Ironton Gallery exhibit

September 25, 2008 | Filed Under Art | Leave a Comment

The show entitled “retreat” opens Friday Sept 26th at Ironton Studios in Denver. I’ve attached a few images here, all are poly plate lithographs and vary in size from four to six feet respectively.

Retreat, an explanation Retreat is an installation of two artists’ work; mine are large-scale monochromatic prints of rustic, changing buildings, Donna’s are expressively painted deep forest scenes. The result is an experiment in the idea of a place described in two very different ways. Images of dwellings and buildings reoccur in my work. I started this particular series with a painting of what my mausoleum might look like – given the chance to design it myself. It looked like a squatty sort of hive, if you’re wondering, with a big ‘H’ above the door. That image was the grandmother to these pieces; the masonry in this work was sampled from that original painting. Hermits, entropy, impermanence and the impersonal work of nature are among my current preoccupations. As I conceived the gallery space it was clear that these ‘building’ paintings needed their antagonist; the natural world of the woods that will reclaim the efforts at constructing in their midst. But I didn’t want a forest as I would create it. I wanted something to contrast with the starkness, something rich and oily. I approached Donna with my ideas about creating this environment, and she responded with works that reflect her unique point of view. Prose and poetry are the scaffolding these paintings, and the show, are built on. Works by Thomas Merton and Carl Sandburg were important touchstones as well the writing of Walt Whitman (”all goes onward and outward”) and Annie Dillard. – JHH

Grass, by Carl Sandburg written in 1918

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo, Shovel them under and let me work– I am the grass; I cover all.
And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now?
I am the grass. Let me work. ‘resting house’ 80″ wide x 60″ tall x 2″ deep ‘graft’ 21″ wide x 27″ tall x 2″ deep ‘blossom’ 48″ wide x 60″ tall x 2″ deep ‘tower’ 40″ wide x 60″ tall x 2″ deep

DIALOG:Denver at Robischon Gallery

August 7, 2008 | Filed Under Art | Leave a Comment

Denver is a couple weeks away from the convention and it’s pretty exciting. Tents are going up and schedules for events are circulating. I am very happy to be a part of an exhibit opening at Robischon Gallery on the 21st of August. The exhibit is in conjunction with DIALOG:City.

As part of the show fifteen Denver artists were asked to do a political yard sign. The gallery assigned the topic, mine was ‘animal rights’. My first impulse was to do something regarding performing animals; at the time of the assignment there was a traveling circus installed in a parking lot a mile north from the studio. Last time they were here we took pictures of the miserable looking elephants in the parking lot and wrote letters. Sue Coe has so powerfully covered the topic of performing animals that I didn’t think I could approach it.

I consulted Jo Tyler to get her thoughts on what what might be interesting to cover; she is very active in the world of animal rights issues and I knew that she’d have some great advice. Jo came up with some topics and the one I chose was about the misnomer ‘Free Range’ used in relation to chicken and egg production. Michael Pollan in the Omnivore’s Dilemma wrote of hens laying eggs in large metal storage buildings, dimly lit but uncaged – thus the phrase ‘free-range’- with a small door on one end that leads outside. The door opens so infrequently the chickens close to the exit are the only to take advantage, that is if they realize what it is. Typically chickens get about a square foot to ‘range’ in with up to 2,000 other individuals and are debeaked so that they don’t hurt each other. I believe that people who are making these shopping choices are trying to do the right thing, it’s disappointing that these impulses are taken advantage of still at the detriment to millions of animals daily.

Lilly Reich

January 29, 2008 | Filed Under Art | 1 Comment

Years ago I used to do a lot of sculpture. Like, 20 years ago. The craft was pretty bad but my concepts were reasonable and occasionally engaging. This object represents my trespass back into the 3d world again and it was a real challenge: I found the third dimension so challenging to navigate that I wonder if I should be allowed drive anymore.

The incentive to create this was an invitation by the Design Council, a support group of the Denver Art Museum. Artists, designers of all stripes, tattooers, landscape architects and other creative folk were asked to make an object. Here’s the clever premise: in a blind drawing we chose an object from the design collection and also an ‘ish’ word. The task was to come up with something inspired by the DAM holding and the ‘ish’ word. The new objects will be auctioned and all proceeds will be acquisition funds for The Department of Architecture, Design & Graphics at the Denver Art Museum.

I was initially bummed when I drew the Barcelona Chair: I didn’t feel it was something I could work with, it’s such an icon. Veneration/Violation, it’s so complicated. The ‘ish’ word I drew was ‘Girlish’, double yuck I thought. I began researching the chair, whose origins I thought I was pretty familiar with, but then I found a couple references to a collaborator that I had not ever heard of. Her name was Lilly Reich. It’s been a long time since I was in school and they may be teaching this now, but given the amount of stuff I found in my searching, she’s still sort of a footnote.

For 10 years van der Rohe and Lilly Reich were collaborators in exhibit and furniture design. Their relationship was also a personal one. And they shared an office:) Apparently wasn’t unusual for a female creative partner to take a back seat, and often not get acknowledged in the creation of the final product. She was the detail person-the tactile person-in the design collaboration. When their relationship ended, so too did his furniture design. Until recently she was mostly forgotten; left as a footnote to discussions of van der Rohe. The good news is that she was recently given a small show of her work at the MoMa and hopefully her contributions will continue to be recognized.

The new object: Lilly Reich Book “12 Pearls”

I was only able to find a couple books concerning Reich’s contribution to design. Wishing to metaphorically add to the Reich catalogue, the new object is a book-like form. The materials, glass and stainless steel, are those that she and van der Rohe exploited to great effect in their furniture and exhibit design. The object has a kinetic aspect to it in reference to the inspiration for the Barcelona Chair, an ancient Egyptian folding chair.

The glass slabs are knit together by an unadorned hinge, the left side representing van der Rohe and the right, Lilly. This new object acknowledges the personal and creative partnership of these two artists. “12 Pearls” represents that fact that there are 12 buttons on each chair seat and back, it’s my assumption that the materials and details were influenced by Lilly. Pure speculation, that. The bird on the right stands in a thicket, holding a pearl. It’s a handsome piece, even if it needs too much explanation. I found this essay from Albert Pfeiffer, Vice President of Design Management about Lilly.

bull with head resting away from his body, i like to think , temporarily.

January 15, 2008 | Filed Under Art | Leave a Comment

Here’s the most recent painting I’ve finished, it’s currently in the CVA show I mentioned below. My experiment using the golden ratio, it’s 48″ x 77″

Center for Visual Arts

January 14, 2008 | Filed Under Art | Leave a Comment

‘Story’ is a 3 person show in downtown Denver that I am included in at the Center for Visual Arts. The other two artists, Brent Green and James Surls are incredible and I’m so happy to be in their company. The connection between the three of us is the use of narrative in the work. The tools for telling the stories are all different; Brent is an animator, James is primarily a sculptor and I paint. My work looks a bit prosaic next to these guys whose work is layered and complicated in the best possible way. Always interesting to see one’s work in a different context.

The show was curated by Jennifer Garner and Cecily Cullen. Most of the work they chose from me had been sold in previous exhibitions and it was interesting to have the pieces assembled together again. The most recent painting in the show I finished in late December. It’s a headless bull. I’m still trying to work out it’s origins.

There’s a review of the show from Mary Chandler at the Rocky Mountain News. Attached is an image from the show entitled ‘Saturn Killing Time”. The image was my response to Goya’s painting “Saturn”

Retreat

October 29, 2007 | Filed Under Art | 2 Comments

Download Retreat is a stop-motion animation I created with Hugh. The original painting was ink on paper, about 4 ft x 9 ft . It took 7 hours to paint out: dab, take picture, dab, take picture, and yielded over 600 frames. The file is about 2.5 megs in size, so it might take a bit of time to load – also, there’s a little piano music, don’t let that scare you.

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