Box Set Coming Soon

I've just about finished the three paintings on box canvases: 12" x 24" x 3". The concept was for the show "Continuum" hosted by Adrian Martinez in Wailuku, Maui. I did the piece "Reaching" by starting out with circles. What could be more continuous than circles?

I experimented with wiping away parts of circles to play with the depth of the layers. Arcs and circles intersect but it is unclear which is dominant. I chose the depth of the canvas-- 3 inches is called "museum quality"-- because the show had a limitation of 20" by 20" and I wanted my piece to stand out. The rules only mentioned width and height.

The figure climbing onto the painting takes advantage of the depth of the canvas. His figure extends on the left side and the bottom side of the painting. Much of my artwork is interested in boxes. Figures will find themselves in boxes-- comfort zones of identity. In this case, the canvas is the box. Here the figure jumps in, more interested apparently in this world than his own.

The other two canvases that complete the "Box Set" are on the same size canvases and continue the theme of how abstraction relates to the figure.

Mama Flower is Alive

So much of the artwork you find at funkyenough is richly textured and layered. In my work I often use a calk gun to lay down 1/4 inch borders to hold in translucent plastic. On the web, it is difficult to see how this allows a piece of art to transform itself depending on your postion in the room and the lighting that is occuring.

Click the image below to see how the angle of the camera and one spot light affect the artwork. The pupil of the eye is represented by a cowery shell from La Perouse Bay in Maui:


Mama Flower

NBA Finals, Game 3: Gary Payton on big shots

GP gets the lead for the Heat with 9 seconds left and the shot clock expired. Everybody was asking him how it felt to take one shot all game and make it to win.

But Payton said he didn't need that shot to fall to lift his confidence. At 37, confidence never leaves this seven-time All-Star.

"I don't care about that," Payton said. "I have that confidence that I'm going to take a shot anytime, anywhere. I don't care where it's at. I'm going to take a shot, and I'm not going to go back and cry. If I miss, I miss. That's it. I think I've been playing basketball too long in my life to cry because I miss one shot."

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Video on Youtube of GP's quest with Miami to get a ring.

Props to Jackson Pollock

I had my first taste of Jackson Pollock humble pie when I was taking an art history class with TJ Clarke. The TA brought us to the Berkeley Museum and showed us a Pollock. "Try to tell which color, which line, was layed down first," she asked.

The question challenged my doubts about Pollock and made me consider the skill behind his work. I needed to recognize his skill to give pause to the appreciation of the beauty of the paintings he made.

Now, when I pause to consider which line or color went onto the convas first in a Pollock painting, I end up falling into a story, or a tunnel really, of pattern, shape, color, dimension, perspective, and finally transformation. I see snowflakes and sparks of imagination. I see balance and non-judgement found beautifully.