Brand 52, Opening Reception

Opening reception of the Brand 52 annual work on paper exhibition, 15th June 2024

 

I ought to have posted this sooner, but with distractions of the day to day… better late than never.

The Brand Library in Glendale CA ( https://www.brandlibrary.org )  is a treasure house ,  a library possessing a wealth of knowledge concerning the arts, visual, musical, literary.  Annually the library hosts a renowned national juried exhibition devoted exclusively to works on paper, this was the 52nd, and this year juried by the esteemed art critic Shana Nys Dambrot. Apparently this year saw the largest number of artworks submitted, 1,574, and the largest number shown for exhibition, 102. I am honored that my submission, The Xibalba Codex was included…all 68 drawings, skillfully hung. 

(I had provided a schematic, which the Brand team followed to the letter, gratitude for that.)

schematic for hanging the 68 drawings of The Xibalba Codex

I am very appreciative of the Brand, Debra Thompson, Brand 52 Chair, the excellent staff at the Brand and especially Shana Nys Dambrot who has over the years supported, exhibited and most importantly , most gratifyingly , understood my work, “getting” the work. Every artist wishes to be understood, Shana’s stamp of approval is validation indeed .

With my dear, most loved friend, Mary Jane Jones, honored she made the opening reception.
My friend, fellow artist, Dwora Fried with her assemblage piece included in the Brand 52
My friend and fellow visionary Faina Kumpan , her work always a delight.
Once again, with Faina and my dear spirit sister , the very talented Jodi Bonassi.

Check out Jodi’s work at https://www.instagram.com/jodi_bonassi/

 

Finally, the juror, Shana Nys Dambrot https://www.instagram.com/shananys/

Shana Nys Dambrot, juror, Brand 52

 

I had never seen all 68 drawings hung at once, sequentially , it was gratifying (if difficult to capture); equally gratifying was the placement of the work, first work upon entering the gallery, honored to have had such a prominent position. 

 

 

A few shots of the 68 drawings:

Lastly, all the drawings are available for purchase through this Blurb link:

https://www.blurb.com/b/11983739-the-xibalba-codex-of-hero-twins-prankster-demons

The Xibalba Codex 2023 Graphite, watercolor, gouache on toned paper 68 drawings at 12 by 9 inches each

 

New Work: The Adolescence of the Greenman

Detail: The Adolescence of the Green Man, 2024

 

New work : The Adolescence of the Greenman , graphite , watercolor and         gouache highlights , 15 by 19”

This is a redrawing of a GreenKnight from 2015 which I felt warranted revisiting .

The Adolescence of the Greenman , 2024,
graphite , watercolor and         gouache highlights , 15 by 19”

Various new details :

the Greenman’s faun heralds his initial venturing out into the wider world

detail, faun

his sylvan mentor looking on nervously

The wider world broad and distant , inspired ( as so many of my landscapes are ) by a Victorian cork piece that hangs across from my drawing table . I am frequently transported to lands of fancy by this piece of charming folkart .

The symbolic weaving on the horse’s robe predict the Gawain and GreenKnight narrative , the green knight’s beheading, the Queen’s seductive power , the abandoned chapel.

As I mentioned above this is a revisiting of an earlier work also inspired by the Gawain/Green Knight narrative, this one from 2015.

The Green Knight
2015
watercolor on paper
11 by 1 inches

Ultimately this will be a highly finished oil painting on panel , but for now , a finished drawing .

🐞☘️🌲🌳🪵🌱🍄‍🟫🦔🐛🌳🌱🪵🪺🍄

The Adolescence of the Greenman , 2024,
graphite , watercolor and         gouache highlights , 15 by 19”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New work: The Temptation of Christ in the Desert of Lovelessness

Detail: The Temptation of Christ in the Desert of Lovelessness, 2024

New work : “The Temptation of Christ in the Desert of Lovelessness”, graphite , colored pencil , gouache on toned paper , 18 by 24 inches .

 

The Temptation of Christ in the Desert of Lovelessness
2024
graphite and gouache on toned paper
18 by 24 inches

In this drawing I’m depicting the forty days Christ spent fasting in the desert . Satan, attempting to break Christ offers the world and her delights ( far background detail ) and confronting the fasting Christ taunts him with a rock , daring him to “tell these stones to turn into loaves “ (Mt 4:3). Christ being the bread and wine of salvation easily turns his back upon such nonsense ( the Eucharist and vine), vanquishing the Tempter . The desert in this drawing is of desolation and death awaiting the promised redemption .

Worldly emptiness, Vanities exposed, the gloss of despair; Christ rejecting such nonsense .
Detail , Satan with his rejected temptation.

Simeon’s Reward

 

Simeon’s Reward, detail

New drawing : Simeon’s Reward”.

This past Sunday was the celebration of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The Gospel passage from Luke (2:22-35) was read several times this week. It is the familiar narrative of the Presentation at the Temple , the Holy Family , turtle doves in hand , present themselves for purification. At the temple they encounter the aged holy man Simeon ( and the prophetess Anna, another day, another drawing), Simeon , having been promised by the Lord that he would not die until he bore witness to the Salvation, recognizing in the Christ child this reward , Simeon taking the child into his arms proclaimed:

” Now Master you can let your servant go in peace , just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel “.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunc_dimittis#:~:text=Lord%2C%20now%20lettest%20thou%20thy,glory%20of%20thy%20people%20Israel.

With that Death is vanquished.

I tried to capture this poignant moment , the holy family navigating the darkness of a hostile, unbelieving pagan land and then arriving to the joy of Simeon .

The Venerable Bede was also moved by this scene :

“The old man, now worn out as it were with old age , should return to the childlike innocence of the Christian life”.
Venerable Fulton Sheen more poetically chimed in with :

“An old man at the sunset of his own life spoke of the sunrise of the world “.

“Simeons Reward” 2024
(begun -and then abandoned Christmas 2023- resumed 2024)
graphite and gouache on toned paper
16 by 24 inches
Detail, Christ enlightening the pagans

Happy New Year 🕊

“Simeons Reward” 2024
(begun and then abandoned Christmas 2023, resumed 2024)
graphite and gouache on toned paper
16 by 24 inches

 

New Work: The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist

 

 

New work :  The Preaching of St.John the Baptist 

The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist
2023
Graphite and watercolor on illustration board
15 by 20 inches

 

The detail shot captures what I love best in other works , especially Northern works , complicated narrative landscapes, in this case the decay of the Empire and its ultimate collapse once Christendom is established.

Detail
Detail

 

 

Inspired in part by a recent editorial piece by the NYT’s Ross Douthat, who in defending Traditionalist Catholicsm he cited our present cultural situation this way: “our decadent culture, our depressing post-Dionysian world”. I confess I frequently agree with him. To read the article in full:

I am thinking of this drawing translated into a panel painting, in oil, but I want to refine the Baptist, I like him in the drawing but less so in oil.

The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist
2023
Graphite and watercolor on illustration board
15 by 20 inches

Happy Independence Day 🇺🇸

New work: Molochville

“Molochville”
2023
watercolor and graphite on illustration board
15 by 20 inches

Molochville is a new work, one I hope will be a companion to my Hadesville once translated into a larger scale oil painting. While I have enjoyed working on smaller scale panels (I will be posting a new oil panel shortly), I am now itching to once again work larger.

Hadesville
2016
oil on canvas
38 by 86

The sympathy between Hadesville and Molochville has naturally evolved, in part the organic exploration between my fiber art sculpture , dolls really, and how they frequently pop up in my paintings:

Bruno
Bruno found wandering about St. Anthony’s world (“Temptations of St.Anthony of the Desert in an Italian Landscape”)
Daisy Chain, paper doll
Daisy Chain in my latest painting “Pater Noster”, to be posted shortly.

 

 

I intend with Molochville the further , more intentional exploration of dolls and puppets as performers in this theatre of my making. The Punch puppets from PunchPuppets on Instagram an obvious inspiration (I suggest following the site, always charmingly ominous ).

Detail from “Molochville”
from @punchpuppets, instagram

Some version of Punch and Judy regularly pops up in my apocalyptic universe.

 

Punch and Judy detail , “Molochville”

Again, from @punchpuppets, Instagram

I am heading out to purchase some larger canvases and cradled panels, I have a few drawings ripe for larger scaled translation. Not sure how my relatively small studio will accommodate them but I’ll figure that out later.

For now get me to Molochville.

“Molochville”
2023
watercolor and graphite on illustration board
15 by 20 inches

 

New drawing: Vivisection of the Seraphim

The Vivisection of the Seraphim
2023
color pencil and gouache on toned illustration board
15 by 19 inches

 

Today’s drawing : “Vivisection of the Seraphim “, pencil and gouache on toned illustration board, 15 by 19 inches .

 

 

A friend recently mentioned that she didn’t believe in the existence of the Soul . This set me back a bit , I’ve heard this argument before , heretical from my position , that the soul, not actually something sacred but instead an entanglement of the nervous system. This materialistic perspective nonetheless upset me a great deal, leading me to uncomfortable rumination. Given its Holy Week and reflecting upon the soul appropriate, this image ultimately made its appearance.

The cold , hard science worship of our age with its mechanical “logical” detachment, cannot adequately discern the essence of a soul . For the Trust-the-Science crowd , such close scrutiny of the sacred would be as fruitless and as brutal as dissecting an Angel – you’d be left with little aside from disenchantment and some bloody feathers .

The soul is ineffable , wilting under the demands of the empiricist , but I have faith in it and the fact that you cannot be an artist without one.

 

Speaking of the intangible , the conventional depiction of the Seraphim , here illustrated from the Petite Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, conveys the fragility of their nature. I attempted to capture that shredded-butterfly-wing tragedy in my drawing.

 

Details of my drawing follows :

Detail, Vivisection of the Seraphim
Detail, Vivisection of the Seraphim

Sending forth warm Passover and Easter greetings.

The Vivisection of the Seraphim
2023
color pencil and gouache on toned illustration board
15 by 19 inches

Six Weeks in Nowhereville

Six Weeks in Nowhereville
2023
Graphite, gouache, ink on toned illustration board
15 by 19 inches

 

New work on paper , just off the drawing board. Inspired in part by our bumpy ride from LA to Chicago, the final move of all our worldly goods in a bladder destroying rented truck. From our high perch (which is cool, the big rig-ness  of it all) David, Viola and yours truly drove through some majestic landscapes. However the bleak desert  landscape between LA and Las Vegas has proven the most inspiring .

Forget the imperial mountainscapes frosted in white, the red stone canyons, the luminous sunsets (and rises) , what seeped into my brain (and pencil) were ice cream cone shaped stands, forlorn and abandoned in the sands, galleons left adrift amongst the chaparral , and the countless “Jackrabbit” shacks/homesteads, built with such enthusiasm and abandoned with such a heavy heart. Neon glitz and sham popped up like unwholesome mushrooms we approached Los Vegas.  From my bumpy perch I made short handed doodle-notes which trigger memory and move my pencil along.

Doodle note from our cross country move from LA to Chicago, Summer 2022
Detail: Six Weeks in Nowhereville
Detail :Six Weeks in Nowhereville

The following, an album from that four day trip, late July, early August 2023, I think the quick snapshots convey the nihilistic neon of this fascinating wasteland:

I wasn’t able to capture these peculiar and abandoned ice cream shops, but a google search revealed their history.

From bumpy rental truck to comfy home studio.

Jiminy Muerte
Six Weeks in Nowhereville
2023
Graphite, gouache, ink on toned illustration board
15 by 19 inches