The Never-Ending Series: Syncopated

Some quickly, some slowly - that's the story of life and of art.

Back in the spring I began a new series that was similar to my Running Stitch series except that the pieces of materials I was cutting up and combining on panels were bigger and required fewer tacks to hold in place. And, rather than emphasizing the horizontal, this new series emphasized the diagonal.

Iphone photo of "Triple Play," 24" x 24", mixed media on panel

Now here it is nearly the end of October and I am just finishing up this series that I have decided to call "Syncopated." So far there are 13 pieces in a range of sizes. Most were begun in the spring, but I was unable to complete them due to other commitments. Now just one is left to complete so that I can move on. The series is not finished but this group is - at least for the time being.


Meaning, Intention, Motivation
I haven't written a statement about this work yet, and despite the opinion of some people, writing a statement is the hard work that really helps me understand what I am doing. In the meantime, I can share some of the more obvious reasons for making this work - at least obvious to me.

Iphone photos of two untitled works, each 36" x 36"

How I Work
Besides my being ready for a change, working diagonally actually gives me a much more expansively playful feeling. The way I work is to have lots of materials around - paintings that I prepare on heavy stock, album covers, books, advertising materials, cardboard, and anything else that seems to have potential for use. I work intuitively by placing pieces of these materials on the panels and observing how color, shape, texture, value and placement affect the whole panel as well as other proposed pieces.  Looking is the most important part of the process.

Iphone photo of "Legs," 18" x 12", mixed media on panel

Why "Syncopated?"
"In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter(pulse). These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be stressed. "If a part of the measure that is usually unstressed is accented, the rhythm is considered to be syncopated." - from Princeton University online.

Rhythm plays an important role in my choices by allowing me to play with a regular beat and change that up by putting in surprising accents. The strange thing is that while I am aware of the list of qualities that influence my choices, there are often subconscious influences that I do not see until after the painting is provisionally completed and hung on the wall. There is the illusion of transparency, for example, (as pointed out on Facebook by Shawn Hill in "Triple Play" or the illusion of swirling deep space at the center of "Legs."

Iphone photo of untitled work, 24" x 24", mixed media on panel

Lines, Lines, Those Lines
Why, you may wonder, do I have all those black lines in these works? Some people have said that the lines make the elements stand out from each other and look like stained glass, others that the lines seem unnecessary. Well, it turns out that the lines have both an aesthetic and functional purpose. The lines offer their own addition to the rhythm, grid or arrangement of the elements and function as spaces between elements that allow for movement and fluctuations caused by humidity. The lines are filled in with black encaustic.

Cutting lines in an already completed work

Cutting to the Chase
The need to allow for expansion and contraction of the elements means that the pieces I use can't be too large. I discovered this after the fact when too-large elements in some works began bulging. I had to cut spaces into them and move some tacks. The piece above is the final work that needs this cutting alteration and once it's repaired, professional photos can be take, and, at long last, I can move on.

Color and Geometry at Conrad Wilde Gallery in Tucson, AZ

Kicking off the fall season in their beautiful new space,  Conrad Wilde Gallery in Tucson is showing their first group exhibition of the season in the main gallery, called "Relative Geometries." This show runs through October 25th and features  the work of Annell Livingston, Robert Moya, Joanne Mattera and me, Nancy Natale.

"On Broadway," 2013, 14" x 14", mixed media with encaustic on panel
One of my works in "Rlative Geometries"

Along with this group exhibition, Joanne Mattera will also have a solo show in the project space called "Chromatic Reasoning."

Joanne Mattera, "Chromatic Geometry 21," 2014, 12" x 12", encaustic on panel

Miles Conrad has selected nine works from my small Running Stitch series. They are each 14" x 14" x 1.5", composed of various found and manipulated materials such as books, album covers, paintings, treated metal, advertising and other paper ephemera. I cut these materials into strips, lay out a horizontal arrangement and attach them to panels with lots of tacks. Many of the elements have had encaustic painted over them before they are cut up, and once everything is fully tacked in place, I apply another coat of encaustic in the valleys between elements.

The selection in the studio

Oh, that dreaded finishing, including painting of edges and wiring

Here are the press release images for "Chromatic Reasoning" and "Relative Geometries." You can see the real thing here and find links that actually work.

Here are a few more of my pieces in the show.

"Lotsa Pulp'," 2013,  14" x 14", mixed media with encaustic on panel

"World Around Us," 2013,  14" x 14", mixed media with encaustic on panel

"Guest Star," 2014,  14" x 14", mixed media with encaustic on panel

I hope you will visit Conrad Wilde Gallery if you are in the Tucson area to check out the space and these two very colorful shows. Joanne Mattera is attending the opening and I'm looking forward to seeing her photos of the installation and the reception.

"Reflections and Shadows" at Arden Gallery, Boston

NOTE: I am starting NEW ART IN THE STUDIO because I wanted to change the blog layout without affecting all the posts in the original Art in the Studio blog that I began in 2008. If you want to read some of those posts, here is the link.

Here I am at Arden Gallery with the somewhat distorted "Red Pair." I look like I just had a Hollywood facial, but I think it was the lighting. (iPhone photo by Greg Wright)

Reflections and Shadows at Arden Gallery, Boston, August 5 - 30

Arden Gallery is presenting a small solo show of my work during the month of August. Here are a few images of the installation and of the work in process in my studio.

Installation shot at Arden: Left are the Red Pair, Cugat on left and Montalban on right, each 24" x 24".
Painting on the right is Shimmer, 48" x 36". (The sculpture in the center is by Michelle Knox.)

About My Work 

First of all, about my work in general: I am drawn to making order out of chaos and that order usually takes a geometric form. I love juxtaposition, materiality, color, and the challenge of compositional problems.

A few years ago I began a series I called The Running Stitch because of the strong horizontal organization that reminded me of the way small stitches appear on a textile. Instead of sewing, I construct this work with elements that I cut from various found and prepared materials such as: books, record albums, packaging, treated metal, rubber, and paintings on cardstock that I prepare for the purpose or recycle from old works on paper. I attach the elements to wooden panels using tacks, hundreds of tacks. Yes, I had a grandfather who was a blacksmith. Did I inherit the blacksmith gene? I have my suspicions.

I began thinking of this series as a collection of memories, organized not consecutively or to relate a narrative, but rather as strokes of paint on a canvas. Memory jumps around sometimes and juxtaposes yesterday's movie with the crush you had on a movie star at age 12. I like surprises, weird combinations, hidden text, and lush color. My medium of choice, in addition to the elements, is encaustic paint, applied to the work in a liquid state and then fused to the panel with a heated tool called a shoe.

Shimmer in progress: decisions, decisions.

How I Work

When I think about making a new work, I usually think COLOR first. I have bags of elements stored in the studio by color and I have bins of old books also sorted by color. If and when I need more of a particular color, I make paintings using ink and encaustic gesso that I will cut up as needed.

A painting I made to be cut up and used in Shimmer

Making work for this show began right after I returned from the Encaustic Conference in June. Trying to catch up with everything and get back in the studio groove was a little tough but I managed.

A little surprise in Shimmer

Installation shot at Arden Gallery, Shimmer left and All Good Intentions, 2013, 30" x 30" at right.

Here is a professional photo of Shimmer that shows more detail.

Shimmer, 2014, 48" x 36". Photographed by John Polak Photography.

After a marathon session of hammering tacks on this piece, I bought a new lighter weight hammer. It's made a big difference to my arm and my stamina.

Old one inherited from my father on left and new, lightweight one on left -
on top of some paintings made for Shimmer.

Green Shade

Green Shade, 2014, 36" x 36"

This green one was the next piece I made. I always like to put in a secondary color, in this case turquoise, along with the main focus. There are also slices of copper in this that reflect the light.

A little air freshener guy waiting for some tacks and paint in Green Shade.

Here is Green Shade in the Arden installation on their lovely brown walls that seem to go with everything.
The three small pieces on the left were painted earlier this year.

The Red Pair, Cugat and Montalban

Bringing you full circle in my blog post and creative process, we arrive at the Red Pair, the last works I made for the Arden show.

Here you see Shimmer and Green Shade hanging on the wall in my studio and the two
gessoed panels that became the Red Pair in the foreground on the table.

Some of the elements laid out for these works. I was lucky to find two good Latin album covers
 in my stash - one by Xavier Cugat and the other by Ricardo Montalban. - lots of red.

The official portrait of Montalban and Cugat, each 24" x 24".

I am hopeful that I will resume regular posts again in this new blog. I usually take on a post as if it were a graded assignment, but maybe I can ease up on myself a bit and feel free to omit the essay and concentrate on the images. I hope you will be there with me!