Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Jonathan Borofsky 9/11 memorial

The "People Tower" is constructed of 3024 stainless steel figures - all interconnecting together to form a 175-foot tower. It is a building made of people.

As visitors approach the "People Tower", visitors will begin to hear the sound of a human heartbeat emanating from high up and deep within the center of the tower. This is the Heartbeat of Humanity. It is this sound that connects us all together and reminds us that we are all the same. As they gaze into the structural labyrinth of male and female figures and listen to the deep, resonating sound of the human heartbeat coming from within, it will be natural for visitors to lay their hands upon these symbolic figures in remembrance and prayer.

The above from Borofsky.com

This is, to me, the best 911 monument I've seen or heard. This must be built.

posted by matthew langley at 1:11 PM
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Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Expanse 2, Monoprint, oil on paper, 9" x 9"

posted by matthew langley at 11:16 AM
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Tuesday, August 16, 2005

"It's not a matter of what one paints, but how one paints. It has always been about the "how" of painting that determined the work - the final product."

Robert Ryman

posted by matthew langley at 9:18 AM
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My art is a delicate balance between "Plan A" and "Plan B".

My recently abandoned approach to narrative based work (no matter how small that narrative was) resulted in closing more ideas than it opened. It was for that reason alone that it has been abandoned. The work that is currently in production is tentatively called "Rapid Prototypes" (for that matter I could have named it "Fox Force Five" and it would have really meant the same thing) I'm using a software development strategy of developing a non functional prototype on paper before building the actual enterprise. this approach is called rapid prototyping and is a quick, economical approach to exploring strategies and tactics before a timely and expensive project starts.

Where my work differs of course is that there might be questions about the "functionality" of art. So I'm not concerned with that - I am concerned with the approach to image - the what and why's of a particular idea. This is a throwback to a much older way of working - sketches turning into further developed drawings turning into fully developed paintings. The only real difference is that my sketches and drawings are one in the same. They are in fact tools for building larger more exacting and developed artworks.

The Monoprints are a document to the process of larger artworks as well as a smaller fully investigated approach able to stand on its own.

posted by matthew langley at 9:17 AM
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Phillip Guston, Sleeper, oil on canvas, 1972

posted by matthew langley at 9:14 AM
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Further explanations about an earlier post

Recently in this blog I spoke of how Phillip Guston must have felt. Let's unpack that a little bit. In the 1950' and 60's PG was a AB EX painter in the AB EX tradition (think Pollack-like) totally admired by critics, curators, as well as buyers. Fast forward to the late 60's/early 70's and PG shows a group of paintings that are idiosyncratic, cartoon-like scenes of tragic human comedy.

This was not in keeping with the AB EX way.

However what drove the new paintings was the idiosyncratic nature and eccentricity that truly showed the gutsy nature of this work. It would have been easy to go back to the older AB EX work and call the one show an experiment - but like Bob Dylan going electric and then being booed for the next two years, he overcame fashion and built compositions for himself (as did Guston).

As for me, I need to be careful not to bend to the fashion of the day - but to stand as a single voice that represents that singular experience. This is true even with serialized work (like the Tangram Suite). It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that art is a individual presenting something to experience. It may or may not coincide with the viewers expectations, however, it is that shared experience that is the true nature of art.

posted by matthew langley at 9:10 AM
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Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Richmond, VA through November

I am taking part in the ADA Gallery's 12 x 12 show in Richmond, VA this summer/fall. Here are the details: The show runs through November and the address is 228 W. Broad St. Richmond, VA 23220.

I'm exhibiting the Monoprints 15 - 22. These are the prints that are currently on the painting page.

So if your anywhere near the DC, Richmond, Frederick area - you really should be able to find my work this year. Just in case you were not paying attention - here's a quick run down:

Photographs - Frederick, Maryland (Condon Hodgson Art Gallery)
Paintings - Washington DC (DCAC in Adams Morgan)
Monoprints - Richmond, Virginia (ADA Gallery)

posted by matthew langley at 4:20 PM
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Monday, August 08, 2005

Memory 1, Monoprint, oil on paper, 2005

posted by matthew langley at 8:09 AM
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On Squares

It has become apparent to me that I'm back into abstraction with a vengeance.

My exercises with representational art have brought me full circle to where I was about ten years ago. That being the case, serious thought has to be given to the shape of the final art piece - and that shape should be the square. It's clear to me that I am making images on paper or canvas - these are not windows or doors - rectangles if you will. Squares are for the most part neutral in format - neither speaking of landscape or portrait, but of space vertical as well as horizontal. I'm sure to break this occasionally, but it will be for reason as opposed simply optical reasons.

posted by matthew langley at 8:08 AM
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On monoprints and rapid prototypes

I'm using monoprints to assist me in idea generation of the new work. To say the third year of art school is roaring back to me is an understatement - in fact - I'm even more energized by this. I was tired of this approach as it was forced on me in school and of course I rebelled. As for the basic nuts and bolts of the process here's the basic shot of it. I'm painting (oils) directly on glass, dropping a piece of BFK Reeves paper on top and burnishing it for 5 - 10 minutes. what comes back is not what was painted per se, but what was released by the plate depending on medium and pigment. This approach is opening new doors as opposed to closing doors behind me as I make new images. To date I've made something like 70 monoprints (2 weeks) and though some of these share the same structural form (the tangram) none of them approach the image the same way.

I'll talk more on this later this week.

posted by matthew langley at 8:07 AM
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Frank Stella - some thoughts

I've always been in love with Frank Stella's early work. I'm referring specifically to the "Black Paintings" (1959), "Aluminum Series" (1960), and the "Portrait Series" (1963). These are amazingly spare, seriously presented and optically pleasing works of art. I know a true minimalist would not care for the optical beauty of the works - however I still want something to look at and these provide it in spades. Later FS would start to produce images that really broke with this early work - especially in the 1980's to work that honestly seems to be targeted at the corporate environment of art consultants, and board rooms that wanted something special, but not "difficult".

What I don't understand is why the break to that sort of work? Is it because of a change in his historical status? or gallery recommendations? Either way I'm at a loss to figure it out. I'm not a fool I know there are mouths to feed and lives (including a little bit of comfort) to have. But, showing at Leo Castelli in the 60's was like printing your own money (or so I've been lead to believe).

So I'm curious as to what and why this change happened. The only thing that starts to make any sense is that after all the articles written on the "minimalist" period and the change in art criticism that erupted at that point - was FS just sick of the dogmatic approach that his work now had set rules he must now follow. It reminds me of punks that got sick of being angry and just wanted to dance - enter the Human League, Flock of Seagulls, and every other crap 1980's band that now gets played on the radio.

posted by matthew langley at 8:07 AM
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Thursday, August 04, 2005

Tangram 22, monoprint, oil on paper, 2005

posted by matthew langley at 11:45 AM
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Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Tangram 18, monoprint, oil on paper, 2005

posted by matthew langley at 9:42 AM
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Monoprints

So I took a few days off to spend time with Catherine and generally re-charge the body - so what do I do? basically start a whole new series of images. I have been fascinated with tangrams ever since the second grade so I've decided to blow it right through my system and start making them. So far this weekend I've made over 25 monoprints of tangrams as well as a few others maybe thirty in all, and I must say it's very rewarding.

All in all this does put my work at a bit of a crossroads subject matter wise. It is moving me more towards abstraction and a little bit away from what I like to refer to as my "non-specific exactness" in handling imagery. I don't really think twice about this because I don't think you should ever hold yourself into a particular strategy or style of image making (see my first article on Robert Smithson). You should simply see where you take it and follow that path. However I do think it confuses some viewers and that can be a problem I guess. I think in this period of art a black and white view of abstract versus image or sculpture versus painting versus the rest of the world or what have you is really boring.

Bottom line to this post I guess is in the next week of so, expect to see a few monoprints posted and or for sale. I've posted a few on my painting page follow this link.

I'm starting to see how Phillip Guston felt when he made his "big change".

posted by matthew langley at 9:40 AM
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DCAC hanging

So I spent about twenty minutes and hung my work at DCAC for the "1460" show and saw some very interesting things. I've been kind of interested in Candace Keegan's painting for a little while and saw her hanging a few - she was busy and I was in a rush so I didn't introduce myself (and that's fine) however I was surprised at the size of her paintings - for some reason I expected the ones I've seen online to be much larger than what I saw. They are a lot more intimate than I expected, and that's a great sign.

Like I said, I kind of breezed in and out and saw a few interesting things - I'm back at DCAC later this week with maybe a camera and some more hit and run notes.

posted by matthew langley at 9:39 AM
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Lester Van Winkle at Zenith

Lester Van Winkle was my favorite teacher when I was at VCU (the holy trinity was him, Nancy Roeder, and James Bumgartner). He was challenging, engaging and all in all a real approachable teacher. I still use stories I learned from him today at my day job when I'm trying to ply more ideas out of the creative team. That said, I really wanted to love LVW's work. I like it quite a bit, but I don't love it and thats a shame I still think the show is worth checking out - I know I'll be going again. You should too.

posted by matthew langley at 9:38 AM
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