Studio #3 - 3219 Lyndale Basement studio

My 3rd art studio in Minneapolis was in the basement of an apartment building.  I had a 20' x 20' space with 30' ceiling and a tiny window at the top.  As with all of my studios I spent weeks prepping, cleaning (throwing out dead beat renters stuff out), building, and arranging the place until I was ready to paint.

I created my chrome works in this studio, and really not much else.  I worked on my large texture chrome paintings for almost a year before I was happy with them.  Living here was not uneventful, as i created one of my masterworks (or so i think it is).  enjoy the pics.

At the time I was so proud of this painting that upon completing it I sat and stared at it for over a month.  that might sound excessive, but it was so different, so new, that I had to be sure it was as good as I believed it to be.  When you create something that you truly believe a masterwork, its hard to accept at first.  You stare at it and evaluate its worth, your worth, and how it is going to be received.

Boots in the studio.

Greg

Catherine A. Palmer

Thanks for spending some time here...

...keep checking back I will post more soon.

Artwork of the month: Piet Mondrian.

There are two artists that I look toward for their mastery of the philosophy of abstract oil painting. Wassily Kandinsky, and Piet Mondrian; Both masters of their craft and shaman philosophers of modern art.

There are four Mondrian paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts that I have spent years meditating on.  I have read everything Mondrian has written, and rarely disagreed with his thesis.   His work has inspired me and pushed me to be honest with my work helping me see my visual language as my own.

Piet Mondrian

Dutch, 1872-1944

"Composition with Blue, Red, Yellow, and Black"

1922, oil on canvas

"Red Gladioli"

1906, Oil on canvas

"Irises"

1910, oil on canvas

"Composition with Blue and Red"

1932, oil on canvas

The MIA hardly ever puts this painting out on display.  I have only seen it twice.

"All painting – the painting of the past as well as of the present – shows us that its essential plastic means we are only line and color."

-Piet Mondrian

1.2 The abstract oil painter.

1.2_The abstract oil painter.

  The defining attribute of an oil painter is that he use oil paint, anything beyond that one simple canon closes the door of inventiveness on the oil painter forever.  The discipline of oil painting is less limited than the other forms of art.  Nevertheless, do not be fooled by undefined intolerance, all art is of significant importance to its creators and audience.  To become an abstract oil painter is in part a choice, and to continue in life as an oil painter is a dedication made from the artists passion.  It is a self-disciplined, obsessive, selfish path in its very nature, that cannot be obtained in a year or in ten.  The path of the abstract oil painter is a professional trade that becomes the disciplined pursuit of a lifetime.  I say that it is in part a choice because the artist will naturally develop toward abstraction the longer he creates works of art.

The abstract oil painter paints by way of his intuition, allowing it to guide him.  The intuitive artist sees the world through the perception of his own philosophy, without social influence.  He is free; liberated from the physical world but bound to its social cooperation.  The intuitive mind of the abstract oil painter is concerned only with his life's work of painting, and does not create works of art for effortless decoration.  For him works of art are a means to reconcile all ideas, inner thoughts, and philosophical questions, as the oil painter examines every inch of every painting he dedicates himself to that insight he witnesses within his work.  He cannot be distracted from the path that chose him, having such passion for his work that everything, even the mundane acts of daily existence are obsessively calculated movements toward competing his work.  The oil painter, lead by his intuition, is unaffected by critique and all public intrusion.  He envisions praise and disdain as one, external and therefore irrelevant to his path.  High ideals intrinsically predetermine the method and vision of each artist.

The other type of artists is an ornate artist.  Following the trends of his time aesthetically as to be seen within what is popular, and what is socially gratifying.  The ornate fame and fortune driven artist will adorn his socially satisfactory aesthetic in soulless self-gratification and vague personal jokes as pointless works of art created without purpose or passion.  The ornate artist is painting merely for the sake of painting.  

You can never judge the skill and ineptitude of the artist without looking at the artists life choices.  The intuitive artist is simply doing what drives him, and creating works of art for tomorrow to admire, as he attempts to rationalize and communicate his understanding of the nature of his ideas; and if honest within his work, is at first and at best - misunderstood.  It does not matter what quality the work is, only that the oil painter continue to work, and by continuing , if the artist is true to his nature, the quality of work will progress.  Eventually and inevitably the intuitive artist will become a master at his chosen discipline. 

Studio #2 - 2617 3rd avenue south

After leaving the my studio apartment, I moved into an apartment with 3 guys,  Scott, Chris, and Stefan. They gave me a sun room and a fairly large living room as my studio space.  I wish there were more picture from this era, but alas it was before digital was popular and we didn't have money for film to just waste; so I only have these 6.

Studio #2 was crazy, as life at the time was crazy.  We held drawing nights where we had girls we knew model nude for us as we drew them.  We read the cult classics, created art and music all of the time, and built our friendships.  I still know everyone I met there.

I painted two complete series of works here.  Both taught me a lot about oil paint and color.

We threw parties, large building wide parties nearly every month.  At these music and art parties I would simply give away oil paintings to whoever wanted one for what ever donation they could give.  I must have given away 200+ works of art while I lived here.  

Thanks for reading...

...more to come soon.

0.2 Preface.

0.2_Preface.




     I have written this in an attempt to illustrate for others how to understand what it is I do as an oil painter.  Over the course of the years fifteen years the discipline of oil painting has matured into my chosen form of communication.   Within oil painting I can speak in a way that the audience is aware of my intended concepts clearly and unwittingly, regardless of my chosen subject matter or aesthetic.   I will paint for a period, and then I will write about what I painted. This essay is a collection of my thoughts over the last decade.  This is for me and not for you, if you do not agree with my thoughts on creating works of art and humanities use for the arts then that is fine; my ideas are sure to evolve through time as I learn to understand myself, broadening the relationship I have with my medium.




     I oil paint with two distinctive styles, or methods of aesthetic.  In one, I work with compositions purely based on the texture of oil paint, and in the other I work with the architecture involved in the poetic or rhythmic use of the composition of color-forms to entice direct responses from a viewer.  In both establishments, I attempt to characterize mental-states of being using abstract pictographs associated with the intended narrative of my subject matter.




     I place myself into the mental-state that I am trying to represent, and I stay in character for however long it takes to come to a full understanding of the concept I am working with.   I will stay in character until the work is finished.  I use my total environment to alter my own mental state to that of my intended concept with media such as music, film, and literature as source material to reach and maintain a specific mental-state.  Just as the actor must take on the totality of the character they roll play in movies and theater, I need to be my ideas before and as I paint them.  A mental-state is not simply an indication of emotion but an intellectual stage of being or consciousness where thinking and feeling beings process information during the moment.  The mental-state of an individual effects their behavior and understanding in all aspects of life.  There are many states of being that an individual will go through in life, and whither rational or irrational a mental state is how people deal with cause and effect.  Action a causes us to feel happy, and action b cases us to feel sad, but that effect must not be classified as emotion as emotion is simply an external aftermath of behavior as a result of a mental state.  We each go through several mental states throughout the course of one day.




     All human situations can be represented in a mental-state.  All mental-states can be represented with sound, and all sound can be represented with color-forms.  Compositional oil painting is capable of altering the mental state of the individual, just as directly and immediately as music does.  Although it may not be recognized immediately, or even at all, the outside influence of sound changes how mankind thinks, feels and reacts to situations.  Sound alters our mental state of being, and speaks to us without the complications of personal experience as the interpreter.




     I select the subject matter in the majority of my work during my studies before I establish the composition for each oil painting.  The subject matter I use varies depending on the metaphors I am creating.  I speak about our world indirectly through contextual metaphors and direct word association.




     Always there is a portion of personal life in my works of art, and although I try to erase that identity from my work, to a small degree it remains.  As time goes on, my personality becomes my philosophy which has evolved by the constant study of my work.   The creative process is an act of necessity, and is partially an unwitting passage that I simply have known when and what to paint one step at a time.  Moreover, like the character Frankenstein, my creations are a reflection of the era in which I live and not that of the author, myself.  There is a chance that I am completely unstable and indeed insane to a point where I can no longer understand what is an honest idea within oil painting, and what are the over-persistent ramblings of a sick man. Since I no longer wish to make the clear distinction between the two, I leave that up to you the reader to decide for yourself.




     The following sections are an attempt to illustrate the benefits an artist receives from a dogmatic and disciplined study of his chosen medium.  Secondly to expose the amateur, the consumerist, hobbyist, and scenester artist for what they are and are not.

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

A new year for a fresh study of oil painting.

I normally don't take the passing of the new year too seriously.  I have never set a new years resolution, I don't make great plans for change in my life as I like the direction its going, and I don't party until I puke like the rest of the pot bellied vacationers taking a night off from life.  

This year is somehow different.  I have a real job, and its in a museum where I will be surrounded by works of art 5 days a week.  I have been visiting museums for study for nearly ten years now, and this opportunity to truly become familiar with a museums collection is one I can't pass up. 

This time as the new year comes about I set one goal for myself.  To empty the cup and refill it with a better understanding of art history.  I intend to study the works of art here at my new job, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and perfect my craft as an artist.

I want to keep my employment for 5 years.  The should be enough time to perfect my craft, set myself up for working as a professional artist full time, and refilling my cup with a better understanding of art history.  

So enjoy your new year, 2007, and make some art...

...why not right?

Studio #1 - 116 Oak Grove studio apartment

My first oil painting space in minneapolis was in the basement of a house in north east where I lived with people i  did not like, and they did not like me.  That was probably why they had me paint next to the washer and dryer in a crappy low ceiling basement.  So lets call that Studio #0 and just leave it at that.

Studio #1, My first real art studio in Minneapolis was a studio apartment in Loring Park that I converted into an art studio.  It was an stimulating and productive time in my life.  I was examining abstraction, working on short stories and poetry, and learning how to make it without a day job.  I was relatively new to Minneapolis, and I had only met a handful of people I would consider friends.  

I converted the bathroom into my bedroom.  I had a board cut to fit the bath tub, attached with hinges to the top of the tub.  I would flip the board up, take a shower, flip it back down then roll out a mattress to sleep on.  The rest of the bathroom was a makeshift closet.  It was crazy cramped and messy, but it worked.  Seriously, have you ever tried to live in a bathroom?  We all do what we must to have what we want, and living in the bathroom was what I had to do.

The rest of the apartment was all art studio.  In less than a year, I ruined it getting paint on everything and paid high price for my youthful sense of creativity.  I used the freezer door to paint with at one point, as the toaster i was painting with at the time did not have a large enough edge to pull the oil paint how i needed it.  It was worth every dollar.

I probably completed 200 or so works of art in this studio, and it was crazy.  Here are some pics of the studio.

I was so proud of this painting, and its okay but not nearly as good as I thought it was at the time.  I created many works that I am still happy with today.  It does not mater if my work then was good, bad, junk or masterworks, I was building the skills I would need later as a professional artist.  Besides, in our art world its all relative to the individual so as an artist I could (and can) get away with anything I wanted to.  

At any given point there were 30+ oil paintings stacked up everywhere

During this time I met an oil painter named Philip Hoffman.  I became his apprentice shortly after we met (mostly because I kept bugging him to teach me what he knew), and we continued to work together for the next 4+ years.

Philip working on "The infamous Purple lake"

 Philip Hoffman worked with me in the studio until its inevitable end.  We created an entire series of works together in there, and became good friends in the process.

It became crowded fast, no room for anything other than oil paintings.  I still have that green shirt, it is seriously my favorite shirt ever.

Even the tiny kitchen was used for some type of artwork creation.

The tape on the floor was set for where I was to stand while I looked at the stage of my still-life.  It was part of my self imposed training/study as an artist.

Catherine A. Palmer and I worked together for years.  We will work and exhibit together again.

I had a very good time in this studio, and I was a ham (excessively theatrical) so we took tons of photos.

Stefan Johnson worked in the studio with me at times.  Here he is painting with a bathtub toy wind up bear and a toilet plunger.  Look for 2.2.3_Other tools for a detailed account of that day.

The downfall of this studio was the parties, or as I liked to call them the art openings.  We threw gallery like openings with our paintings in the hallways of the apartment building.  we actually sold some work doing this, and well it was fun.  I had screwed large lug bolts into the apartment hallway walls and painted whit over them so they were not very noticeable, but easy to just hang a bunch of oil paintings for a weekend art show.  The neighbors didn't care, they thought it as fun.

Eventually the apartment managers caught on and came to one of the openings.  I saw a group of suits come in, thought that it was odd but maybe they saw the flyer and wanted to look at the art so i invited them into the studio.  We small talked and then I suggested that they take some time and look at the paintings, they told me that they had seen enough and handed me eviction papers.  That was the abrupt end of my first studio.  Worth every penny.

  I have hundreds of photos from this studio, so i will just leave you with with these.

Thanks for reading my blog...

...keep checking back, there is more to come.