The Aesthetics of Composition in Abstract Painting: abstract art

Showing posts with label abstract art. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Hawaii #4 “Blue Moon over Ukumehame”

Oil on linen.

This is an abstraction of my time surfing at 1000 peaks.

This was a enjoyable to paint, and surfing is wonderful.

Aloha...

Friday, September 1, 2017

New work Hawaii #1 "Between Interruptions"

I have been living in Maui Hawaii for 5 years now. The majority of my time has been spent tattooing, spearfishing, surfing, and enjoying my life with Athena. and our dogs.

This winter I started a new oil paining. Nothing too serious, I simply had an idea to work out. I worked on the painting when I was not tattooing; which is mostly never being that I have been almost booked solid for a few years now.

My life here on Maui is so very different then what it was in Minneapolis. I have found that the ocean is everything to me. All I want to do is play in it as often as I can. With this new painting I decided not put too much academic thought into painting it, and simply paint. I work on it as I have time and at my leasure. Everything is improvisational as I am only reacting to the work as I do it.

"Between interruptions" 2017

More to come as I finish them.

Aloha...

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The success of an artist. ???

My time in Minneapolis is about to come to an end as my wife and I are going to move to Maui, Hawaii at the end of August. Our hopes for Maui are simple; I am going to make art and work on tattooing, while Athena prepares to open her dog training facility with boarding and doggy daycare. We have been working toward this for a very long time, and we are grateful for this amazing opportunity.

Looking back over the last 17 years of my life here in Minneapolis, my reason for moving here (to become an artist), and how it all played out, I find myself retrospectively looking at my own personal success as an artist. So I ask...

...How do we measure the success of an artist?

1. The obvious yard stick is money, are you making any?
I have sold nearly everything I have ever painted. Sometimes for good money, and others for greater than was deserved. I have taken financial losses, but my finances always balanced themselves out. Regardless, I feel that sales and financial prosperity are not the "end all" of an artists success.
Van Gogh was poor, crazy and not well liked in his time, but everyone knows his name now.
Let us say that the financial success of an artist is not simply wealth, but the means to support oneself by the production and sale of original works alone.

2. Quality of the work itself?
When we consider the quality of a work of art the variables are so subjective that we can only look toward the total development of an artist. That said we can not lie either. Some artists are very very good, masters even. Others just suck and the art world needs to leave subjective critique behind and label bad artists bad artists. As we measure the quality of an artists work we inevitably look inward to our own tastes at first, and if we can move past our personal bias, we can then honestly critique a work of art.
Outside ourselves we look for content, aesthetic, talent, honesty within the work, and possibility. I spent 16 years developing a language that I call compositional oil painting, naturally exploring what I enjoyed about painting.

3. Philosophical and spiritual growth?
I see being an artist as being a philosopher. Philosophically evolving as your work evolves is a definite measure of a successful artist. When honest, the work is revealing in a way that no truth sayer, psychologist, or loved one could ever be. It can be expected that an artist will grow philosophically.

4. The social popularity of an artist?
Who does your work speak for? Who are our fans, your clients, your patrons? Who is moved by your work and is anyone influenced artistically by what you do as an artist? Having influence is important in that ideas must be viral in order to be effective.

Regardless of all of those reasons, It is the timelessness of the work that defines the success of an artist. Having a following while you are alive is great, being remembered for the rest of time for what you created is better, remember Van Gogh.

5. Are you happy?
The answer to this ought to always be yes. If the answer is not yes, then something is wrong. Regardless of any measures of success, being happy is by far the most important idea.

I like to think of myself as a successful artist. In 1996 I set out to become an artist, and other than that I had no profound goals. I simply wanted to create works of art as often as possible. I became that, I sold my paintings (nearly everything I have painted has sold), built up an extensive and constantly changing portfolio, developed my own language as an abstract artist, and truly became more than the artist I expected to be.

Now what?

I have no idea what happens next...
...I have no expectations other than becoming a new artist.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Regla de Oro exhibit.

The Regla De Oro exhibit is coming to a close, and in good time. Regla De Oro is a fair trade shop here in minneapolis that sells all kinds of hand made items by artists. It was a fun show, so I thought that a few pictures of the exhibit would be cool.

This is my last show here in Minneapolis...

...Next stop New York and Maui.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Artwork of the month: Subodh Gupta

At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, on the second floor, there is a new "Modern" art gallery. It is a great exhibit, and a fantastic set of works. This one is my favorite. The medium- bronze, made to look like gold and spray painted cardboard is cool. The context of the work is a philosophy that I can connect with, and after looking over Gupta's portfolio I can see where his ideas are coming from.

Subodh Gupta

Indian, born 1964

"Dubai to Calcutta #9"

2006, bronze with gold patina and aluminum, in parts.

This work is quite a tease...
...I will have to create something very cool now.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Artwork of the month: Wassily Kandinsky.

Kandinsky is and always has been my biggest influence (aside from Caravaggio) in abstract art. I have read everything he wrote attentively. I have traveled to museums simply to view his works of art. I have visited the Guggenheim in New York 17 times only To spend a few hours in front of "Composition #8" his finest work. I studied his life, his works, and his impact so completely I feel as if i kew him personally.

I can conclude that I truly admire his work, and I would never have liked him as a person. Kandinsky was a spoiled rich kid infused with the misguided plight of privilege. Albeit, his works of art, his thesis, is more insightful than any artist in our recorded history. Bold statement, yes it is and I stand by it.

I have been studying this painting periodically since 1996 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Wassily Kandinsky

Russian, 1866-1944

"Study for Improvisation V"

1910, oil on pulp board

Kandinsky painted on both sides of the work. It was a common practice artists of early 1900s to paint on both sides of fiber board, and then split them up and sell them as separate pieces. I have painted on both sides of a canvas several times.

The sibling to this painting is in a private collection as far as I know. I have only seen it in person once in 2005 when the two paintings were exhibited together for the first time.

"Two Riders and Reclining Figure"

1910, oil on pulp board

So the original "Two Riders and Reclining Figure/Study for improvisation V" oil on pulp board was separated until 2005 when exhibited as "Kandinsky: A Relationship Revealed" at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The $ tier made a huge international deal about how amazing this was and how great to have the two works reunited again, even if for only a moment. The reality is that Kandinsky was poor at the time he painted these works and it wasn't because he wanted the extra money from a double sale for the cost of one...

...it was because he had to paint no matter what the consequences. historians, curators, directors and investors love the tales but lack the understanding that an artist has about another artist.

"The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning."

-Wassily Kandinsky

Friday, July 7, 2006

Artwork of the month: Yves Tanguy's Reply to Red.

Tanguy has been one of my favorite artists since I was in high school. His use of light-source is strict and as uncomplicated as his compositions. Albeit, his work is not simple. The forms appear to be wrapped in fabric, containing his personal subject matter and eluding to your own experiences.

You can see two of Tanguy's paintings on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Yves Tanguy

French, 1900-1955

"Reply to Red"

1943, oil on canvas

"I believe there is little to gain by exchanging opinions with other artists concerning either the ideology of art or technical methods."

-Yves Tanguy

I also believe the opinions of my contemporaries is without value...

...in that I can only trust myself.

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

"Shark Compositions" series of paintings

This series was a painted during a time in my life (1998 - 1999) when compositional abstraction and my ideas of being the mental state of your work as you work on it was completely new to me. I had been a portrait artist that converted to still life, and abstraction just felt right. or so I think, memory fails us as we go back and look a our lives, as I am sure it is for me.

Artist statement

This series was intended to present the various mental states of an individual soldier during and after war. The mythology of the Hawaiian Islands to represent the identity of a shark as a metaphor to symbolize said mental state of a soldier. The mythology of the pacific islands believe that when an individual is acting out of place he is wearing the spirit and identity of a shark.

As a source of inspiration I looked toward the behavioral traits of schizophrenia; conflicts of confusion both rational and irrational, violence, an adolescent-like lust, and lack of self-control, as the foundation for my methods used in the application of paint.

War being what it is induces an almost schizophrenic-like psychology to the fundamental beliefs of right and wrong. Wrong is only in question when it is committed on the individuals perception of interpretation.

Adam M. Considine 1999