| My methods of working have switched up quite a bit with the sketches I've been working on. I've consciously been trying to invent the settings, characters and tone of my paintings before going to the canvas
and digging them out of brush marks. I feel that over the past few years, the 'automatic' painting that I've been doing - starting with a nebulous idea and letting the composition, forms and setting develop from the painting process - has begun to unwind a bit and resulted in a series of loose paintings that I did towards the end of last year.
With tentative plans to have a big solo show in June, I've got a lot of work cut out for me. I've tossed around ideas of revolving all the works around one major theme, painting thirty paintings that are, on the surface, thematically unconnected, and I've even tossed around some outlandish ideas that would be a major departure from my work the past few years.
I guess one of my worries in the studio is treading over the same themes and ideas - with no new ground being broken. I'm haven't been concerned with how tight or loose a painting turns out, if a style heads one way or another. I've found I've done a lot more thinking and writing about my work this month than painting, which has been therapeutic and helped to concentrate my efforts.
I'd like to continue with the themes that I have worked on in the past - the notions of art and beauty, the marketplace, the loss of innocence, and the desperation of our times - which have been propped up with strippers and showgirls, fat salesmen, naked women, and other incorrigible characters. It just seems like lately, all of my work has been a little off, and now is the time to step back, exhale, let the pressure fall away, and sharpen my aim a bit. I have a tremendous amount of faith in my painting abilities right now,
and now its just time to get my mind and thoughts in order to fuel the imagery and let things soar once again. |
