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Later on, however, I found my natural inclination was to
name my works after some feeling they aroused in me.
Something in them brought forth a priori emotions or
remembrances of whose existence I was sometimes not aware.
An example of this is the works “Woman Contemplating” and “Ice Age”
in the Abstracts Gallery.
Rather than repeat the explanations here, I will ask that you read
their captions for a fuller understanding.
September 21, 2008
My works have been accepted into my first two juried exhibits. The first ("Ragged Sun, Ragged Sky") is in the Dimension XXVI show at the Art Center of Corpus Christi. You may see in on my Paintings Page. The second ("World on Fire") may also be seen on the Paintings page and it has been accepted into the South Texas Art League show at the Art Museum of South Texas. Both shows run through September.
New artists that have come to my attention lately are Adrian Jesus Falcon And Deborah Sheller Males.
Mr. Falcon has a studio in Del Rio, TX and has a exhibition at the Art Center of Corpus Christi currently. His work on exhibit are all abstracts of a powerful nature with bold, broad areas of color and strong lines with occasionally a heavy impasto. His canvases tend to be about 3 or 4 feet square, though he does have larger ones and much narrower ones. I sat for a while on a bench in the exhibit hall trying to grasp his creative process. His works are impressive and, for me, resonate with a combination of beauty and strength. His show is worth a trip to the art center if you are into abstracts.
Deborah Males's works are on exhibit at the Art Museum of South Texas, where she is included with six other artists in the "Field of Color: Seven Contemporary Artists" show. I have not seen her other works, but her works at the Art Museum are fascinating in her choice of colors. Their subjects are simple scenes from the Hans and Pat Suter Wildlife Area, which is a park near my residence in Corpus Christi. However, instead of using the lush greens of the marsh vegetation in the park and the rich blue of the sky, she uses yellows, lavenders, and other colors that are not found there or at least are not obvious (and I have been there many times). I found her choice of colors fascinating, because they are unexpected yet work well together. Her compositions also fascinated me, because while the area itself is very flat and, to me, somewhat boring, she found a way to bring out the depth and space in the place that one feels subtlely but finds hard to express. She made the landscape exciting even though she was limited in the two-dimensionality of her media.
I attended an Art Museum event where members of the public had lunch with Ms. Males and the other artists and was able to ask her about her color strategy. She replied only that it was "spontaneous" and that she likes to "weave" the colors together.
I recommend investigating her works wherever you can, especially if you are interested in novel means of working with color.
October 3, 2008
In addition to the Island Art Emporium on (North) Padre Island, I now have works for sale at the Purple Elephant Consignment Store in the Six Points area of Corpus Christi. The Purple Elephant is unique locally in that proceeds from its profits support people with developmental disabilities through its programs to teach skills such as answering the phone, writing a resume, and improving social skills. Read this article from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times of April, 2007 to learn more.
The Purple Elephant in also interesting from a local perspective, because it is part of the revitalization of a section of town known as "Six Points", whose name derives from the fact that it is where three major streets converge (Ayers, Staples, and Alameda). Many years ago when Corpus Christi was smaller, Six Points was an important commercial and social area. As has happened in many cities though, important areas boom then fade into history. However, as is happening in many cities today, these areas are being brought back from the recesses of history and are being revitalized as shopping and artistic centers. The Purple Elephant is an example of the revitalization of Six Points as it used to be a hardware store. Now it primarily sells antique furniture, paintings, and jewelry (the jewelry having been produced in its programs to support the disabled). Other contemporary businesses are springing up in the Six Points area, such as the Bleu Frog Mercantile (an eclectic mix of antique, vintage, and nostalgic wares), Hester's Coffee Shop (contemporary bistro), the Nuevo Cafe (excellent contemporary Texas cuisine with different art exhibitions monthly by contemporary south Texas artists), the Indie Theater (the area's only independent movie theater), Zuzu's Bistro (very contemporary and elegant adjacent to the Indie) and a selection of antique shops plus one gem and rock shop (selling geodes and other beautiful works made of stone). The area also has one of the city's main city bus stations, so that it is easily accessible by public transportation. To visit Six Points for a walking tour, I recommend beginning by finding your way to the Purple Elephant, which sits almost in the middle of Six Points, at 1701 South Staples. Two doors up from the Purple Elephant is the Indie and Zuzu's, while across Ayers is the Nuevo, the Antique Shops, and the Rock Shop while across Alameda is the Bleu Frog and Hester's. Other local establishments of note at Six Points include Luciano's Italian Restaurant and Boatner's Internet Cafe (a little bit down Ayers and away from the immediate Six Points area. Now that my paintings are in the Purple Elephant, I am proud to be a part (however small) of this revitalization of a historic Corpus Christi area.
October 5, 2008
A few thoughts on abstract art:
Many people say they do not understand abstract art. What is there to understand? A painting either appeals to a viewer or it does not.
As I try to convey in my short webpage on the history of art, abstract art is a natural step in the evolution of art. Throughout history, artists have used form based on concrete objects and color to express their concepts. Abstract art goes the next step and frees the artist from using forms representing concrete objects (which for the sake of brevity I shall refer to in this entry simply as "forms).
With this traditional constraint eliminated, however, many people do not know how to relate to an abstract work: they lack a point of reference. This is not a failing of the artist, who has advanced beyond the traditional education and views of the public, most of whom are not as schooled in artistic concepts as the average artist or art-enthusiast, and certainly not as schooled as the average professional critic. It is a failing of public education. As a result, the public desires more traditional, concrete works and businesses and galleries striving to make a living, understandably cater to those desires. In addition, schools likewise teach students want the parents want to see and a new generation is reared with traditional artistic tastes.
What the schools fail to teach is not just a way of viewing abstract art, but art in general. Art is not appreciated so much these days for its beauty, but for its creativity, i.e. how it breaks with anything done artistically before.
Unfortunately, beauty is often a secondary consideration. In my view, this is tragic, because in a world full of tragedy and cruelty, art has traditionally been one of the few mediums that can uplift the spirit of people. As a result of this deviation away from beauty as a primary consideration, the artistic world is flooded with works that do not edify, but only confuse, or even worse, offend. The most obvious example I can think of (although not an abstract work) is Piss Christ by Andres Serrano; it is a photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. If you have not seen it, I recommend reading the Wikipedia article, which also describes the controversy surrounding it (involving the first amendment and separation of church and state). If the technique used for producing the picture can be ignored, if Mr. Serrano had used a fluid other than urine, say water with food coloring, to produce the same effect as in the photo, the photo could be considered beautiful with its hazy, distant image and golden tones. If Mr. Serrano's main concern had been beauty, perhaps he would have found another way to produce this work. As it stands now, maybe he had some other intent. Maybe he intended to stir up controversy regarding free speech or church and state issues or to make the public think about current views of the church and/or God. But now I am digressing from my original intent and am writing about the creation of an artwork to achieve unstated political or social aims, and that could, and probably will be, the subject for a different weblog entry. What Mr. Serrano did mostly was offend, rather than edify, even though apparently he had the talent to do the latter. In terms of creativity, if Mr. Serrano's aim was to stir up controversy, he deserves an A. In terms of creating (albeit superficial) beauty, he probably deserves an A. In terms of selecting an offensive subject, he definitely gets a A.
However, because it is essentially formless, abstract art does have at least one advantage (perhaps a limitation depending on your view) over other forms of art: it cannot offend. Only concrete images, such as Piss Christ, can offend.
That will conclude my entry for now. Perhaps later I will add more. I am going to lunch now. I would like to write more about how to appreciate abstract art for its interplay of colors and its lack of formlessness or even for the new forms that abstract artists create, but I grow weary of typing and need to refresh myself with a shower, meal, and a venture out of my apartment into the glorious south Texas autumn.
