Blog

This blog traces my influences, studio practice, learning, and teaching of art.

Design and Color I



Jinmeng is a biochemistry major and hopes to minor in art. I say go go go. The Cleveland Institute of Art gives a degree in medical illustration. I think she may go into surgery, since she offered me a free operation







Krista is working on the last project of the semester: Color Harmony And Gray Values. It is a wonderful project.





Kristen has a passionate love of art, is an avid postcard art afficianado and has decided to enter the art education field. She also has a blog.



Year Of The Rat

"Pirat" was commissioned by the Artefino Gallery to celebrate the Chinese Zodiac year 2008. The public art project was created by Cleveland's St. Clair Superior Development Corp. http://www.stclairsuperior.org to promote their neighborhood. Chinese food and art are my favorite attractions there.
The Chinese zodiac rat possesses attributes of wealth, aggression and charm but also death, fighting and atrocities. Let's pray that the Olympic games in Beijing do not turn into a bloody mess.

"Temple Of Good Harvests"


After hearing that the gold Buddhas were being destroyed and melted down, I added one to my depiction of the temple. I used a photo of a friend as a model for the figure and painted her in a period costume. Some think the Buddha shouldn't be there. I have been trying to find out if Buddha has ever been there. The painting has been reproduced as an offset lithograph, S&N, 15"x22" image. I would like to donate some of the proceeds to a Tibetan humanitarian group.

"Slave Labor In China"

Trompe L'Oeil means fool the eye. Viewed from a distance this scene is intended to seem real.
The baseball cap and toys in this painting have "Made In China" tags on them. This painting was painted during the 1995 World Series playoffs. Native American Indian groups are still protesting the use of "Chief Wahoo" as a logo for the Cleveland Indians. Has there ever been slave labor in China? Can we compare U.S./Native America to China/Tibet. This painting was included included in West Publishing Corporation's Art & The Law 21st. National Touring Exhibition, and is in their collection in Eagan, MN.

"Cat Walk"


Here's our old man. We think he's about 19 years old. This was painted when he still seemed to have his stripes. It's funny how his colors seem to change the older he gets. Now he's almost solid gray. I should paint another one. The old man looks kind of disgruntled, like most of us now.

Two Chiefs

Red Wing is talking about the spiritual nature of their architecture. The tipi had a very dynamic structure. Buckminster fuller talked about the architecture of fear being based on the square, while the architecture of longing is based on the triangle and circle.
(Click on images to enlarge)



Sitting Bull talks about the vast expanse of what was the Native American's world. Their concept of ownership was very different from the europeans.

"Gypsy"

Everything except the horn was painted from life. That is the old Bendix radio from Grandmother's house.
Some of my father's old sheet music was the inspiration for this painting. He wanted to sing professionally but met my mother and became an optometrist.

Vessels


All of the perfume bottles and other vases were painted from life in my studio. The Greek amphora was painted from a photograph. The Greeks drew the images on their vases in orthographic projection. This system of drawing naturally happens when the sun at dusk projects a shadow on a wall. The shadow is a direct and undistorted representation.
The tops and bottoms of the cylinders are flat. It is as if the viewer of the scene is at an infinity away.

Time Stop Your Flight


This recent painting explores a new idea for me. A glass shelf on a rectangular format.
I once asked a psychic friend if I should rework some paintings and change the dates, or even not date my paintings at all. She said, "Of course, you could have thought of those ideas centuries ago. Do whatever you want." Are ideas just floating around in the ether? (Pat Barriuso where are you? Email me.)

Dance Painting I, 1980


Who is she? One of Elio Pomare's dancers. I took photos of the troupe rehearsing in their Manhattan studio. I used many different incongruous painting techniques: Pointillist skull cap, heavy impasto tights, op art floor in isometric projection, painterly right hand, photo realistic soft focus face, and gold leaf frame on a cartoon mirror. The legs are placed in an ambiguous position. This is post modernism !
Brooke Alexander visited my studio on spring street and stared at the painting for a long time. He should have given me a show. I should have never sold the painting to Brian Jafee.

She Looks At You


I love the weight of this very slight contrapasto pose. The weight is shifted on one side of the figure but which leg is in front or back?
The negative spaces and repetition of the curves create a rhythm.
She's a Ruth Currier student.
This was painted in the loft at 425 Broome St. I was dumpster diving for pallet wood from the broccoli truckers. It was a cheap but very heavy pine and I could find some unwarped pieces for painting stretchers.

"Dancing In The Mirror"


This painting was formerly titled "Dancing In The Light".
I explored the idea of the cartoon reflections streaming across
the mirror and becoming some thing more. I like the idea of using cartoon graphics as symbols. I had been heavily into yoga and meditation. Spending time at Swami Satchidananda's ashram in Yogaville, Virginia was a joy and a healing respite from my difficult NYC life. The light streaks become the rays become the chakras.

Venetion Dance Painting 1985


Painting in the loft on Broome Street & Crosby was a trial: The Chinese grocer on the ground floor unloaded the produce trucks at 4:00 AM.
Ruth Currier's dance studio was directly upstairs. During the day it sounded like a stampede of elephants. I figured I could finagle some free dance classes as exercise. Since I put up with the daily noise, Ruth agreed. I "danced" 4 or 5 times until I realized I looked ridiculous. I did have a few good photo shoots for painting reference.

"Dancers With Mirrors"


I lived in a ground floor NYC loft on Spring Street between Mott and Elizabeth in 1980. The area is now known as NOLITA. My roommate was John Juel, a dancer with the Elio Pomare Dance Co.. Elio is depicted wearing gold and playing a tamborine. The picture plane seems to swing back on the right. The canvas is shaped in the form of a trapezoid. Other trapezoids are formed through the composition of the figures.

"Pointe"


Teaching painting to young girls in the Berkshires was a joy and a very energizing experience. Belvoir Terrace is a performing arts center/camp, if you can call staying a stone's throw away from Tanglewood "camping". The dance instructor allowed me to take photos of the ballet class. Kelly Hess stood out. She had "It". This was painted back in Cleveland in from photographs.

Melancholia, Self Portrait, 15" x 21"

I drew and printed this lithograph in 1978 at the Yale School of Art. Back then the print studio was adjacent to the architecture studio on the same floor. There were many influences floating around in Paul Rudolph's building: Josef Alber's tubular wall sculpture hung above the entrance. Cement casts of classical Greek sculpture hung in the stair wells. Al Held, Elizabeth Murray, William Bailey, John Walker and Gabor Peterdi were teaching. I drew this image inspired by Durer on a thin old stone which cracked in half after the second impression was pulled.