The Table

Don Redman suggested he make a table that  could be tilted so he could work flat and not put so much stress on his back. That is what the Professor did today. A good thing to do on a hot Houston day. It turned out ok. His back is a bit out of sorts, but he can walk. All in all he is pleased. Now he can see the History Lesson better, He still likes it.

The beginning

Finished

The History Lesson

What's original?

Everything comes from a previous 'something'. How it is that rethought makes it original? Each of us is an original, but if we only 'copy' we waste our originality. There have been very few in the last 500 years who have truly broken new ground and even they built upon the foundations of others. Giotto built on Cavallini; Masaccio on Giotto's and Brunelschi's perspective, Picasso built on Cezanne and the art of Africa. What makes each artist unique is how they rethink the work of their peers.  To know your peers you must know your history.
Why is Art History so hard? The Professor's survey class always loses two-thirds of is students.  Why? Because, students must use their eyes and mind and must use both symbolic and comparative thinking.  This Art business demands cognitive skills.

To Fix the Space 18x24

Everything the Professor paints or teaches is derived from things he has digested from his peers. People can easily point out from whom or what he is borrowing. Where ever you turn someone has already been there.  It is all one's personal discovery, yet the Professor sees that many people do not understand that what they are doing is simply copying or playing mind games with themselves and supposedly the viewers.
The Professor likes Duchamp, but he hates what his ideas have fostered, making art a silly mind game and yes, everyone can be an artist, so therefore, what is art? Whatever I say it is and so????
The Professor's years in Santa Fe and visits to other tourist driven art destinations taught him the treachery of the market.  He saw knock-off of knock-offs of knock-offs.  It all seems so easy. Take a class and you become an artist. Your friends will be impressed. Maybe one of them will open a gallery.  Perhaps they have lots of money to burn and need a tax right off or perhaps a social 'lift'.  In a market driven art world, why not? If someone has a gimmick, why not use it? The clientele usually does not know the difference. They just want the stuff to behave itself and blend into the surroundings.  And please, let the art not be disruptive or disturbing.
Well, in typical tourist markets, people do not to be confronted.  They want to feel good and they do not want real intellectual stimulation. The Professor was looking at the Matisse catalogue from MOMA and realized this type of work could never be shown in either Santa Fe or a city such as Houston. The work the Professor sees in the MOMA catalogue is too rough, too ground breaking, too confrontational for a sales driven gallery. He thinks about that a lot. Galleries must sell, artists want to sell. What to do? Happily, the Professor has a job. He is free to paint whatever he wishes. He puts his paintings in storage and makes another.

Here are some pictures from today, until he over did it....having too much of a good time... and his back drove him to the heating pad.

Tonight, the Professor is feeling better again. It's a new painting day tomorrow.

His back has stopped hurting

 This is the first day the Professor’s back has not hurt him. Everyday has been painful. Last night he relaxed reading the end of the second *Girl with” series  and watched more of “Mad Men” laying on a heating pad and he got up with little pain. He also did not work in the studio. He stopped doing pain pills which dulled the pain and allowed him to over-work, as if he needed to make some more. He does of course, each day the images/ideas begin. Here are some studio views from the last weeks and some finished paintings. They are changing. His summer recess is almost over and school begins in two weeks. Houston’s temperature in his car on the freeway read 104 .  He thinks he should rant about something, but it doesn’t matter. It is very good to do what he does and to receive confirmation from someone close. He wishes there were others. He paints nothing for sale, but everything he makes is for sale.

08-10-2010

This is the breakfast group at 59 Diner: David and Bill and Richard and Harvey.

New paintings:

               Anonymous Delight 20x24 08-2010

                       Doors and Windows 20x24

           The Bottom of the Matter 24x20 08-2010

                       What was Revealed 24x30 08-2010

                        Garden Plots  15x16 08-2010

Meanwhile back in the warehouse...

           Crucifixion with Three Figures 1982 Rome

                 Crucifixion 1982 (destroyed)

Phyllis and Aristotle: The Eclipse 1976

Skull with Cactus 1975

Fall of the Rebel Angels 1986

Triumph of Neptune and Amphridite 1983  Rome

Runners 1987

Odysseus and Polypheuus 1983 Rome

A Few more studio photos. The gentleman is my non-brotherinlaw John.

                                        Big Bend 1975

                       Detail with Self Portrait 

                                   08-04-2010

                      Small Picture Interesting Frame

                                     First Stage

                                           Second Stage

Friday work

The Professor’s back is a bit better, thank you very much. No sudden movements, no bending over. Just sit up or stand up straight and paint at the easel. He went to the Friday breakfast for good conversation and came back to work. He started a new picture and worked on another.

 He is looking at his bouquet…needs a bit more

A Painful Day

He does not think he is old. He is. Today his back really hurt. It never does but since he has been bending over the table working on the 5'x8' it has started to hurt and today was the day that told him that all was not well. He painted anyway. That's what he does. As long as he sits up or stands up and does not move much it's ok. He worked on a couple of smalls. He actually does not believe in large pictures.

The flowers are an abandoned painting from one of his students. The flowers are done in modeling paste so they have texture. He asked for it when it was cast aside. He glittered the background and worked up the flowers. He  believes you can save anything. He has done glitter for over 30 years, every since he first went to Mexico. He has them all....some day....?He got into a rant on Facebook, as much as you can there, about the ubiquitous one color paintings that are so heralded. Being a maximalist they drive him up the wall. He wonders how or why this horse has not been put down. Surface and texture? Ok! They sit on the wall and match the sofa and disappear. Of course they are totally harmless. Nothing subversive and he believes that art is totally subversive and aggressive and should grab you and hold your attention both emotionally and intellectually. At least in the Facebook exchange he got to flirt with a pretty artist. A week ago he went to the museum. we have two very good

ones in Houston. He loves the MFAH. The painting galleries are mostly empty of visitors. They probably intimidate people. There was a show of mid century 20th century paintings from the permanent collection. What a disappointment. They looked so tired and boring and second rate. There must be better ones in the collection. The Rothko was wonderful  and the Diebenkorn good and the Guston of that period good too. He likes Guston a lot, one of his heroes. He liked the Alshinskys from the Sweeney period.... and the rest, BORING. 6 red Richters??? give me a break and he generally likes the man's work . These reminded him of one color pictures already mentioned. Never got into the Johns....the Menil has much better and tougher. The Joan Mitchell..well He was never drawn to her work. Houston's Dick Wray can paint her and most in the show into the ground.  New Mexico's St. Agnes Martin always leaves him Cold. The Big hall held only one picture; a huge Frank Stella Protractor picture that was wonderful in that empty and usually impossible space. He went up to the empty painting galleries to see what's new or rearranged. One of his favorites is the Rembrandt portrait of a anonymous woman. An early work and small, but absolutely wondrous. 

You cannot say she is beautiful, but he has made her so. Rembrandt is always truthful. He even catches her  "lazy" right eye. The lace collar and bow are painted so simply and yet look from a distance so detailed. This wonderful homely woman is just gorgeous. The Goya fishes were there. They take his breath away.