Archive for October, 2008

No Matter

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

The Winged Way presents Jennifer Burch’s first book of poems. Writing sometimes from the space between the real and the dream, and sometimes entirely from the dream, Burch scribes a thoughtful song for the page. She invites you in, and surprises and confounds, stands against and leans in to whisper in your ear.

$10 print copy, $5 PDF download.

Buy at Amazon

Buy at Lulu (PDF download available for purchase)

Legs Icon (Lung)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

19″ x 10″ x 4″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on curved panel
2008

Collection of William and Cynthia Duncan

Legs Icon (Ce La)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

19″ x 10″ x 4″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on curved panel
2008

Collection of William and Cynthia Duncan

1 of 5 of the first generation of small free-standing pieces.

The words “Legs Icon” – the title of this group of paintings, and of the exhibition - first appeared on this painting. The words “Ce La” are French for “this” or literally, “this here”, which is a riff on the presence of absence – or re-presenting something that is of another realm. Also, as the words are arranged on the painting, if read from bottom to top, like text on pavement (for example, “STOP AHEAD”)– a sign for travelers – it reads as LA CE. This can be understood as “Here This” or “Hear This,” or simply “Lace.” It is an exploration of the relationship between body and spirit, sexiness and sacredness. Other text in the painting: “The sex of the church;” “Et al” (suggesting authorship by many people rather than just Ian); “Long;” “Slow.”

Legs Icon (Weather)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

19″ x 10″ x 4″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 2 small Legs Icon pieces made with angled flat panels.

“Weather” is how we articulate the conditions or attributes of a liminal space (a space that is neither here nor there). From one perspective, my paintings can be seen as making present here in this world things from out there: that mysterious place that is the source of creativity, perhaps of creation.

Legs Icon (Now)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

19″ x 10″ x 4″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 2 small Legs Icon pieces made with angled flat panels.

One of the pleasures and strengths of the painted image and object is the tension between the moment and duration. “Now” means to evoke this aspect and spend some time with it.

Legs Icon (Come)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

19″ x 10″ x 4″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on curved panel
2008

1 of 5 of the first generation of small free-standing pieces. 3 sold before the exhibition, and this is 1 of 2 available tonight.

A possible interpretation: on the outside a threshold space, with an invitation; on the inside an animal or human form to guide or greet the visitor.

Legs Icon (On)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

19″ x 10″ x 4″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on curved panel
2008

Collection of Hank Thiel

Legs Icon (Staid)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

19″ x 10″ x 4″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on curved panel
2008

Collection of Zhongxian Wu

Legs Icon (Known)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

37.5″ x 20″ x 7″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on curved panel
2008

1 of 2 medium sized Legs Icon pieces made with curved panel.

The emerging form again seems human and atavistic. A net, a shroud, again, a liminal space.

Legs Icon (Utter)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

38″ x 20″ x 7″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on curved panel
2008

1 of 2 medium sized Legs Icon pieces made with curved panel.

“Utter” in this case means both “absolute, outer limits” and “to make a sound.” These paintings present and traverse limits, thresholds. The word also evokes “udder,” and suggest the way in which the paintings are intended to provide sustenance in some way. The form on the outside of the panel seems motherly, and suggest birth.

Legs Icon (Fledge)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

38″ x 20″ x 7″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 2 medium-sized Legs Icon pieces made with angled flat panels.

“Fledge” means “to develop feathers large enough for flight.” On the side panels, language-like marks attempt to gather enough form to have meaning, and arrive at the bottom in the two words: “Gold” and “Lead.” An essential metaphor in the alchemical tradition (a path of inner transformation) is the transmutation of base metal into precious metal. I am interested in the relationship between these processes of transformation and that of pigment and vegetable oil into paintings.

On the front panel, the words “Circumambulation of the knowing place” refer somewhat literally to walking in circles. But rather than to suggest futility, I mean to suggest that this is how we know things. It is a Heideggerian model of thought exploration and understanding. We may be standing in the same place we were when we began, but we know much more because we considered each step around the circle.

The text sequence is “Fledge-claym-straynge-stone-own-flown-oh.”

Legs Icon (Wist)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

38″ x 20″ x 7″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 2 medium-sized Legs Icon pieces made with angled flat panels.

Some of the text that happened on this painting: “Make thee another self for love”; “Circumambulation of the wanting place”; “Full”; “Wist”; “Legs”; “Voice”; “Fill me.”

“Wist” is the past participle of “wit.” Its roots are Germanic and Sanskrit words for “knowledge” and “sight.”

Shield (Hold)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

Collection of Jessica Orkin

Shield (Silk)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

Collection of Graham Duncan

Shield (Yorn)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

Collection of Elizabeth Hill

Shield (Wield)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

Collection of Leeza Doreian

Shield (Mean)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 9 of the first group of paintings on curved panel, finished in January 2008. 1 of 5 that remain, and are included in the exhibition.

By “mean” I mean meaning (not “unkind”). The text on the painting is “This time I meant it.” This common statement struck me as an interesting phrase because when someone says it, you can be quite sure that it is false. So, in many ways, context is more important that grammatical sense with respect to meaning. And in the context of text and texture and symbol and meaning and color and space (i.e. in the context of painting) this is an interesting and fun idea to play with.

Shield (Cours)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 9 of the first group of paintings on curved panel, finished in January 2008.

By “cours” I mean to lead you to think of “course,” corps,” “of course.” On the painting it appears as “dis – cours” – suggesting text or conversation. Also implying “dis” “corps” or “this” “body.” Text…body…speech…communication.

Other textual play on this panel: “A page out of this man’s book;” “drawl” – which might suggest both drawing and speech; “lilt” – another speech pattern.

Shield (Wherein)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 9 of the first group of paintings on curved panel, finished in January 2008.

“A world without land” some one said, looking at this painting. I like that. Curved and deep space. Playing with the perceptual possibilities of the curved panel. A chart to uncharted waters.

Shield (Well)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 9 of the first group of paintings on curved panel, finished in January 2008.

The title means to suggest “shield well” or “effectively” and also “well” like the hole in the ground – the source of water. Some of the text moments are: “Welling over”; “like a cup”; “crippled me and gave me wings”; “inside of me inside of you.”

Shield (Verb)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 20″ x 2″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 9 of the first group of paintings on curved panel, finished in January 2008. 1 of 5 that remain, and are included in the exhibition.

The title just to point out that it interesting to think of what it is “to shield” as well as what it is to be a shield. And to be on the ‘wrong’ side of a shield, but to be invited in (which I think these paintings do).

Shroud (Thumbing)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 24″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

1 of 2 Shroud pieces.

The text behind the veil of the grid and the thumb prints was improvised on the painting and later became the poem “what was this what was that.”

Shroud (Skin)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 24″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2008

Collection of Charlie Ledley

1 of 2 Shroud pieces.

Many of my paintings are developed at a critical moment by a magical oops. This is in part why it is impossible for the same thing to happen twice. In this painting the grid/veil/shroud was made by etching into the panel. I then filled it paint of a slightly different composition, and in the subsequent dozens of layer of glazes and sanding, the grid became raised rather than inset. I think the oil I use to fill the etching lines must have been boiled for longer, or something, because that paint was more resilient to the sanding and what not. I wish I could make it happen again!

Skin (Love Well)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

24″ x 12″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Talya Lerman

Skin (Kissed Wrong)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

24″ x 12″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Kristen Marie Holly

Skin (Wanting Shape)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Detail:

24″ x 12″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Elizabeth Hill

Skin (Open)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 16″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Eric Gelsinger

Skin (Parting)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 16″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Mike and Ruth Merenda

Skin (Thin)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 16″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Skin (Wax)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

18″ x 14″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Lindsay Harris

Skin (Wing)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 16″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Jim Hobbs

Skin (Angel)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 16″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Gabrielle Finley

Skin (Skin)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

18″ x 14″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Jen Burch

Skin (Yves)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 16″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Bill and Mil Duncan

Skin (Felt)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

16″ x 12″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Collection of Bill and Mil Duncan

Skin (Demi-urge)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

56″ x 46″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Skin (Slippage)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

80″ x 40″ x 3″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Skin (Corrective Measure)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Skin (Corrective Measure)

80″ x 40″ x 3″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Skin (Ekstasis)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

80″ x 40″ x 3″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2007

Skin (I’m In)

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

20″ x 16″
Pigment, oil, egg, and skin glue on panel
2006

Collection of Ambre Proulx and Javor Pishev