4/20/10

Berger does Abstract? or tries to?


Alright well I'm not sure how I'm going to start this. Part of me wants to explain my thought process behind these pieces, another part thinks it'll undercut the work with these preconceived notions before you even see the work...

Also I'm pretty sure that people just look at the pictures and don't even read what I'm typing... So I'm going to let the paintings talk for themselves. I got process photos because I'm still holding Kevin's camera hostage. If you like this you should join me in convincing Kevin he doesn't need his camera really.

TOO LONG DIDN'T READ(TLDR) VERSION: I'M LOOKING FOR CRITICISM ON SOME ABSTRACT PAINTINGS I'M DOING.

But yeah, on to the paintings.





You saw the beginning of this one last post, here is with some text. I know where I'm going with this one, and the text is going to be obscured some more, but I'd thought I'd keep you up to date on what I'm doing.






I liked the beginning of this painting. Was terrified in the middle, after a chat with Jordan, I pushed through and created this. Would love to hear your opinion on it since I'm basically waiting to see Scott's reaction before I move forward with it. Jordan likes this painting and with his confidence in me I went crazy and...



This one is my favorite right now... Just freaking pops



Look I made a Jordan Elquist Painting.



And turned it into this. This is no where, where I want it to be, but the surface was wet and the bright colors I wanted weren't going to happen until I let it dry.



Don't start sentences with "and." This is the last one.

I think I'm going to hold off in delving into all the crazy thought behind these paintings. I will tell you though that all the paintings, except for the license plate painting, are rifting off of the same theme.

If you prod I'll probably tell you more, but for now I'm just going post this and see what bites.

7 comments:

  1. i think i would like to see, (and im saying this cause you wanted feedback,) some rendered elements within the abstract chaos. look at chloe early and someone else i dont remember right now.

    i think peoples main complaint about abstract work is that its not saying anything but 'paint is here' (we can argue that day and night) but, i think a rendered form within would bring in some context and thinking on the part of the viewer. all art can be looked at as a collaboration between the creator and the viewer, but its up to the former to decide how hard the ladder works...

    which is why i like to see the license plate, but i think i just want more.

    go go go!




    *prod*

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  2. If you keep reworking and reworking a drawing, using an eraser as a drawing tool, you learn more about abstract painting...its about quickness and not development of specific shapes, because then the shapes become objects and so on and so forth unti l you have a painting full of objects...so when you arrive at an object or a blatant shape, wipe out part of it or all of it and keep truckin through. Dont anaylize how you abstract things! Dont think at all!!!! and your unconcious choices will create s0omething you never have before.

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  3. I wouldn't obscure the text at all right now in that first painting. I would start to address the sides and corners then return to the text and center of the painting. Experiment with all those shapes you have floating around the recognizable objects/text. Play with their shapes and maybe think about finer details within them as well.
    2nd painting I would push more. Right now the contrast on the majority of it appears the same to me (although I'm on a comp not in person and that's a digi photo). Keep going on it.
    3rd painting has some interesting shapes and movement. Might want to investigate the top left and right corners on it more.
    The 2nd to last one is my favorite of the bunch actually. That shit looks done to me! Then again it's a photo so that is up to you too. I can see it's tilted a bit in the photo so that makes it a bit hard too.
    Last one is a really interesting start. I'm curious to see where it goes.

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  4. Hi Aaron! Haven't looked at any older posts yet...but... these are so exciting to see! I just wanted to respond to the topic of objects and also rendering in abstract painting. I think to paint 'abstractly' can happen at any speed. Everything we paint...or see... be it recognizable or not... is all light... just data the brain interprets. You can spend as much time RENDERING an ABSTRACT form of color as you can rendering what we know as a chair or cheek. It's all the same. The play between "letting go" in a work (being intuitive) and "holding on" (reasoning and problem solving) can be the same in abstraction as it is in photorealism. After all... photorealism is an illusion... every painting... is abstract. So... I say go ahead and render... or make objects... and then change them...but only if they shoudn't be there, ha... or erase and then rebuild...fast...slow...who cares... but what you MUST do... is find a way (maybe you have maybe you haven't) to believe in the integrity of an abstract form as though it were a head or hand. And i think if you find that in the abstract work it will affect the realistic or whatever stuff too. Thanks a lot for sending this link!

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  5. also... love the triptych...if it is that... 'the three paintings shown in a row'... each one is interesting solo and yet together they continue to inform one another well. first one especially... even tho it's kind of 'differnt'... from a computer screen... looks FINISHED...!! Cy Twombly? yeah... to name drop...

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  6. o wait... that's one painting shown in three stages... alright then... well... comment still stands

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  7. Arrows, license plates, u p a n d o u t..
    where are you telling people to go?

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