painting day

I was planning to post a whole series of photos of old stage sets that I've worked on, but decided instead to devote this post to pure visual art. I will write about a few of my old student works and then astound you with the works of two real painters, who actually have websites and sell their work on a regular basis.



While I was a student at university some dozen years ago studying visual art, I misconstrued interdisciplinary work to mean artwork being informed by and crossing over between disciplines. Apparently it actually means videotaped performance installations. I prefer to do my performances in the dance medium and my installations in the realm of theatrical set design. Video is for home movies. I guess I'm a traditionalist. Anyway, here's a painting of one of my Arte Povera type sculptures that I call "metaphor" for the lack of a better title.






This here silkscreen or serigraph actually has the title included. It's another drawing of a sculpture, this time two halves of a bronze heart that I made while on exchange to Newcastle, England. All of my bronzes were small and most turmed out to be good paperweights. These actually made a good pair of ashtrays. If any of you are familiar with Captain Beefheart, you may have heard his delightful ditty with a similar title.




This serigraph is an elargement and embellishment of a little sketch I made while in Brussels, attempting to hook up on the design side with a choreographer named Wim van Dekeybus. I can't quite remember the spelling. His stage dressing included a lot of nets and ropes, materials that were fascinating me at the time. Too many nights with little sleep on buses and at the hostel wore me down I guess, as I must have presented a pretty decrepit excuse for an artist when I met up with him. You could say this is my "homage a Magritte".



Now here's a real painting by a real artist. It's titled "fusion", which also happens to be the name of a stage work I did space design for, and it's by the wonderfully gifted and charming Annette Kraft van Ermel. You can see more of her work and even contact her, I think, at www.kraftvanermel.com. I hope to purchase this painting one day, If it hasn't already sold by now.






This last painting is by a dear friend of mine. It's a portrait of my daughter, and is also for sale, although Kirsten Johnson (the artist) probably hoped that my parents might purchase it. Perhaps she forgot that my father is also a painter, and hence wall space is at a definite premium in their home. She has yet to paint a portrait of me, but she's done two of Ella so I guess I shouldn't feel shunned. You can view more of her astounding portraits and contact her, perhaps, at www.kirtsenjohnson.com