John Tallman's art influences

So What 24" x 24", pigment and resin


I try to keep my commentary to a minimum(if you hadn't noticed) but with Tennessee artist John Tallman's work I just have to say-I like it. I like the reductive quality, the lushness,the thingness and his sense of humor. The pieces always remind me of something......that I just can't put a name on. But this piece above reminds me of the candy-Dots. Also, if you are not familiar with his blog Color Chunks, check it out.




picture 6: acrylic on plaster, 7"x3.5", 2008.

My art now seems to be in one of those transitions. Maybe that is actually always the case and now I’m just more aware of it. A very good friend of mine(a painter) said in his statement he wanted to de-mystify painting. I thought about that and I decided I wanted to do was to re-mystify painting. There are certain dualities that painting can examine excellently because of its limited format. “The picture” can frame particular contradictions in a way that no other medium can.

Arcadian Landscape: acrylic on wood, 4"x7", 2009.

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Top Ten Current and Past Influences(in no particular order):

Robert Ryman(for method).

Eva Hesse(for making).

Richard Tuttle(for romance).

Thomas Demand(for (dis)placement).

Gunther Forg(for economy).

Philip Guston(for drawing).

Marcel Duchamp(for humor).

Bill DeKooning(for lusciousness).

Blinky Palermo(for engagement).

Herman Melville(for the whiteness).

Chzfb pigment and resin, 24"x24", 2009

Chelsea 9/10

Gabriel Phipps Gunslinger oil on canvas 70 x94 2009

Paul Behnke and his art influences

Moon White Strip, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 42 x 44 inches

Paul Behnke's work was included in this summer's exhibition, New Talent at the Rosenfeld Gallery. He also participated in ColorEvolution at SAGE Projects in Philadelphia. His work was also included in Art of the State at the State Museum in Harrisburg, PA, in the Woodmere Museum's annual Contemporary Voices survey and featured in New American Paintings, Number 81, the mid-Atlantic edition this year. In October, he will be heading to the The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont to participate in a four week residency courtesy of a fellowship provided by the Dedalus Foundation.


Personal Statement:

I begin my paintings with the intention that they will be soundly connected to an exact location and time. However as the images progress from notebook jottings of experience, environment, and memory to more complete pieces, their meanings begin a steady shift from specific reactions to broad allusions. The finished works signify the faulty concepts of security, place, and distance and give form to the rituals and obsessions that sprout from these notions.

Silver Ray, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 44 x 42 inches

Influences:
Giorgio Morandi had the greatest influence on my early abstractions. Making an abstract work seemed daunting. Too many choices of form, color and vocabulary. By looking at Morandi I discovered economy. His work showed that it's possible to have freedom within restraint and an infinite variety can come from sameness. Following his example, I pared down my colors to blacks and whites and restricted myself to compositions incorporating the grid and a single form repeated as the painting dictated. In this way I was able to make the process manageable and put my work at the beginning of its current path.


British abstract painters working in London in the early 1960's have long been a source of influence and continue to inform my work and hold my imagination. Artists such as Gillian Ayres, John Hoyland, Patrick Heron, and Albert Irvin put forward deeply personal takes on the work coming from the New York School. English abstraction is literary, personal and conveys a tremendous impact to the viewer and this is what I hope for my work.

The Argonauts, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 42 x 44 inches

The Book About Death

Matthew Rose


I liked the idea of this project by Matthew Rose but I couldn't get myself in the right frame of mind to do it. Here is his call for the Book About Death, including his own entries and a few other artist's contributions (some I know and some I don't). I plan to go to the opening so it will be interesting to see them all up close.


An Open Call from Matthew Rose

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH : 1000 ARTISTS CONTRIBUTE 500 POST CARDS EACH TO CREATE AN UNBOUND BOOK ABOUT DEATH. EXHIBITION AT THE EMILY HARVEY FOUNDATION GALLERY IN NEW YORK CITY. OPENING: THURSDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2009. EXHIBITION: 10 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2009.

Matthew says

"A Book About Death is a project borne from a work by the late artist Ray Johnson, who died in 1995. Ray, who drowned in Sag Harbor, was an enormous influence on me personally, but he has influenced artists all over the world, particularly through his invention of "mail art" but also through his collage works which are seminal. Emily Harvey, in whose gallery this exhibition is taking place, was also a significant contributor to the art scene, especially where Fluxus was concerned. She was a light among artists and her Foundation, in NYC and Venice is a well-lit path for many artists, writers, filmmakers towards the places they want to go. Emily died in 2004 from pancreatic cancer. For me, the exhibition synthesizes many ideas at once and not only sets in motion a large and unbound book on the subject of death, but also empowers artists the world over, I believe with their inclusion here. There is no jury, all works – or "pages" – are accepted and deeply appreciated in this "book." The story of this project inevitably resides in the worlds created by the individual artists...and they are all worth investigating further."

Emily Harvey link: http://www.emilyharveyfoundation.org/emily.html


Here is one more of Matthew's

Matthew Rose


And some others............



Ria Vanden Eynde





Death Book Silence
gwendolynplunkett ancientvessel.blogspot.com


Nancy Natale


Pam Farrell





Yoko Ono




Linda Dubin Garfield.


Emily Parsons


David Benoit

West of Chelsea: Lisa Pressman

Recently, artist and writer Nancy Tobin visited my studio for a chat and a tour:

"During a recent tour of her studio, Ms. Pressman, who is from West Orange, showed me work from as far back as high school. It’s a privilege to get this kind of glimpse into the inner sanctum of an artist: the sketches, the stacks of paintings lining the walls — a living journal of an artist’s life."

- Nancy Tobin

You can read the rest here:

West of Chelsea: Lisa Pressman featured in the New York Times Local

what happens when "I am not painting"

Notes 12 x12 encaustic Lpressman @2009

This past June, after creating work for a solo show, having other pieces out at other places, and sales coming to a slow crawl, I decided to stop painting for a while.


Yes 10 x10 encaustic LPressman @2009

Balance 12 x 12 encaustic LPressman 2009

But, I have two shows coming up in September and October.
So, the juggling act begins....works from Texas and Atlanta are coming home.
Now, I get to see all the work that flew out of the studio on deadlines back for a respite, a re-look , and a re-evaluation. Then, they are out again.

Meanwhile, while I "wasn't painting for the past two months", I happen to have 15 pieces done. How did that happen? I think it was the simple act of not doing, of playing, experimenting and no pressure. Three of these were finished after resting and waiting for months for some attention,

The Rooms of Anais Nin 38 x 26 encaustic Lpressman 2009

Thinking Space 26 x 38 encaustic Lpressman 2009

Pink Tie 26 x 38 encaustic LPressman @2009

and the others just happened.

Counting 1 12 x 12 encaustic Lpressman@2009

Counting 2 12 x 12 encaustic Lpressman 2009

Ghosts 12 x12 encaustic Lpressman 2009



What is interesting for me is to look at the three "resting" paintings and the new work together. I know in my mind where I want the work to go........it is the getting there that is the challenge.


Whisper 12 x 12 encaustic Lpressman 2009
And, I didn't even mention that I have two 48 x48 oil paintings going.............that is another post.

Daniel Sroka, Art Influences

Daniel Sroka is a photographer living in NJ. This May, he was named a nominee in the Abstract category of the 3rd Annual Photography Masters Cup for his photograph Mask ( fallen leaf) His work is represented by Artful Home, one of the preeminent online art galleries.
His blog offers the male perspective of trying to raise kids at home and make art at the same time.

I like what he says about his blog :"Watch behind the scenes as fine art nature photographer Daniel Sroka tries to make a living from his art. "



Glass Slipper (abstract of melting ice. 20x25)

"I am inspired by the quiet voices of nature. Every season, I walk through my neighborhood and collect the leaves, sticks, flowers, and seeds that I find along the path. These fallen leaves and seeds are like fossils, preserving a record of the passing seasons.

Every stick and flower is uniquely formed by the life it experienced, and as they dry and fade, they tell stories about their lives. Stories about the intensity of the summer light, the periods of rain and drought, and the attacks of insects they endured. I try to tell these stories through the abstract, dream-like portraits I create of these small and usually unregarded parts of nature."

Influences:

Alexander Calder I love the story of how Calder showed up for a solo exhibit at Harvard with no art. When the students who came to pick him up asked where his art was, Calder pulled out of his pocket a spool of wire and pliers. He then proceeded to create the entire exhibit of wire sculptures from scratch.

Marcel Duchamp The guy knew how to poke fun and have fun. Art can be so pretentious, and his work never fails to make me laugh and remember the sensory pleasure that art should always be.

Charles Shulz (cartoonist): He may be "just a cartoonist", but more than any fine artist, his work has has a deep and personal impact on my life. I love Schulz’s ability to express a gut-felt emotion through a simple image and a focused story. I also find myself inspired by uncompromising work ethic, and his ability to find balance between his work and his family.


Haruki Murakami (novelist): Murakami is one of my favorite writers. The worlds he creates are deceptively simple, elegant creations, with massive geologic flaws running straight through them. In his stories, very normal people encounter very odd situations, but it all seems real and natural.

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (photographers): I was simply blown away when I first saw their work at the Eastman House. They showed me what a photograph could achieve in the telling of a story or capturing of a mood.

Ted Orland (photographer): I had the pleasure of being in the same galley as Ted for a short time. I love the simple expression of mood and place he expresses in his work. And his books on life as an artist (such as "Art and Fear") are clear, honest, and inspirational.

John Chervinsky (photographer): A witty combination of science and art.


Dragon (abstract of fallen leaf. 17x25)






Unravel (abstract of a fallen leaf. 25x17)