Some Gray Breaks is a photographic study on the last of the Alaskan weather that sometimes lingers a bit too long, however, it is the finale of snow, ice, endless layers of winter gear including an assemblage of coats, gloves, hats, scarves, boots, and socks. Just to walk with bare feet in the grass and inside the house will be a delight. Going sleeveless and wearing shorts will be another phenomena. We have not yet arrived to the above mentioned (can you tell that I am anxious?) but we get closer day by day with the growing light.This artwork will be featured at the Middleway Cafe in a group show next May and another painting will be shown at the new exhibition space at the Conoco Phillips Building at Grant Hall, once part of Alaska Pacific University.This week, I am administering finals to my classes and we meet for our last class next week. Some Gray Breaks presents itself on a positive and uplifting note - more bike rides with the Divas, yoga studies, canoe trips, gardening, reading, long walks with the pooch, and a long awaited uninterrupted time to do my studio work.
Check out Bruce Nauman's short video titled Good Boy, Bad Boy posted below. Nauman is considered one of my favorite conceptual artists of the 20th century. I met him several years back at one of his openings in Los Angeles while I was dating this minimalist painter. In between the rigors of art history greats, I like to pepper my lectures by showing contemporary art performances and installations to my classes. The video below is timeless and says it all about America's strange persona/identity that is going on presently. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VugLUa47sLI
It's planting time again which brings to mind Pieter Bruegel's painting called The Harvesters completed in 1565. I study this work with my classes because it is one of the more tranquil pieces from the Renaissance movement compared to the heavy Italian religious artworks which are often dark and brooding. The Harvesters is a landscape littered with the worker/peasant; it is poetic and light in nature as it describes the ebb and flow of the changing cycles of the land. Ken and I just started our indoor planting - over 250 small to medium size pots set up for us to see what will appear. Already a few have shouted their sprouts. I realized too that most of the house plants needed repotting screaming at me for more space. Once I had given some of the plants their new homes, they seemed adjusted and happy.
I wrote my girlfriend in Los Angeles and told her I thought I had lost some interest in painting. Painting involves brushes, oils, acrylics, canvas and perhaps paper and not too much else. The paint is suppose to speak. Lately, I feel more involved in site installations, mixed media artworks and doing art related activities that I enjoy to do rather than the tedious exercise I call painting. Today I photographed the yard and the gray. Next month, I will be doing another site installation on break up - our Alaska demise of winter (thankfully) that leads into longer days and warmer times. This is the start of my next project along with some residencies overseas that I am perusing.
Some Gray Breaks is a photographic study on the last of the Alaskan weather that sometimes lingers a bit too long, however, it is the finale of snow, ice, endless layers of winter gear including an assemblage of coats, gloves, hats, scarves, boots, and socks. Just to walk with bare feet in the grass and inside the house will be a delight. Going sleeveless and wearing shorts will be another phenomena. We have not yet arrived to the above mentioned (can you tell that I am anxious?) but we get closer day by day with the growing light.
