The Extreme of the Middle: Writings of Jack Tworkov
Continuing on my New York School reading binge, I recently finished The Extreme of the Middle: Writings of Jack Tworkov.
Superbly edited by Mira Schor, this collection of his writing, from published works to more private musing in journals and letters, comes highly recommended.
Fever Charts: On Jack Tworkov
Jack Tworkov: Against Extremes: Five Decades of Painting
Mira Schor and Jason Andrew with Phong Bui
Official site of the Estate of Jack Tworkov
ARTnews, May 1953: Tworkov Paints a Picture
“My hope is to confront the picture without a ready technique or prepared attitude—a condition which is nevertheless never completely attainable; to have no program and, necessarily then, no preconceived style. To paint no Tworkovs.” – Jack Tworkov, from a journal entry dated March 3, 1958
Completion and Negation: Another New Painting in Progress
Below are a couple of photos of another new painting in progress.
Phase 1 – I did the first layer of this painting in the same working session when I did the first layer of another painting (see the entry from last month).
Phase 2 – The main pictorial element is a late example from the Romance Comic series of collages. I added thie and the other layers of[aint in one session. Like the previous painting, it may or may not be complete. Actually, I feel that this one is finished, or at least mostly finished, but it is now making me question the finished status of the one that preceded it.
Detail
Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity
Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity
The Museum of Modern Art
November 8, 2009–January 25, 2010
Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan
Below are a few of the works I found most intriguing at the Hanging Fire exhibition at the Asia Society.
Ali Raza
No Two Burns Are the Same
2009
Burnt paper collage and acrylic on canvas
72″ x 72.5″
Imran Qureshi
Moderate Enlightenment
2007
Gouache on wasli
9″ x 7″
Rashid Rana
Red Carpet 1
2007
Edition 1/5; C-print + DIASEC
95″ x 135″
detail
Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan
Asia Society, New York
Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective
“Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot physically see with his eyes… Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas.” – Arshile Gorky
Water of the Flowery Mill
1944
Oil on canvas
42.25″ x 48.75″
Diary of a Seducer
1945
Oil on canvas
50″ x 62″
The Betrothal II
1947
Oil o canvas
38″ x 50.75″
Agony
1947
Oil on Canvas
40″ x 50.5″
Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective
October 21, 2009 – January 10, 2010
2010 Philadelphia Museum of Art
Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective celebrates the extraordinary life and work of Arshile Gorky (about 1902–1948), a seminal figure in the movement toward abstraction that transformed American art. This exhibition, which includes about 178 works of art, surveys Gorky’s entire career from the early 1920s until his death by suicide in 1948. The retrospective includes paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings—some of which are being shown for the first time—and reveals Gorky’s development as an artist and the evolution of his singular visual vocabulary and mature painting style.
New Painting in Progress
Here are a couple of photos of one of my new – thus far untitled – paintings in progress.
Phase 1
Phase 2
I’m not sure if it is done yet, but I like where it’s going. I’ll let this one sit until Phase 3 – if there is to be one – makes itself known.
From Black Site to Questioning
Here are two photos of a recently completed painting in the ongoing Sebastian Series.
Phase 1 – 2007 – “Black Site”
Phase 2 – November 2009 – “Questioning”
A long and winding road that may not yet be over
Here is a painting that has gone through quite a few re-workings.
Phase 1 – A first layer of old journal pages is laid down, and some earthy-colored shapes are added.
Phase 2 – New collage layers are added in the attempt to create an entry point, a new center of focus. The figure, arguably the previous focal point, recedes into background. Additional paint obscures large portions of the journal text.
Phase 3 – The main focal point of the previous version is largely obliterated, and new text added from a different source. The figure is further obscured by the addition of the kouros image on the right. The painting becomes increasingly dark and murky, and I set it aside.
Phase 4 – After moving to a new studio, I do a radical re-working of the picture with major changes to the palette and the submersion of much of the previous version. A few collage elements from Phase 2, as well as the text and kouros from Phase 3 remain.
Phase 5 - I toned down the high-keyed palette and quieted the overall composition with large areas of texture and more subdued colors. All of the original journal text has now been completely covered. Nothing, in any real sense, remains of the first phase.
Is it done? I’m not sure, but I have once again set it aside, and it feels more done than at any another point since the first one. I admit I kind of miss the embryonic form, but I like where it is now.
Kandinsky @ The Guggenheim
With Black Arch
Oil on canvas
1912
Thirty
Oil on canvas
1937
Kandinsky
Guggenheim Museum
September 18, 2009–January 13, 2010
The 8th Annual GLAAD OUTAuction NYC
A few photos from The 8th Annual GLAAD OUTAuction NYC, held November 15, 2009 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.
See more:
- My donated painting
- PDF depicting the 100 artworks offered in the silent auction
- Photos of the event and guests at BroadwayWorld.com
- Photos at Guest of a Guest
- More photos at Guest of a Guest
- Event page at GLAAD.org
- Posting on glaadBLOG
William Blake’s World: “A New Heaven Is Begun”
Satan Smiting Job with Boils
Pen and black ink, gray wash, and watercolor, over traces of graphite
Job’s Sons and Daughters Overwhelmed by Satan
Pen and black ink, gray wash, and watercolor, over traces of graphite
William Blake’s World: “A New Heaven Is Begun”
The Morgan Library and Museum
September 11, 2009, through January 3, 2010
GLAAD OUTAuction NYC 2009
My painting Detained will be included in the GLAAD OUTAuction NYC 2009.
“The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the GLAAD Board of Directors, our Honorary Committee and Arts Advisory Committee and this year’s Planning Committee invite you to join us for OUTAuction NYC – our eighth annual art event to celebrate established and emerging artists, while recognizing GLAAD’s Top 100 Artists.”
Sunday, November 15, 2009
5:00 – 9:30 pm
Metropolitan Pavilion
125 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
Detained
Acrylic and collage on canvas
20″ x 16″
2007