the black paintings

I managed to build a new wall in the studio over the long weekend, and now have much more room to work.  The temperatures this week look as if they may cooperate and I will rush into the studio when they do.  I have two, 6' square black canvases there now waiting.  I've been wrestling with where to go next, but as I have considered it and after bouncing it off a friend this afternoon, I know that I have do the series in all black.

I guest curated an online series about art and mysticism.  I think selecting the paintings for that series got me thinking about my influences and about painting and of course being in the studio and making work...work comes from work in that way.

I've never hid my love for Goya.  His Black Paintings are very much an inspiration; though I stumbled upon this series rather than decided to do it.  I also love Rothko's black paintings, perhaps more than anything else in his oeuvre.  The final "sign" was the weekend I posted the picture in the last post.  There was an article in the NY Times that same week about Ad Reinhardt's black paintings.  It seemed all things pointed to it, and while I momentarily worried about being derivative, I realized that these will be very much my own.

There's a lot of work to be done.  At this point I think it would be ambitious to think I can finish the series in a year.  So I am embarking on something epic in scope, as the paintings are epic in scale.  Like the best journeys, I don't know exactly what it will end up being.  I don't know if I'll stick to strict squares or incorporate other shapes and ratios.  I don't even know if these first two will end up even being good paintings or if they will be experiences that end up in the trash heap.  Some do.