Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged!

So I judged a show!
What are you going to do about it? Judge me!

I dare you!
Seriously, I dare you.

A simple way to explain how art is created is through a discussion of critical judgment- Visual judgment. Proportions are determined by relational comparisons- "Is that bigger than that?" "Is this too wide for it's height?" You can do the same for everything in a picture, including color, value, edges, and so on. Criticism is how good work is made, it is how the artist is made, it is how we get better. I can't think of a more loving thing to do than to spend the time offering your views on someones work. So, when I criticize, I do it because I love.

Group Hug!

Anyway, my wife still made sure to tell me to be nice before I left the house the morning of this show. I did my best.

This is an action shot of me in full on judging action.

I thought I would talk a bit about my experience judging a show in Hillsboro, Ohio last weekend for the Brush and Palette Guild. This is my home town, it is out in the country, and my Grade School art teacher is a member of the Guild. So it was like a home coming of sorts.
It was an interesting show, with a wide range of abilities and talent. Over all the show was very good for such a small group. Some work there that every bit as good as that seen in some city galleries and large studio buildings of full of "artists". It helps that they are a lovely group of people, interested in art, struggling to produce and supportive of each other.

I was a bit surprised by the shear number of awards given, but I have to admit it made my job easier. This was more of a show to demonstrate what the group is doing and to cheer them on to do more. So there were 30 something artists, around 300 pieces of art, and I gave out over 200 awards. It was very much divided up into categories- I had 6 pages or so of them listed with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th for each of them.
So, I imagine, or at least I hope, everyone got some sort of prize. It was tough as there were occasionally 10 pieces in a category, where the top 4 were by the same artist.
I wanted to use this opportunity to discuss how I judged the show and the trends I saw or problems that I most often saw in the work.
The show, luckily was representational so I did not have to worry about being biased towards realism, as I obviously am very biased. So I only had to look at the quality and intent of the pieces.
As I had to judge 300 works in 3 hours, and give out a wheel barrow of ribbons, I had to work fast. Composition and power of the piece from a distance was my first point of consideration, next was color, next was drawing ability, finally was whether I just plain like the piece for what ever reason, including subject matter.
I am sure that some of my choices may have left a few scratching their heads, as small, comfortable, simple pictures with weaker drawing occasionally won out over large flashy painting that were more photographic.

After judging the show, and after lunch, I was to walk around with the artists, and discuss and critique my choices. First off, this was amazingly fun and a great exercise for me. The group was a lot of fun and pretty receptive to my ripping their art to shreds.
The crazy thing was that I got paid to do it. I was handed a Judges Guildlines sheet, that I suppose I was suppose to read. I was to critic the work from 1:00 to 2:30. I did it from 1:30 to about 5.

My comments on their art was probably not very different from comments I might make on most art done today.
So, what were the over riding issues and problems with the work?
1) Lack of Design and a strong center.
A drawing or painting has to first and foremost work in design. This is one of the hardest things to teach, to learn and to explain. It is obviously one of the hardest to do as I see some wonderful painters working today, that are just not designing- at all. Many very talented figure painters seem to believe that a painting is designed if you get the pretty, nude girls butt close to the center. While that is part of it, there is a lot more do creating a good abstraction.
One could write a series of books on the subject, so I will do little more here than mention these things, and suggest that you read on the topic. Also, make sure you look at good pictures. No, let me rephrase that- Great pictures.
The tendency to work from photos is a big part of the problem. A photo rarely is good design. It maybe an accurate representation, people usually get the subject roughly in the center of the viewfinder, but that is not necessarily a reason to paint from it. A photo can be a good tool, but nature does not design for us, we design from nature. I also feel this trend of a "painting a day", which is a good exercise in painting, for effect, quickly, often has completely neglected design. A pear in the middle of a color field canvas is not a good design unless you are painting a bulls eye for an archery club. A line of pears is also not a good design if they are all treated equally haphazardly lined up. Maybe if you are painting a pattern for a wall paper border, but I still think that design is not considered as much as it should be.
Some books on the topic: Pictorial Composition by Arthur Dow, Figure Composition by R. G. Hatton, and Composition by Cyril Pearce. Most good art books have a chapter or discussion on composition. Make sure the artist writing the book either has had great training, is a great artist themselves, and I suggest that they probably should have been dead for a long time. Some are out of print, but check your library or if it is posted online for free somewhere.

I will discuss more of the issues in later posts. Just to get you ready, these issues will include Lack of Light effect, Silhouette, Rhythm, and some discussion of presentation and framing.

Tuesday night Sketch Group goes digital

I have posted my attempts at using new technology for art. I have Nintendo DS which is normally used for playing mind numbing, time wasting games- a few of which I enjoy. It can be enabled to be used as a digital sketchbook. There is a little pen that you can use to draw on the screen, and a free program that can be downloaded which is like a small version of Photoshop. I have posted some of my attempts in the past, and here are some newer ones. Keep in mind these are not life changing art. They are just little sketches done on a 2" x 3" screen that are fun exersizes.


Digital painting that I never quite finished of the bathroom light.


A coffee cup. I drink too much coffee.


This is a sketch of a thermos. My wife feels that these thermoses have changed her life forever, for the better. Life before this was a lonely and thirsty existence. We own 3 of them and she has even given them out as gifts. While I enjoy a thermos as much as the next guy, my excitement is probably not what she would like it to be- it rarely is. Anyway, I drew a picture of it to display my affection for the thermos and to impress her. Plus it is always fun drawing shinny things.

In a desperate display of one upsmanship, my friend Joe showed up to our sketch group with something much more impressive than my little Nintendo.
There is a group of us that meet every Tuesday night to draw from a figure model. Last night, one of the regular memebers brought a full size digital sketchbook to draw on. It is basically a laptop without a keyboard that has a screen you can draw on like a normal digital tablet. He works digitally most so it is nice to have a rig to work on in the field or you can even look cool and sit in a coffee shop and work on your art work.
Here are some photos of Joe working from the model. I was intrigued, but as you know, new things frighten me, so I will stick to charcoal and pencil for now.

Just too funny

If you read this blog, you know I have a few opinions. I like to discuss the art world, which while it is free and open allowing for one to communicate anything they like to an audience, this has swung wide the door to free thought all the way to complete nonsense- or even lack of any thought. This freedom had removed any responsibility the "artists" has to the public.


Cy Twombly, Sensations of the Moment. MUMOK Ausstellungsansicht / exhibition view. Foto: MUMOK, Lisa Rastl © MUMOK
"You have to admire his consistency."

If you don't get the gibberish they are speaking, it is blamed on the ignorance of the viewer- not the inadequacies of the "artist". Having been to "art school" I am well versed in the complete Bull S%#* that is spilled liberally in those institutions, during critiques and in classes of art history.
We have set up a whole industry around it. Museums and galleries do their best to push and explain it with fancy words, stepping on anyone that is not in on the sham.

"I really like how the squiggly things looks against the jaggedy thing."

I get daily emails from ArtDaily.com, a site that hosts news, events and discusses trends in the art world. Occasionally they have photos heading their stories that I find absolutely hilarious. They are not supposed to be, but I usually save the image for my own amusement. I thought I would share a few of them. There really is not much to say here. I thought about adding little thought bubbles above the gallery audience that is deep in thought in front of these modern works, but I thought that would be over kill. They are pretty funny all on their own.
Enjoy.
-Sorry, I couldn't resist-I decided it wasn't overkill and added my own quotes.


After his close examination he was heard to exclaim, "oh, I get it?! Yellow!"

I plan on discussing this further in relation to public art. Again, any responsibility to the public and the role as a visual communicator has been removed. It is more an exercise in selfish expression. There is a public sculpture near my studio that is a perfect example of what I find a failing system.

73rd Butler National Mid-Year Show

After a year of rejections for shows, prizes and a humiliating attempt to get on American Idol, I have finally been accepted to hang some work in a show- and as you can see from the title of this post, it is an national show at a museum. So that is some good stuff.
This was a good shot in the arm for me and prevented me from throwing a noose over the rafter of the studio at least for a while.

Here is the painting that got into the show.

Chocolate Milk and Candy (the son), 22 x 14, oil on linen
This is part of diptych, the other half of which is hanging in the Rottinghaus gallery. Both works are for sale.

Another cool thing was that my good friend Carl Samson also got a painting in the show. We both drove our work up to the Butler Institute on Friday. This little museum is in Youngstown Ohio, and is an architectural masterpiece built by McKim, Mead and White. A long drive from Cincinnati, but we had a great time at the museum which has a pretty good collection of work for such a small institution. There are some heavy hitters there, the most famous being Winslow Homer's Snap the Whip. There was Paxton painting that was the highlight of the collection for both of us. It had brilliant drawing, coloring and amazing form. A real beauty. The only thing wrong with it was that it was hung between two miserable Thomas Eakins, but it was easy to ignore them (I should do a post sometime about why Eakins is the most overrated artist in American painting). Other great paintings includ a nice Birge Harrison, a lovely Emil Carlson seascape and two very nice Whistlers.

Enough about those other hacks- my painting will be on view at the Butler from June 28 through August 23. There is going to be a meet the artist reception and awards ceremony on Sunday, June 28 from 1 to 3. The event is free, but they ask for reservations.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

I finally finished my peanut better jelly painting, started about the same time as the snickers bar painting. Interestingly the Wonder Bread in the still life was purchased in early November. I had the bread for a while before I even set up the painting. It has been set up for about two months, and over 6 months later there is no mold on the bread at all. The sandwich I made and took a bite out of for this still life looks pretty much the same as it did the day I set it up. The peanut butter faded a bit, but it seemed almost edible. There must be a preservative or two in there. This was one of my favorite meals when I was a kid. Consuming all of those preservatives must be why I am so healthy and covered in head to toe in rippling muscles.
I resisted the temptation to eat the sandwich when I was finished- it went in the garbage. I have a loaf of bread that is missing only two slices. If anyone is interested you can give me a call. If you buy the painting I will throw the loaf of bread in for free.

The painting is now in the window at Rottinghaus Gallery in O'Bryonville if you want to rush down to purchase it. As soon as it was placed in the window it seemed to draw interest. People walking by were stopping to check it out.
I was also standing in the gallery window at the time, so maybe it was me they were checking out. You know, all those rippling muscles.


P B & J, 18 x 15, Oil on Linen

Red, Red Wine

Sometimes you just have to set a painting aside and just look at for a while if it is not going too well. This is a painting that I started over a year ago. It is a bit of a crazy composition, but I was pretty excited about it. There were some things just not jiving. I even showed a very much unfinished version of it in a show last year.
I decided to go back into it working a bit from a reference photo, a bit from memory and the rest I just made up till I liked it.
A good friend of mine was generous enough to pose for this painting on her lovely back porch. She probably stood in that pose a total of about 12 to 15 hours. I did not keep track of how much wine was consumed, but it was good wine, as she was kind enough to share.


Red Wine, Summer Evening, 20 x 16, oil on linen

One more about art schools

I am going to post the Commencement Address from a local art college. This is taken word for word, without editing or any changes by me. Straight off the college news letter. Enjoy:

"I thought that I would come to the _____________ and learn what art is.

I thought that, by now, I would know what made art good, and I expected my teachers would tell me how to make it.

I thought that I would be sure of what I wanted to make.

I thought that I would have all the skills I needed.

I thought that I would learn how to make art that everyone would like and want to buy.

I thought that I would confidently call myself An Artist.

I did not get what I came here fro. Instead of confidence and certainty I have questions and doubts. Of course, I blame my teachers for this. They never told me exactly what art is. They always asked questions. They asked questions about who artist are, where art should be, and who it is for, anyway. Sometimes they revealed that they are uncertain about their own work. They never showed me how to do something exactly, but always suggested that there are many ways to do things…. And that it would be better to figure it out for myself. And they never revealed the absolute litmus test for proving what is and what isn’t art. They showed the artist not as a finished product but as a work-in-progress.

Whatever is received is due it gratitude, even when it is not what was asked for. Parents, friends, family…administrators and staff- I want to thank you all for helping us on this project. Gratitude affirms that we need each other. Giving and receiving links us in a mutual interdependence. Like breathing, what we take in we must give back in order to take in again. There is also a wider family in the community to thank for giving their unsolicited blessings and gifts of arbitrary generosity. I recall the clerk at Kinko’s who just let the bill slide when the copy counter didn’t work, the BBC Overnight World Service for stimulating conversations at 3 a.m., the baker who gave away free slice of foccacia, the sheet metal man who couldn’t bear seeing me dig for change. Thanks to the sales clerk at Norton’s who gave me a cheese Danish along with a verse of his favorite song (and I thought that I didn’t have the time).

But I mostly want to say thank you to the teachers for giving what I didn’t know how to ask for:

For hesitation instead of assurance…thanks

For more questions than answers….thanks

For turning things upside down and shaking them out….

For showing the many ways an artist can be…thank you ……All of you …..All. "

I was going to write something about the above, but I think I will just let it speak for itself.