Blog Archives - TERRANCE GRAVEN

TERRANCE GRAVEN

Art Critique with Honey McMoney

12/30/2012

I received this e-mail posted below and picture of paintings that are in progress from my artist friend Honey McMoney today:

Still at it. At some moment it will go back to being about the other side. Are you planning your projects for next year? Should I really buy enough 36" and 48" stretcher bars for 12 paintings?? Still got an awful lot of pink tissue. Art is weird man. Painting is weird. I am definitely having one of those spells of o m g w t f am I doing with my life?? Am I completely daft? So we put a little paint down and take a walk. Hope you are having a good holiday. Where are you?

Here was my response:

I can't help but compare this to some conceptual works dealing with the meaning of materials and supports. I'm not sure aesthetically it's your strongest work. Is it completed?
Watercolor (often considered as a female medium)...structure and supports as a conceptual underpinnings...perhaps slightly dated? Could be seen as post modernism because of it's strong appropriation of common art symbols?

Here was Honey's additional thoughts:

I agree with that. I am also hoping that it talks about paintings as objects and what is the picture plane anyway? Is it completely discrete? If it is, is it inherently symbolic? If we submit to the illusion are we charmed? What makes one submit? Must one be in a state of submission to accept a picture plane? Does acceptance of the painting as object constitute domination over the picture plane? How do the picture plane and the painting as object - as illusion or as reality - coexist? Can we both dominate and submit? Does discussing painting in this way allow us to better understand image culture? Why else is painting relevant? Does discussing painting in this way better allow us to understand value culture? Is it the object or the illusion that has value?
The back painting also gave it this additional performance value of turning the painting over to see the hidden side. The effect I wanted - a bleed through has not happened. I think it is because a) it is drying differently/faster than the others where bleed through has occurred b) it is green with another paint that breaks through the sizing c) tannins in the maple seed pods helps to leech the color through or some combination of all three. On with the show. Will keep experimenting down the road. I'm going to do a little back drawing now. Secrets.......
This was a nice critical exchange, which I plan to continue adding to. What do you think?

You're W, I'm W, Repeat: 12

12/30/2012

This one took me two days to complete because I got distracted yesterday.

You're W, I'm W, Repeat: 11.2

12/28/2012

Finished the second face today.

You're W, I'm W, Repeat: 11.1

12/26/2012

Started this gem today.

Art with Zane Richards

12/25/2012

I drew a couple of pictures with my nephew Zane who is age 8. We both started a drawing for 10 minutes and then switched for an additional 8 minutes. We repeatedly switched the sketches, working on each other's for an added 6 minutes, 4 minutes, 2 minutes, and a final 5 minute to complete.

You're W, I'm W, Repeat: 10

12/24/2012

The holidays are usually filled with presents and family, but I am enjoying my daily paintings.

You're W, I'm W, Repeat: 9

12/21/2012

The painting continues.

You're W, I'm W, Repeat: 8D

12/20/2012

Here is today's painting:

You're W, I'm W, Repeat: 8C

12/19/2012

Finished with this page:

You're W, I'm W, Repeat: 8B

12/18/2012

Second step to this two page spread. I love her wrinkles that have developed.

You're W, I'm W, Repeat Project

12/14/2012

I received the magazine from Sarah Smith today. This is my favorite addition that she created.

Tom Sachs Quote

12/13/2012

I came across this quote a few days ago in the recent issue 11 of SFAQ and it has really resonated for me. I ruminate on it.

"Mark Smith said 'Art is a verb' and I agree. The surface goes on last but is the thing you see first. Surface is everything. It shows the politics of the object's making. Transparency of materials + process is paramount. In business it's called 'the point of diminishing return'. In art the end happens much later because the goal is not making the most product for the least money. The 'return' in art is the work itself. So we call it the 'quitting coeficient' [sic]. It's when we give up + move on.

Jordan Eagles Discovery

12/13/2012

In an art magazine, I found a small picture of artwork by Jordan Eagles who uses cow blood in his work. I am torn, for his artwork is formalistically beautiful, however I also have a small issue with his conceptual underpinnings (not to mention the moral issues of using slaughtered cows' blood).

He states on his website, "The materials and luminosity in these bodies of work relate to themes of corporeality, mortality, spirituality, and science—invigorating blood as sublime."

He is supposing that by using cows' blood, the viewer will suspend their disbelief, and instead interject their own corporeality into his works. On one hand, I understand him using a "substitute" material i.e. cow's blood to invoke a human's issues with mortality, however in the end, it is merely a substitution for the "real" thing. I believe human blood would be more powerful and a closer, more authentic experience.

On the other hand, I have wrestled with these same issues in my own artwork and sometimes there is the problem of acquiring "authentic" mediums such as human blood, bones, etc., so I am sympathetic to this dilemma.

TSC20X20.4, 2011. Blood and copper preserved on Plexiglas, UV resin. 20 × 20 × 3 in.

LFC15, 60x28", preserved blood, copper & UV resin

CONFIGURATION: LAMEDH | 2011 | 84" x 24" x 24" | Blood preserved on plexiglass, UV resin, blood dust

Hanging Out with an Artist Friend

12/12/2012

Had a beer with my artist friend, Scott Tsuchitani at Lucky 13, which is one of my favorite bars in the city. We enjoyed catching up and I ruminated more about my disimpassioned feelings for the art world. I shared that I received a REALLY nice e-mail from my acquaintance Vincent Como, who offered some very helpful advice about sharing my work outside of the Bay Area. Scott mentioned that he had some useful information about artist in residency programs that he will share with me. I vowed to spend extra energy in the coming year on getting accepted into an AIR.

Artist Discovery

12/8/2012

I went to see a matinee showing of the new film by Ron Fricke called Samsara. I had high expectations for this esoteric film and I was not disappointed. I was instantly and utterly transfixed by one of the vignettes that focused on an artist Olivier de Sagazan. I immediately responded to the transformative nature of his work, but also to the dark ritual. He is an open vessel of clay, ready to receive and respond to mysterious influences. I cannot help but draw comparisons to some African art and ritual.

His sculptures are also beautiful and reminiscent of African power figures.

Ann Gale opening

12/6/2012

Tonight I attended Anne Gale's opening at Dolby Chadwick Gallery. I've always liked her paintings and was overall pleased with the show. Her Impressionistic style is enticing, but unlike the Impressionists, her colors are often cadaverous. There is also a propensity to her use of horizontal and vertical brushstrokes (see detail).

Ann Gale
Rachel with Blue, 2012
Oil on canvas
48" x 42"

Ann Gale
Robert with Skylight, 2012
Oil on canvas
54" x 44"

Robert with Skylight, 2012 (detail)

Finally, when examining her black, white, and grey series, I couldn't help but compare them to Giacometti's paintings. These were my very favorite from this series. I'm sure I will be highly influenced when I begin my newest painting excursion.

Visiting the Legion of Honor

12/4/2012

Once again it was the monthly free day at the museums. My friend, Douglas Good and I first headed to the Legion of Honor to see the exhibition "Royal Treasures from the Louvre: Louis XIV to Marie-Antoinette. Afterwards, both Douglas and I were quite pleased that the collection was somewhat small. This gave us time to contemplate the beauty and craftsmanship in each piece, whereas at the Louvre, one is often rushed and not able to absorb each piece.

I especially loved the snuff boxes, but would have liked to have seen a few examples that one would have carried on their person. Regardless, these were my favorite things.

Douglas and I also noticed a recurring motif of vultures and wondered out loud the significance. An answer was not found and perhaps we both might research. Here is the most elegant example.

Nearby to this exhibit, was another entitled, "Artful Animals" where I encountered this lovely etching.

We breezed through this small exhibit, for we both agreed that the curatorial focus was very generic.

We then wandered through the permanent collection and I fell in love with this old painting. I especially admire the floating veil.

Joos van Cleve, Flemish, 1540
Lucretia, 15th-16th century
Oil on panel
29 7/8 x 23 7/8

I continued around the corner and was surprised by yet another painting that was a new acquisition. It was delightful, whimsical, and fantastical.

John Anster Fitzgerald
Fairies in a Bird's Nest, ca. 1860
Oil on canvas

Visiting the De Young Museum

12/4/2012

After the Legion of Honor, we then headed over to the de Young Museum to see the Rudolf Nureyev exhibit. Both Douglas and I agreed that the costumes had a surprisingly gaudy and cheap appearance when examining them close up. We couldn't help but make a comparison to drag queens with all of the sequins, fake gems, and rhinestones.

We breezed through the exhibit "This World Is Not My Home: Photographs by Danny Lyon". Great photojournalistic style with my favorites being the biker gang photos and the prison series. Here a prisoner recuperates from heat exhaustion. The chunks of melting ice on his chest are especially beautiful.

At an even faster pace, we practically ran through "The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism". Through the years, I continue to dislike late Modernism more and more, while growing fonder of Post Modernism and Post-Post Modernism.

While slowly strolling through the European paintings, I was drawn to this Impressionist-style landscape. I was especially transfixed by the treatment of the sky. The acrid green was completely hypnotizing and nourishing.

Homer Dodge Martin
Newport Neck, 1893
Oil on canvas

Over the last 10 years or so, I have become obsessed with African Art. In particular, I love African power figures (nkisi, nikishi, minkisi; nkondi, minkondi, zinkondi) and also African boli from Mali. So, a visit to the de Young museum would not be complete without wandering through their excellent African Art section.

This first pic is one of my highest regarded pieces in the museum. I attribute this to my fascination for the accumulative process and excessiveness. I swoon for thick textures and unusual materials. I also have an affinity for ritual objects.