What remains memorable in the learning process is fascinating because of unpredictability. An activity that may have no planned meaning can out weigh the rigors of daily practice and attention. When I was in middle school, a teacher gave us a break to watch a model rocket launch. Presumably this was his hobby, and I do not remember a concept or rational for this. However, I remember the event more than most activities. It was exciting and there was a little camera in the rocket. While disappointed by the quality of the image we were later shown, I was impressed that one could make their own picture from the sky.
Kip Deeds: Model Rocket, Ink and collage on paper, 8.5in x 12in
In making the picture above, I was inspired by the graphic below. I was attracted to the yellow glow around the jet and intrigued by the boy who appears in contemplation. Here moving forward at an extreme is juxtaposed with wonderment and imagination.
Box for a model jet
While the boy may be considering what it must be like to move beyond possibilities, he is also unimpeded by adult realizations and complexities. Thus, not fully aware of the complex cycle of development needed to break boundaries. In such dangerous pursuits, take off and landing is a repeated loop requiring many improvements and adjustments.
detail from model jet box
Up and Away
While extending reach beyond planetary orbit is remarkable, it seems like an unnatural goal. I recently went to a park with my child and we were given a nature tour. At every turn we were given examples of how connected each part of life can be. After feasting at a garden of flowers bees were spreading pollen, and it was explained how ants spray formic acid to defend themselves and can also indirectly protect other animals. What was confirmed for me is that I have a greater appreciation for a cycle of growth closer to the ground.
Travel beyond the stratosphere is not necessary for me, I find that the modest materials of paper, pen, glue, and scraps of paper are sufficient for a journey to uncharted places.
It is unfair that black cats are considered bad luck merely because they crossed a person’s path. This bias has has given me extra sympathy for black cats. As such I always wanted to make a drawing of a feline in ink the main focus of a picture. While a cat may go about its business unaware of this bias, an undeserved reputation is unfortunate for people because it is easy to malign character and often hard to defend. Overcoming innuendo requires a strength of self. The self awareness to accurately judge criticism is a skill developed over time as we are tested and learn from experience.
In a away, art is another kind of character exercise. When an artistic endeavor extends over a longer period, the scope of evaluation broadens as well as questions about nature of the work. A chain of additional considerations is built into the process. Elements are added or removed and the visual balance shifts the interconnected meaning of the parts. Each addition or adjustment is a new balance, opening questions about how to keep going, and when to stop. While there is self doubt (Is this any good?), there also must be joy.
As such, the cat, the artist, and the picture are in a state of play.
Cat Crossing
Different kinds of cats have crossed my path and have served as inspiration. Throughout my life printed ephemera has had made an impact. The artist may be unknown and the work may be impermanent, but this kind of art is a currency that keeps moving within culture. Finding it can be a surprise or even a treasure. The following is an example of such a find.
matchbox top
Cat Question
Catnip is the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of a title for this post. However, I realized I did not have a complete meaning. I knew it was a bit drug like for cats. In the case of the picture above, I do not have a title. After a first look at a picture, the viewer has ideas and a summary opinion quickly follows. However, ta title is succinct and formulated in a way that requires an additional step and invention. The New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest is attractive because of a distillation processes. I am looking and thinking about a title, but for now the cat has got my tongue.
If you have idea’s for a title, feel free to leave a comment.
As I reflect on news that AI will be transformative, we come to understand that idiosyncrasy can be taught and the result of machines can become indistinguishable from human craft. However, before this technological advance, styles were already quickly absorbed and repurposed. Despite much replication, personal experience is individual and can not be replaced. The extra time to make/build and reflect yields a multitude of fruits (e.g. deeper thought, organization, or simply a surprise).
The Village (Work in Progress)
Above, I try to recreate the village where I currently live. The more I try, the more incorrect I become. Some aspects of the village are accurate but fundamentally I arrive at a new place. As details get added, uncertainty is replaced with a focus. Regardless of specificity, this remains but one perspective. A wonderous aspect about perspective is that eye level and insight lead to endless possibilities. There is no way to fully understand a complex place.
Makeshift Sculpture
Just as our perspective can shift, with little effort change arrives on its own terms. For example, high speed internet came to the village. Not everyone purchase this service, but new fixtures were attached to many of the posts that carry electrical wires. In front of our house is such a post and a new fixture. Below was added a well placed stick. With the addition, I see a sculpture. I know the village has been changed. Likewise, the drawing needs updates.
As I understand, the concept of synchronicity provides a meaningful explanation for how unconnected events can be joined to form a more significant union of meaning. This idea brings seemingly chance actions into a concert of relatable events. If small decisions have power to shape our path in remarkable ways, then it can feel as if spirits are at work. Similarly the creation of art can feel miraculous. When arranging visual elements that may not seem connected, often a transformation occurs revealing a greater story. The sum becomes bigger than the parts. When making the picture above, people, creatures of the sea and sky came together one by one. However, a vision of the whole is realized only as the page is filled.
Since I was a child, I have been fascinated with how a picture comes together. Though my knowledge was limited. I recognized that if commitment was given to an image something special could happen. The question always remained how and what to do next. In 2003, as an adult, I visited Belgium and the Netherlands and saw work by Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck and realized I would never meet the measure of their discipline. However, I also understood that I live in a different time an seek a different measure of success. While precision to paint with a single hair brush is not necessary, I continue to feel that spending time to develop a picture is important. It means that time is given to observe and be discerning enough to make decisions that transforms a whim into something more solid and imbedded with intent.
As an art student I noticed that students, professors, and guest lecturers had a way of summing up art from a decade in a condensed way. For example art of the 1950’s might be described as formal abstraction, 1960’s pop art, 1970’s minimalism, 1980’s neo-expressionism. Although these are simplifications, one can feel the shift that occurs in a particular time. In the 1990’s I noticed the emergence of large scale photographs.
I was particularly awe struck by seeing photographs by Andreas Gursky. I remember a large photograph of a football field from above and noticed how one had a sense of the whole field but also could feel the presence of the grass on the field. Likewise, a landscape containing a river would reveal a fisherman on the bank of the river. Compared to the landscape, the the fisherman was small. However, because of the scale of the image, I could more closely identify with the figure and even imagine the fisherman being hungry. This was new and more powerful than anything I could see in a painting at that time. While it is impossible to reproduce the scale and detail on a small screen, an installation view allows for a relational sense of the photograph in a space.
From Here to There
In science, often with great work and time, one advancement leads to another. The idea of progression is engrained in much of what we do. However, its insertion into art can be problematic. Art runs parallel to technology barrowing from innovations (e.g. the development of new materials, colors, or mediums such as video and digital production). In this sense art may come to look new. However, if art is characterized by the act of making something, then the act is more repetitive than innovative. Despite the fact that a base process may remain the same, art becomes charged with meaning because it is bound to a context that includes history, environment, and cultural studies. Interest may wax and wane. Some art is lost or overshadowed and later resurfaces with renewed interest. An example would be the work of Janet Sobel whose paintings predate Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings but are strikingly similar. In this sense re-evaluation can make the past seem very much alive in the present. Art is a vehicle, vessel, or prompt to re-evaluate time and place.
Color Samples
Finish Line
I once trained for a 5k race. I did so because I never ran more than a mile. It was a worthwhile experience. I challenged myself to run greater distances and felt the accomplishment of reaching a goal. However, I stopped. I can not say when or why. Some endings can be abrupt, long, or gradual. However, as we stretch for something to achieve, ultimately the end arrives on its own terms. Circling back to the first image above, someone asked me if the central figure in the image was Jesus. I don’t think so, but he is stretching, there is a connection, and an ending.
Many of us have little time for home life. We are busy working and taking care of our basic needs. However, what we do with our extra time largely defines us. When life is busy, time spent making art or even looking at art becomes precious. If we can grasp a little time, then we may end up with something more valuable then we expected.
Recently I made a picture that I felt more specifically addressed time. Working on what I could when I could, I picked away at the drawing. I started by looking at Brâncuși’s sculptures, in particular his series Bird in space. I imagined the birds that may have inspired him. Building on this, I thought of all the things that fill the sky and what I might see if I looked long enough or if I had a little more time. I remain unconvinced that if I had more time I would use it more wisely. Fitting in what is possible with what we have seems to be more important. While I have always found ways to make art, it is harder now and the intervals are longer. Regardless, I am gaining a better understanding that there is never a better time than now.
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