Music and Art Review

2012-01-16T12:23:00.002-06:00

My first shaped canvases based on odd time signature music composed on the concert drum kit. 7 (left), 5 (right)

2012-01-16T12:14:00.000-06:00

Expanding and contracting intervals (left) Expanding intervals (right)

Music

2011-08-08T00:44:00.003-05:00

This series of paintings is also a four mallet marimba piece.

2011-04-11T16:33:00.002-05:00

2011-03-26T21:56:00.000-05:00

2011-02-02T13:31:00.002-06:00

Musical Interpretation of this Composition

2010-12-04T09:59:00.014-06:00

oil on canvas
72"x34"
E.T Habit perform the colors from this piece at the beginning of set,click the title link.

2010-07-13T20:26:00.001-05:00

2010-01-18T21:41:00.000-06:00

2009-12-06T11:32:00.000-06:00

2009-11-10T01:30:00.002-06:00

2009-04-11T20:08:00.000-05:00

2009-02-17T00:50:00.006-06:00

2009-02-01T11:02:00.000-06:00

2008-09-11T21:45:00.000-05:00

2008-07-21T22:18:00.002-05:00

2008-07-19T17:38:00.000-05:00

2008-07-17T19:54:00.001-05:00

2008-06-14T10:06:00.004-05:00

Seven more from the series of ten, all ten paintings won't fit on this wall together. Above is a square approach.

2008-04-02T23:48:00.005-05:00

Pictured above is a new work in progress, a segment from a series of ten paintings that I am working on now. Below is the full idea in collage format.

2008-03-08T15:28:00.000-06:00

2008-02-27T11:21:00.000-06:00

2008-01-30T20:55:00.000-06:00

2008-01-01T14:27:00.000-06:00

2007-12-08T14:51:00.000-06:00

2007-11-12T11:07:00.000-06:00

112" x 73"

2007-08-18T03:18:00.002-05:00

These are my latest reflections on brightness and heat.

It's so hot out here, the road melted two of my tires last week! We're moving the family back to the midwest, wish us luck.

Peter Williams at SFAI

2007-08-18T02:23:00.001-05:00

Peter Williams' residency at the Santa Fe Art institute this summer provided an opportunity to see some juicy new paintings of abstracted figures. Drawing upon the victims of our current war for inspiration, Peter has found a poignant and logical progression into his new body of work. This is great contemporary portraiture. These heads which might at first look to be from another dimension are actually very, very real.

2007-06-18T21:12:00.001-05:00

Bright colors vibrate against each other, shocking the eye at first. Then the composition reveals that the paintings are almost symmetrical, like a body the legs and arms balance on each side with unique surprises in the middle. Using the number fourteen to build ideas, it is impossible to make a completely symmetrical painting. An asymmetrical area in the center of the composition suggests the beginning of a new idea. The compositions are fourteen, four and five eighth inch bars across that change color at different vertical heights. By limiting the process to seven colors, fourteen bars across, and pursuing all possibilities, plentiful creative ideas come to fruition. New composition possibilities continue to present themselves with time and experience in this format.

Based in the flattest of flat modernist philosophy, the canvas is stretched directly to the wall from the floor to the ceiling, installed as two dimensional as possible. When canvases are hung together as an instillation, each painting is separated by white areas of canvas to be seen as an individual among the other compositions with the same basic structure. Additionally, Each bar of color stops an eighth of an inch before the next color for separation. Separation of colors helps the eye to comprehend the color, space provides accessibility. Much like in music the space or rests between the notes are crucial to the understanding on the notes themselves.

In an installation setting the paintings have a dialog with each other creating a contemplative environment. Some ideas relate and some are completely different from the next. Distance from the work is crucial to the viewing of installations.

2007-05-14T11:15:00.000-05:00

2007-05-13T21:51:00.001-05:00

These are my new collage pieces. I'm using painted strips of canvas cut to the desired lengths. This allows the freedom to re-arrange, not too different from Matisse's process of perfecting a composition.

2007-04-20T10:34:00.000-05:00

2007-04-09T17:40:00.000-05:00

This new painting is oil on canvas, standing seven and a half feet tall by six feet wide. While painting, I often take the option to do things that I have never done before. This is my first effort at a quartering the canvas horizontally.

It's exhausting to stand and view, I prefer to lay down on the floor and take a long, slow look. There is a lot more happening with this quarterly divided canvas. The repetitive and the random clash more dramatically.

The paintings are installed flat against the wall to appear as two dimensional as possible. Stretched canvases encroach too much on space, also I don't want any confusion that these might be three dimensional.

These photos are taken with my new camera. I think it's working out nicely.

Human Eye + ODU Mentioned in New York Times

2007-03-30T11:02:00.000-05:00

Click on title link to see the article. Here is some recent video footage of Human Eye. Starting with our introduction music and the show begins, followed by Sly Glass Foam and Episode People.

Los Alamos Studio Tour Website

2007-03-29T16:05:00.000-05:00

During the last weekend in April we are having a studio tour in Los Alamos. Maria and I designed the website but I have to say Maria did most of the work. Maria wrote an excellent opening statement for the index of the site.
If you want to come to New Mexico this would be a good time. We are planning to clear out the rooms of our place to install paintings throughout. If you can't make it, I will document the installation with a good camera.

2007-03-07T11:58:00.000-06:00

2007-03-05T19:49:00.000-06:00

2007-02-28T10:59:00.001-06:00

2007-02-27T02:04:00.000-06:00

2007-02-23T16:46:00.000-06:00

89 1/2" x 65" each

oil on canvas

February 2007

I've made forty paintings so far this month, thirty-six small paintings and four large. The creative process takes place in the small work then is edited into the large format. Each painting informs the next as the compositions evolve with new ways to access space within the fourteen stripe, vertical composition. Horizontal boxes and bands are filtering through the recent compositions. Repetitive vs. random patterns are distinguishing the new work from last year's paintings. Specific areas of warm and cool colors get closer in temperature giving a painting an overall warm or cool atmosphere.
The large scale paintings are intended to absorb the viewer into the color and composition. The series will be presented as an installation. The room will change with the temperature of the painting. There are fourteen finished paintings in the large series and more to come. I am showing the first installation of this work at my studio in Los Alamos the last weekend of April. I will eventually need a larger space to show the full installation.

Stone City Stragglers

2007-02-21T11:15:00.001-06:00

Stone City Stragglers is a group of young musicians who still have their health but choose to play country music. Sad, slow, sometimes not so sad but mature. The new album is catchy rock with a bit of old-timey flavor and it involves a high level of musicianship. Bret Figura is the best drummer I have heard in a long time. The guitarist Phil Lazarri a sensitive, tasteful player mixes many string textures with singer/ guitarist Brent James laid back style. The new album, "It's Never Too late To Mend" includes fourteen strong songs but my favorite is an instrumental song called "the Uprising" a spaghetti-western style song with an intense string arrangement at the end contributed by Jeff Bella. This six piece group is from the Joliet, Illinois area. You can catch them regularly playing shows at the Chicago Street Pub in Joliet and in other venues in Chicago.

2007-02-13T13:52:00.000-06:00

These are my current studies, click on this image to see closer. The colors are actually much brighter in person.

Waiting on some blue. I plan to finish these four by the end of the month.

Human Eye (click to listen here)

2007-02-13T12:00:00.000-06:00

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit flew me in for this show. I played the drums and woodblock for Human Eye and ODU Afrobeat Orchestra. The New York Times people were there taking pictures, I'm still waiting to see that feature.
Ben Blackwell wrote a review of our show at the MOCAD on his blog, Tremble Under Boom Lights. Ben's record label, Cass Records is releasing our next seven inch in a week or so.
There was also this Human Eye interview in the South End.

February 02, 2007
Tonight at MOCAD: Human Eye Awes Another Curious Crowd

Johnny Garcia

Contributing Writer

At MOCAD tonight, the opening reception for the “Shrinking Cities” project should start with a nice raucous jolt, as Detroit’s own Human Eye is slated to perform. This four-piece outfit of crazed punk rockers has been screeching, screaming and throwing octopuses in and outside of Detroit since October 2003 and there seems to be no end to the madness.

The band’s penchant for weird stage props and costumes coupled with their loud, raw sound gives their live show all the excitement and electricity reminiscent of the days of our forefathers of punk rock. And although their music could definitely be considered punk, they certainly have a sound all their own.

The band formed after the break-up of the infamous Clone Defects, a more straightforward punk group fronted by Tim Vulgar, the Human Eye’s singer and guitar player. Whatever the reason for the break-up, the band seems to expand from where the Clone Defects left off.

They keep the rawness but spread out more to let the drums sprawl and circulate, while the guitar squeals, the keyboards buzz and pulsate and the bass keeps everything in place. Human Eye manages all of this while being potent enough to make your brain scream.

The band recently released a seven-inch on Ypsilanti Records and already has one full length out on San Francisco’s In the Red label with more to come.

With the recent addition of Brad Hales on bass, the band plans to continue playing shows and freaking audiences out. On a particularly cold Wednesday night I sat down with Human Eye to ask them a couple of questions.

The South End: How did you guys meet?

Vulgar: Me and Johnny met at a party and then I saw him at some Clone Defects shows, and when the Clone Defects broke up and I heard he made weird noise pedals, we hooked up and started jamming. I met Brad at a record store, Desirable Disks, that we worked at 7 years ago. I met Billy at the Magic Stick and I said, “You look like a drummer,” and he said, “I am a drummer,” and after we tried him out I was like, ‘holy shit! That’s the dude!’

TSE: You guys have a pretty musically varied background, everything from straight-up punk, to rock, to Motown and afro-funk stuff. Did you guys set out to sound a certain way or did it just happen?

Vulgar: I wanted to do straight ahead two-chord punk with noises and shit and we just kind of evolved…got rid of the first drummer and it just happened that way.

TSE: What about influences?

Vulgar: Anything that sounds crazy and awesome.

Hafer: Anything exotic or bizarre or ethnic or unusual, anything attention getting

Hales: For me, Motown and Detroit’s history of music, I spend so much time studying that and it definitely seeps in melodically. But I always go back to Duke Ellington’s quote that there are only two kinds of music, good and bad. It could be a country song that moves you or a classical piece, either it moves you or it doesn’t. So I’m just looking for the stuff that does.

Johnny Lazar: I’m into a lot of space stuff, I go to school for astrophysics…

Hafer: And I’m a painter and I live in the desert in the middle of nowhere.

Vulgar: And I lick toads [laughs]. I like biology, I like toads.

TSE: What about touring, you guys got anything planed?

Vulgar: We’re going to play some shows somewhere in 2007 [laughs].

Hafer: We toured in the fall and right now we’re developing a lot of new songs.

TSE: Cool. What about your past live shows? One of the coolest things about seeing you guys live is the performance aspect of the show; what you’re going to wear or do on stage. You guys have been known to do some wild things. Is there any one time that stands out?

Hales: We had a cow’s head; in Portland there was a fish head

Vulgar: Yeah, we went to this fucking Asian market and bought this knife that’s like 4 dollars, this big huge cooking knife and some duct tape and we went to the fish part of the market and they had these eels and weird creatures that are still alive. And Johnny says, “Look at that thing,” and it was some big-ass fish head and we bought that thing and put it on a bayonet. So we played this show and I duct-taped the knife on to the end of the guitar and stuck the fish head on the knife. And when I was playing the guitar I could feel the fish head weighing it down and it kept going out of tune so I flung it out into the audience and that was pretty cool. [Laughs]

TSE: How did people respond to that?

Vulgar: They didn’t put us on the Goner Fest video.

TSE: How do they usually respond?

Hafer: Usually people don’t like it and they leave.

Lazar: Some people like it, though.

TSE: Do you think people respond better to that sort of thing in Detroit?

Hafer: In Detroit they understand us better because they’re used to us.

Vulgar: They know what do at home with fish heads.

Lazar: I think there are a lot of good new bands in Detroit, but not a lot of people going to the shows anymore. Like the Frustrations and bands like that.

Hales: The Human Eye was the band I was always excited about in Detroit. If you would have asked me this question six months ago, before I was in the band, I would have answered the same.

TSE: You guys have anything else you want to say?

Vulgar: Yes. I do believe in music; yes I like to drink a lot, yes the next day my kidney hurts; yes I can drink with my eyeball [pours beer on eyeball].

Hafer: We’re not just a Detroit band now, we’re a band of America [whole room laughs].

It's February

2007-02-09T12:35:00.000-06:00

That means that this month I am the featured painter at the Galeria Espacio Kubiko Madrid. They have twenty of my "Fourteen Series" paintings on display. Check it out!

Sunday Morning in Barcelona

2007-02-08T11:07:00.000-06:00

Guggenheim Bilbao

2007-01-25T12:35:00.000-06:00

I traveled north to the Basque country and visited the Guggenheim Museum. It was exciting to encounter this Frank Gehry building with its wild contrast to the rest of the architecture in Bilbao. The Richard Serra installation was really overwhelming. It was a little frightening to walk through if you don't know what you are getting into. The center of the circular pieces were tranquil and consuming.
It was like the Rothko Chapel in a way. Being surrounded by the color and surface of this metal was really beautiful.
The Guggenheim had some good exhibits including a color painter room featuring some of my favorites, Gene Davis, Frank Stella, Morris Lewis etc.
Sydney Pollack did a documentary called "Scetches of Frank Gehry" which shows Gehry designing this museum. It's a process involving bending and folding a bunch paper and talking about it.

Tintoretto

2007-01-25T12:19:00.001-06:00

Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples
c. 1547 (click on image to view larger)

While in Madrid I visited the Museo Del Prado, where there is a great collection of Spanish and Italian art. The Goyas were plentiful and amazing as well as the Velasquez room. I spent more time with certain paintings and focused on my interest, the Venetians. There were Titians that I never imagined seeing in person but what really held my attention was Tintoretto. An apprentice to Titian who surpassed him in many ways with his radical compositions.
Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples is a huge painting. Tintoretto explores atmospheric perspective with the dog in detail front and center and the figures less developed as they move into the background. The background changes into different indoor and outdoor environments. What I like the most about this painting is the skilled perspective work of the floor. The effect is hypnotizing as the floor stretches across most of the foreground of the painting.

The Series Continues

2006-12-18T22:01:00.000-06:00

These paintings are 90"x 65" each, oil on canvas. There are ten in this series now and I plan to make more. I hope to find a space to install them sometime this next year.

Colin Smith

2006-12-14T00:48:00.000-06:00

Also while in Chicago, I met up with photographer and musician Colin Smith. He showed me some of his work, mostly self portraits set in his home. I felt like I had been in a similar place before: as a portrait painter, I got stuck with myself as the re-occurring subject matter. However, Colin's photographs are much more successful at self portraiture and documenting daily life than my self portraits ever were. Colin keeps a regular blog of his work.
This gorgeous photograph of cut sweet potatoes on a blue cutting board has the same tranquility and skillful composition of a good Morandi painting. Colin Smith is a talented artist doing some beautiful work, check it out.

Jeff Forsythe

2006-12-11T00:46:00.000-06:00

While in Chicago I visited Jeff Forsythe's studio. Jeff was preparing for his exhibition at the Perimeter Gallery which is now up. Many of his paintings borrow compositions from famous Japanese paintings and twist them into his new ideas. I had a preview of the perimeter show where Jeff was showing many small paintings. One image that sticks in my mind was of the The Great Wave at Kanagawa by Hokusai Katsushika painted on the side of a seventies style van.
Forsythe is also making sculptures of cakes in various states, cakes standing, cakes that have fallen and are melting, etc. The cake sculptures are painted with oil and carefully executed gold leaf stripes. The cakes also appear in Jeff's paintings.
We looked at many of Forsythe's paintings and perhaps his most successful to date is "In The Shade Of The Old Apple Tree" painting. The undefined space in this composition created an atmosphere, projecting a mystery to the work and drawing the eye into the painting.

Eye in NY

2006-12-04T10:07:00.000-06:00

These pictures are from our Chicago show. Every show was a different visual experience.
Human Eye has a few seven inch records coming out in the next couple months. We also plan on recording more material over the holidays. We may hit the west coast this summer so look out for degenerate mutant rock n roll visiting your town soon.

Brice Marden at MOMA

2006-12-01T12:05:00.000-06:00

I went to New York again and had the opportunity to see a retrospective of Brice Marden's work. The show followed Marden's career chronologically from his early minimalist color work through the evolution of his squigily line paintings. The early work is painted with oil and bees wax creating a consistent surface of beautiful, flat color.
Later Marden continued with a more exposed process but still found an equal effect. The work is full of layers of space created by organic line shapes and revisions. I felt a physical closeness to the work throughout the show, like I was inside the painting and navigating my way around. The scale of the work in relation to the negative space is mostly responsible for this absorbing effect. If you are in New York, don't miss this powerful retrospective of high quality paintings.

2006-11-12T21:21:00.000-06:00

I've been busy making pictures while at home, but now I'm going out again for most of the month of November. Human Eye will be playing some shows in New York, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago. I have seen a lot of art and music and plan to write more when possible but for now I must go back to work.

It's Halloween!

2006-10-31T13:03:00.000-06:00

Santa Fe Pumpkin

Leo Valledor

2006-10-30T16:08:00.000-06:00

I spent some time in Califorina last month and had a chance to see Leo Valledor's work at the Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery in Pasadena. Valledor uses a colorful pallete, not shying away from metallic paint. Painting with acrillic, Leo has a consistent matte surface contrasting with the metallic creating a sharp depth. The shaped canvas work is similar to the work of another LA artist Charles Arnoldi who according to the latest Art in America is showing at the Charlotte Jackson gallery in Santa Fe.

Morandi in New York

2006-10-28T13:26:00.000-05:00

I was in New York a week or so ago and found some time to visit the MET and a few galleries. The Voulliard collection at the MET was impressive, the show included many Cezannes I haven't seen before, an amazing Gaughan, Van Gogh, etc. The Sean Scully show was up but I found it frustrating that Scully's work doesn't grow or change much. I also visited the Gagosian Gallery and saw a large collection of drawings and stinky insect work by Damien Hirst. The Thiebaud Gallery was showing Morandi which was the highlight of the day. Morandi is one of my favorite painters, his work is very sensitive to light and space. The paintings are abstract for still life work. The Morandi paintings are loose but nurtured with precise earth colors. The colors aren't as subtle viewed in person, the color was suprisingly rich.

Going On Tour

2006-08-30T12:25:00.000-05:00

I am going away for a while, i'll post new stuff whenever get an opportunity. The Paybacks are going out for the "forty days and forty nights of rock" tour. If we are coming to your town please come visit us. We have a hot new record called "Love Not Reason."

Sep 1 2006 10:00P The Lager House, Detroit, MI
Sep 5 2006 9:00P Way Out Club, St. Louis, MO
Sep 6 2006 9:00P Mike's Tavern, Kansas City, MO
Sep 8 2006 6:00P South Park Music Fest-Fairplay Hotel, CO
Sep 9 2006 9:00P Bender's Tavern, Denver, CO
Sep 12 2006 9:30P Casbah, San Diego, CA
Sep 13 2006 9:00P Safari Sam's, Hollywood, CA
Sep 14 2006 9:00P Moe's Alley, Santa Cruz , CA
Sep 15 2006 9:00P Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
Sep 16 2006 9:00P Great Basin Brewery, Sparks, NV
Sep 17 2006 8:00P Great Basin Brewery, Sparks , NV
Sep 20 2006 8:00P Rhythm Room, Phoenix, AZ
Sep 21 2006 9:00P Plush, Tucson, AZ
Sep 24 2006 8:00P Aquarium, Fargo, ND
Sep 26 2006 8:00P 400 Bar, Minneapolis, MN
Sep 27 2006 8:00P Knickerbocker's, Lincoln, NE
Sep 28 2006 9:00P Mad Planet, Milwaukee, WI
Sep 29 2006 8:00P High Noon Saloon, Madison , WI
Sep 30 2006 8:00P Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA
Oct 10 2006 8:00P Fineline Music Cafe, Minneapolis, MN
Oct 11 2006 8:00P Double Door, Chicago, IL
Oct 12 2006 8:00P St. Andrew's Hall, Detroit, MI
Oct 13 2006 8:00P Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
Oct 14 2006 8:00P Towne Ballroom, Buffalo, NY
Oct 15 2006 9:00P Lime Spider Akron, OH
Oct 17 2006 8:00P Mercury Lounge New York, NY
Oct 18 2006 8:00P Maxwell's Hoboken , NJ
Oct 19 2006 8:00P Middle East Underground Cambridge, MA
Oct 21 2006 8:00P Gooski's Pittsburgh, PA

Breaking the Symmetry

2006-08-28T01:51:00.000-05:00

My work is evolving into symmetrical patterns that break in the center. This collision in the center of the canvas is a glimpse at the beginning of a new idea.

Roni Horn

2006-08-28T01:17:00.000-05:00

Roni Horn is showing a mixed collection of the work at the James Kelly Contemporary. Displaying a great variety of media from rectangular bar sculptures with text to cone forms, photography, and painting. The experience is difficult like good art tends to be. There must be a story behind most of the work but some work is purely simple formalist compositions.

Jordan West at CCA

2006-08-24T11:19:00.000-05:00

The Center for Contemporary Arts current show entitled Senic Overlook features art work relating to highways and the aestetics of highway engineers. Jordan West's work in the show is a series of paintings that look familiar. Im sure I have been to a couple of these places in different parts of the country. It goes to show that abandoned gas stations and boarded up restaurants can look the same no matter where they are. I feel a sense of nostalgia about these places and I swear that I have been there before.

POEH Center Opening

2006-08-21T17:11:00.000-05:00

The Pueblo of Pojoaque, POEH Cultural Center and Museum had an exciting opening last Friday. The event included traditional Native American dancing, music, food, and the art of Roxanne Swentzell and Marcellus Medina. Nah Poeh Meng, "The Continuous Path" by Roxanne Swentzell is an impressive installation divided into six rooms. Each room is based on a seasonal theme describing aincent Pueblo life. The sculpture was great but I was really impressed by the murals in the installation. Swentzell's work, also on display in the gallery/tower building includes stone work, masks, and many clay figures with narrative themes. The band Chocolate Hellocopter (led by Swentzell's daughter) played, they mixed poetry with rock music.

Tasha Ostrander

2006-08-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

Tasha Ostrander's show,“Deer Self I Hurt the Urth” is the currently on view at the Linda Durham Gallery. The large scale digital prints of plants and animals explores a psychological portrait of the self. This show is a little confusing but that may be the artist's intent. The strongest image in the show is of a deer's head mounted on a green and white wall. The image is seperated into four quarters. The scale of the piece really demands attention. I think that the deer represents the artist's self disconnected with nature. The digital media of plant forms seem to reflect an abstracted understanding of nature. The Linda Durham Gallery is always presenting shows that challenge the viewer. I may not always understand but I will keep going back to satisfy my curiosity.

2006-08-12T10:48:00.001-05:00

Monks of Doom, "What's Left for Kicks?"

2006-08-08T15:35:00.000-05:00

It's 2006, the Monks of Doom from California just released their first album since 1992, and it's all cover songs. The new album entitled "What's Left for Kicks?" is a representation of the groups biggest influences. The album contains sixteen covers from bands like Soft Machine, Red Crayola, the Kinks, Peter Green, Steve Hillage(from Gong), Richard Thompson, Syd Barrett and it gets more obscure from there. The finest moments are in"La Dolce Vita Suite"which you can listen to here under recent news, "What's Left for Kicks?". The record is all over the place and like all Monks of Doom records, if you listen to hard you might get sick. The guitar work of Lisher is precise and Immergluck's guitar is all emotion creating a marriage of guitar styles to blow one's mind, while the drummer Chris Peterson (one of my all time favorites) is directing the group through the often complicated musical journey. "What's Left For Kicks" is as good any other Monks record but they had their true climax with the "Meridian" record about sixteen years ago. Don't hold your breath for any original material, the drummer lives in Australia and they can't do it without him, I wouldn't want them to anyway. This album will continue to creep up with continuous listens becoming very atmospheric. Well done Monks, thanks for the new record!

Variations on 14

2006-08-07T11:18:00.001-05:00

Here are some recent study's for a current series of work, variations on fourteen. The dimensions are 13"x 10", oil on canvas, $200 each.

Ellsworth Kelly- Collages in Black and White 1973 to 1991

2006-08-06T12:20:00.000-05:00

James Kelly Contemporary in Santa Fe is showing Ellsworth Kelly's black and white collage work. Ellsworth Kelly's shapes are simple, remarks on positive and negative space. Removing the color element in his work, Kelly focuses on composition with one black shape of paper on white paper. Accompanying the black shape is pencil drawing. Line is used to create borders where the shapes fit completing the composition. I always look for the artists hand in hard edged work like this, finding satisfaction in any imperfections of the drawn edges. Kelly's intent may not have been for these imperfections to be a part of his conversation but irregularity is visually satisfying in these situations. Kelly was surely aware that with odd or irregular shapes, there is more potential for the composition. This show which at first appears to be colorless, and possibly less interesting work by Ellsworth Kelly finds its way into the core of his art making practice, becoming an important, unified body of work for one's interest in post painterly abstraction.

Paintings on Paper

2006-08-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

Here are some of this weeks paintings. They appear a little more struggled over because I didn't use a brush very much. I mostly pushed the paint across with a stick. If you see one that you like send an email to haferwd@aol.com and I'll send you a painting for forty bucks. The dimensions are 8"x 6" each, oil on paper.

The Fondas

2006-08-02T12:34:00.000-05:00

The Fondas from Detroit just released a new record, "Runaway Bombshell"on Sympathy Records. The single, "Make You Mine" is a Kinks-ish jam with a big drum sound. The Fondas display the influences of rock n roll and old timey blues on the new record. "Runaway Bombshell" is mostly original material some of it sounds like it could have been made in the 50's like the Mark Niemenski's piano and saxophone driven "Might As Well Go" but the record jumps around to modern formats with intense ballad performances like "Infatuation" and "What" moving through soul covers like "Upset My Soul" to the twangy country sounds of Steve Shaw's "Tell Me Lovesick Blues" to fast paced numbers like Greg Cartwright's song "Don't Come Back". Julie Benjamin is the main character of the group singing with strong and natural style. The Fondas are sure to have success with this record. Check out the Fondas.

Charles Fresquez "Pattern and Flow" at Exhibit 208

2006-08-01T11:44:00.000-05:00

Charles Fresquez's show in Albuquerque at Exhibit 208 included old work, sketches and photographs as well as his new work. Charles, who is also showing at the Levy Gallery was exhibiting his other directions, mediums and ideas. The small work is in colored pencil which allows more light of the paper to show through the color. Charles was at the gallery when I visited and we talked about the small pencil work as a possible study for large installations of his Plexiglas paintings. Charles also suggested the inspiration for his work came from reading about the future world in computers and what he imagines this world to look like. The Exhibit 208 show provided a broader view of the evolving patterns and ideas involved in the work of Charles Fresquez.

Arturo O'Farrill 's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

2006-07-31T09:26:00.001-05:00

The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra played in Santa Fe last weekend. Led by Arturo O' Farrill, the son of the famous composer Chico o'Farrill, the group is made up of 18 soloists from the Latin Jazz scene in New York. They played the classics of the Afro Latin jazz tradition as well as some new material composed by Arturo. This was definitely the tightest 18 piece group I have ever seen.

Hare Krishnas on the Beach

2006-07-31T00:11:00.001-05:00

To round out my trip to the Midwest I joined the Hare Krishnas on the beach for some music and delicious vegetarian food while the sun set. The music had an eastern feel, they were singing along with a harmonium, drums and finger cymbals. Many of them have been doing this their whole life and displayed great talent with music and cooking.

The Gris Gris in Chicago

2006-07-30T12:50:00.000-05:00

The San Francisco, psychedelic band the Gris Gris played at the Wicker Park Street Festival in Chicago. The outdoor setting gave the experience a different feel. The sound was good and the band was great as always. They tour like crazy so go see them, you won't be disappointed.

The Pizazz/ Human Eye at the Northern Lights Lounge

2006-07-30T12:24:00.000-05:00

Two of Detroit's up and coming bands played together last Saturday. The Pizazz opened up and sounded great. The Pizazz have catchy songs, using elements of new wave and 70's punk, it's fun and interesting music. After the Pizazz came Human Eye, a group that I play the drums in. Human Eye plays alien punk mixed with rock n roll and psychedelic, progressive music. There is a Human Eye 45 coming out soon on Ypsilanti records.

Chris Turner at the Bohemian National Home

2006-07-30T11:52:00.000-05:00

I caught the end of the Chris Turner show last weekend, these are a couple of the pieces that were still there. Turner has been working on paintings like these for a while. Working with text and stencils on long horizontal panels, Turner fills his compositions with an overload of content. The larger canvases are more expressive, with looser painting and broader composition. Chris Turner paintings are full of repetition and surprises as well. Turner is also a great sculptor, you can see his work all over Detroit.

Jacque Liu: Sight Lines

2006-07-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

Jacque Liu's show is at the Lemberg Gallery in Ferndale, MI. Jacque uses folded pieces of mylar over shapes of colored paper. Mylar is semi-transparent but foggy creating a mystery about the color underneath. When a color is present the question arises, is it paint? Paper is the chosen medium that fits the artist's sensibilities. Jacque Liu has been working with paper for some time, drawing but also folding to create value supporting the lines. The folded lines are clearly read in natural light. The installation also includes drawing on the walls next to the framed work reflecting precise spatial relationships. There are also well crafted, functional chairs made with wood and memory foam. After sitting an impression was left on the chair, then it slowly returned to its flat surface. The installation is one to experience first hand. If you are in Michigan, don't miss Jacque Liu: Sight Lines, a thoughtful presentation of high quality work.

John Azoni at MIA and MONA

2006-07-28T11:43:00.000-05:00

The Museum of New Art and the Michigan Institute of Arts are both showing the paintings of John Azoni. John is a prolific young painter with a lot of large work. John's painting process appears to be fast and intuitive in the classic expressionist style. The work floats between abstract and representational. The plethora of paintings allow viewers to see development and experimentation. It's great to see so much work from one artist on view as a big solo show.

Motor City Show

2006-07-27T14:51:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from my show from last Wednesday. I made these about seven feet tall and luckily the top of the wall was right around seven feet. This made for a quick installation. The half walls worked out, I also liked the size of the room. The work is big, yet portable. These roll up and fit in my carry on bag nicely. It was nice to go back to Detroit and see some friends. Now I am in New Mexico again and making some larger paintings. I have a few new body's of work ready for larger size spaces when the opportunity comes.

Frustrations/Functional Blackouts/Sneaky Pinks

2006-07-27T13:27:00.000-05:00

Sneaky Pinks

Functional Blackouts

Frustrations
Last week I spent my Tuesday night at the Painted Lady to get a much needed dose of crazy punk rock music. The Sneaky Pinks from Arizona opened and they weren't wearing pants. They played some high energy, fun and fast music. The Functional Blackouts really impressed me, their drummer played some creative rhythms on the toms pushing the band into more interesting territory. The Functional Blackouts from Chicago are getting better every time I see them. Closing were the Frustrations from Detroit. Another exciting young band with a great drummer. This music is taking punk to different places in a good way. It's still unhealthy and sick but the music is more developed with different influences showing.

Brad Ogan

2006-07-27T12:45:00.000-05:00

Brad Ogan is an accomplished figurative draftsman and stone sculptor who recently transitioned into the realm of color field painting. Brad's figurative work is sensitive with line. After looking at the figurative work I wish he could find a place to incorporate line in his new color work but I know that doesn't happen so easily. Brad may be better off doing what he's doing, applying a loose approach like Frankenthaler or Lewis. I always get excited for an artist who follows his or her interests to new places. Living and working in central Illinois, Brad is somewhat isolated in his studio. I am sure he would appreciate any comments left about his work.

New Work

2006-07-15T13:14:00.000-05:00

Here are two of my new oil paintings. These paintings are wider with fourteen, four and a half inch bars of color across(90"x 64" each). Symmetrical compositions that aren't so symmetrical. These paintings won't fit on the plane but I am showing some smaller new work this Wednesday at the Motor City Brewery in Detroit.

Site Santa Fe Biennial

2006-07-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

Jennifer Bartlett

The Site Santa Fe Biennial opened last week. The Site Santa Fe space is very large and impressive. The biennial had a great variety of work from photography, installation, sound, video, performance, and painting. Some of the highlights of the show were Jennifer Bartlett's colorful paintings, Wolfgang Laib, Catherine Opie's portraits, Stephen Dean's dartboards, Robert Grosvenor and the Christina Iglesias installation. The exhibit doesn't allow photography but there is a
2006 biennial official website with the artist's images and information on the curator Klaus Ottmann. Site Santa Fe is free to the public every Friday. I will probably return once or twice before it's over in January. This is the kind of show that takes some time to absorb due to the wide range of ideas presented.

Frederick Hammersley

2006-07-11T18:43:00.000-05:00

Frederick Hammersley is showing at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art in Santa Fe. The show, subtitled "Hard Edge," is a retrospective of Hammersley's work, showcasing work from the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Hammersley experimented a great deal not only with abstraction but with the new technology of computers, (in particular the 14000 CORE IBM from the University of New Mexico's main frame). In the late sixties the computer was a new and exciting medium and it is interesting to see a large installation of primitive computer compositions. The hard edged oil paintings of the seventies are the strongest works in the show but the small works on paper from the fifties are more experimental and varied.
There is a good collection of artwork to satisfy one's interest in color and space. "Hard Edge" runs until July 30th. Don't miss this fine exhibit which spans Frederick Hammersley's career.

Mexican Modern

2006-07-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

Maria Izquiardo
Diego Rivera

I snuck a couple of pictures at the Mexican Modern exhibit. Overall the show had some very emotional portraits and lots of symbolism. There were well known artists like Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo but for me it was an introduction to some of the lesser known and very interesting Mexican artists. Maria Izquiardo was one of the most impressive artists in the show.

Marsden Hartley

2006-07-04T13:17:00.000-05:00

Abstraction with Flowers, 1913

Marsden Hartley: American Modern
Jun 09, 2006 - Sep 03, 2006
The Museum of Fine Arts features sixty paintings by Marsden Hartley. The show covers Hartley's entire career and his many changes in style, from representational to abstract. Hartley's infuences clearly include Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne and Kandinsky. Hartley's severe experimentalist philosophy left us with a variety show of work. The artist woke up one morning and decided to be a different artist, a few times. This is not a bad thing considering the revolutionary period in which he lived. Hartley was also a writer, this is one of his statements.

Marsden Hartley, "Art and the Personal Life," 1928

As soon as a real artist finds out what art is, the more is he likely to feel the need of keeping silent about it, and about himself in connection with it. There is almost, these days, a kind of petit scandale in the thought of allying oneself with anything of a professional nature. And it is at this point that I shrink a little from asserting myself with regard to professional aspects of art. And here the quality of confession must break through. I have joined, once and for all, the ranks of the intellectual experimentalists. I can hardly bear the sound of the words "expressionism," "emotionalism," "personality," and such, because they imply the wish to express personal life, and I prefer to have no personal life. Personal art is for me a matter of spiritual indelicacy. Persons of refined feeling should keep themselves out of their painting, and this means, of course, that the accusation made in the form of a querulous statement to me recently "that you are a perfectionist" is in the main true.

I am interested then only in the problem of painting, of how to make a better painting according to certain laws that are inherent in the making of a good picture and not at all in private extraversions or introversions of specific individuals. That is for me the inherent error in a work of art. I learned this bit of wisdom from a principle of William Blake's which I discovered early and followed far too assiduously the first half of my aesthetic life, and from which I have happily released myself and this axiom was: "Put off intellect and put on imagination; the imagination is the man." From this doctrinal assertion evolved the theoretical axiom that you don't see a thing until you look away from it which was an excellent truism as long as the principles of the imaginative life were believed in and followed. I no longer believe in the imagination. I rose one certain day and the whole thing had become changed. I had changed old clothes for new ones, and I couldn't bear the sight of the old garments. And when a painting is evolved from imaginative principles I am strongly inclined to turn away because I have greater faith that intellectual clarity is better and more entertaining than imaginative wisdom or emotional richness. I believe in the theoretical aspects of painting because I believe it produced better painting, and I think I can say I have been a fair exponent of the imaginative idea.

I have come to the conclusion that it is better to have two colors in right relation to each other than to have a vast confusion of emotional exuberance in the guise of ecstatic fullness or poetical revelation both of which qualities have, generally speaking, long since become second rate experience. I had rather be intellectually right than emotionally exuberant, and I could say this of any other aspect of my personal experience.

I have lived the life of the imagination, but at too great an expense. I do not admire the irrationality of the imaginative life. I have, if I may say so, made the intellectual grade. I have made the complete return to nature, and nature is, as we all know, primarily an intellectual idea. I am satisfied that painting also is like nature, an intellectual idea, and that the laws of nature as presented to the mind through the eye and the eye is the painter's first and last vehicle are the means of transport to the real mode of thought: the only legitimate source of aesthetic experience for the intelligent painter.

All the "isms," from Impressionism down to the present moment, have had their inestimable value and have clarified the mind and the scene of all superfluous emotionalism; the eye that turns toward nature today receives far finer and more significant reactions than previously when romanticism and the imaginative or poetic principles were the means and ways of expression.

I am not at all sure that the time isn't entirely out of joint for the so called art of painting, and I am certain that very few persons, comparatively speaking, have achieved the real experience of the eye either as spectator or performer. Modern art must of necessity remain in the state of experimental research if it is to have any significance at all. Painters must paint for their own edification and pleasure, and what they have to say, not what they are impelled to feel, is what will interest those who are interested in them. The thought of the time is the emotion of the time.

I personally am indebted to Segantini the impressionist, not Segantini the symbolist,, for what I have learned in times past of the mountain and a given way to express it just as it was Ryder who accentuated my already tormented imagination. Cubism taught me much and the principle of Pissarro, furthered by Seurat, taught me more. These with Cezanne are the great logicians of color. No one will ever paint like Cezanne for example, because no one will ever have his peculiar visual gifts; or to put it less dogmatically, will anyone ever appear again with so peculiar and almost unbelievable a faculty for dividing color sensations and making logical realizations of them? Has anyone ever placed his color more reasonably with more of a sense of time and measure than he? I think not, and he furnished for the enthusiast of today new reasons for research into the realm of color for itself.

It is not the idiosyncrasy of an artist that creates the working formula, it is the rational reasoning in him that furnishes the material to build on. Red, for example, is a color that almost any ordinary eye is familiar with but in general when an ordinary painter sees it he sees it as isolated experience with the result that his presentation of red lives its life alone, where it is placed, because it has not been modified to the tones around it and modification is as good a name as any for the true art of painting color as we think of it today. Even Cezanne was not always sure of pure red, and there are two pictures of his I think of, where something could have been done to put the single hue in its place the art for which he was otherwise so gifted. Real color is in a condition of neglect at the present time because monochrome has been the fashion for the last fifteen or twenty years even the superb colorist Matisse was for a time affected by it. Cubism is largely responsible for this because it is primarily derived from sculptural concepts and found little need for color in itself. When a group feeling is revived once again, such as held sway among the Impressionists, color will come into its logical own. And it is timely enough to see that for purposes of outdoor painting, Impressionism is in need of revival.

Yet I cannot but return to the previous theme which represents my conversion from emotional to intellectual notions; and my feeling is: of what use is a painting which does not realize its aesthetical problem? Underlying all sensible works of art, there must be somewhere in evidence the particular problems understood. It was so with those artists of the great past who had the intellectual knowledge of structure upon which to place their emotions. It is this structural beauty that makes the old painting valuable. And so it becomes to me a problem. I would rather be sure that I had placed two colors in true relationship to each other than to have exposed a wealth of emotionalism gone wrong in the name of richness of personal expression. For this reason I believe that it is more significant to keep one's painting in a condition of severe experimentalism than to become a quick success by means of cheap repetition.

The real artists have always been interested in this problem, and you feel it strongly in the work of Da Vinci, Piero della Francesca, Courbet, Pissarro, Seurat, and Cezanne. Art is not a matter of slavery to the emotion or even a matter of slavery to nature or to the aesthetic principles. It is a tempered and happy union of them all.

Milton Avery at Riva Yares Gallery

2006-07-03T12:50:00.000-05:00

The Milton Avery show at the Riva Yares gallery covers a large span of his career. My favorite is the "Sunburned Couple" from 1943, great skin colors. After I expressed some interest, the staff at Riva Yares gave me a few catalogs to study. From the Avery catalogues, this was the eulogy Mark Rothko gave at Avery's funeral. (click to see larger)

Riva Yares Gallery

2006-07-01T06:16:00.000-05:00

Morris Lewis
Morris Lewis
Hans Hofmann
Helen Frankenthaler
Gene Davis

The Riva Yares Gallery in Santa Fe holds an amazing collection of modernist painters. Museum-like with it's large viewing space, the gallery collection focuses on the experimentality of the times when color painting was fresh. Seeing Lewis and Frankenthaler paintings in the same room boosted my sensitivity and awareness of the fluidity of the poured paintings. The color poured on the canvas creates a sense of freedom, the paint flows into space. The looseness of the paint application feels natural and appropriate for the expression of color. The Riva Yares Gallery has left a strong impression, these artists are so influential and important to me that I have to return to the gallery soon and continue to study their work.

Charles Fresquez

2006-06-27T16:30:00.001-05:00

Charles Fresquez is showing in the Project Room at the Levy Gallery in Albuquerque. The paintings are cast acrylic and enamel. His color is accessible due to the white between the colors. The eye can recover and see the next color clearly. Space is an important discovery that is made through the process of working and looking. To use a parallel to music, they say that the space between the notes is where the music happens. Angela Berkson suggested to me that Charles and I may have similar interests. Discovering Charles Fresquez's work sparks a familiar dialogue.

Pueblo Dwellings at Bandelier

2006-06-25T19:42:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I went out to the Bandelier National Monument to satisfy my curiosity about the aincent civilization that lived there. Frijoles Canyon was used by the Anasazi peoples between 700 and 450 years ago as the basis of their villages. The holes in the rocks were created by air pockets in ash deposits from volcanic eruptions several thousand years ago.

Michael Scott

2006-06-21T09:26:00.000-05:00

Michael Scott Paintings are being exhibited at the Gerald Peters Gallery. These paintings are large in scale. Many of the pieces are accompanied by stories or poems about the characters in the paintings. This work is bizarre and well executed. Michael Scott is taking some risks and accomplishing some single character portraits with a load of narrative content.

Douglas Atwill

2006-06-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

Douglas Atwill is one of the many artists on view at the Meyer-Munson Gallery on Canyon Road. I admire his strong use of color and the way the color patches visually penetrate the canvas creating great depth. Atwill's palate and sharp style are recognizable enough that you won't mistake his flowers to be somebody else's.

Angela Berkson at the Box Gallery

2006-06-15T08:34:00.000-05:00

These are encaustic paintings by Angela Berkson, the featured artist at the Box Gallery. Berkson's floating circles are in a series that focuses on layers of paint, wax, gel medium, and occasionally mixed media under the layers. Berkson often divides the surface in two creating a wall for the circles to bounce off. The surface interacts with the composition suggesting slow movement. The majority of the circle paintings are small in scale. There are also a handful of larger pieces that depart from the circle series. The Box Gallery provides a good size space for the artist to display a large body of work.

Fort Morgan "One and Only"

2006-06-13T09:36:00.000-05:00

Paul Simmons made this homage to Burger King's aesthetic (well done) and Bob Jones' turquoise stick.
Jeff Forsythe and Carmen Price
Hafer. This was installed in a great spot.
Bob Jones, this one is called "Trophy"

Fort Morgan was a Gallery for one night in Chicago. On my way out of town I had the opportunity to show with some talented Chicago artists. You can see more images from this show on Stephen Eichhorn's website. Stephen's website also links to some of the artist's websites.

Pictures of New Mexico

2006-06-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

New Studio in New Mexico

2006-06-08T14:19:00.000-05:00

Here is the new space, complete with the Mike Bizon
This was taken in front of the new place. I'll have more soon because now I have a working camera.

If you want to see more images of my work click on the title at the top. The Saatchi Gallery website sure is growing, what a huge resource for artists.

Sam Scott

2006-06-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

Friday night we ventured out to Canyon Road in Santa Fe to see some art. We must have gone to about fifteen art openings. There was a good variety of high quality accessable art, especially paintings. One painter that stood out was Sam Scott, showing at the Wiford Gallery. These paintings are full of suprises. Sam was born in Chicago but he moved out to New Mexico to pursue his interests. His paintings fit the scene out here, like many painters but he also pushes the pictures beyond what you would expect. They have a Van Gogh like quality mixed with elements of surrealism. Sam Scott is one you might call a painter's painter.

Detroit Institute of Arts

2006-05-21T11:13:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favorite Cezanne paintings. These three human skulls alone are a good reason to go to the DIA. Cezanne explores the organic shapes of the real human skulls exaggerating the shapes to their fullest potential.
This Donald Sultan painting was a tough one to install after a recent cleaning.
That's me standing by the Franz Kline to show the scale of the work. This was my last day at work.
Giovanni Bellini was an important Venetian painter of the Renaissance. The Bellini family revolutionized figurative painting. This is really beautiful, go check it out.
Giocametti, Fuseli's Nightmare, and Frances Bacon stand out in the scary theme room of the DIA.
Jean Dubuffet
Rauschenberg and Matisse
Mark Rothko is one of the most important modernist painters of the last century. It's hung a little too high but always a powerful experience to behold.
These are a some highlights of the DIA's collection.

Caged Creatures

2006-05-20T10:12:00.000-05:00

This is a project consisting of Tim vulgar, P lot and myself where we play very new songs and improvise a bit. We played last Friday at the Painted Lady. These pictures were taken by photographer Tim Meeks.

Pygoya

2006-05-19T09:18:00.000-05:00

In the eighties Pygoya was one of the first digital artists. He was influenced by grainy computer monitor graphics. In his oil paintings he paints squares of color referencing the pixillated computer screen. Pygoya coined the word "webism" which refers to art created for display over the internet. On his website you can view work by other webist artists and vast achives of Pygoya paintings. Pygoya is one of the most prolific artists I have met, he paints about two paintings a day!
links:
Absolute Arts.
Pygoya's report on Santa Fe.
Web site since 97.
Pygoya is an experimental artist as well as a dentist, psychologist and an author and many other things. I met Pygoya last night over the phone, we are talking about opening an art gallery together in Santa Fe.

Davin shares Pictures from Lauren Casteel's show and the Toledo Museum

2006-05-17T13:04:00.000-05:00

Hello Bill
Here's some pix from Lauren Casteel's show BEAR LOVIES at the PURE DETROIT DESIGN LAB...

1. Lauren Casteel just loves to draw bears on plates. The plates were very reasonably priced and I think that she sold a bunch!!!
2. This plate was painted with a can of INSTANT BLACKBOARD and drawn on with chalk. Don't spill your drink on this one!!! (I'm not kidding, there really is such a thing as INSTANT BLACKBOARD. Check it out at ACE Hardware!!!).
2.1 Here's what Lauren looks like. Look at those cool tights!!! That's Sarah Lurtz hiking up her skirt.
3. Lauren made a tea set too. Here's Sarah Lurtz and Crispy having a tea party. (Lauren's opening marked Sarah's last day as director of the Design Lab and Samantha Bullock's first day as director. Good luck to the both of them!!!)
4. They look nice but I think that Sarah replaced her tea with something a little stronger. Whoop's!!! You can see more of Lauren's work here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toybreaker/.
5. The next day my wife and I decided to go to the artmuseum in Toledo, Ohio. Here's a supercool Sol Lewitt mural that goes all around something (maybe an auditorium).
6. The museum guards told us that we couldn't take any pictures of the Matisse ceramic installation or any contemporary art. That was really sad but luckily I snapped a pic of the Matisse before he told us that we couldn't. That's my story anyway!!! They had some really cool stuff down there, it's a fun Saturday afternoon trip. They have a great Stella and a really nice Morris Lewis and a bunch of other cool junk. Check it out, admission is FREE (well it's really "donations" but you know what that means...)!!!

John Richardson

2006-05-17T09:45:00.000-05:00

John Richardson has worked in a variety of media including cast and welded metals, wood, and stone. Richardson investigates the complications of communication in his art. Working with an oval like format for some time now, Richardson continues to change things about the form. John's latest work has developed into a form that resembles a hook.
As this form subtly changes, the work suggests different possible physical objectives.

"Hook (2)," cast iron and cord, metal component is about 20" in length, 2006.