First piece to share from in a new series CULTIVATING WONDER.
I’ve been having this reoccurring artist fantasy where I become a painter who makes minimalist work. This is the opposite of me as I’m more of a maximalist in terms of form and image, yes? The voice inside my head was loud enough and repeated enough that I decided to begin a new series with that goal or structure in mind. I have attempted to make minimalist work before. However, there are many layers with anything I do in art and with every choice I make. Why I do something and all of the formal and conceptual choices that I make have a lot of consideration and deep meaning to me. It’s like peeling an onion but more complex and includes different colors.
“Breathing Holes”, 16” x 20”, Gouache and Aerosol on paper, 2024.
This series came about after a proposal with a disappointing outcome. Instead of complaining that the project didn’t go the way I’d hoped, I set out right to work. I started painting a new piece after I sulked for a bit longer in private than I would have liked. I turned drawings into something else that was meaningful to me that I have control over. I plan for ~60 pieces in the series (until my attention gets pulled elsewhere) with about 35 in process so far. ✅✅ I thrive with having a lot of pieces in process in my studio at one time. Currently, I have about 70 works in process in my studio. They are in a few different series and not are in this CULTIVATING WONDER series.
I created 250 original and unique digital drawings that are abstracted silhouettes in 4 categories of shapes including river, forest, cosmic and subatomic forms. This green one is the forest shape category. I have not done much digital drawing until last year. I have been trying to learn to draw digitally since 2019 but I have been avoiding as I prefer to draw with pencils and brushes. This is another tool and I want to do more digital drawings in my future.
“Let everyone else decide whether it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they're deciding, make even more art.” —Andy Warhol.
Digital Drawing, 2024.
The artwork title is borrowed from a song lyric in arguably the best Nirvana song or at least one of my very favorites if I had to choose just one. It’s called “Verse Chorus Verse” or “Sappy”. It’s a B-side that they did not release on an album so you might not have heard it. It was released as a hidden track on the “no alternative” compilation album sold a AIDS benefit album. Back in the day I had this song on a cassette tape dubbed from a dub from a dub. Now, you can listen to it on the Internet wherever you want. As a youth in the 90s in Granger, Indiana a suburb of South Bend we separated ourselves from the popular mainstream Nirvana loser fans (as we called them) because we had dubs of the B-sides and had also owned and listened to their first album BLEACH before they got big. We self-identified as punk rock. I wasn’t in a band, but I hung out with musicians and artists. I don’t remember how we got those dubs, but we had them and we knew we were cooler than all of them. 😂
The CULTIVATING WONDER series is all about using shape to cultivate our sense of wonder and awe. Viewers are invited to use and tend to their imagination just like they would a tend to a garden. 🪴
A song by Nirvana
”Sappy” or Verse Chorus Verse Song Lyrics
And if you save yourself
You will make him happy
He'll keep you in a jar
And you'll think you're happy
He'll give you breathing holes
And you'll think you're happy
He'll cover you with grass
And you'll think you're happy now
You're in a laundry room
You're in a laundry room
The clues that came to you, oh
And if you cut yourself
You will think you're happy
He'll keep you in a jar
Then you'll make him happy
He'll give you breathing holes
Then you'll think you're happy
He'll cover you with grass
Then you'll think you're happy now
You're in a laundry room
You're in a laundry room
The clues that came to you, oh
You're in a laundry room
You're in a laundry room
The clues that came to you, oh
And if you fool yourself
You will make him happy
He'll keep you in a jar
Then you'll think you're happy
He'll give you breathing holes
Then you will seem happy
You'll wallow in the shit
Then you'll think you're happy now
You're in a laundry room
You're in a laundry room
You're in a laundry room
The clues that came to you, oh
