Off to run some errands, but first I thought y’all might like to see the start of what will be my first horizontal painting that you set on a surface, not hang on a wall. Oooh. Aaaah. I want the end result to combine techniques from House of Leaves, Lurk, and Skia, and the subject should hopefully continue my exploration of gender in an anonymized, faceless form like we’ve seen in Fair Trade.
Starting materials: board (reclaimed from a trashed desk), white caulk (the apartment complex left two in my apartment after installing new windows), posing maquette.
Also, speak of Skia, if any of you are especially fond of that painting, you want to make sure and swing by my booth at ORANJE next month. Bring a smartphone. I’ve said too much as it is.
So, yeah. Finally getting caught up in my own art, and first up was to get some photos taken of the six paintings I’d finished this year and not gotten up here. Six! By Bruces, I’m such a horrible slacker.
Anyway, hit up the Oil section, or just check’em out below for right now.
So, I bet you were all beginning to think I’d gone and forgotten I’m supposed to be a painter, right? Right?
Ha! Fooled ya!
As you can see, I’m in fact working on a few things all at once. That’s how this Zed rolls. You might correctly guess there are a couple Lurk works there, and I wonder what that third panel might be…
They’re all tiny in the thumbnail, use the gallery below for close-ups and a shot of the chaos known as my studio.
See, this didn’t take long, not a month after my show and not even a day after my new site design goes live and here I am to talk about my next painting series.
Isn’t that spiffy?
So, this new series I’m working on, it’ll probably be a small one, I don’t think there’s too much I can do with it that can’t be done in three pieces before I start weakening it. It started when Nick reminded me of the minotaur from House Of Leaves, which is one of those works that had quite an impact on both of us. And, within that story, the minotaur takes on this terrifying aspect of not being the guardian, the sign of power and corruption and excess it was in mythology, no no, it’s something darker than that. It becomes the thing that lurks, that exists and leaves behind evidence but isn’t seen. It becomes a representation of our own follies, obsessions, faults, conceits. And, it forces us to pursue it. It lurks and we must brave into the darkness if we hope to find it, to address it, to challenge it.
And so, this next series is called “Lurk,” it’s an exorcism of sorts, an externalization as I sort through my own labyrinth (man, anyone remember when I was stuck on Daedalus and Icarus ideas and imagery? Apparently this myth is good milage for me.)
Visually, what I’ve started working on is methodologically influenced by Nathan, who’s use of found materials and caulk gave me an idea for how to create a textured underlayer to support these ideas, and by some of the darker side of Lawrence Yang’s work over at blow at life. I’m forgoing my usual oils this time to explore using oil-based enamel paint instead. I wanted something a bit different, and for some reason my old collection of model paints started calling out to me. Maybe it’s the ease with which enamel can imitate ink drips and washes that oil has a harder time doing. Maybe it’s just memories, but you know, that fits.
Anyway, some sketches here, some shots of the boards as I caulk them later.
