The creativity of the works shown at the latest critique is inspiring. Often artist within a group are diverse enough that showing work together gives everyone a great sense of contrast and diversity in art making which is a hallmark of our times. Contrasting each work can help identify strengths and weaknesses in one’s own work, and give us a sense of how we fit together as a collective group. This night was clearly that.
I started out with an unfinished piece that is getting close to being done (The image on the blog is in the final stage of completion). It is a still life using Eduard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ as the composition which cares a large amount of detail in the motif. It will be the last of these ’Still Life’ (see Series Description XXX) series and so perhaps I have a little senioritis regarding putting in the effort to finish it. In any case, the group saw a need to develop both the lighter and darker elements which will give the motif greater drama. As in all work that is in the process of being developed, having a clear direction to finish is very helpful.
Thom brought in his ‘G’ paintings, which he had shown before. There are some nice improvements in the development of color and space. The line work accents the bold G form which brings the image into focus and balance. The color composition is beautiful and gives both the foreground of the G and the background a playful dialog of order and chaos. Some better options might be to carry the background line work in the ‘G’ which would add a mystery to the space. We collectively felt that the work harkens back to Kandinsky which is not bad company to be associated with.
Ron brought in a great piece! There are times when a member of the group brings in a piece of artwork that is complete and is to be admired. There isn’t anything more to say about this painting other than, start on another. It is a magnicent rock form that plants itself to the bottom of the page. Having you main object sitting on the bottom of the page would normally be found off (compositionally wrong) but the perfect balance of negative and positive space along with the refined rendering of textures, and gradation, make this compositional work fine. I suggest anyone reading this blog open up the image and spend some time enjoying the coordination of the colors, the articulated crags of the rock and the overall feeling of this peaceful motif. Note the edge of the rock and how the surrounding atmosphere falls softly on the rock surface; it really is a wonderful piece.
Loren brought work in but unfortunately I was not able to get any pictures that would have given the pieces justice. That’s okay, we were very happy she joined us.
Contrasting art is a good thing. The history of art is just that, a look at the times and the collective change in art due to the environment. Yet we live in a pluralistic post-modern society that spends much of our creative juices de-constructing the past history of art making. Yet during this process of art making, we appropriate common modern visual icons such as cartoons,advertisements and famous faces. Contrasting our art help we as Artist identify where we are in ourtimes.
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