Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Pictures In My Head


It drives me crazy that I don't have more of my fine art work online yet. I've got so much to shoot and scan, and then there are all the pictures in my head, swirling and whirling, keeping me up at night; noisy little buggers.

There is never enough time. Choices have to be made. I say the artist's prayer,
"Let me live one more hour then it takes for me to birth it all."


It is a funny thing being an artist. I'm a visual artist (mostly) so a lot of what comes in, and goes out, for me, is visual. But, even non-visual items take on a life of their own. Sounds create textures; touch produces a series of shapes; a smell generates color. All the senses intertwine for me this way. They seem to be talking to each other, sometimes behind my back, telling each other secret stories and then springing the surprise on me. I don't mind... keeps me on me toes.

Sometimes I feel engulfed in my surroundings. I think this is part of the oneness that yoga and meditation bring to my life, as well as my "artist's mind". The singularity of One Taste. The permeated feeling that comes from knowing that nothing really separates me from anything. Only the illusion provided by molecules vibrating a slightly different rates makes it seem so.

I had this feeling the other day laying down on a park bench after my morning run. Watching the yellowing autumn leaves shake, and then cascade down over the path, over me, through me and down past the ground beneath, going on and on for infinity. I wondered how I could portray that in paint. Can you? Makes me jealous of the masters of the moving picture. I think they might have a better chance.

Siren by Teal Marie Chimblo

I paint a lot of women. They say that artists are always painting themselves, and I definitely see the truth of that in my own work. Sexy, vibrant, rash, hollow, lost and found, glorious and broken, I see them all in the female archetypes of history, and in the mirror.



Eris Discordia by Teal Marie Chimblo

They are all goddesses, and as such they don't have to play by the rules. They are hardly well-behaved, but then that hardly ever gets a goddess anywhere does it?


Infection by Teal Marie Chimblo

Some are more fragile then others. They have good survival instincts.
Knowing when it is time to leave is something I have learned from them.

Anima Sophia by Teal Marie Chimblo

It is encouraging to see the places they have arrived at; it's good to plot their course on a map, keep it for reference to see where they have been, the trajectory they are choosing next. They are elusive and uncontained. As they should be.

The fourth and final phase of anima development is Sofia, named for the Greek word for wisdom. Complete integration has now occurred, which allows females to be seen and related to as particular individuals who possess both positive and negative qualities. The most important aspect of this final level is that, as the personification "Wisdom" suggests, the anima is now developed enough that no single object can fully and permanently contain the images to which it is related.



Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Art of Rick Berry: Art, Mind, Vision.


One of the best things about being an artist, is you get to work with other artists. It's not hyperbole to say that I've had the good fortune to work with some of the best.

While I was at Penny-Farthing Press we had occasion to hire Rick Berry to paint a series of covers for our graphic novels. The second I saw his work I was hooked, and he has continued to be one of my favorite artist to this day. (I'm sure I'll get an, "Aw...shucks, Teal" email when he reads this.)

Anyway, you need to know about him.

His work is intense, fluid, mythic and mystical. His figures seem to fly in and out of different realities, and yet no matter how strange or otherworldly they may look, there is always something fragile within. I don't know any artist who paints movement and energy better.

I often feel when I look at his art that he is painting things I have dreamed. I own a huge print of the painting, What I Like About You, featured at the top of this post, and I can stare at it for hours...or at least, minutes, and then I feel inspired and get up and dance.

Limited addition, truly archival prints (they own their own press and oversee the entire process) of some of Rick Berry's artwork is available through his collaborative adventure with fellow artist Darrel Anderson. Visit Paper Eye Editions to view the current selections.

If you are reading this from New York City, then you are in for a real treat. You have one more day to hoof it down to Soho to see selected works from Rick at the Arcadia Fine Art Gallery
located at 51 Greene Street (between Greene and Broom Sts) New York City, NY 10013 (212-965-1387). This gallery is a favorite of mine, and also houses works by my former classmate and friend, the incredible realist artist, Michael Grimaldi.


If you're in Los Angeles next month, figurative oils by Rick will be on view at Nucleus Gallery, 10 minutes from downtown LA.

For more information on this show, or upcoming events featuring Rick Berry's work, contact Shelia Berry, at sheilaberry@braid.com.

All of the art featured here can be viewed online at braid.com, or rickberrystudio.com.

Rick's art is also the subject of several books:
SPARROW: RICK BERRY
DOUBLE MEMORY: Art & Collaborations by Rick Berry and Phil Hale

What will shock you even more as you look at these paintings is that Rick is self-taught. He has honed his craft through, "...museum visits, collaboration with peers and extensive, continuous study."

Rick lives and creates art in the Boston area with his wife, Shelia, and their beautiful family.

I can't wait to see what he does next.