Filed under: In the Studio | Tags: Hilary Pecis, Meighan O'Toole, My Love for You Is a Stampede of Horses, painting
The following was written by Meighan O’Toole for My Love For You Is a Stampede of Horses, a blog cataloging low brow and contemporary art, and originally posted on May 2. Hilary Pecis was featured in editions #67 and #79 of New American Paintings. You can read more about Pecis’s work on My Love For You…
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Hilary Pecis works in mixed media, pairing found images with shapes she’s drawn in her collaged paintings. Creating sublime landscapes covered in jewels and dripping in luscious drops that may have once graced nail polish adverts in your favorite magazine, Hilary has an incredible eye. It was such a pleasure to hang out her with and see where she works and where she pieces together her beautiful work.
More images after the jump and more images on the My Love For You… flickr page.
Filed under: In the Studio | Tags: Evan J. Garza, Joe Wardwell, lyrics, music, painting, text
On the top floor of a rickety studio building in an industrial corner of Dorchester in Boston, Joe Wardwell is painting while listening to Japanese psych rock. Wardwell’s work combines serene painted landscapes of the American West with rock lyrics–often in fonts handmade by the artist–conflating both the art historical narrative of landscape painting and rock history itself.
His more intimately-scaled works, scattered across a small wall as I swung by the artist’s studio this week, feature abbreviated song lyrics from Black Sabbath, who is often playing in the studio while he works—early Sabbath, that is, featuring Ozzy Osbourne, a figure included in some of Wardwell’s flat files and his 2006 series of rock star drawings, A Heavy History. (Not a surprise for a man who played guitar in high school for a Black Sabbath cover band named Mourning Sun. Pretty awesome.)
Much of Wardwell’s new works invert the format of his current practice, blacking out his own painted landscapes to form silhouettes of text. A 6 ft. x 10 ft grassy canyon landscape rests on the gallery’s largest wall, a take on Albert Bierstadt’s 1888 painting, The Last of the Buffalo, built to exact scale. Wardwell’s ode, however, features lush washes of color and incredible drips which cascade down the canvas. (And although Wardwell is playing with several lyrics, the text to be placed on its surface has yet to be chosen.)
“I grew up in the West, primarily around Washington, Idaho, and Montana,” Wardwell tells me as we sit in his studio, my back to a drum set and mic stand. “Growing up, music was the way to imagine you’re way out of that small town existence. I played in bands in high school, right when the shift from metal and punk turned into grunge, and that area of Washington just sort of blew up. I moved to Seattle right in that hay day… The whole time I was an undergrad studying art, there was this huge music scene that was always enveloping me and my friends, and we were always going to see shows. In some ways, I was always trying to figure out a way for that to fit in to my work.”
Filed under: Q&A | Tags: Concrete art, Evan J. Garza, Jancar Jones Gallery, Nancy White, painting, ParisConcret, PNCA, SMFA, steel
#39, 2010 | Acrylic on hand-tinted paper, 5.06 x 6.88 inches
Last featured in edition #85 of New American Paintings, Nancy White produces intimately-scaled and optically charged geometric abstractions that invite viewers to question their dimensionality, where the distinction between what is painted and what is seen is often elusive. Through the manipulation of basic, concrete elements like light and form, White’s works—although small—make a big impact. We caught up with the artist this week to discuss her work and her new pieces made on steel. —EJG
EJG: What’s going on in your studio right now? Tell me about your new work.
I am pushing the relationship between my works on paper and my works on steel – being true to the material and visual differences between these pieces, yet conscious of their interpenetrating aesthetic qualities. Earlier this year I scaled the works on paper from a range of 8 – 12 inches down to 4 – 8 inches, closer to the proportions of the steel works. I toned down their color contrasts and immediately a different and more direct conversation between the two bodies of work appeared.
#8 Md_Bl_Gy, 2010 | Oil on primed steel, 5.5 x 8.25 x 1.5 inches
In the steel pieces my brushwork is becoming more prominent. Surprisingly, and kind of counter-intuitively, this is making the steel appear to be paper. What is happening overall is that although the pieces are hard edged — the outer edges of the steel, the geometric forms in the work on paper — their appearance is becoming one of softness. Beyond being perceptually and perspectively uncertain, they are visually contradicting themselves.
Filed under: In the Studio, Q&A | Tags: Gregory Euclide, In the Studio, Kirsten Incorvaia, Meighan O'Toole, Q&A
The following was written by Kirsten Incorvaia for My Love For You Is a Stampede of Horses, a blog by Meighan O’Toole cataloging low brow and contemporary art, and originally posted on August 17. Gregory Euclide is based in Minneapolis and was featured in editions #83, #71, & #53 of New American Paintings. You can read more about Euclide’s work on My Love For You… as well as his blog.
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Names can be very telling of one’s personality and even their tomorrow, which seemed to ring true for Gregory Euclide. When he was a boy, a loved one gave him a plaque engraved with the meaning of his name: “The Watchful One.” As an adult, Gregory’s observations span from city life to rural country and the fine art scene to high school classrooms. Flat surfaces are not enough for Euclide to relay his findings, which manifest themselves in an assemblage of paint, moss, dirt, paper, styrofoam, and beyond. His unconventional landscapes are so realistic that they actual require watering.
Do Gregory’s natural renditions critique human destruction? What happens when precious living matter decays right off the surface of his paintings? These are the questions we presented Euclide with, and he shared an intelligent, compelling interview in response.
Growing up in Wisconsin, how did you relate to nature? What woods and fields did you play in, how often did you go there, where did your imagination take you?
We lived out in the country surrounded by farm fields. There were ponds, gravel pits, dumps, farms and abandoned barns. It was a pretty amazing landscape to grow up in. Of course, as a kid I was not thinking about this stuff the way I am now. My parents left a majority of the yard grow natural, so there was a large area of tall grass. When other people moved into the subdivision they did the same. This left great fields for wandering and the property lines were blurred. I would walk the fields and go into the 50 foot forests that separated the farm fields almost every day. I used to bury Ball Jars containing maps of the forts I had created. I was always thrilled to see what had happen to the ink when I dug them up years later.
Filed under: In the Studio, Q&A | Tags: DeCordova Biennial, Dodge Gallery, Evan J. Garza, Laurel Sparks, painting
Godstar, 2010 | Mixed media on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn-based artist Laurel Sparks makes paintings that appear to shimmer and decay simultaneously, covering her canvases with rich, colorful textures which abstract drawn images bred from photographs. Featured in the 2010 DeCordova Biennial, organized by DeCordova Assistant Curator Dina Deitsch, Sparks’s forms seem both organic and man-made, breaking apart and obscuring images of glamor until they exist only as layers of color, form, and texture. We caught up with the artist last week to talk about her work.
EJG: Tell me about what’s going on in your studio right now.
LS: I started off the year working on a new series of paintings called Carnival Ecstasy (named after an influential pansexual orgy scene from Jack Smith’s film Flaming Creatures). The past few months I have been focused on a large series of collage drawings on paper. This work emerged out of my sketchbook practice, which is how I develop imagery for paintings. The collages have a different sensibility from my large paintings because they are more graphic and precise. I am still working with movement and distortion, but instead of pouring and smearing paint, I carefully fuse cut paper and small objects to 19″x13″ drawings.
Check out some of the latest entries to the Northeast Competition. The deadline is August 31, so keep them coming! Apply online!
NOTE: The following are random selections, and in no way reflect, or influence, final selections made by the juror.
Jemison Faust, “Before the Work Begins: Tipping Point #4” | Oil on Panel, 30 x 40 inches
Lionel Carre, “Homage to the letter lines” | Latex on Canvas, 30 x 30 inches
Keri Oldham, “Moldy Dress” | Mixed Media on Paper, 14 x 12 inches
Daniel Baltzer, “Broadcast 40” | Acrylic on Canvas, 40 x 59 inches
Filed under: Noteworthy, Q&A | Tags: architecture, Evan J. Garza, Q&A, Tommy Fitzpatrick
Sunblind Pillars, 2010 | Acrylic on canvas, 69 x 44 inches
Included with every edition of New American Paintings are two Noteworthy artists from the competition–one selected by the edition’s guest juror and another selected by the magazine–an honor in addition to being selected as a winner. This week we caught up with Texas artist Tommy Fitzpatrick, featured as a Noteworthy artist in Edition #84, whose work for the last several years has been based on the architecture of the cities in which the artist is to be exhibited.
EJG: What are you working on right now in your studio? Tell me about your new work.
TF: Over the last year I’ve been working on a group of paintings based on buildings in Berlin to be shown in Berlin.
EJG: How do you work in the studio?
TF: I think of the painting process as if it were a job. I work everyday and enjoy the early mornings the best. Music is a big part of the painting experience. I usually work on paintings one at a time and spend close to a month on each one.
Above Ground, 2010 | Acrylic on canvas, 33 x 69 inches (more…)
Filed under: By the Book | Tags: Barbara O'Brien, Eric Charest-Weinberg, Jen Stark
The South is a culturally abundant region of the United States, home to the largest biennial of international contemporary art in America, Prospect New Orleans, as well as NADA Art Fair Miami Beach and Art Basel Miami Beach, two of the most important contemporary art gatherings in the country. As the art scene in this part of the country continues to flourish, New American Paintings is eager to highlight exceptional contributions from up-and-coming Southern artists with outstanding points of view.
We are delighted to have Barbara O’Brien, Curator at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, as the juror for this edition, and her selections reflect the diverse makeup of the region as well as her interests as a curator. With this edition we are also introducing Editor’s Selections with each new issue, a handful of artists selected by our editorial staff to be included in the exhibition in print.
Jen Stark, Celestial Continuum (detail), 2009 | felt-tip pen on paper, 26 x 40 inches
For this edition’s Spotlight feature, we explore the recent work of Miami-based artist Jen Stark, first featured in Edition 70. Captivated by naturally occurring organic forms, Stark’s kaleidoscopic palette is inspired by the tropical city she calls home, and her numbered art-making practices make incredible use of ordinary materials. (Read more about her work here!)
As the largest and most important series of artist competitions in the country, New American Paintings is focused on introducing talented emerging artists to the art milieu at large, including contemporary art museums, curators, collectors, and dealers on the hunt for new and exciting work. We are pleased to include a conversation with Miami gallerist Eric Charest-Weinberg, who lets us in on how he builds his gallery roster, his thoughts on multidisciplinary practices, and what advice he has for emerging artists. Also included is a brief Q&A with this edition’s juror, providing further insight into her perspective as a contemporary curator. After more than 15 years, our mission of facilitating contact between artists and enthusiasts remains stronger than ever, due in part to the participation of renowned art professionals such as these. Edition #88 now on newsstands! —EJG
Check out some of the latest entries to the Northeast Competition. The deadline is August 31, so keep them coming!
NOTE: The following are random selections, and in no way reflect, or influence, final selections made by the juror.
Paul Chapman, “Upgrade” | Acrylic on Canvas, 31.5 x 43.5 inches
Zachary Keeting, “February (5)” | Acrylic on Paper, 30 x 22 inches
William Herwig “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” | Oil on Canvas, 96 x 92 inches
