"Word Compositions" series of paintings

Taking another look at my past as an artist in Minneapolis we come to my poetry works on canvas...


These paintings were created in 1999 somewhere during the time when I was experimenting with poetry, and they were fun.  I will explore this idea again.  I wrote three full books of poetry between 1996 and 2000.  
Sooner or later I will publish them here on this blog.  For now just enjoy this abstraction of words.  

Artist Statement

These compositions are based on a single improvisational repeated word scratched into the surface of the oil painting.  Surface and composition are the focus of this work.

Adam M. Considine  1999

Word Composition a 

oil on canvas

22" x 18"

Word Composition b 

oil on canvas

18" x 22"

Word Composition c 

oil on canvas

48" x 24"

Word Composition d 

oil on canvas

22" x 18"

Word Composition e 

oil on canvas

36" x 24"

Word Composition f 

oil on canvas

24" x 36"

Word Composition g 

oil on canvas

22" x 12"

Word Composition h 

oil on canvas

48" x 24"

I love compositional poetry...

...I use it as I do oil paint.

3+2=5 isms exhibit

Here are some pics from the end of the opening at the Art major.  It was a pretty fun night.

Artwork of the month: Fernand Léger.

I have been contemplating this work of art at the Minneapolis institute of arts for several years now.  Up close and personal this oil paining looks vibrant and alive while muted and soft.  Compositionally this painting is bold and subtle.  The subject matter is plainly laid out for the view to understand through the abstraction.  

The impact that this has had on my own compositions is telling in my art three studies.  The example that Leger leaves behind for abstract painters is one of simple bold daily life.  Besides life is more interesting than stories, and this painting tells us no mythology, but only presents its subject.

Fernand Léger

French, 1881-1955

"Table and fruit"

1909, oil on canvas

Thanks for checking in with the blog...

...I will post more of my ink studies soon.

Exhibit opening: 3+2=5 isms

I will be in a new group exhibit at The Art Major this month.  I will be showing the remaining works in the Bullfight series and my fist four works in the Rabbititus series of paintings.

3+2=5 isms

@ the Art Major 2404 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN 

March 11th to April 29th

Adam M. Considine

Christi Furnas

John Grider

Catherine A. Palmer

Amy Rice

I hope to see you all there.

Random paintings created in 1999 (I think).

These paintings were created in 1999, and I barely remember any of it.  

There are so many paintings missing from these days.  I lived with 3 other guys, Chris Keller, Scott Rasmussen, and Stefan Johnson.  We threw art parties at our flat where we gave paintings away, sold them for next to nothing.  Those parties were wild, always wild but we had surrounded ourselves with the coolest artists in town and we always had a really good time.  They are still good friends of mine today and I would do anything for them.  

These were good times man.

Artist Statement

The work created in this time period were simply to further study the craft of oil painting.

Adam Considine 1999

Catherine Palmer 

oil on canvas

48" x 24"

City Clown 

oil on canvas

30" x 30"

Contrast Abstract 

oil on canvas

30" x 30"

Faust study 

oil on canvas

20" x 16"

Guitar and Gastank 

oil on canvas

30" x 26"

Kitty 

oil on canvas

48" x 36"

OCD Album Cover a 

oil on canvas

30" x 26"

OCD Album Cover b 

oil on canvas

30" x 15"

School Girl 

oil on canvas

36" x 22"

a buddy of mine asked me to paint something horrible, i painted a school girl.

Sky 

oil on canvas

30" x 15"

Stilllife with Grandmothers Vase and Speaker 

oil on canvas

60" x 36"

Stimulant a 

oil on canvas

22" x 18"

Stimulant b 

oil on canvas

22" x 18"

The Painter 

oil on canvas

30" x 30"

Wine Store hennipen ave 

oil on canvas

30" x 15"

There were many more works back then...

...I just have no idea what happened to them.

Improvisation studies

I was going through my portfolio and I found these old oil pastel studies from 1998/99.

They were fun.  I have chosen a direction with my current work that is completely abstract from concept to composition.  These remind me of how fun a bit of allegory can be.

Enjoy them...

...I may work this direction again someday.

Artwork of the month: Flemish monsters.

I have always enjoyed the nightmare imagination of hellish monsters from the perspective of christians. Regardless of what time period its from, hell monsters are funny, like Jim Henson puppets funny.

David Teniers, the younger

Flemish, 1610-1694/96

"The Temptation of St. Anthony"

17th century, oil on panel

This scary tactic is hanging on display in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts...
...go check it out and scare your sins away.

"666" series of paintings

To continue catching this blog up to the present let us take a look at my past again...

When I was working on this sextet things were not going my way.  Just before this painting I was selling my work on a regular bases.  I was also spending money like there was no tomorrow, thinking that this sales wave would never end.

It did, and as sales of paintings had stopped for several months, I was less than broke and fast going into serious debt to characters that I should have just stayed away from.  I started throwing parties where I sold paintings for next to nothing just to get some cash together for food, which sucked as I was only eating rice because I could buy a 50lb bag for twenty dollars.  If I was lucky I had canned tuna to go with my rice.  Things sucked.

This 6 panel work is a self-portrait from a previous studio.  It was painted to simply reflect the moment in a clever way. 

Adam M. Considine  1998

666 a

oil on canvas

666 b

oil on canvas

666 c

oil on canvas

666 d

oil on canvas

666 e

oil on canvas

666 f

oil on canvas

We all go through the self imposed lessons of being broke...

...It sucks, we find a way to survive and do better next time.