Modern Vintage Entry: "Undeveloped"

Showing at a gallery has always been something I wanted to do as soon as possible. Until now, I haven't seen many opportunities in the art market. However, I was introduced to a little place called Red Tree Gallery a year or so ago and I couldn't help but see the potential in it. Since then, shows there have come and gone and I had trouble finding a show that fit my work (or rather, one I could work around).
Yesterday, I checked Red Tree's website as I occasionally do, and to my surprise, I found that they are holding a show that my work fits into rather well. The exhibit is entitled "Modern Vintage" and I just knew that this is one I can NOT pass up. Immediately, I began brainstorming a possible composition that would be suitable for an entry. Last week, I found a Brownie Hawk eye camera from the 50's at a local antique store--to me, this seemed to be the perfect centerpiece for a new painting. There was still the question of what to put in the background, though.


Following my desire to break free from the chiaroscuro style of my past pieces, I chose something brighter for the negative space to offset the black of the camera. I recalled how I have always been interested in painting tape and paper because of the way by which it catches light. When I began to set up a composition using this idea, it all clicked.

Below is my preliminary sketch for this new painting I will title "Undeveloped"








I chose the title "Undeveloped" as a way of playing on words as well as a means of provoking conceptual thought through the piece. I have always sought the forms of objects made in the past. Things like this camera catch my eye unlike anything made in the present. In this sense, I feel at times like my mind is undeveloped in comparison to the forms of the current. I have an aesthetic caught up in the ideal shapes of the past... and yet, I have no problem with it yet.




http://www.redtreegallery.net/call/

The Application

Using contemporary art and ideas as a reference, I am beginning to create more thought provoking, "deep" pieces that focus on concepts rather than aesthetic as I've mentioned already. The first of these paintings is one entitled "Franchise" that I did over Christmas Break.

I chose to tackle the concept of obesity in this painting. The McDonald's doll represents the stronghold that fast food franchises have over our nation's youth. The female figure trapped in the gum ball machine is helpless while a single hand reaches to free her. This is the hand of our future generations.

Although I believed the composition to be somewhat of a break through in my work, it was not well accepted by the average viewer. However, I did not give up on the conceptual injection that I intended to administer to my still life paintings.








I went back to the drawing board and began to think of more specific topics to cover. The result was in two new paintings. One is currently at the judging for the Governor's Youth Art Exhibition (unphotographed) and the other, titled "Innovate", I did last week.

 This piece was done through a process of acrylic washes and graphite/prisma color application through layers. The end result was something revolutionary compared to what I have done in the past.

 The idea behind this work is similar to the conceptual nature of Julio Reyes' pieces. I tackled the negative aspects of industrialization through this composition in a way that concentrated on innovation in our nation. The pipe wrench clamping down on the light bulb is symbolic of how massive factories and expansive power lines compress and restrict innovation by causing more trouble than progress.

This piece is in the final stages of completion and the details have yet to be accentuated, but I am looking forward to broadening my portfolio with more conceptual compositions such as this one.

Not only was Julio Reyes an inspiration during the conception of this work, but also, Alan Magee directly influenced my thought process.
Magee is highly realistic, yet just as with all my other influences, he maintains a certain warmth to his pieces that separates it from photo realism into a category of its own.






Alan Magee chooses the simple objects and instead of complicating the composition, he typically has one object or a set of multiples with an undetermined focal point. They are nondescript in the way they are set up, yet they leave the viewer completely satisfied by the pureness of detail that he achieves in nothing more than acrylic on panel.

The Inspiration

I have always carried the view that my still life paintings are for the sole purpose of immortalizing objects I find aesthetically pleasing through a Trompe L'oeil style. However, as I progress in my works, I have come to the realization that works of art can be much more than just "eye catching" pretty pictures. I have begun to go beyond the idea of painting objects because 'I like the way they look'. There is no problem with this idea and I very well may return to it, however, I am attempting to build off this theme as though it were a platform for larger topics.

Recently, I have studied the work of several modern artists who paint in a way I aspire to paint. The first of these contemporary masters is John Rizzotto.

Rizzotto's unique compositions include high levels of realism without crossing the 'border' into stark, cold, photo realism. Each of his paintings can be representative of big ideas and issues far larger than the subject matter's first appearance.
While there may be a sense of randomness to the setup of each composition, it is well planned and purposeful. Rizzotto's romantic-style color palette harks to former masters such as Harnette and Vermeer, yet maintains a sense of illustration in the exaggerated hues and saturation.








Another contemporary artist that has been influential in my work is Jonathan Queen.

Queen uses objects (primarily toys) to demonstrate scenarios in a romanticized, exaggerated manner. His works utilize a Utopian perspective such as Norman Rockwell. Like Rizzotto, Queen also amplifies his color schemes in order to create warmth a sense of 'invitingness' into his compositions.

A more portrait-oriented artist that I'm drawn to is Julio Reyes

Reyes' work is perhaps the most inspirational and moving of any contemporary artist to my current knowledge. His pieces really hit home with me in an way I can not explain. The juxtaposition of his portraits are so powerful that I can emotionally connect with them by first glance. To me, they make a statement about beauty vs. industry and the coldness that can be brought about by backgrounds such as an electric transformer field. They are so modern and yet classically painted/drawn. I love the idea of posing an innocent female figure before a daunting, dangerous background like a set of power lines. Reyes has had a direct influence in the way I am going about conceptual art.