Art in the City

Young people with artistic goals who grow up in small towns often simmer in dreams of moving to Manhattan or other such celebrated locations and spend much time complaining about the lack of opportunities places such as Huntsville, AL seem to offer. Some will be able to relocate and live out their dreams, others will find themselves doing very different things than they ever expected, others will continue to complain without relief, and others still will find ways to live up to their potential while enjoying and improving their surroundings regardless. Many will concern themselves with becoming big fish in a big pond-- in the first layer of my newest painting [above], taken from last week's Big Spring Park sketch, the koi have plenty of room to be happy and productive (in their own fishy way) even in a smaller and more literal pond.

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Talking About One's Own Work and the Fear of Internet Vanity

Many years ago, my mother (who graduated from a French school, speaks four languages, and did the above painting, though she would hesitate to call herself an intellectual or an artist) explained to me that the true intellectuals she had met in her lifetime, teachers and authors and artists, not mere "academics" but "great minds", did not feel obliged to show off to others that they read books or had remarkable talents, did not feel obliged to manipulate others into liking them or thinking them definitively intelligent or well-read. As she put it, only miserable people would act so vain as to become pedantic bigots-- they purport to offer something "higher" to society, but simply combine the worst aspects of narcissism with a few books they have read by, say, a trendy philosopher like Foucault. A true talent, a true thinker, a true artist, would quietly and contentedly go about his work, then find polite, inspiring, and appropriate ways to share it, not pompously hold his supposed knowledge and opinions against everyone else.

This having been taken to heart, I am often puzzled by the notion of social networking sites and personal websites (which on one hand can serve as useful tools/conversation starters and on the other hand can be the epitome of self-obsessed vanity and socially-awkward solicitation). I find myself wondering how to balance the knowledge that I can share my art and career with others particularly efficiently on the internet and my belief in modest behavior, which suggests that I should let my work and other people do the talking. Yet many others are perpetually "busy" with their "hectic lives" and might not notice something relevant to them in the midst of the chaos-- with so many advertisements and media figures trying to tell whole societies what to look at or care about, it is hard to say whether anyone would notice a local artist or craftsman, a great teacher, a fine writer, or a brilliant musician if such people never spoke up and said "The priorities of this society are being manipulated and seem to be out of line." While I suppose that this internet and youthful culture of bragging are now such a part of North American (and no doubt global) life that I should not be surprised, I remain reserved and skeptical.

In time, I would like to write extensively about the philosophy of art in general, and I find writing about my own paintings, though a bit labyrinthine at times, to be a good way to work toward that goal. Yet at this point, I still find myself continually posing questions about how relevant my posts are to readers and how to make them more worthwhile to myself and others. I like to think that writing and learning are connected-- but putting good writing skills to non-optimal use is merely another way of falling prey to "Internet Vanity".

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Of Scribbles and Paintings

I spent part of this afternoon sketching in Huntsville's Big Spring Park. My sketchbook is filled with scribbles completed in only a few seconds, drawings that nobody would think to frame-- they are simply references for painting. The above image is a typical scribble. I was interested in direction, angles, and general layout. The scene of a small, koi-filled pond surrounded by rocks, a building hovering above, is a very nice starting point for a view of man and nature, the peace of the trees and water winding through a downtown area. The older parts of Huntsville are rather lush and green in summer, and this greenery captivates me, seems to me to be a particularly good environment for reading, learning, creating art, and writing. I will never quite understand why many art studios (including those in UAHuntsville's newly restored Wilson Hall) and classrooms across North America have no windows-- I suppose it is so that the students will pay more attention to their teachers, but I would think it would only promote an emotional connection between learning and imprisonment. Call me Whitmanesque, but I would much prefer to be outside under the trees.
The Fountain [above] is to me somewhat mystical-- the view, of course, is that which I see from my balcony every day. As birds bathe in the basins and the dappled shade of old crepe myrtles shifts across the courtyard, I feel particularly aware of life, of the refreshing properties of water, of its spiritual symbolism throughout the ages. A mysterious peek through the branches seemed particularly suitable for this depiction-- it calls to mind Expressionistic images of parks, the search for the Fountain of Youth, fine fountains in classical gardens. . . and yet it was not painted in a "classical garden". It was painted in the courtyard of an apartment complex in Huntsville, AL where the rent is easily accessible even to a career artist/music teacher. It is not necessarily money which makes (or keeps) life beautiful-- it is creativity and diligence.
Realization [above] may be a different type of work due to its purely non-figurative content, yet it was also completed this month. It is a depiction of struggle and triumph in the material world and in the human spirit, the sort of chaos-into-order image I like to paint to loosen my brushstrokes and explore my subconscious mind.

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The Roots of Style and Substance

I recently began a painting [above: Detail of some of the first brushstrokes] from a quick sketch in the hope of developing a sort of synthesis out of the controlled calm of Lilies and the geometrical wildness of View of Five Points I. This is a common stylistic goal of mine-- to merge and heighten interesting elements of two previous paintings to form the next painting (provided the resulting style is properly suited to the subject at hand). Because this somewhat Hegelian endeavor is the method by which I often develop my technique, compositions, and designs, I begin to notice certain recurring patterns in the general progression of my work and wonder whether artistic development, much like the seasons, is more cyclical than linear. I have heard the expression "returning to one's roots" many times in relation to art, music, and literature, and have generally dismissed it as being far too tied to the idea that one's first work is somehow more original or true-to-oneself than one's subsequent creations, but if one considers predominant traits rather than time-of-production, the expression may be more useful. Roots grow and develop over time, after all, but remain roots-- foundations sometimes settle, sometimes expand, making them constant but not necessarily static.

While the roots of the sorts of scenes I find inspirational are too widespread to define in a few paragraphs-- one may reach toward a stream, another may break through to the surface of the soil, another may be trying to push past a rock, another still may be circling to the core of something-- my depictions consistently favor very deliberate strokes that nevertheless seem free and effortless, in fact, it is perhaps this confident deliberation which makes them free and effortless. I like to suggest an almost sub-atomic, abstract organic order in my paintings, and I notice a continuous fluctuation in focus from the general to the particular, the definite to the ethereal. I sometimes have to convince myself to depict something in a more photo-realistic manner as either a way to ensure that my paintings of internal matters are not merely vain flights of fancy or as an invitation to look at something a bit more deeply. Reality is malleable, I believe, and imagination is inspiring, liberating, pleasant; however, I want to be able to express a logically compelling reason for any imaginative vision or change that I put forward. When it comes to the objective aspects of my work, I want to make sure that it inspires thought and encourages the Good, meanwhile, I think about the personal workings of my painting so as to consciously confirm that the artistic paths I tread remain healthy and fulfilling. I like to back up feeling with reason, and when my reason is flawed, I am able to dissolve the feeling that goes along with it. I sometimes have to retrace my meanderings, but hopefully each time I do I am not merely repeating myself, but discovering things I may have missed or refining and strengthening significant aspects of a contemplation for which I thought I had too little time or space on the first time around.

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The Art of Balance at Blu Healing Spa

Taking a comprehensive approach to healing and rejuvenating the body, mind, and soul, the owners of Blu Healing Spa offer a variety of beneficial services (visit this link for a complete list) and have attentively created a beautiful atmosphere in their facility. Not only are the furniture and color scheme pleasant, but the Spa seeks to further serve the community, engage the eye, and lighten the spirit by showcasing the work of local artists in the entrance hall and various spaces throughout the building. I am honored to say that I am the first of what will hopefully be many artists to display paintings at this wonderful new Huntsville business![Above: A few of my paintings and my Artist's Statement in the front entrance hall.]

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