Sunday, September 26, 2010
New York City for the day
There are so many great art exhibitions in NYC right now - Patricia and I took the Chinatown Bus in to the city to take in a few of them.
All the exhibits right now seem intent on driving home just how hard the artists worked to create the product they were looking for, and how their work developed over time. The Design Center in SoHo features drawings by Gerhard Richter, in an exhibition called "Lines which do not exist." They are thought pieces and experiments that he drew before paintings. To me, they are marvels of imagination and learning, and make me realize how tight and circumscribed my own doodling in my sketch books seems in comparison. Lesson: Do not compare your sketch books to those of a truly imaginative artist.
Also in SoHo, we went to the Status Factory of Ron English, which features his high energy anti-corporate snarkiness. I'd heard him in a lecture at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art just a week or so ago. He portrays himself as the outsider, taking pot-shots at timeworn slogans and images through what he calls Popaganda, the Art and Crimes of Ron English. It is good fun, and I especially enjoyed his creepy, sensuous, UV-enhanced cave and his takeoff on Happy Face:
From there, uptown to the Morgan Library and Gallery for an exhibition of the early work of Roy Lichtenstein, showing how he developed his signature style over time, and how much of the power of his work comes from the contrast of the intense emotional situations of his comic-book images with the mechanical, impersonal method of their presentation.
Finally we ended up at the MOMA, the Museum of Modern Ar,t for the exhibition of works by Matisse with special emphasis on forensic methods (ir, uv, etc, etc) to determine what layers of paint are under the final work and what does that tell us about how meticulously he worked to improve the composition and appearance of his images - and how, as time passed, he more and more was willing to allow the changes to be apparent in the finished work. Still, I felt that with all this emphasis on analysis of individual works, the sheer joy and beauty Matisse presents was somehow diminished.
Well, for all that, it was a gorgeous day for walking in the city and ravishing all this incredible art. Now I have tomorrow to pack, and on Monday I am off to China. Oh my!
Relaxing in the Sculpture Garden of the Museum of Modern Art
All the exhibits right now seem intent on driving home just how hard the artists worked to create the product they were looking for, and how their work developed over time. The Design Center in SoHo features drawings by Gerhard Richter, in an exhibition called "Lines which do not exist." They are thought pieces and experiments that he drew before paintings. To me, they are marvels of imagination and learning, and make me realize how tight and circumscribed my own doodling in my sketch books seems in comparison. Lesson: Do not compare your sketch books to those of a truly imaginative artist.
Also in SoHo, we went to the Status Factory of Ron English, which features his high energy anti-corporate snarkiness. I'd heard him in a lecture at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art just a week or so ago. He portrays himself as the outsider, taking pot-shots at timeworn slogans and images through what he calls Popaganda, the Art and Crimes of Ron English. It is good fun, and I especially enjoyed his creepy, sensuous, UV-enhanced cave and his takeoff on Happy Face:
Creepy-ness in Ron English's UV-lit cave
I'm wearing English's take on the ubiquitous Happy Face
From there, uptown to the Morgan Library and Gallery for an exhibition of the early work of Roy Lichtenstein, showing how he developed his signature style over time, and how much of the power of his work comes from the contrast of the intense emotional situations of his comic-book images with the mechanical, impersonal method of their presentation.
Lichtenstein also did a couple of KNOCK or NOK or SLAM additions to doors, like this. I think I would like to try that on my apartment door too, and see what kind of reaction it gets (if any).
Finally we ended up at the MOMA, the Museum of Modern Ar,t for the exhibition of works by Matisse with special emphasis on forensic methods (ir, uv, etc, etc) to determine what layers of paint are under the final work and what does that tell us about how meticulously he worked to improve the composition and appearance of his images - and how, as time passed, he more and more was willing to allow the changes to be apparent in the finished work. Still, I felt that with all this emphasis on analysis of individual works, the sheer joy and beauty Matisse presents was somehow diminished.
This little girl just plopped down, and was totally into her painting of the Matisse flowers!
Well, for all that, it was a gorgeous day for walking in the city and ravishing all this incredible art. Now I have tomorrow to pack, and on Monday I am off to China. Oh my!
Friday, September 24, 2010
I completed Independence Hall before leaving town
Continuing in the sequence of painting Cityscapes, I decided to tackle (again) the difficult subject of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. I tried to paint it once before, straight on, and the result was horrid. It is really a tough subject to make into an interesting composition - it is fairly small, and is plunked into the middle of the city. From the park in its frontal view it is lost in tree foliage. From the back, it is up against Chestnut Street with big office/apartment buildings around it. Also, with it's distinctive tower, it is as tall as it is wide and so is difficult to create an interesting pictorial composition.
This time I approached it from the rear, which faces Chestnut Street and is the way most people see it anyway. But then I skewed the Hall, broke all the "rules" on perspective, painted it from an impossible angle, and kept in place those background buildings that tend to overpower the structure, using them to provide a protective frame and halo for it.
I like what I got from it:
Otherwise, the news is that next week I am returning to China to stay with my son and granddaughter in Beijing for two months. In addition to just getting in the way around the house, I expect to continue my exploration of the contemporary Chinese art scene at least as it pertains to oil painting, and do some painting of my own. Perhaps some Chinese cityscapes to add to my portfolio, and some interesting portraits. I'll keep up my blog if I can, but I think China blocks out blogspot and that could be a big problem.
The crazy thing is that I will have two paintings in an exhibition at the Plastic Club while I am gone - View of a Thousand Windows and Elfreth's Alley (see previous blog) - and the whole thing will have come and gone while I am in China. I won't get to see how they show in the context of the exhibition. In the same way, I might have another painting at Off the Wall Gallery while I'm gone. So it goes.
Anyway - the best way to contact me during October and November will be by email: leroyforney@gmail.com.
This time I approached it from the rear, which faces Chestnut Street and is the way most people see it anyway. But then I skewed the Hall, broke all the "rules" on perspective, painted it from an impossible angle, and kept in place those background buildings that tend to overpower the structure, using them to provide a protective frame and halo for it.
I like what I got from it:
Otherwise, the news is that next week I am returning to China to stay with my son and granddaughter in Beijing for two months. In addition to just getting in the way around the house, I expect to continue my exploration of the contemporary Chinese art scene at least as it pertains to oil painting, and do some painting of my own. Perhaps some Chinese cityscapes to add to my portfolio, and some interesting portraits. I'll keep up my blog if I can, but I think China blocks out blogspot and that could be a big problem.
The crazy thing is that I will have two paintings in an exhibition at the Plastic Club while I am gone - View of a Thousand Windows and Elfreth's Alley (see previous blog) - and the whole thing will have come and gone while I am in China. I won't get to see how they show in the context of the exhibition. In the same way, I might have another painting at Off the Wall Gallery while I'm gone. So it goes.
Anyway - the best way to contact me during October and November will be by email: leroyforney@gmail.com.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Recent Work
Fortunately I have not been as careless in my painting as I have been in my postings lately. I'm still avoiding a focus on one type of subject or style, though. Since returning from China, I've taken a summer course on Cityscapes with Doug Martenson at PafA - I keep coming back to his courses, because he is such an excellent instructor and inspiring painter.
Our Cityscape paintings were all made looking out from the Harrison Building, at Broad and Cherry Streets in Philadelphia. Gotta say that I didn't really enjoy the process of my first painting, although it turned out pretty well as a grouping of skyscrapers. I wanted to emphasize the vertical lines of the view, so used a 24 x12" canvas. That was a good choice, but I call the painting "View With a Thousand Windows." It taught me the value of simplifying the subject for a painting:
With that experience in mind, I painted the buildings right across the street in a much looser style. I didn't think I liked this painting at first, but the longer it hangs on my wall the more attached to it I become. Somehow it is a very pleasing arrangement of shapes and colors. Interestingly, it turned out to be almost a classic illustration of the landscape format, "dark foreground, lighter, bluish middle layer, and still lighter, bluer distant space (the sky, in this case):"
After that, we just had a portion of one period left, so I did a quick skyline painting, and even this one will even look OK, if I cut the dimensions from the current 9 x12" to, say, 5.5 x12" as shown in the full and cropped versions here:
Well, after all that, I went out on my own after the class was over to apply Doug's principles to a set up my easel and paint at Elfreth's Alley, the oldest continuously occupied street in the USA. That provided an opportunity to use the perspective information that Doug was giving us in class, in spades. It was also fun to interact with the guides who were there to tell Philadelphia Stories to the tourists dropping by.
It might be interesting to compare a landscape that I painted two years ago, in Rittenhouse Square. I think there has been some progress over this time. By the way, I just recently added that little dog in the lower left - it does a lot to add interest. It also fills a blank space, and provides a reason for the posture of the person there who is clearly holding a leash, now. Before, in the absence of that dog, the figure seemed to be dealing with severe stomach cramps.
Finally, what's going on Otherwise: I have a painting in the current Plastic Club exhibition of Self Portraits, which runs until Sept 25. They actually wanted a TITLE for the Self Portraits. ??? So I left mine "Untitled."
Hao Li, the artist that I painted with in China, has a major exhibition in Beijing opening later this month - good for her! And, I may be returning to China myself for October and November to spend time with my family. That would certainly be quite interesting, although it would postpone my intended study with Frederic Kaplan at PafA.
Our Cityscape paintings were all made looking out from the Harrison Building, at Broad and Cherry Streets in Philadelphia. Gotta say that I didn't really enjoy the process of my first painting, although it turned out pretty well as a grouping of skyscrapers. I wanted to emphasize the vertical lines of the view, so used a 24 x12" canvas. That was a good choice, but I call the painting "View With a Thousand Windows." It taught me the value of simplifying the subject for a painting:
 |
| Cherry Street, to the West: 24 x12" oil on canvas |
With that experience in mind, I painted the buildings right across the street in a much looser style. I didn't think I liked this painting at first, but the longer it hangs on my wall the more attached to it I become. Somehow it is a very pleasing arrangement of shapes and colors. Interestingly, it turned out to be almost a classic illustration of the landscape format, "dark foreground, lighter, bluish middle layer, and still lighter, bluer distant space (the sky, in this case):"
 |
| Across the Street: 12 x16" oil on board |
 | |||
| Left: Skyline: 9 x12" oil on canvasboard. Above: 5.5 x12" |
Well, after all that, I went out on my own after the class was over to apply Doug's principles to a set up my easel and paint at Elfreth's Alley, the oldest continuously occupied street in the USA. That provided an opportunity to use the perspective information that Doug was giving us in class, in spades. It was also fun to interact with the guides who were there to tell Philadelphia Stories to the tourists dropping by.
 |
| Elfreth's Alley: 16 x12" oil on board |
 |
| Rittenhouse Square: 9 x12" oil on canvasboard |
Hao Li, the artist that I painted with in China, has a major exhibition in Beijing opening later this month - good for her! And, I may be returning to China myself for October and November to spend time with my family. That would certainly be quite interesting, although it would postpone my intended study with Frederic Kaplan at PafA.
 |
| 14 x11" oil on canvas |
