The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.

I started the day all-fired-up to dig some post holes and pour some 'crete. Sporadic showers compelled me to throw a tarp over the dry concrete mix. Sporadic heat blasts of summer-to-come compelled our dog Miso to pose her chocolaty Cleopatra sweetness on my work station.
Then, to top the distractions off, Stacy, who was merely on a mission to return some videos, returned with a blue eyed ball of fur.
Maang.

Am I a Closet Surrealist?

I apologize to all those bloggers in my links list for not participating in their dialog. I've been painting and reading books. Just like old times.
I've never been a fan of melting watches. Well, when I briefly was a fan, I was also playing a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. I am beginning to think that the public image of a few elite Surrealists, has tainted my understanding of the Unconscious in painting. Tonight I spent time with twelve paintings. Six of those, in early development, are shown in the photograph above. In the time I spent, I applied eight Wikipedia Certified Surrealist Techniques (in alphabetical order):
1) Aerography is a surrealist method in which a stencil, which would have been used in spraypainting, is replaced by a three-dimensional object. Examples can be seen in the works of Man Ray.
2) Bulletist or bulletism is an artistic process that involves shooting ink at a blank piece of paper. The result is a type of ink blot. The artist can then develop images based on what is seen. Salvador Dalí claimed to have invented this technique. Leonardo da Vinci, however, suggested that "just as one can hear any desired syllable in the sound of a bell, so one can see any desired figure in the shape formed by throwing a sponge with ink against the wall."
3) Decalcomania is a process of spreading thick paint upon a canvas then—while it is still wet—covering it with further material such as paper or aluminium foil. This covering is then removed (again before the paint dries), and the resultant paint pattern becomes the basis of the finished painting. The technique was much employed by artists such as Max Ernst.
4) Eclaboussure, a process in Surrealist painting where Oil paint or Watercolour is laid down and water or turpentine is splattered then soaked up to reveal random splatters or dots where the media was removed, this technique gives the appearance of space and atmosphere. Used in paintings by Remedios Varo.
5) Grattage is a surrealist technique in painting in which (usually dry) paint is scraped off the canvas. It was employed by Max Ernst and Joan Miró
6) The movement of liquid down a vertical surface is, as the name suggests, a technique, invented by surrealists from Romania and said by them to be surautomatic and a form of indecipherable writing, of making pictures by dripping or allowing a flow of some form of liquid down a vertical surface.
7) Soufflage is a Surrealist technique originated by Jimmy Ernst in which liquid paint is blown to inspire or reveal an image.
8) Surautomatism is any theory or act of taking automatism to its most absurd limits.

I had no idea.
I'm standing here with a mouthful of apple, bitten from the Tree of Knowledge, and I'm looking for a discrete place to spit it out.

Damn, too late.(image source)

Fechner finds

It occurs to me that if I am honestly going to hunt down the origins of Western Abstraction in my genes and memes, I will eventually end up (or begin?) with Pythagoras (or even Thales). As it is, my fulcrum is presently poised under Gustav Theodor Fechner (as I mentioned earlier) and his activities in the 19th century. This guy was not only a mystic visionary but he also initiated experimental aesthetics. Fechner collected the measurements of some 20,000 paintings from twenty-two art museums to study their proportions statistically. The result was the ratio 34:21, which is the measurement of the celadon space above.

As above, so below.

I just checked this book out from the university library. I'll let you know what happens. William James writes the introduction and the spine has that beautiful silver Omega on it.

Chums

top: collaborative drawing between Timothy Buckwalter and Bill Dunlap
middle: Nudibranchs via Chris Jagers
bottom: Guts drawing via the Woodring Monitor

Castrose

Anthony Castro and I made these two paintings together. We've been mailing them back-and-forth between New York City and Ashland, Oregon. We each had two passes at the surfaces. I don't know which way Anthony thought was up.

Match Maker

Kelphorn meet Jacko Lantern

The following Hot Tip is from Marc Snyder. Marc and I have been collaborating on his brain child called 10,000 Pixels. The format has been challenging. Our "rules" have been mutating and yet the fundamental parameter as been that we post an image daily. The images are 100 pixels square and 72 dpi.

Arshile Gorky
The Plough and the Song, 1947
Oil on canvas, 50 1/2 x 62 5/8 in

Steven LaRose, The Quarrels of Popes and Kings, 2008

Paint on wood panel, 11.75 x 10.25 inches

The circle of abstraction is older then I thought

This week I found myself reading about old theories of color vision in textbooks from 1982. If I recall, I had taken enough credits as an undergrad to double-major in Psychology, but I finally lost faith in Rat-lab, or Experimental Psych. It didn't seem much like a science, just suspect theories and their exceptions. In Rat-lab, I couldn't wrap my wee brain around vivisection (mind you, I get queasy opening a cantaloupe) and I eventually embraced a simple BFA in Art. This also saved me from a second batch of oral and written exams that my school required.
For some odd reason, I've kept all my textbooks.
I was reading about Gustav Theodor Fechner who was a pioneer in experimental psychology when I kept coming across the word panpsychism. It took me awhile to register that Fechner was talking about a cosmos permeated with a consciousness. Even though I had read these texts 25 years ago, I don't recall understanding panpsychism until I began to frequent Rudy Rucker's blog a couple of years ago.

In January of 2006, I posted a link to Rudy and his essay on panpsychism:

"Each object has a mind. Stars, hills, chairs, rocks, scraps of paper, flakes of skin, molecules — each of them possesses the same inner glow as a human, each of them has singular inner experiences and sensations. I'm quite comfortable with the notion that everything is a computation. But what to do about my sense that there's something numinous about my inner experience? Panpsychism represents a non-anthropocentric way out: mind is a universally distributed quality."

Check out the other 119 "dangerous ideas"

Why?
Why am I poking around in the middle of the 1800's? I didn't know until today. I didn't know until the panpsychism loop came around for me. I'm tracing the roots of Western Abstraction.

I was working my way backwards from Wolfgang Laib

to Rothko's Chapel

to Mondrian

to Redon

to Monet

to Constable

and I just keep ending up around the middle of the 1800's where Camille Flammarion talked about "The first organisms - groups of monads," and I am slammed back into the present.

Six Pages From My Current Sketchbook

Blog Globally Exhibit Locally

Farbenkugel (Color sphere), from Philipp Otto Runge, 1810. For more outrageously beautiful color systems of yore, check out this link. Conceptually, I fancy Runges' globe above which presented the pure hues around the equator and located the tints (whites) and shades (blacks) at the poles. Complimentary values and hues were achieved by burrowing into the orb. Imagine the perfect brown that exists at the core. It wouldn't be any one color, and yet it would have the essence of them all.

I find myself smirking. Look at me. I'm glorifying the brown! I'm romanticizing the perfect middle again. Fish or Cut Bait. It should be noted that in 1803, Runge was romanticizing the holy trinity of Red, Yellow, and Blue.

"The divine trinity is the symbol of the highest light, just as the three primary colors represent sunlight. . . .When we understand the thousand refractions of the three primary colors, then we will be able to approach comprehension of the divine trinity that we feel in our souls." *Runge to Pauline Bassenge, Apr. 1803 Philipp Otto Runge: Briefe und Schriften, ed. P. Betthausen (Munich: C.H. Beckaq, 1982). 141.

As I mentioned earlier, I've built twelve small panels. These panels have a purpose. Similar to my March to show label, I sense a narrative evolving. I'm going to impulsively label this thread: HMS Challenger. These panels will serve a double purpose. As I mentioned earlier, I have been given the opportunity to stand on my beautifully brown soap box at a gallery on the campus of Southern Oregon University in October. These panels will help me make large paintings for that show. These panels will be originally exhibited at The Crown Jewel in July. My friend Jason owns the teeny tiny store called the Crown Jewel and back in 2006 he allowed me to exhibit my paintings from photographs in his establishment. The paintings represent a path for me. It was a strange path. I'll never sell this painting of my daughter, and it will likely be many years before I find myself on that side of the globe again. The representation side that is. Remember the globe? Remember Dennis Haul Things Worth's Generator of Abstraction axis? It is the architecture of brown. Think of this post as a gesture drawing. I am drawing the dog before I draw the fleas. I am taking stock of my place. I have been layering colors on twelve panels. I am up to five layers this afternoon.
I am layering with the understanding that I will be sanding back into the panels at some point. I will be trying to create the absence of local color and replace it with an envelope of light made from a multitude of variegated pigment.

Ah geez.
When you're in a groove, nothing is this complicated.

Two shows connected by agenda, propinquity, and this blog.

Cousin Scott rocks and rolls into town

It has been a year since The Bug Nasties have toured the West Coast. The last time they were here, they were merely passing through and I didn't get to see them play. Last night however, I was able to experience an intimate performance at Medford's Johnny B's. My cousin Scott stoically plays bass, Vic "The Stick" Hart plays purple drums, and the whole operation is piloted by Brother James Burdyshaw. "Intimate" is a polite way of saying that the place was empty. The triple digit temperatures and the absence of a local band on the bill were likely factors contributing to the ambiance. It was a fun night. Painters, who typically don't get to show their work frequently, have little appreciation for the liberating virtues of an empty room. People from all walks of life would do well if they learned to give their best to an empty room.

"Lui Shou-kwan is an outstanding artist in Chinese painting and, an important figure in the development of Hong Kong art. In addition to his masterpieces, he had made an invaluable contribution in educating his students the art of Chinese painting. He is recognized as an important figure in plotting the direction of development of Chinese ink painting. The following photo gallery is a series of "demonstration" paintings, showing the various techniques and skills of Chinese paintings as well as the specific style of individual master. They are made for teaching purposes."

"Congratulations! We have considered your proposal and have assigned you a gallery space during the Fall quarter"

"Steven, your show will be October 20 - November 15 in the Thorndike Gallery. Your reception date is October 23, 2008"

Sorry. If you "think ego and individualism makes art less interesting", and that "mining the individual self for meaning is, first and foremost, a total fucking bore in our confessional, therapeutic (I would say Sextonesque) culture" (source) then you probably don't frequent this blog anyhoo. But I must say again, sorry. I've got a new goal. I've got twelve new surfaces that I've built. I'm gonna keep blogging. I, I, I!

oh,
and p.s.
Jacques de Beaufort has already agreed to write some words for this show.

I should have been painting but instead, I watched beautifully awkward guys play guitar.

Elliot Smith

Joe Pernice

and new to me, Sondre Lerche

Steven LaRose, Mesmerism, 2008

Oil and acrylic on wood panel, 48 x 32"

Monochrome Pictures of Nothing

Upper: Brice Marden Cold Mountain 3, 1988-91, oil on linen, 9' x 12'

Lower: Heda Willem Clasz, Still Life With Gilt Cup, 1635, oil on panel 88 x 113 cm

Actual Size Love Tuesday

I'm into my second week over at 10,000 Pixels. It is a blog that Marc Snyder recently asked me to jam on. Last week's theme was "After Dark" and I was fairly exited by the coupling of images that happened. As a reminder: All images are 100 pixels square and 72 dpi. I came up with the theme for this week, "Actual Size Love" and wouldn't you know it, yesterday morning, Marc enriched his life further with a new daughter. Congratulations Marc, I can't believe you are still posting!