amount of my time can be given honorably to the preparation of material for those classes, for thinking about interesting problems, for looking at paintings or sculpture that i find compelling. in short, I am able to earn my living doing something I like very much to do. Be it bias or faith, I believe my lot in life a good one, a pattern that might be equally engaging and stimulating for other artists."

In the University by Lee Hall

Art and sexual politics; women's liberation, women artists, and art history.

Tonight I'm starting a new painting. I've made new compositions that are closer to what I was doing before when I was working on the round paintings. I'm trying to make them so that they make more sense as "landscapes". By doing this I hope that they will give the viewer more of a sense of how (I think) microtexture images can look like the landscapes in which they [the rocks] might make (at any given perspective, close or far). I hope this goes well. I think it will. I feel like I'm lacking some direction with all of this this, however, it seems like my feet are appearing closer to the ground now. This is all just trial and error.

Over spring break I finished an acrylic drypoint of a Jade plant dad's growing in my room. This accomplishment made me feel wonderful, and strengthens this longstanding idea that I work best if I'm working directly from life and not from a freaking photograph. I think I'm going to do more drypoints of plants, but on zinc... maybe. I do like the ability to have a fractured matrix, and using acrylic makes that easy. Anyway, more plants. FUN. I'm going to hit up the greenhouse on campus. This week I'm attending a screen printing demo--we'll see where this goes, if anywhere (could be exciting).

slacking

I haven't posted anything here in almost a month. I'm a horrible blogger, hah. I've been reading a ton and I have several projects going at once. School really dominates my time.

In brief, sort of, not really--

Though, perhaps the imagery I was creating would have worked best with acrylic paint like this i.e. like Beatriz Milhazes, or if I were doing relief printing, perhaps? Perhaps. My dad mentioned that he wouldn't mind taking the numerous designs I made in order to make custom jigsaw pieces to lay down as centerpieces for decks. Very interesting. I haven't started any collages yet, but I have cut out a lot of paper in case I want to start doing that soon. Actually, I really will have to start doing that soon because I have to for class, haha.

In printmaking I'm working on etchings. The imagery for them is inspired by the microscopic world as well, but human derived rather than Earth derived. The process of etching has been very enjoyable for me, so printmaking this semester has become dedicated to that. I've been open biting, aquatinting, and using various kinds of crayons as resists to the acid to get different textures. I've also been doing a lot of burnishinggggggugh. I seriously need to read more about etching processes, because I want to experiment more. It's taken me too long to get back into the swing of things.

That's about all. I'm thinking about applying here (KSU) for graduate school. I like the faculty's work there.

back to work on wednesday

Craig

24" x 40", oil on canvas

This is what I've been working on for a semi-short while this winter break. I decided against doing pretty much everything else, mostly because I over-obligated myself to myself and others, hah (this is the story of my life). This painting isn't nearly finished at all. I'm at the point where I'm not sure what to do next because I never work representationally and I'm not very good at that style of painting haha. It'd be nice if I could work loosely. I know how I ended up here, I sort of know where I want to go, I just have to get there; however, I'm waiting for the semester to begin again first, so that I can get some opinions from peers/academia (or, simply anyone/everyone).

Today my brother and I went to Turkey Run State Park in Parke County IN because at some point I'd like to do something, whether it's drawings, prints, large paper cutouts, or paintings, based off of ice on rock. I've never been to Turkey Run during the winter, but I'm glad I went despite there only being a high temperature today of 10 degrees. I'm especially glad that my brother likes to hang out with me and went along. Had he not, I'm not sure if I would have been as adventurous, nor do I think I would have enjoyed myself so much. I got some pretty nice photos in the process.