Work in Progress: Fire & Ice #5 and #6

Above, see two decent finished pics of Fire and Ice #5 (top) and Fire and Ice #6 (bottom). #5 is 7 1/2” x 9” and #6 is 11 3/4 “ x 15 3/4”, both are works on paper with water-based acrylic paint.

Also did some work on a few other pieces today— another in the Fire and Ice series that is giving me a lot of trouble, and a few sketches of flowers (working on a bigger piece and these will be a part), and another sketch of a woman. The last is preliminary work for a small collage that I am going to use as experimentation for some larger pieces I have in the works.

Painting is becoming more and more of a physical effort for me, and I can see more and more how Matisse was prone to fits of anxiety and de Kooning had to take long walks in the streets of New York at all hours of the night just to relax. At the end of each session— and I largely have 3 a day— I find myself feeling as if I had hiked a long way, or lifted weights— the adrenaline and exhaustion; the feeling in my lungs of a long workout.

Some of this tonight is even furthered by Fire and Ice #6. I think it is one of my better pieces in a long time— a nice combination of painterly and linear styles, not too dependent on the idea of the piece, but rather the emotion behind it, and the colors are dynamic and complex while drawing the eye.

I began to have the feeling that these works were getting too precious. And needed to be let loose a bit, and this happened to great success in #6. The problem is finishing #7, and the rest. This #6 I think marks a shift in approach for me. It is hard to force into works in progress, and is more challenging.

I found myself thinking I wanted to paint an explosion.

Further, the collages I have in the works are a lot more intricate, at least in terms of process— not necessarily in terms of minute detail, and I have spent a lot of time just trying to understand how to begin this new direction.

If anyone knows of a gallery assistant or two that wants to volunteer service for 617 Midway, please put them in touch with me. It is difficult at this point to keep up with my own work, which I take as a blessing to have so many interesting projects. But I am accepting applications.

Work in Progress: Fire & Ice #3

Above, see a decent finished pic of Fire & Ice #3. It is 7 1/2" by 9" on paper.

Work in Progress: Fire and Ice

Above, see work in progress for three different pieces in the Fire and Ice series that I did some work on today.

Work in Progress: Fire & Ice #4

Above, see a decent finished photo of the piece Fire and Ice #4. It is 7" x 9 1/2"; acrylic and pen and ink on paper.

Work in Progress: Fire and Ice Series

Above, see a few works in progress from the Fire and Ice series I have been working on. They are all works on paper and I am using a combination of pen and ink and water-based acrylics. Although I have been good about taking pictures, I haven't been about posting- these are from the past few days. All are 7" x 9 1/2" pr 11 3/4" x 15 3/4"

My process has included shifting from one to the other at times. Although, once the picture begins to take shape and moves beyond the preliminary composition work, I have to remain focused on one at a time. The colors become so important at that stage that for these smaller works to have some strength and power the balance of the color and those decisions of tone and painterly effects are really important. I notice this more and more as I work on them.

I am happy with them, and enjoy doing this work. They are simple in many ways but are doing some hard work in others, I think.

I realized tonight that when I was a senior in High School, and taking Advanced Placement drawing, I was working on a series of drawings and in one I attempted to illustrate the personal impact of Fire and Ice. I used lots of warm and cool colors- although I remember actually drawing a piece of ice.

In short:

I have been working on the Fire and Ice series for over 15 years. Who knew?

A little strange, as I had forgotten all about it. And a testament to Frost's poem. I can't imagine why it seemed so personal and important to me then, and in today's climate it seems so dead-on. That is surely what they mean when they say "timeless."

Poem Selected for Kerouac-inspired Anthology

Received word today that the anthology "Where The Road Begins" will be including one of my poems, "Parking Lot Destinations," in their publication.

"Where The Road Begins" is an anthology being published by The Cultural Organization of Lowell (COOL) in Fall 2007 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's "On The Road."

The pic above is from the COOL webiste: http://www.cultureiscool.org/

I will post more information on the anthology and the release in the next few weeks. It is definitely an honor to be included.

Glacier Park

This month's National Geographic features a great pictorial and piece of Waterton-Glacier National Park. Glacier Park is part of tradition and ceremony for my family, and for a great bit of my childhood I was there every 2 years or so, and have visited it extensively since. The site of my informal baptism, which included my father and I swimming in super-cold glacial melt was at Lake MacDonald at Glacier Park when I was under a year old. I still keep a picture of my father holding me in this lake next to my bed.

I am including a few shots from my personal library that are completely blown out of the water by National Geographic's, of course. But of all places I have been, it is probably the easiest to take a great picture of.

It was nice to stumble upon the article this month. There is a lot of family history and many powerful memories for me in that park.

In Progress Model Consumer and Matisse is more harmful than war

Now that the Model Consumer photo contest is officially over, I am posting a few images of works on paper- both as they have been in progress as well as some more or less finished pictures. I intend to use these for larger collage pieces and paintings as well, but as you can tell, I am having a time of playing with spatial relationships and colors.

The pics above are from works in progress over the last few weeks.

The thing I most can't get over is the idea of painting the "heart" of a store. That, is, in some vague question of consumerism, and what is on the outside of us as we shop for things, painting the true "inside" of a store.

I have been reading a few books here over the past few days. One covers the collage work of Alex Katz, which I had no idea about. The other is the second volume of biography on Matisse by Hillary Spurling (Matisse The Master).

The more I find out about Alex Katz and his work, the more I like it. It was a little shocking to come upon this collage book of his (I had no idea about his work in collage) while I am working away at collages myself.

As for Matisse, the funnest part of the book so far is the extraordinary public outcry at his work. A person would get less attention today for lighting themselves on fire, truly.

My favorite quotes by his contemporaries:

"Matisse drives you mad!"

"Matisse is more dangerous than alcohol!"

"Matisse does more harm than war!"

I have also decided that among all my favorite Matisse works, I especially like "Goldfish." There is something about the shapes and the way they fit, or don't, that gives the sensation of watching something with mass float- in an almost slow-motion- that is exactly what it is like to watch goldfish.

* * * * *

I am working on a number of items this week. Preparations for a few upcoming shows and contests and also I am working on an article for an Arts journal. It is hard to believe we are at the end of August already, and here I am working away at pieces for a few shows.

Have some good news coming up about shows, publications, and some other events. It is shaping up to be a busy and exciting autumn.

In Progress: Spring Training

A couple pics of the work in progress "spring Training." As you can see, I am working on 2 sheets of paper- will present side-by-side in the completed piece.

Both sheets are 18" x 24"

Image for Sale: 2 More

Image for Sale Show Gallery Pics

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the Image for Sale show at the FPAC Gallery, the images above offer a good idea of what it looked like up. The show ends as of Friday August 17th, so you only have a few more days to catch it if you haven’t yet.

Music Video: Jay-Z - La La La

And I have been remiss in the hip-hop history annals.

Like many, I was a bit put off by Mr. Jay-Z when he was elevated to near-God status on the death of Biggie Smalls. The void for a East Coast solo MC was so great that both the press and Jay-Z jumped on the opportunity at the time and he became the self-proclaimed heir to the throne.

And, being more of a hip-hop fan than a hit-pop fan, his ability to cross-over and produce club anthems hasn't always helped his status in my eyes.

But, of course, he is undeniably one of the best MC's in recent years. Although I tend to like him more when played against another rapper ("Renegade" is a great example of this, as is the remix of "Diamonds...").

Interesting- one of my first favorite Jay-Z songs was "Sunshine" with Foxy Brown, which got panned as too commercial at the time. I always felt it was a good play against high-end producing.

However, off the Bad Boys 2 soundtrack, "La La La" is my favorite Jay-Z track (with the 2 possible exceptions above). I was always surprised that another song "Shake your Tailfeather" did so much better on the singles chart. But, this song is a bit edgier, and a bit more appealing to me as a result.

I love the P-Diddy cameo.

"No physician in the world can fix him/ no prescription you can prescribe to subside his affliction/ he's not a sane man/ he's more like Rainman, twitchin'"

July, August & September and Spring Training Preparations

This whole secretive thing about Model Consumer— and me holding back works in progress so I don’t influence any contest entries— is really screwing me up. I was so in practice of taking pictures all along the way while I was working on something, and now I am completely miserable at it.

All of that is a long introduction to the above picture. It is a work on paper— 18” x 24” titled “July, August & September.” Per the intro, I was working on this and a Model Consumer pieces as well, and failed to take some pics while in process. But I am pleased with the results. While it doesn’t use the same layering concepts I have been employing lately, it gave me a great chance to combine techniques (linear and painterly styles) and allowed me to further play with complex colors.

As it seems like I have said over and over by now, seeing the Hopper show really inspired me to play with some nuances and tones of color. While I don’t feel like this will be effective on some of my larger canvases with the collage elements (due to the necessity of flat colors played against the depth of layered content) it works well here. And when I have the opportunity I love experimenting with color tones and how they draw the eye and back forth across a picture.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this new work. I will try and get better again at taking pictures as they progress.

As a side note. I had a great meeting today on presenting an upcoming show here in Boston next spring. I went to walk the space, and was very, very impressed. Looks like it is a go, in a high-visibility site, and I will let everyone know more details about the space and the show as things get solidified.

The other pieces I have in the works right now include a larger collage piece that I have been using the working title “Spring Training” for which will include baseball cards as some of the collage elements. Above, see my trusty old shoebox stuffed with baseball cards.

As I was going through and picking out ones I might want to use, I was struck by how American the process of flipping through baseball cards is. The feel of them slipping by in your hands as you scan to see what you have— if there is anything good in there, etc.

I already know there is not much here. For one, I sold my valuable baseball card sets to help sponsor a 60’s-esque road trip in the days of way back. Second, baseball cards— when I was collecting anyhow— aren’t really worth that much anymore.

In the 80’s, baseball cards became big business— which flooded the market. Thus, they are not rare anymore. Back then it seemed like you were always hearing a story of someone finding a box of baseball cards in their attic worth a hundred kabillion dollars. Or someone throwing out a box in an attic that was filled with baseball cards that must have been worth double that. Now everyone has a baseball card collection. A Barry Bonds rookie on eBay is worth like 5 bucks.

But it was definitely a time machine to flip through the cards. It was also nice to remember the names of the utility players— guys I hadn’t thought of in so long. Guys like Tony Pena, who was a catcher for the Red Sox for a while— he must have hit into a double-play every time he was up at bat one season. Or Sparky Anderson— the longtime Manager of Detroit. How is it that he looked old enough to drop dead always? For twenty years I thought “man, that guy looks old.” Or a baseball card of Rusty Kuntz— to a twelve-year old collecting baseball cards, just his name made the whole thing worthwhile. How many times did my friends and I repeat his name over and over again, giggling?

My favorite find was the picture of Pittsburgh Pirates catcher, Steve Nicosia, blowing a huge bubble of bubblegum— hand on hip. Cool.

I will say, while baseball cards were big business then, baseball wasn’t. The guys all look like they are having a lot more fun in the pictures then they do now.

That may be the other thing that was so magical about the Red Sox season in 2004. The guys genuinely looked like they were having fun. Baseball hadn’t seen that in a while— or since in the same way. Maybe that was a fitting achievement for the Sox who needed that World Series for so long. They were the last of a golden age.

As I flipped through the cards, I could hear someone’s voice in my head complaining about a catcher who posed with their bat rather than their catching gear. What a wuss! The tough guys wanted to be known for their defense.

Conversations over flipping through cards were serious business. Who was a good player? Who would be a good player? Whose card was worth something? Which baseball card company made the best products?

Looking back, it seems now like there was a lesson. Either, 1) be a baseball player, or 2) be rich. Working hard at baseball would make you awesome. Working hard to not ruin your baseball cards (don’t touch them too much, don’t store them in a shoebox, keep them in plastic) might make you rich.

There was something contradictory there too. Baseball was hard work. Practice, practice, practice. But the guys on the cards were blowing bubblegum bubbles, laughing, posing dramatically as if about to burst into laughter after the flashbulb popped. They didn’t look like they had a hard day of work in their lives.

And the baseball cards were supposed to be fun. Some of us even had our parents fooled. But behind closed doors we were like a Ben Affleck scene in the movie “Boiler Room.” Have fun/don’t have fun. Be rich/be lazy.

Baseball cards were my introduction to capitalism. Supply and demand. How to trade for something you wanted without giving up too much. Major lessons in economics around bad bubble gum.

I have done a lot of exploring about identity and image around female figures. These baseball cards, and using them for collage elements, will be one piece of a new project. It will tie in loosely with Model Consumer as well— as I have a few related images planned that are related in approach but not entirely in main subject matter.

While comic books and entertainment; Barbie dolls and clothing ads are one way we are taught image, these baseball cards are huge as well. I won’t go so far as to say that one was influential to men the other to women, but these things that we look at— and the often conflicting messages, are of course integral to what I paint.

And this one is even more fascinating, as it combines texture as well. So much of what we see now is purely visual— TV, internet, etc. While the act of flipping through the baseball cards and feeling them pass over thumbs and fingers is an entry way into a whole other set of sensations, and memories.

All that said, I am now working on a smaller work on paper (another 18” x 24”) loosely related to the “Spring Training” project and the baseball card themes. The larger piece will be on canvas and will use paper collage glued down— this smaller one I am just starting work on will be pen and ink and watercolor/water-based acrylic.

The larger piece will likely be in-progress for a bit, as I juggle some writing projects and some other painting projects. But, again, I will work at taking pics in progress.

First Look: Model Consumer & Art Critic Consoling

Have spent some time over the past week working on some preliminary paintings for the Model Consumer series. Most of this work I haven't wanted to post, as I didn't want to give anyone any ideas as to what I thought was a good or bad pose, what I was looking for, etc.

And for the record, I am not really sure what I am looking for. I am looking for creative and inspired work. I have had a few notes over the past few days from people who wanted to enter- if not to win the prize, to at least contribute to the series. But they were too self-conscious of their image being out there. My only advice is send your entries and contributions along. They are in good hands.

All that said, I finally thought it might be OK to post the pics above. As they are from a self-portrait, I thought it wouldn't harm the integrity of entries, and it would also give people a sample of one of the ways the pics will be used. The above pics in progress are a 18" x 24" work on paper- watercolors and/or water-based acrylic scrapbooking paint.

You can probably notice my homage to Hopper- the reds and greens.

But don't let this pic throw you off in your contest entry. Send anything. It has been strange to be working on paintings the last few weeks (this and 3 others) and not be sharing them on the blog. After the contest deadline (August 24th) there should be lots more.

The link for the rules and regulations of the Model Consumer contest is as follows:

www.KurtColeEidsvig.com/contest

And again, you will be helping a series of paintings as well as having a chance to win 300 bucks. In today's volatile stock market, cash is king.

In other news, I got a great email this week in an attempt to soften the blow of my Boston Globe art review last week. It is as follows:

"A review of Paul Cezanne's work during a special exhibition in Paris in 1904: 'He chooses to daub paint on a canvas and spread it around with a comb or a toothbrush. This process produces landscapes, marines, still lifes, portraits... if he is lucky. The procedure somewhat recalls the designs that schoolchildren make by squeezing the heads of flies between the folds of a sheet of paper.'"

The comparison to Cezanne is humbling. First, because he is out of my league by about 100 leagues. Second, because he spent the end of his life painting like mad and dodging rocks that schoolchildren threw at him on his way to work every day.

I am off to invest in a helmet and a Kevlar jacket. To dodge the rocks and the critics.

Image for Sale Gallery Talk, Searching for Substance & the P-Diddy of Art

Above, please find some pics from the FPAC Gallery’s Artists Discussion for the Image for Sale show taken yesterday afternoon. Had a good crowd, many from Artists for Humanity, and great discussion about the works.

The pictures above are of Jeffrey P. Heyne, Sylvie Agudelo and yours truly.

Of course, as one of the artists/speakers it is always strange to discuss your visual art. There is this process of trying to get to something but not quite explaining it right. Basically, if you could explain it better you wouldn’t have had to paint the painting— or something like that. But it was great fun to be in the space again with so many people discussing the work and their responses.

Thank you to Jess Hyatt for the picture taking.

In other news, the buzz at the gallery yesterday was a review of the Image for Sale show by Boston Globe correspondent Cate McQuaid that appeared in Thursday’s newspaper.

I came home and looked it up online (http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/08/09/brilliant_drafting_shines_in_groszs_smaller_works/).

The small review, under “Image Consciousness” isn’t so kind to my work. The best line comes at the end:

“With so much glitz, even more substance is required.”

If you read between the lines, Cate McQuaid, in a few short strokes of the keyboard, has proclaimed me the P-Diddy of art. How can one not be reminded of the P-Diddy/Nas anthem “Hate me Now” at a moment like this?

In fairness, I think she was too harsh with Sylvie’s work, which is pretty wonderful.

Also, in fairness, she was very positive about Jeffrey’s— which is great work. So, she went at least 1 for 2.

As for me? I was tempted to give up painting forever, but as P-Diddy so eloquently puts it:

“You can hate me now / but I won’t stop now” (and of course the best part is when he says “can’t stop” “won’t stop” after each line)…

(see
http://617midway.blogspot.com/2007/05/music-video-nas-featuring-p-diddy-hate.html)

I am also reminded of the clip in the movie Singles where the band “Citizen Dick,” as headed by front man Matt Dillon and backed by Pearl Jam cameos, stumbles upon a review of their work.

See the clip from YouTube below.

"This weekend, we rock Portland."

The Day After, LB, and Phil Hansen

As most of you know, August 7th was my birthday. I have been waiting for days to post the pictures above— my first birthday gift of the year.

It came in the mail a few days ago. Yes, you guessed it, a Marlboro ashtray for yours truly. Far from being offended, I was incredibly impressed with the Philip Morris company (a subsidiary of Altria Group- Stock Quote as of 8/8/07 at 1:37 PM: $69.49) and their recordkeeping.

Now, I haven’t smoked in over 10 years, and have moved at least 4 times during that period. To think that they cared so very much to remember my birthday and find me— not to mention sending this lovely ashtray— is truly heartwarming.

I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Osama Bin Laden had sent in some proofs of purchase from Marlboro Reds to the Philip Morris corporation circa 1995— with the brand new album Return to the 36 Chambers by ODB blasting in the background as he licked the stamps and got the address just right. I mean, seriously, why don’t we have their marketing department working for the CIA? They could lead our troops to Bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan, and deliver a new ashtray at the same time.

Thank you, Philip Morris. And thank you, Marlboro Man, wherever you are.

* * * * *

Speaking of 1995, my 33rd birthday held some special meaning for me— as I felt like it had to be a good omen that I was turning the same age as Larry Bird’s number. What does that have to do with 1995? Well, circa 1995 my favorite form of apparel was a Larry Bird jersey. It was my casual wear, my formal wear— my everyday outfit. I was wearing a throwback jersey before it even really got thrown back.

The picture above is from interbasket.net

* * * * *

So, you anxious blog audiences ask… what have I been doing to earn my keep amidst all this blog silence? Well, generally you can count on the fact that if the blog is somewhat empty I am spending my time writing— working on some poems, some long fiction, etc. It just isn’t the same break to stop writing and start blogging. When I am doing more painting, I use the blog entries as a breather.

But, I have been doing some painting too. Some pieces that will likely be in the model consumer series. A few works on paper— 18” x 24” and doing quite a bit of experimenting with colors (the Hopper show has inspired me to include some complexities and nuances in my color fields— or at least to try it out). I will likely post some work in progress in a few days.

I came across this web video of artist Phil Hansen the other day (http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/23115/strokes-of-genius) where he shows himself working on some larger pieces, and using a mosaic technique— that the article calls “his own brand of pointillism.”

It is a pretty interesting video— interesting to see how people use the internet to expand the possibilities of traditional painting, interesting to see the great public reaction of his work (he had a million hits regarding a piece of art he was working on), and personally interesting for me to see how someone else combines the representational with the abstract and ties it in to a larger project.

What was a fun coincidence to me though was seeing Hansen’s larger circle piece (where he uses words to make a self-portrait) and then come across the piece above on the Castelli Gallery website (http://www.castelligallery.com/).

The image, “Portrait of Leo Castelli,” by Josef Amft, from 1979, also uses a similar technique of using words to render an image. Hansen’s is obviously pushing on this, as he is soliciting input (as I am in the process of in Model Consumer), and he also uses a wheel to spin the image as he goes. There is of course the added feature of allowing the audience to watch all of this as it transpires. But it was strange that I found both of these in the same couple days.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Leo Castelli… he was the Larry Bird of art dealers times ten. It seems that anytime I come across an artist that is major from the past 70 years, at some time Castelli represented them. Check it out. Leo Legned.

Announcement: Image for Sale Gallery Talk

Just a quick announcement to let everyone know that the FPAC Gallery will be hosting a gallery talk on Friday, August 10th from 1 pm to 2 pm about the Image for Sale show.

Admission is free, and Jeffrey Heyne, Silvie Agudelo and I will be discussing our work and the show itself. We will each give a brief talk and then open the floor for questions and answers.

Please stop by the FPAC Gallery at 300 Summer Street on Friday- we look forward to seeing you there.