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My writing takes place most of the time very early in the morning. I liken it to a mental conversation with myslef. I AM MY MOST ENCHANTED LISTENER!
The written segments presented here are complete and incomplete... some have hanging references which I am not going to connect to whatever the reference was (at the time I wrote the words) [I may connect them later]. What you are about to read, if you choose to do so, includes all the warts. ENJOY!!!!! After reading through this, I realize that it is formated in REVERSE chronolical order; from 8/5/06 backto 2/23/05.5:58 PM 8/5/2006 D:\artstatements\ArtIsTangents.txt ART AS TANGENTS Interesting idea to bounce off the walls of one's brain. Tangents. Tangent. Art as tangent. Art as tangents. Art is tangents. I reason this to cover wide territory. It brings to the table the concept of touch, touching, scale, lack of scale, reality, the real world as we process it and in turn try to understand it, try to communicate this understanding to others and the virtual world, which includes the dream and the computer world; both, of which, are virtual. In this picture of me and yellow tangents, there are virtual elements touching arted elements-- stripes or verticality/s. Then there is the additon of the human image in the form of a self portrait that touches both the real world of verticality, the edge of my easil, and the edge of the canvas, and touches the verticality that is represented in the painting. This is all reality by my definition. I undertook some thought exercises similar to this before, back in 1966 or 1967.... see dadadadada (something is more real than real).
[All one in the same 1990 little ditty. In the end, it comes down to what is believable and defineable as reality. Is it an exercise in metaphysics or perception. Is there a difference? Is this what artists do? Plow around and stir up the dreams and real world elements that are tangent to each other [and present their findings to other human beings through their art]. Do dreams and real world elements share the same space? Or are their spaces separate realities tangent to each other. Are they tangent to each other? Maybe they ever overlap? How does string theory apply here, or does it? Lots of questions. Lots of avenues explored over the years as threads (connections). To me, everything is interconnected. We form these connections individually and collectiely through one common thread-- our humanness. I don't think we can escape this. We have our differences, but we also share the same tangents. Upon rereading the above. What did I say? The more I think the more confused I get as to what my art is to me let alone what it represents to others. The quandary contines. I keep truckin' in the studio. There are answeres out there! I know it. I just haven't found them yet. Keep truckin'. dpn 6:11 PM 8/5/2006 2:06 PM 8/6/2006 D:\artstatements\selfprtstudies-statement.txt This is a set of starts for a digital self portraits. Until I was almost finished with the first images did I realize how close they looked like Close (Chuck Close). Damn! This business is simply too crowded. Can't do anything, it seems, that someone hasn't already done! Makes copywright damn near impossible, eh? D:\artstatements\25-Apr-04NewWork.odt [insert file contents here if desired... listed as a ref only at this time. 2:42 AM 5/1/2006 D:\artstatements\Visual art as experience.txt Visual art as experience. It doesn't need to be anymore than simply this. The form it may take is directly related to the mind/experience/attitude of the maker/artist. It can be 2d, 3d, 4d and any combination therein. This statement/concept is worn out. But it is still fresh to me according to how I point to it in a discussion. This could be a discussion covering the realm of conceptual art as it is currently defined (agreed definition). Or it could be something else entirely. The Dada movement was interested in destroying the conventional response/relationship to art (at the time of its invention--1920s). Dada was experimental because nothing like it existed before. today, the 2000s, I think artists are trying, in many ways, to re-invent Dada mabe. The art of the new young artists becomes a multi-media event expressing nothing else, sometimes in my mind, but a visual presentation/experience; combining art elements of every nature together in ways not done before. Or if done before, constructed with a new twist. Some of this new art thus becomes "neo-neo-neo movement"; ie, expressionism neo-x-power. Also many new or young artists are looking for ways to present an idea in any of the accepted media or media combinations that is a different view/point of view. Some of of this new art exists thinnly as art; some of it is pun. This thread I am workig on has no real boundry and becomes very difficult for me to keep straight. I find if very difficult to write my thoughts down where they mean someting to me once penned to paper; penned to computer file in this case. Just think of what the computer and its attendent parts/definitions has brought to the human experience. 25 years ago text file was not in our vocabulary or experience... save maybe in the science labs at our universitys. Please don't hold me to a correct date. I don't have the time-line history of computers at my finger tips as I write this today. I am just trying to make a point. I think there was some form of computer operating in the 1930's actualy. I think you get my points here. 3:21 AM 5/1/2006 D:\artstatements\largeformatprintsavanity.txt As I make the new images, especially on the computer because it is so fast at making and changing, I don't realy know sometimes the value of the total thing... the image with all its attending parts. And since I make so many variations on one image structure, I get confused as to which one would look the best scaled up as a paint-on-canvas structure. I would like to inkjet print them on canvas rather than paint them, but I can't afford a printing system that would do this kind of work. At this time in my life, investing the thousands of dollars for the equipment (so i could completely control the process) is a vanity issue and not real. 3:46 PM 5/2/06 D:\artstatements\MyPaintingsAreHandPainted.txt Remember.... my paintings are hand made; hand painted with some help from tape and stencils to get around the difficulty I have in painting a straight or cured edge without aids. All the same, they are hand painted and possess all the faults and frailties that come with being human. I use geometry and trigonometry to hang my ideas on at the moment. I also use the computer to create variations on the themes that I am now using; boxes, lines, curves, circles, elipses, solids, veils -- and at times I play a freehand piece of expressionistic painting against this mechanical-like backdrop. Cool, I think! 10:34 AM 4/29/2006 D:\artstatements\negativeartexperience.txt Utterings on a bad writing day. If you take the time, the mess below will make sense. Viewing the work of any artist in any medium, if the work/image/performance lies outside the experiencers experience/cone of experience/world, there will be a very high probability that there will exist a disconnect between experiencer and the experience (art). Therefore it (the art) will go misunderstood, and in many cases, dismissed as unimportant (to the experiencer). This (negative experience) will have a more lasting impression (most likely) than if the experience was a positive one. There the negative experience will be long lasting. the dismissal more permanent. Especially when the engagement arises again between the same artist and experiencer. When I travel the internet looking at new art work by artists I don't know, it is not helpful for some sites to show no images and only express some for of analysis through words. This is meaningless to me. I want to see the art. Of course if the work is conceptual or performance, then I guess it cannot really be experienced over the internet. (experiencing work of art onthe internet is quesinable at best) One can only get a glimpse of what the art is like; a proximity. Take color: The same color can be viewed on 10 different computer monitors of different ages and types― this color will look different on each monitor. The original world-experience-color sample as well as the computer monitors must be side by side to compare and determine which copy is of the best fidelity. The only way to view art is to view it in the real world. Say nothing. Just experience it. Getting back to my point about hermetic art. If there exists a spark of interest in new work by an artist/creator— then one must embark on an educational journey to study the artist's work, history, education. Also study the movement/s that the artist either proclames to be influenced by or interested in, or how critics evaluate the work. After some education, the experiencer can be deemed informed. Informed decisions and criticisms, condemnations, etc become more creditable. The experiencer can either now continue to look/study this artist's work, or dismiss (with credibility and personal opinion) this artist and the related work. Of course all of the above is questionable by others and myself as well. Have a nice day dpn 10:47 AM 4/29/2006 hermetic art can also be a by product of intellectual games which can take the form of very private jokes and puns. This kind of stuff, at times, is never meant to be understood. 2:55 AM 4/21/2006 D:\artstatements\creatingTheElements.txt I create the elements that eventually make up my paintings. I create the design, color relationships, color modulation or nonmodulation for specific shapes, and so on. This element building is very left-brained with some right-brain involvement. Most, if not all of this element creation is done using a computer. I define these elements as being similar to brush strokes, washes, etc. When the actual layout is determined for a specific canvas, I will use Automatism to make the final element decisions; ie, which elements will make the final cut and be part of the physics of a painting. I sometimes refer to this process (overall) as intellectual expressionism; vs emotional expressionism based upon abstract expressionism as originated and defined in the 1940's. It could also be called intellectual abstract expressionism. But for me, this is too clumbsy. Since 2002 I have been searching for ways to make my paintings based upon something other than the traditional AE formats; gesture and colorfield. I have moved my art making more into the colorfield camp, but with large doses of minimalism with some constructivism and other minimal orientations thrown-in. I realizided today, while working on a new set of small paintings on linen (a found stash from 1973), that I use Automatism to make final painting (action) decisions. I lined up all the color samples for the background color --Sand Dark--, then promply found myself mixing up a batch of another closely related color, --0043 Sand-- . The new color is far superior than the original Sand Dark. The Sand Dark was the background color for the 47+ digital images created for this project. dpn 3:08 AM 4/21/2006 3:37 PM 3/6/2006 D:\artstatements\030606studNotes01.txt Just a few notes regarding a career as an artist. I would accept reliance on selling etc if I deeply connected to that way of life. for a couple of reasons, I chose not to fully engage in the commercial side of selling/schlepping my art. In a way I felt in the past, and now, that if the commercial art world some how came to my door and requested to show, handle, etc my work... I might consider engaging. BUT! I tend to be shy, and as a result of this like to be very private in how I handle my contacts with the outer world. Also because my work over the past 40 years based itself in the gesture side of AE, it tended to be rather hermetic and personal; not very sellable. In the 1960's to the mid 1970's, I had no real problems lining up gallerys and other venues to show my work; however, very little of it sold. This lack of selling ability gradually weakened my position with regard to commercial galleries. In 1980 I stopped making the AE gesture paintings in favor of turning to a "Turneresque" approach to painting seascapes; using a watercolor approach on paper, canvas and muslin (mounted on panels). These paintings sold very well during the 1980's (1981-1991 to be exact). This corresponded to my move from northern Vermont to the CT shore. I stopped making the seascapes full time in 1991 when I moved to NC. Actually stopped full production of the seascapes in late 1987 in favor of going back to AE work on canvas... using lots of color and thick paint paletted knifed onto the canvas surface. This work got a big boost when I won a prize at the CT annuals in 1990 at the Slater Memorial Musem in Norwich, CT. When I setup my studio again in 1992 in Matthews, NC, I soon discovered that Charlotte nC area wasn't interested at all in what i was doing. From 1992 - 1999 I showed my work at the Fovea Gallery in Blowing Rock, NC. Lots of showing, but again no real sales. From 1999 to November 2004 I was not represented by a gallery anywhere. Basically gave up trying to beat the bushes as no takers were to be found. In November 2004 i contacted a new gallery opening in Charlotte and a new relationship was started. I am now represented by the Modern Eye Gallery in Charlotte Nc. Most recently, February 2006 I was invited to participate in a new gallery adventure in NYC, Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery in Chelsea. This is a brand new gallery opening its doors with its first show in March 2006. My new focus for painting, since the end of 2002; move away from gesture AE and toward colorfield AE infusing generous amounts of minimalist ideas, geometry, mathematics and color science. This change was very difficult for me as I had a very hard time giving up the thrill of throwing paint for 40 years. I had some real doubts that i could connect to a new esthetic. I began to put it together toward the end of 2004, and development along these new lines has been steady and strong. Modern Eye Gallery and Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery support certainly as encouraged me to continue my work using my new ideas. 3:04 AM 12/3/2005 D:\artstatements\IhaveBeenPainting4fortyYears.txt Just had a flash.... What are you looking for with (or in) your painting? I don't know. I will let you know when I find it! REMEMBER, I only have been painting for 40 years! I'm just getting started!? 12:19 AM 11/13/2005 D:\artstatements\TheBlackAndGreenPaintings2005.txt SETS THE BLACK AND GREEN PAINTINGS, 2005 Making paintings in sets, groups, or series is something that I normally don't like doing. The four paintings that comprise this update to Canvas 2004-2005 fall into this category. I consider them to be an exception to this rule. The image fascinated me. I enjoyed making the digital images and decided that I should physically make a set of paintings based on the best of the digital series. There are 60 images in the Black and Green digital series. Those of you who create digital images on a computer know how easy it is to make infinite variations on the theme. The changes can be made quickly. This is all well and good, but when it comes to scaling up the images to canvas, for me, I want the differences to be both unique and related at the same time. This procedure is most schizophrenic by definition. This was and is my concept relating to how I approached making the canvases. So far, I made only four. There has been one serial set of paintings in my past; The Voyage Series of paintings done in 1966-67. I believe there were only 16 paintings to the set. Go to my archive to view some of these paintings. None of the Voyage series group were as closely related in color, structure and size as are the Black and Green series. For this reason I decided to move on after completing the fourth painting. However, like all previous programs, The Black and Green program/set/series remains open for more of them to be made in the future if the spirit moves me to do so. 1:18 PM 10/15/2005 D:\artstatements\Oct05NoKnowStatement.txt Not trying to sound stand-offish or arrogant, I have decided that it is meaningless for artists to make statements about their own work. Like everybody else I am interested in what artists have to say about their work, processes, etc. Some are very good at it. I am not. For me, I am so close to it and its merriad of nuances, that I can't freeze its present position and make an objective analysis of its meanings. I can make statements about the process of making it and the esthetic interests that have capuured my attention and seem to be influencing what I am doing. The work is subjective and so would be my analysis of it. What bothers me immenseley is outside interest in my progressions.... where the current work comes from and where it is going. Hell, I don't know this... Oh, I can give some kind of utterance on where it has come from, but the dateline is not smooth and coherrent even to me. I don't think about the past that much so don't really remember where the work came from. If I like what I am doing, I keep doing it. If I don't like what I am doing I move on to something else. A lot of what I do is try different things on to see it there might be a fit somewhere. If there is, then I go with it for ever how long I am interested in it, or for the duration of if I think the image is alive and worth developing further. So my images are very fluid in their developement, and there exists gaps [jumps really] in how they get where they are. The progression has a lot of parents. The format that I am using here to discuss my work is not like by the grant givers. Sorry! Here is a quick synopsis of where my work has been, where it is now, and where I think it will go in the future. Remeber, this is what I am feeling at 1:32 PM 10/15/2005. Past: AE gesture approach to painting; focus on color and line, shape, thin/thick paint, rapid all-over execution. Current: AE color field approach to painting; focus on color, line, shape, thin paint and minimalism. Future: more of the same... most likely will start to fuse the two approaches sometime in the future when I feel a need to re-introduce gesture. That is it. dpn 1:36 PM 10/15/2005 1:25 AM 7/20/2005 D:\artstatements\The ultimate zen painting.txt the paintings of malevich; greg bogin; monique prieto (the simpllified pcs; others as I come across them.The ultimate zen painting -- examples -- the white paintings of Rauschenberg of the 1950's; The ultimate zen expression is 0 sound, 0 form, 0 smell, 0 tactility, 0 time. I guess that the ultimate zen expression is sleep or death. This is an extrapolation of the 0 sum processes that make up an ideal or ultimate zen expression -- the zeros. The zero sum expression then becomes the maximized expressive force possible. This zero is more real than any realism in any art form. Also has potential of being more real that reality as we know or experience it. The ultimate zen painting = the ultimate expressionist painting (abstract or otherwise) = 0. D:\artstatements\AnatomiesTwoPtgs3polypalettes.doc Anatomy of two paintings: FortyTwoFiftyFour and FortyTwoFiftyEight—a series of at least three images tracing development while on tapestry frame (studio frame) to gallery presentation. Anatomy for a future: ideas taken from my mixing palettes on polyethylene sheet. I use 1/8” sheet polyethylene as mixing palettes for acrylic paints. They are very easily cleaned with a mixture of denatured alcohol and water, with a final cleaning of straight denatured alcohol. They do not stain. The paint will not stick. The palette sizes vary according to the volume of paint I am mixing, the larger the volume of paint, the larger the palette and vice versa. Illustrated here, 3 small palettes as a triptych and one larger palette as a hor-vertical image. The image structure has been in my mind for over a year. These are my first realizations. I like both sides of the polyethylene sheets. Both sides have paint on them. And you can see the paint from one side coming thru the translucency on the polyethylene sheet. Could translate later into a paint support, not polyethylene, but another translucent plastic that would allow the acrylic paint to stick to it. Or tanslate the subdued color as part of a front-surface painting on canvas. These two anatomies relate. I take ideas from the mixing palettes, transcribe them to the computer image, translate them to a canvas or series of canvases, translate this back to the computer. The process is constantly interweaving, mixing and changing. The program continues to move in several directions simultaneously. At all times throughout the interchanging, I allow automatism to operate and keep my mind open to ideas developing from this improvisation. If the current images rising from my studio palettes become my work in the future, and my pattern of change is obeyed, it will be a year or two before they start to influence work on canvas or computer. New ideas that show the way to a major change in direction in my work usually take about three years to appear in any regular manner. Sometimes the introduction is slow and subtle, and other times I just step off and work the new image. These two anatomies – I put them together so I could study the depth in the process [if there is any depth to it]. I want to lay it out, make some comparisons, and let the incubation start. Forever the educator, I am always interested in sharing the process with others. Sometimes a dialog can get started this way. This dialog can be important to me and you. 1:07 PM 6/6/05 D:\artstatements\myimageinacontext.txt Context and viewing my paintings. I just came accross several different criticisms (all solicited on my part) by fellow artists on "what do think about my new imaging'?. I wanted to get some feedback from artists that I have very high redard for and confidence in their seriousnes for their own work as well as the work of other artists. Also I have known these people for a long time. Inadvertently i presented the same image in several contexts. This happened because I was updating my web site and the context for the same image would appear in several different formats that included different backgrounds and sizings. This also works with the same image in the same context but on a different day/date. This offen occurs when galleriests or museumists visit the studio for various reasons and make several trips... may comment on piece on one visit and not on the next, or like it on one visit and hate it on the next. And the same painting is the brunt of this exercise; and is still occupying the same space in the studio. So what does this mean? Incidently, I undergo the same reaction process to a same piece over a period of time. I hate the thing one day and love it the next. We are never the same people from one time frame to another. We can never step into the same river twice. And reality flowes like a river as does time. So, if we extrapolate all of these differences, feelings, moods, anxieties, etc between only two people and try to calculate how each will react to the same painting [in the same place/location when viewed at two different time frames]... whew!!!! Where are we, then? Human! And life ain't easy!? What do you do? Keep truckin'. Keep workin'. Keep probin'. Keep turnin' over the rocks' Keep travellin'. Keep on livin'. Get out of bed every morning and hit the ground running. dpn 1:20 PM 6/6/05 D:\artstatements\ThursdayARTstatement.odt.doc.pdf Statement and images for Bob Hogge website – first touch. 12:30 PM 4/21/05 D:\artstatements\ZenMoreLessAStatementOfNoKnow.txt ZEN 2/23/05 09:32 AM D:\artstatements\HowImakeMyPaintingDecisions.doc Decisions on how and what to make as a painting product is a very complex involvement. Several issues that I use to decided what to paint are: 1) Natural innate design sense – designing from my internal mechanism. Improvisation 2) Natural intellectually design interest. 3) Outside influences from other painters and teachers 4) Fear. Fear of acceptance performs as a sensorship mechanism and influences final image/content decisions. 5) Until very recently; AE played a very large conceptual base for all of my work. I tried to keep this program alive in any way possible. 6) Change, move to a minimalist positon with my image, influenced by long standing interest, and from time to time practice, of AE colorfield program. 7) Minimal influence by market place on the surface. Don’t know how large this influence actually is in the real world. I suspect quite lare at this date: Wednesday, February 23, 2005. 8) Interest in more of an intellectual/appropreiative base for painting (all image making) and less focus/interest in Improvisational/Gesture/AE. a:: intellectual emotionalism. 9) Of late, very interested in a collaborative state where artist and client design together. Or as a minimal outside influence, the final design and scale is influenced by the end user other than the artist. A commission mentality. 10) As of this date --Wednesday, February 23, 2005-- I feel very comfortable with the intellectual guidance factors for my art making. a:: This is new territory for me |
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