Back Again and Walden Birch

Excuse me for the lack of blogging.  I am currently in school for Massage Therapy and that has taken my focus temporarily away from my art.  I also moved and had three shows this summer.  Additionally, a traumatizing experience hanging and running a weekend long art show in Chelsea, NY left me exhausted and disgusted by the artworld and city life.  Alas, I have moved away from the city and autumn is too inspiring to resist despite my lack of free time.  So, look forward to some new paintings soon.

In the meantime, here is a piece I finished in early September for a show.  I think it was rushed and somehow seems to be lacking but it is still beautiful.

Untitled

Walden

I spent a few hours at Walden on Sunday.  I try to avoid going there on weekends because of the tourists but I just really wanted to go.  I did explore Emerson's Cliff Path which was really nice and quiet.  Then I made my way down to the spot where I intended to paint.  I had painted there two years ago when the water was much high due to the floods so this time found myself sitting on a rock past an unusual, memorable tree that was once submerged in water.

As usual the first few paintings were no good at all.  It always takes some time to warm up.  

Then I thought of Cezanne for some reason and was able to paint this: 

Maybe thinking of Cezanne helped.  It wasn't that I was consciously trying to paint like him but afterwards I thought the colors and some of the foliage reminded me of his work.  Here is an example of a Cezanne painting in the style that I was thinking of:

New Work in Progress

Often I feel really tired and sluggish all day while I do work/chores or anything at all.  Then suddenly at 9pm I feel very energized and awake.  That lasts for a few hours before I fall asleep.  It's during that time that I make my best creative work.  

I thought my latest endeavor seemed disconnected or different from my other work, but whenever I go back and look at my work I realize that it is all very recognizably mine.  

Show at Yes.Oui.Si 3/10/12

Group Show 

at

  6:00-10:30pm 

Saturday

March 10, 2012.
google map

Featuring:  Katie Brockway, Phil Musen, Shannon Wright, John Coulter, Anna Frischknecht, Seashell Robbins and Todd the Fox.

Mwahaha

Well,  I am showing my work at Blue Shirt Cafe in Davis Square.  Why?  Because I signed up for this website: http://www.artvenue.com/.   At first I thought there were not enough venues and I would never get a show.  After a few months I forgot about it.  Then I suddenly get news that my paintings will be up for two months in a cafe, right on the square, conveniently located down the street from where I live.  Cool!

But what is so funny about this?  The manager of the cafe chooses the artwork.  At the last minute I added a painting to my portfolio titled, "RED" and it was chosen along with 4 abstract landscape scenes.  It is not a landscape...it is abstract, but is is also very red, very shiny and.......very vaginal!  I'm just wondering when and if any of the staff is going to pick up on this.  I'm fairly certain more than a few people are going to bite into their vegan wrap and then suddenly drop their jaws in awe, horror, ecstasy...who knows!  I think it's hilarious.

Three Types

I decided this morning that there are generally three types of art we see today.  I'm not really including functional art like crafts or architecture.  Just "fine art".  Art, art.

1.  Art that aims at being aesthetically pleasing but only for the sake of beauty and nothing else.  This art has no soul.

2.  Art that is conveying a concept, story or idea.  It may or may not intend to also be aesthetically pleasing. This art has no soul.

3.  Art that has a soul.  

So how can we measure whether or not some work of art has a soul?  We can't.  It's something we feel.  And some people's souls won't connect with the soul of one work of art but may with another.  

I felt a soul in the mosaics on the ceiling of the Chora Museum.  But was it really because the artist put soul into it? Maybe it was just that so many souls have passed through there, so many hands have touched those walls.  We can't really know but I think a lot of religious art is filled with soul because the person making it was passionately in love with God and creating something just for him.  So perhaps the soul of a work of art does not just come from the artist but may also come from a collective consciousness.  

So how do we know if something is soulless? And why do people make soulless art?  There is no true answer.  But, I'll be daring and say that some art just doesn't touch the depths of most souls and that might be a good indication.  

Some art just looks cool.  Some art is great for academics to think about.  Some art has a soul.

And some art is none of those things....that is what us snobby artists call: "bad art"!