Rome, Italy: July 19, 2014 – July 21, 2014
Interpreting Details (series, fall 2014)
This semester, I’ve explored abstract interpretations of some of my favorite details from classical paintings I was able to see this summer. Using my own photo references, I am finding abstract compositions within these classical works and paying homage to the brilliant and energetic brushwork, textures, color relationships, value patterns, etc. found in a small portion of the original painting. I’m interested in the relationship contemporary artists (and non-artists) have to historical work, the unique phenomena of experiencing a painting in person, the different responses to similar compositions in a representational vs. non-representational abstraction context. I don’t think we can avoid the long heritage of artists who have come before us or the traditions that art history has given us. So how do we make original work – our work – in light of this? Even though these started as references to what I’ve seen, they emerged as pieces that very much reflect my hand, aesthetic sensibilities, and creative process in responding to a painting that is mine and in front of me.
grateful today
- for Marathon Family / Weekend and the way this feels like home
- for seven of my favorite people coming to hang out + work + have great conversations at the studio late last night: communion
- for the ability to make the things I need to be making; feeling creativity as a way of being instead of as an output function
- for the simplicity of sleeping in and coffee meetings and Grace
the in-betweens
Appreciating the in-betweens seemed easier in Europe. Here I tend to move with calculation: settling into routes that are fastest, most efficient, most effective.
This summer, I rode high-speed trains and walked quickly but traveled with a spirit of slower awe, observing intensely the things around me, intending to see in a way that would do the surrounding beauty justice.
Noticing is an art, and art is rooted in practice. I’m still learning to see well.
A note to self:
Look up and around, notice.
Make observations of beauty part of your everyday.
Savor the in-betweens.
la vue d’une fenêtre parisienne
the view from a Parisian window:
– our Parisian window,
all the better for its preceding walk from the train station, five-story spiral staircase climb, narrow hallway, and heavy door key on a first night in Paris.
