Living With Artworks

I was in Chicago recently installing a new iteration of Composition To Threaten Your Existence for an exhibition at Carrie Secrist Gallery.  The show is titled (No) Vacancy and while being organized had been referred to by the gallery as “the Holes show” as it was intended to be (…and is) an exhibition about holes, emptiness, voids and all of the tangential ways in which that could be explored.  It was great fun, and I had the opportunity to catch up with many old friends from when I had lived there, plus meeting new and interesting people and seeing a lot of artwork.   I enjoyed seeing new work from artists I’ve known for many years, and seeing the way the different galleries evolved and changed to meet new challenges.  Everything evolves, and when you live in the midst of it you don’t always notice the changes until later down the road.  The same thing happens when you live with a work of art over the course of several years.  It may have had an initial draw that seduced you at the beginning, but as you live with it and continue engaging and thinking about it, you notice other elements, or angles, which may continue to grow on you and reveal more of the work’s mysteries.

I received the image below from a dear friend, a collector and long-time supporter of the work and a subscriber to 2011’s Drawing Subscription Mystical Geometries. He and his wife chose to frame the works individually and arrange them in a descending design creating an interesting flow to the work and further breaking up the formal constraints of the work.  I’m sure as the work ages, and as they live with it, the drawings will continue to grow in meaning and significance.  That’s the fun of living with art.

Fully Realized: Mystical Geometries and the Presence of Absence

Mystical Geometries, 2011

Now whole and complete, Mystical Geometries, the first offering in the Drawing Subscription series, is available as a complete set to interested parties.  Because we all know how much it sucks to miss out on something awesome, the subscriptions are structured such that the # of subscribers who sign up between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31st of the previous year, + 5 additional pieces, comprise the final edition number.  The +5 become reserved as complete sets for after the year has run its course.  Mystical Geometries culminated as an edition of 12 and all of the works should now be in-hand for all of the subscribers.  Those who had the foresight to reserve complete sets will be getting theirs after the New Year – just to play it safe – because of the massive volume of mail at the end of the year.

Mystical Geometries was an exploration in mark-making and void. Presence and absence.  Inspired by Hermetic and Occult diagrams, particularly Robert Fludd’s black square etching representing the Prima Materia, as well as Tantric paintings done as exquisitely simple meditations on the world, these works were meant to explore both material and process through the simplicity of form.  Taking the obligatory black square of Malevich (and so many others now), this project unfolded over the course of the year as a square window into that flat-black void.  Attempting to pull back, fold or bend, peek around, and explore the peripheral areas of the contained system we have become so familiar with and finally, coming to accept its location firmly entrenched in the (w)hole of the viewing space.

Through the repetition of creating these, I worked out the aesthetic logistics of a larger series of works on linen which are coming along very nicely.  The project also provided a space for consideration, both in parallel to and reaction against the immediacy of the works, and evolved into the schematics for next year’s subscription as well as other larger scale projects.  The active meditation of making these works has provided an excellent space within my mind for the continued percolation of ideas and projects which I am truly looking forward to continuing with next year’s series Surface Disruption.

December

December’s drawing for Mystical Geometries revealed!

Quarterly Update: The End of an Era

And here we are in the throes of December.  The final installments for 2011’s Mystical Geometries have been sent out and should find their way into the generous hands of a special group of people I am very grateful to have been able to share this project with throughout the year.  As the year comes toward it’s close, and Mystical Geometries has been made whole and complete, the studio is preparing for the next chapter in the Drawing Subscription: Surface Disruption.

The past year has been incredibly productive for the studio and it is certainly the goal to continue as such through next year as well.  As I compiled some images for the usual cycle of grants and residencies and so forth, I realized just how much has been accomplished this past year, and it’s been great.  I’m very much looking forward to finishing the rest of the projects that are still “in process” and also jumping in to several new projects that have been gestating in the back of my skull and are really ready to burst into their own corporeal reality.  I’m starting to line up a few shows in the next year, and some printed/publishing projects that I’m very excited about.  It’s always great to be able to show alongside, and work on projects with people whom you respect, admire and mutually support.  For now, keep an eye out for updates about shows in Kansas City, MO, Chicago (x2), and Brooklyn, and other projects coming out of Brooklyn and Tuscany, Italy.

So a big thanks to all of the 2011 subscribers, and all who have started lining up for the 2012 subscription (You still have until Dec. 31 to sign up!), as well as all of the generous supporters of other projects and shows that have manifest this year, and are being worked out for this next year.

Black Friday

Gearing up for the Black Friday holiday celebration in the studio.  In addition to a few other works, I’m displaying the 11 revealed pieces from this current year’s Drawing Subscription.  Consider it a little something to get the juices flowing in anticipation of 2012’s series!

Today: If you re-post about the 2012 subscription series on Facebook and/or Twitter, in order to spread the word you’ll be entered into a random drawing for one of next year’s Surface Disruption subscriptions. Make sure to tag me in your post so I can find out who needs to be included in the random drawing.  This offer will run ONLY during Black Friday (November 25, 2011). The winner will be selected Saturday, Nov. 26 2011.

The only certainty is in signing up, but it’s Black Friday after all, there’s magic in the air…

November

November’s drawing for Mystical Geometries revealed!

October

October’s drawing for Mystical Geometries revealed!

September

September’s drawing for Mystical Geometries revealed!

August

August’s drawing for Mystical Geometries revealed!

July

July’s drawing for Mystical Geometries revealed!