
I have been busy in my studio preparing for my coming solo show at Exhibit A in Corning. It's always a challenge to create a body of work that will be seen as a solo show. I've set a goal of 15-20 new works that will be visually cohesive and perhaps somewhat tied together in subject matter as well.
This is my third large solo show. Last year I was at Mansfield University with Sticks and Stones and Bits of Bones and in 2010 I was at Exhibit's A's former space for Between Gratitude and Regret. This show isn't titled yet but I need to be thinking about one soon. The images so far are featuring fruit laden subjects with Renaissance symbolism references. Many of the images center around the idea of unwrapping or revealing. Five of the metal prints have been made and ten more are in that part of the process. I think there will likely be about five more finished in time for the show. I'm looking forward to seeing this new body of work hanging together in a completed state where I can reflect on it as a whole and share it with the public. It's an exciting time filled with creative energy and tension. Artists often produce some of their best work when they have been working toward a larger goal like this. I call it "hitting the sweet spot" when the work just rolls out intuitively. There is just a creative flow that kicks in and takes over. I wouldn't call it effortless but the effort seems to get an assist from a place in my thought process that requires this tension to surface. Whatever that is, I always welcome it when it comes.
The piece above was inspired during the holidays last December. My Mom was using a mechanical apple peeler to peel apples for pie making. As the peels lay on her kitchen counter I was inspired by their inherent linear qualities and I took several photographs. At the time I really never thought they would become the inspiration for a series of work but they worked their way into my subconscious and resurfaced in late summer as image dialogue. Here's to that process and how a fleeting moment drifts into the artists psyche and emerges as a new work at a later time.
This is my third large solo show. Last year I was at Mansfield University with Sticks and Stones and Bits of Bones and in 2010 I was at Exhibit's A's former space for Between Gratitude and Regret. This show isn't titled yet but I need to be thinking about one soon. The images so far are featuring fruit laden subjects with Renaissance symbolism references. Many of the images center around the idea of unwrapping or revealing. Five of the metal prints have been made and ten more are in that part of the process. I think there will likely be about five more finished in time for the show. I'm looking forward to seeing this new body of work hanging together in a completed state where I can reflect on it as a whole and share it with the public. It's an exciting time filled with creative energy and tension. Artists often produce some of their best work when they have been working toward a larger goal like this. I call it "hitting the sweet spot" when the work just rolls out intuitively. There is just a creative flow that kicks in and takes over. I wouldn't call it effortless but the effort seems to get an assist from a place in my thought process that requires this tension to surface. Whatever that is, I always welcome it when it comes.
The piece above was inspired during the holidays last December. My Mom was using a mechanical apple peeler to peel apples for pie making. As the peels lay on her kitchen counter I was inspired by their inherent linear qualities and I took several photographs. At the time I really never thought they would become the inspiration for a series of work but they worked their way into my subconscious and resurfaced in late summer as image dialogue. Here's to that process and how a fleeting moment drifts into the artists psyche and emerges as a new work at a later time.