How do you title your paintings? Revisited 2013

I was going through my blog the other day and found a post in 2009 about paintings and titles. I have decided to open up the conversation again. 

Here is artist Connie Goldman on her titles:

"My titles reflect my love of language. I like to learn about word derivations in particular.  I even took a couple of classes in college that were concerned with Latin and Greek influences in the English language.  If you peruse my journals there are some that consist mainly of lists of words, their definitions, and their derivations.  For awhile all my titles were reflective of both the content and the reductive nature of my work.  I used Latin bases such as "Concertare", "Metrum", "Loci", and "Reciprocus".
Since my work is almost always about the tension between stability and change, and since I find the meter and space in language and music to be fascinating I search the dictionary for words that are connected to these things.  I've used "Brook", "Treble", "eddy", and "Current" for bodies of work."  

Brook VI

Metrum

Phasis X

Treble V

Reciprocus

Lorrie Fredette

A few weeks ago I took a trip to see fellow artist and friend Lorrie Fredette's installation that was at the Garrison Art Center in Garrison, NY. Every time I see her installations I am struck by the dichotomy of her subject matter and the beauty of the work. The smell, the skin-like surface, the light, shadows and the various ways to view the work are continually intriguing. 

My installations and sculptures are inspired by environmental and medical news stories pulled from today's headlines as well as historical events. Source material so far has included the swine, avian and Spanish flu epidemics and the increased incidence of poison ivy with the growth of greenhouse gases. Once I've chosen an area of focus, I embark on a rigorous course of research and gather images, which I then alter, vet and reject through an elaborate system designed to completely subvert and distort any likeness to the original source. I am interested in this confluence of science and art, in methodology that thwarts my natural hand and in the contrast between "ugly" origins and sublime outcomes. The use of wax in its natural color as my primary medium is intentional -- the neutral palette emphasizes shape, the aroma can be intoxicating and the texture is one that invites touch -- all in support of my goal to lure viewers into an experience that they would certainly try to avoid had they encountered the original infection.

Implementation of Adaptation

Beeswax, tree resin, muslin, brass, nylon line, steel, wood

© 2013

6 feet 1 inches x 36 feet x 12 feet

suspended 40 inches above the floor

Exhibitions:

Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY, IMPLEMENTATION OF ADAPTATION, curated by Carinda Swann, 2013

Painting the Light Within

                                           by John Thornton