Bumper Sticker Update #2

I am so happy to have four more bumper stickers to share with the world. It feels great to find enough people interested in having them so that I have an excuse to continue designing new ones. Additionally, though I have no idea if they have any impact on anyone that sees them, it feels like progress to know that thousands of people will see my work, even if they have no idea who created it.

This one, the 13th in the series, was inspired by a friend who said she would want one if I made something with circles and lines.

 0204-020514a

3" x 10"

limited edition of 10

2014

When I finished #14, I was a little worried about how people would feel about triangles. I never know how people will react to a new design and I'm always pleasantly surprised when they like them enough to put them on their cars. 

 0216-021714c

3" x 10"

limited edition of 10

2014

The 15th was a radical design departure. With it, I decided to play with amorphous, ambiguous shapes. It has been interesting hearing what people see in a design of which I didn't have any preconceived intention other than to create an interesting shape. I found that It is a bit of a Rorschach test. I love how abstract art allows the viewer to create along the artist. I like how it doesn't tell you what to think, or see, which is the purpose of this whole project. 

030214c

3" x 10"

limited edition of 11

2014

With the most recent of the series I continued to explore organic designs and I am continuing to find that people see things I never thought of, nor intended. Although I had only ordered ten of them, the company that makes them for me gifted me another ten so this time it is an edition of twenty.

0304-030914c

3" x 10"

limited edition of 20

2014

Because I enjoy designing these so much, and I can't design a new one until I've distributed the latest; and because I love knowing people are seeing my work (even if it is anonymous) I'm still giving them away to anyone in the US who wants one (your first is free but I charge $10 for if someone wants a second). Just email me your address and you'll find one in the mail in a few days.

New Facebook Page

I recently created an artist Facebook page. I'll post my latest work and news there first so I hope you'll considering "Like"-ing it to get the most up to date information about my happenings.

Alison Elizabeth Taylor @ James Cohen Gallery

Since seeing Alison Elizabeth Taylor's work on-line several years ago, I've been anxious to see her paintings in person. Thankfully, I had the opportunity in November (2013) during her solo show, Surface Tension, at the James Cohan Gallery in New York.

Taylor has, at a young age, carved out a place for herself in the art world by creating contemporary paintings using a centuries old technique (marquetry) of assembling pieces of wood veneer together, like a puzzle. As a result, her work, by definition, holds a tension between the past and the present as well as between fine art and fine craft. With work like this, so much of the impact relies on the ability of the artist to master the craft, and I know from experience that images on the web can be deceiving, hiding imperfections and sloppy work. However, after seeing these paintings in person, I can happily report that her work is impeccable. Her execution is every bit as good as furniture makers that specialize in this technique.

Taylor's work in this show is particularly interesting in two novel ways. For one, she is now combining tradition painting (with oils) along with veneer. And secondly, she using the veneer to "paint" wood.

I loved all the work in the show, it is all visually interesting on many levels, but my favorite piece, by far, is Silver Fox. With it, she takes what would normally be an interesting contemporary art idea, painting a sheet of plywood, and takes it to another level by using wood to do it. In addition, the concept is simultaneously minimalist and abstract expressionist -- it is "just" a sheet of plywood (both conceptually and in actuality); but it is also chaotic, unpredictable, and visually complex. 

Silver Fox

53" x 51"

Furthermore, as is a theme in a lot of her work, she is taking an object that would normally be over looked as too common to waste one's time examining, and makes it completely fascinating, forcing the viewer to ask why they haven't looked at plywood more closely before. 

Silver Fox (closeup)

Again, with Brooklyn Navy Yard, Taylor is asking the viewer to really look at something they would normally overlook and, by using a desert sky behind it, she makes it particularly dramatic and interesting. I find it fascinating how using wood as her "paint" for this subject really elevates it to another level, well beyond what it would have been if she painted the branch with oils. Perhaps because doing so makes it simultaneously a sculpture and a painting causing mental conflict and confusion. 

Brooklyn Navy Yard

36" x 30" x 3/4"

With Into the Wild, Taylor creates a seductive scene and again makes an interesting tree painting with wood, 

Into the Wild
52 1/2" x 38 1/2"

but what really makes this piece is how she uses the wood grain to form ripples in the water. It is such an important part of the painting, I wonder if it was the inspiration. 

Into the Wild (closeup)

In Kelso, Taylor again focuses on a something that would normally be over looked and creates a fascinating work of art -- a neglected home with layers of paint, wall paper, plaster, and lath falling apart.

Kelso
50" x 47" 1 1/4"

The title seems cryptic, perhaps it is the name of the last family to live in this house, or the town, or street name, or who knows -- interpretation is left to the viewer but, cleverly, the mystery behind the name helps to make the painting more real.

Kelso (closeup)

Laocoon is my favorite of several tree portraits in the show. With its broken branch and multi-directional limbs, it is the most interesting of the series. 

Laocoon
58" x 76"

I assume title is a reference to a Trojan priest that warned against accepting the Trojan Horse as a gift from the Greeks. Perhaps the twisted and broken branches reminded Taylor of a famous sculpture of Laocoon and His Sons at the Vatican.

Laocoon (closeup)

And finally, with The Optimist's Ennui, Taylor again paints a sheet of plywood, but this time with a hole that give a view of an exterior desert scene, leaving the impression that the plywood is being used as an interior wall of a shack.

The Optimist's Ennui
62" x 46"

With the hole in the wall she is able to create a story that is both dramatic and open for interpretation.

The Optimist's Ennui (closeup)

If you are interested in seeing a complete inventory of this show, more and better images are available on the gallery's website here. I'm stilled thrilled at having a chance to see it. Not only is her work unique, fascinating, and well crafted, I also love that she is continuing to evolve, adding elements, themes, and new techniques to her work. It is wonderful to see paintings that combine so many disparate ideas, styles, and media so as to be a part of history and original at the same time.

New Website!

The extremely cold weather the last couple of weeks has made working in the studio an uncomfortable option so I have spent the time working on the long over due project of doing a massive overhaul of my website. Though it may still not be perfect (I could stand to rephotograph an number of pieces) I think it is a substantial improvement over the old one. Check it out if you are so inclined - roberthitzig.com. Yay! 

More Messiness

After finished the recent batch of paintings on plywood, I decided to apply the same, messy, loose style on constructed solid wood boards. With both of these pieces, I repeatedly cut, glued, and re-cut to create a series of off-set faults that are highlighted by thin strips of cherry and walnut. Once assembled, I cut the boards into unique geometric shapes.

Cutting Board

mixed media on wood

20" x 31"

2014

Once prepped with a smooth, clean surface, I started adding and subtracting numerous layers of shellac, acrylic paint, epoxy, oil pastels, and graphite, making sure to create grooves, marks, and scratches as I removed layers, sometimes with course sand paper (by hand and with a Festool obital sander) as well as with a card scraper (it is the fastest way to clean up a surface but it is also a great way to leave marks if you are intentionally rough with it). I even drilled some holes to create more imperfections.

Cutting Board (close-up)

In all honesty, I wasn't thrilled about this work in the beginning, but I decided to just trust the process and assume that I would end up where I wanted to be. Thankfully, as I continued, they started to grow on me.

 

 Home

mixed media on wood

24.5" x 32"

I found that there is a lot to like about them. For one, there are a lot of contrasts that make them interesting -- between the formality (with tightly defined geometric shapes) and the informality (with random, amorphous abstract colors); between the rough, textured wood and the smooth, perfect (french polished) shellac surface; between the visible lines and the sections hidden underneath the paints; and between the beautiful color combinations (including multi-colored brush strokes) and the "ugly" messiness.

 Home (close-up)

One of my major goals in creating them has been to develop a lot of depth, something that would have a lot of layers for a viewer to continually look beyond; which is one of the reasons I chose to go back to using figured wood (curly maple and curly birch) after working with plywood. Once you look beyond all the layers of paint and shellac, you can see the three dimensional waves in the wood that reflect light differently than the opaque sections. I hope that, in this way, it draws the viewer in closer and closer, deeper and deeper, to a place of contemplation, discovery, and mystery.