I have used many different media over the last 40 year and done many kinds of Art, learning the techniques by myself along the way. But there is always a continuity in my work, in shapes, colors, esthetics, and subject matter. My art comes out of my environment, I am inspired by things around me in the studio, and around the house.
Both Rachel and I are Compulsive Collectors with a wide ranging taste, and find beauty in the strange and the exotic, the odd humble object. We don't really care about monetary value. I am particularly interested in objects with a connection to the soul and every day life around the world, religious, ethnic, traditional, spiritual. I like things that have a meaning, things that people have used, loved and worshiped, and show tear and wear.
Pretty much everything around me has appeared at some point in a painting, a collage, a Photograph. Things around me have inspired my sculpture, and my house is filled with both the collections and a lot of my own work. I have photographed most of my things, and collected over the years tens to thousands of images of just about everything, to use in my animation and video work.
Whatever I do next is inevitably going to be connected to what I did before and what surrounds me. As has always been the case in the past, it is also going to have a connection to ancient civilizations, their culture,their religion, their Art, the materials and tools they used.
The last "real" mixed media work I did before getting lost in the virtual world was called "Words of Wisdom", and used hand made paper, wood, embossed copper, gold leaf, bees wax, and oil paints:
The words came out of one of my prized possessions: one of my maternal grandmother's school books from the turn of the previous century:
It suddenly occurred to me that I could get back into painting using those very same materials, and started researching "Encaustic Painting".
It is one of the oldest painting media, referred to in Ancient Greek Manuscripts, and used 2000 years ago in Egypt for the Fayum Mummy Portraits :
It was revived in the 60's by a few North American Artists, the most famous being Jasper Johns:
The work was definitely innovative at the time, and I like it OK, but I can't honestly say I find it very exciting. Stars, stripes, targets, numbers, anybody knows what that means?Is there no other subject matter.
A Google search for "encaustic paintings" brought up a whole lot of stuff, both images of paintings, technical information, and a bunch of How to YouTube videos. I was not aware the ancient medium had enjoyed such a renewal of popularity in the last few years. Looking at the actual encaustic paintings shown, it's a mixed bag.
First, it seems to me that it doesn't work very well for realistic work, landscape, florals or portrait, unless it's highly stylized, and these pieces are small:
That's not what I want to do.
Second, there are some beautiful abstract works, with intricate translucent textures impossible to achieve any other way. It lends itself well to color field painting and abstraction, and I like these very much:
Both Rachel and I are Compulsive Collectors with a wide ranging taste, and find beauty in the strange and the exotic, the odd humble object. We don't really care about monetary value. I am particularly interested in objects with a connection to the soul and every day life around the world, religious, ethnic, traditional, spiritual. I like things that have a meaning, things that people have used, loved and worshiped, and show tear and wear.
Pretty much everything around me has appeared at some point in a painting, a collage, a Photograph. Things around me have inspired my sculpture, and my house is filled with both the collections and a lot of my own work. I have photographed most of my things, and collected over the years tens to thousands of images of just about everything, to use in my animation and video work.
Whatever I do next is inevitably going to be connected to what I did before and what surrounds me. As has always been the case in the past, it is also going to have a connection to ancient civilizations, their culture,their religion, their Art, the materials and tools they used.
The last "real" mixed media work I did before getting lost in the virtual world was called "Words of Wisdom", and used hand made paper, wood, embossed copper, gold leaf, bees wax, and oil paints:
The words came out of one of my prized possessions: one of my maternal grandmother's school books from the turn of the previous century:
It suddenly occurred to me that I could get back into painting using those very same materials, and started researching "Encaustic Painting".
It is one of the oldest painting media, referred to in Ancient Greek Manuscripts, and used 2000 years ago in Egypt for the Fayum Mummy Portraits :
It was revived in the 60's by a few North American Artists, the most famous being Jasper Johns:
The work was definitely innovative at the time, and I like it OK, but I can't honestly say I find it very exciting. Stars, stripes, targets, numbers, anybody knows what that means?Is there no other subject matter.
A Google search for "encaustic paintings" brought up a whole lot of stuff, both images of paintings, technical information, and a bunch of How to YouTube videos. I was not aware the ancient medium had enjoyed such a renewal of popularity in the last few years. Looking at the actual encaustic paintings shown, it's a mixed bag.
First, it seems to me that it doesn't work very well for realistic work, landscape, florals or portrait, unless it's highly stylized, and these pieces are small:
Second, there are some beautiful abstract works, with intricate translucent textures impossible to achieve any other way. It lends itself well to color field painting and abstraction, and I like these very much:
However, that's not what I want to do either. Seems to me this has been done in one way or another for 50 years now by several generations of Artists. It's beautiful, and decorative, but I can't get excited about it. You can hardly tell one artist from the other.
Third, there is a new tendency towards including photographs, either transfers or imbedded in the wax, which is more "down my alley" so to speak. These to me have a more personal and distinct style, and elicit an emotional response I don't get from abstraction alone:
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