My "Cave of Making," except bears are a lot tidier
So what am I working on now? I'm doing a second version of a series of paintings that I did more than 10 years ago about the artist and writer David Wojnarowicz. I'm 3 paintings into what will probably be a more extensive series than the first one. This time, I'm more interested in showing him as an artist, writer, adventurer, and political activist than a martyr.
I took all of these pictures, so I apologize for the quality. I hope to have Steven Bates make good archival quality photos of these by the Spring.
Painting David, an imaginary scene in which David Wojnarowicz sits while I try to paint his portrait. This painting will probably start the series.
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The Green Pterodactyl, an imaginary scene of David Wojnarowicz painting one of his large murals in the now destroyed abandoned dock warehouses on the West Side.
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What Is This Little Guy's Job In the World? This is based on text Wojnarowicz wrote for a photographic piece:What is this little guy's job in the world. If this little guy dies does the world know? Does the world feel this? Does something get displaced? If this little guy dies does the world get a little lighter? Does the planet rotate a little faster? If this little guy dies, without his body to shift the currents of air, does the air flow perceptibly faster? What shifts if this little guy dies? Do people speak language a little bit differently? If this little guy dies does some little kid somewhere wake up with a bad dream? Does an almost imperceptible link in the chain snap? Will civilization stumble?His original photographic piece showed his hand holding a small frog. I portrayed him holding a small mouse and asking us directly his question. I'm not exactly flinging out the flag for Free Enterprise here, and neither did David in his piece.
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And finally there's this bit of Surrealism which is actually a very unfinished picture.
I'm painting a panel of The Risen Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene when she mistakes Him for the gardener. This is part of an 8 panel series being painted by 8 different artists of a proposed "Stations of the Resurrection" for my church. Everyone will eventually have hair, legs, and faces.
Thanks for the update.
ReplyDeleteI love this window into your world! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMe likey! (More later)
ReplyDeleteYour work is quite amazing and I am so glad you are willing to post a "work in progress" report. I admire your color sense, the aesthetic cleanness of the color, and the industrial workers of the world social sense. (None of that may be what you are doing, but that's how I saw it.) At any rate I have visited your site often knowing that you post your work sometimes.
ReplyDeleteIt is a gift. Thank you.