The first canvases arrived last week and I started prepping them on Friday. I've embarked on a massive (early) Spring cleaning of the studio, one that will require an industrial dumpster and lots of elbow grease. Clearing out the space feels like clearing out the mind. It is not easy to start, but once underway things become increasingly vivid and focused.
As the 2017 show date has yet to be announced, I have to prepare for anywhere from 12 months to 18 months from now. The warm temperatures will come later this week and I can lay down some underpainting of burnt umber.
I've taken 5 years off from submitting work to galleries with any serious effort. Though I've managed to exhibit, and even have some significant ones during the interim, I'm ready to get back into the fray. I tend to follow the work, and for a time I felt I needed exile in order to listen to it. Recent trips to NYC have helped me come to terms with this body of work and where it fits in the landscape of abstract painting and its many conversations. The Frank Stella show was mind-blowing.
I am about 5 weeks away from my oral exams and defense, which will unofficially end my graduate school experience. In retrospect, perhaps I should have pursued an MFA, if only to teach part-time. Until very recently I did not feel any desire to be a teacher. But the decisions were made, the program chosen and now I am at the end. While it may have been poor judgement, I can't say it was truly a mistake. Education is always a good thing.
Related to finishing up grad school and constantly looking for a day job, I took a long, hard look at my social media energies over the break and decided to close my LinkedIn account. LinkedIn has not been useful to me. The fact of my having both a fine art career and a career in higher education administration seems to profoundly confuse the LinkedIn audience. I can honestly say that I've never made a meaningful job connection through the site, despite my "all start" ranking, 200+ network and diligent updates. I chalk this up partly to our culture's perception of what being an artist is about. But that is another post.
I start filming the documentary this week with studio footage and audio voice tracks. I'm told by my editor that we will produce a trailer at some point later this year, so expect to see that here. It's good to be back in the studio after a nearly 2-year hiatus.
No comments:
Post a Comment