More Nevelson Similarities

I don't think I have posted them as of yet, but I have also been documenting the process of new construction, not just the fossils that are left after older buildings are torn down. This one above and below are actually my neighbor's property. I am working on some drawings based on these totem-like towers used for casting cement columns.

THEN! yesterday on my Louise Nevelson walk down memory lane, look what I saw...

These are zinc-plate prints. And just what I want to get from my plaster casts of the images I am collecting and drawing. 
And, don't they remind you a bit of the open-boxes I have posted many times?

Lookey here! Louise Nevelson

These are two quick shots of an out-of-order arrangement of the plaster cast I posted on July 15. After lots of experiments with layers of color, and a lovely visit to the MFA in Boston's Egyptian section, pure white really is the best way to go. Now I can really concentrate on developing the images and textures and letting that speak for itself.

THEN, I remembered! OF COURSE!!! I'm doing Louise Nevelson! Love it or leave it we are all just reinventing the wheel, aren't we? I used to teach a high school art project based on her assemblages, so I decided to peruse a few of her works today.

This is an embossing- I just love the absence of color apart from the contrast provided by subtle shadows.

Medicine Cabinet, step two

Here it is again after the fiber-glass bathroom putty treatment. For reference to the two prior posts of this series, see August 23 and July 17.

Pollensa Facade Reassembled

This is just a preliminary paste-up. It does give me a bit of a 'so now what?' feeling. My gut tells me to paste them down with more space in between and work back into the composition as a whole. I wanted it to have an upstairs/downstairs impact, but the bedrock below is too voluptuous ...oh well, back to the drawing board.

Pollensa Facade series - done!

This is a teaser of a few close-up shots of the 8-part drawing I started in America. Now to cut the edges and reassemble. 

These are made with magic marker, white correction tape, graphite and gesso. They are drawings of a drawing of a photo I took. the ultimate plan is to cast these as white plaster tiles...

..hope this isn't anti-climatic.

Medicine Cabinet, step one

Just finished this first step of a partner piece to the one posted on July 17 ("New painting finished today, still wet"). For some reason my straight renderings always disappoint me (might as well look at the photo!), so - step two will be posted tomorrow or Monday.

Malaga Excavation- Study

This is a small study (approx. 6X8 inches) on vellum with gesso and magic marker.  last night I began blocking out a much larger version (approx. 6 X 4 feet) on untreated wood. Whereas in this study the negative space is white, the plan is to leave the wood grain exposed in the larger version. 

I originally approached this scene because of the deteriorating tile wall, but as I came to the protective fence I saw in the foreground the roman foundation which was part of the amphitheatre across the street. Double the pleasure.

Rewriting the same book...

Hasn't it been said many times that artists spend a lifetime perfecting the same idea? Although perfection is not a viable goal, I do enjoy stumbling across hints of this often unwitting continuum. Here you have excerpts from a book of a cut-and-assemble dollhouse. I came across it while cleaning Malena's closet. I purchased it around '93/'94 in preparation for my thesis exhibition at Mass Art. (See MAY posts: Art work from 1995, parts 1, 2 ,3 to see related art work)


The funny thing about coming across these (which are simply open boxes, a current obsession of mine), is that I have been looking for images of a project I did at age 16. Wendy reminded me that the 'self-portrait book' in question is similar to the unfolding concept with I work at the moment. Found the slides, but don't know how to scan them yet...

Pollensa Facade, part 2

It looks like I have to reshoot these images, but for now here is the second installment of the 8-part Pollensa facade series. These are mixed-media drawings in permanent marker, white-out, gesso and graphite. When I get back from my travels, I will be re-assembling this image.

The bottom image is a detail.