Studio #6 - 2437 Lyndale Attic Studio

My 6th studio in Minneapolis was absolutely one of my best.  I completed two series of works, formulated my thesis "The Aesthetics of Composition in Abstract Oil Painting" as the foundation for my future works, and established connections in the art world that have proven to be a great benefit to my career as an artist.

After returning to Minneapolis I moved into an art house with 3 other guys; Brad, Chris, and Calvin.  As before the entire house (a 5 bedroom, with a huge dining room and living room) was dedicated to the arts.  We had a music studio downstairs, a painting studio in the attic, and an entire house full of art.  As always there are impassioned stories here; things that happened both theatrical and passionate, and worthy of any bards tale.  It was a great time in my life as an artist and the paintings I completed there are some of my absolute favorite.

After I had completed my series of bullfight works I recognized that now I knew how to paint what I could imagine.  I was lacking a deeper understanding of color and I needed to understand each color as individual compositions.  Knowing technically how to control oil paint launched me into a several year color study to gain an understanding of color and each colors relationships to itself and other colors.  It was self imposed study, but it was invaluable to my work today.

I also started my working relationship with LUX Art & Design.  I had an exhibit up of four of my new color compositions at a cafe called Barbette, and the owners of LUX were in town and saw my work there and loved it.  I exhibited often at barbette, aka cafe Wyrd.  (And thanks Andrew for the kind words about my work, it helped.)  They came to my studio the next day and immediately told me what they were doing and asked if I would like to be one of their artists.  A few months and a contract later and I was represented on the west coast by LUX Art & Design.  I still maintain my relationship with them to this day.

This is what the place looked like before I built walls, insulated and sheet-rocked it all.  Whoever was there before me simply stapled old beer boxes to the walls and the spray painted it all grey.  It was cold and smelled like old wood.  I reinstalled, sheet-rocked, and built walls to accommodate my needs as an artist. 

All of these photos are of my work in progress.  At any given time in this studio i had no less than 7 paintings going at the same time.  My production levels were fantastic.

I had enough space to be able to view my work on the easel at a very comfortable distance.

I heated the place with that tiny electric heater.  It's 1500 watts would always short out the house if anyone used something electric in the bathroom below me, or turned on the music equipment in the basement.  I had to keep it of most of the time which made for cold winters.  even when it was on it was still chilly.

I am not sure what happened to that painting.  I know it sold, but to who?

The space was perfect for shooting photos of my work.

That is a stack of 60" x 36" acrylic gessoed canvases.  I was burning through canvases faster than I drink coffee.  My production level was high, and my finial paintings were great.

I was able to have two easels, my drafting table, a computer station, and a small living space.  The studio portion of the house I lived in was 850 square feet, plenty of space to paint and live.

Here are some photos of my while I was working on BitTorrent #1in this studio.  I didn't complete the work here, but I was able to start my formative series I had been studying and working toward.

It was a fun piece, and still very explorative, albeit it was the starting point of my thesis in practical application.

We took these photos after I had completed Rabbititus #15 "Neutral Colors," as I was so proud of the completed work I wanted to take photos in front of it.

I know that i made the right decision to move back to Minneapolis, as the results of my time in this studio produced my true emergence as a professional artist.

Thanks for thumbing through my blog...

...check back later this week with me and I'll surprise you.

Studies for a figurative.

I am working on a nude figurative for a client this week.  These are a few of the ink improvisation studies I have been playing around with.  

I am still undecided...

...I am just going to have to improve some more until I find what I want.

Studios #4 & #5 - Milwaukee/Ft. Lauderdale

I moved to Milwaukee to study the collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  I lived across the street from the building for 7 months.  I spent almost every day there learning as much as I could about their collection in the short time that I had.  It was not a vacation, and money was tight but I feel I left with a good memory of the collection at MAM.

Studio #4 was in the second bedroom of the two bedroom apartment I rented across from MAM.  I did paint four complete works there.  I have no photos of the actual studios, so just enjoy some pics of what I created while I was there.

Bowling Alley 16 "Saint G b" 

oil on canvas

60" x 36"

Bowling Alley 21 "The People a" 

oil on canvas

60" x 36"

 Bowling Alley 22 "The People b"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Bowling Alley 23 "The People c" 

60" x 36"

Studio #5 was in Ft. lauderdale Florida.  I had completed my study of The Milwaukee Art Museum so i needed a change and i did not want to return to Minneapolis just yet.  I moved there for personal reasons that did not work out so I promptly moved back to minneapolis after 5 months.

Alas I have no pictures of the studio, it was gorgeous.  I created some good work in florida, as living there changed me artistically and set me on the direction that still I find myself going.

Bowling Alley 20 "I" 

oil on canvas

60" x 30"

Bowling Alley 24 "Sounds a" 

oil on canvas 

30" x 15"

Bowling Alley 25 "Sounds b" 

oil on canvas

30" x 15"

Bowling Alley 26 "Sounds c" 

oil on canvas

30" x 15"

Bowling Alley 27 "Improvisation" 

oil on canvas

70" x 50"

Bowling Alley 28 "Stained Glass a" 

oil on linen

40" x 20"

Bowling Alley 29 "Stained Glass b"

oil on linen 

40" x 20"

Bowling Alley 30 "Stained Glass c" 

oil on linen

40" x 20"

Thanks for checking out my blog...

...no doubt, there is more to come soon.

Three odd studies.

So I spend my days walking around the Museum all day, 8 hours a day.  All I do is read about works of art, write about art, sketch, and come up with new ideas.  I have responsibilities, and they are taken care of, as my primary concern is to work on my craft all day.

Here are three quick studies I worked on today...

...they are odd.

I think that I all start working on my book again tomorrow...

...I expect chapter 3 to be complete and ready for a full edit by the end of the month.

Artwork of the month: Cats Paw!!!

The tale of the "Cats Paw" is dark and reveals a portion of human nature.

This painting is a depiction of a fable titled "The Monkey and the Cat" by Jean de La Fontaine.  The monkey cons the cat to grab chestnuts from the hot coals, promising him a share.  As the cat takes them from the fire one at a time, burning his paw each time, the monkey eats them.  They are interrupted and the cat gets nothing but a burned paw.  One animal uses another to get what it needs, typical of the animal kingdom.  

As a child I loved this painting, the story that it told, and the scandal the story reveals.  This has been one of my true favorite paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts since I was a child visiting on field trips.

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

British, 1802-1873

"The Cats Paw"

1824, oil on canvas

"If people only knew as much about painting as I do, they would never buy my pictures."

-Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

1.3 Abstract art.

1.3_Abstract art.




     Until about the mid 1800’s, western art has aspired to the rational work of the observation and reproduction of our visible reality.  The scientific and philosophical changes of the time directly effected western art where the theoretical abstract became concrete enough in the minds of artists to visually represent their philosophical views of the changing world.  Rather than discuss the history of art and the evolution of and realization of abstraction I will tell you that Abstract art is a logical conclusion for the moment.


     Abstraction is a language of composition without the dependance of the visual world.  The abstract work of art is an idea related to our visual world through the personal interpretation of experience and retrospection.  Abstract art has allowed modern man to contemplate on our world views, our philosophies, and ourselves in an era where we not only have the opportunity to contemplate these things, we concentrate on it.  Abstract art is a logical conclusion for the moment.


     Each artist’s ideas are their own, and the concepts and results of their abstract works of art are only subject to the variables of their generation.  Method and style are irrelevant, both being products of the period each artist lives in, and as such are a representation of the intuitive state and personal interpretation of their generation.  You cannot place boundaries on or judge the aesthetics of a generation, you can however judge their philosophy in a general observation of the collective behavior of a generation.


     The further the artist progresses into abstraction the more it will become apparent that he is actually ascending into representation; not that of a photographic nature, but that of an intuitive kind.  With brief being at the nature of abstraction, we find that abstract art is only the sketch of a concept, and has yet to have grown into the maturity of pure compositional works.  The intended concept of the artist must live in every portion of a work of art for abstract oil painting to grow out of its infancy, and into the maturity of the aesthetics of compositional oil painting.


    Lastly, regardless of a work of art’s appearance, if honest, it is beautiful.

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.