Category: Uncategorized

Beauty of the Everyday

compulsively, I read biographies on artists of every medium & era. I will even delve into people who are not my usual thing which has more than once made me become a fan. There is a commonality which transcends both nation and decade, that of practicality initially dictating artistic direction/materials & methodology.

The Impressionists are mainly talked about in relation to how they used color and lighting effects. Their importance was not just their revolutionary portrayal of light as it effected perception though. Before them, some painters had started breaking away from the pervading “must” of people being heroically portrayed ala history/myth/allegory (Courbet & Millet had started towards more naturalized milieu) they were the first to fold it into their works wholesale.

People were portrayed having an eye opener in a cafe before work, dirty nails, bad skin. Objects were portrayed in natural positions, a wife’s hat left atop a shrub, detritus atop a studio table waiting to be swept with forearm into the trash.

Part of the reason for this all was practicalities sake. Models could not always be afforded and it was easier using friends and family to pose, especially as scheduling could prove to be more convenient and often all it cost was to eventually return the favor.

These things would be enfolded into the methodology of their work and then honed. After this point, it was became their lexicon.

The same thing happened with Picasso/Braque cubist still lives, it was just things they had laying around which were part of their every day lives. Money need not be spent on flowers or any other kind of specialty objects. The only downside to this was that by the time Picasso was moving on from cubism, cubist paintings by participators in the genre more often than not had “required” objects to be included which had initially made appearances in a natural manner due to pragmatism.

Practicality is often an important initial dictator of choices an artist makes, but once the path chosen is felt to be the right one, a philosophy sprouts up. Like the methodology, it is ready to be honed, its articulation, whether to the public or just in the artist’s head, fine tuned.

The Italian painter Giorgi Morandi rarely left his city of Bologna, Italy (only three times, much later in life and then only briefly). He did not portray life in his home city but was fueled by it. He mainly did still lives. Most of these were of bottle which had just been laying around. A cursory look at his work and they seem deceptively simple. There is no bursting forth virtuosic moments to be found in his work. What makes them remarkable is that they very much look like every day objects imbued with organically occurring poetry.

A generation later and half a world away, Henry Virgona worked along a similar philosophical line. He kept the same 300 square foot Union Square studio for fifty nine years (sadly, ending in 2019). He rarely traveled, preferring to stay within the confines of the city whose fabric he was very much part of. He did still lives which showed him to be the artistic son of Morandi. He was an accomplished draftsman and this urban Antaeus did amazing candid drawings of all the people that he encountered in his daily city life, their natural poses maintain the power of the pieces. Two men, one mainly using objects, the other, people encountered every day, both showing inherent natural beauty of regular life.

I had already hit upon my philosophy and modus operandi before discovering Henry’s work. We definitely have marked differences, some of which could be generational. It is inspiring though, to see that one’s idea of serving the process is not completely out of left field but rather an evolved link in a chain which goes way back.

Most of what I work in and how I work all started out from practical considerations. I mainly use people in my life in some manner as models for convenience’s sake. When no one is around, I will paint or draw whatever catches my eye which is right in front of me. I too go for the beauty which organically comes through in every day objects or scenes.

One of my greatest pleasures in life is to conjure up, even if only with a pencil nubbin and scrap paper, either something I am seeing or talking about.

I was at a concert and observed various moments where, as much as I was enjoying the music, got caught up in people watching. Doing a sort of raw-visual-reportage after the fact, I caught the moment in a bigger sized for me piece. Aside from the size of the piece, another departure for me was the fact that I did a few studies as I wanted the crowd scene to be accurate and maintain a certain degree of looseness which already having knowledge of positioning and compositional balance would help with.

“Sept. 19th” 14×19 graphite on paper 5×7 studies

by Wayne Wolfson

Going Under

When I first started seriously painting, I used a French cotton paper. I did not realize it at the time, but it is far less forgiving than the paper which I currently use (which is non-cotton).

I made the switch when the already up there price raised even more. There was much experimentation before I found the paper which became my main one.

In cleaning my tabouret draws, I came upon an unopened block of French Cotton paper. As my skill has increased from when I originally had used it, I was interested to see what I could do with it now.

My preference with cotton paper had always been cold pressed, but even with this, there is more tooth to the paper than what I currently use. This gives a sort of chunky effect when portraying flesh, watercolor impasto.

I enjoyed using this paper and I will work my way through the block but to my surprise I now prefer my current non-cotton paper. The cotton paper does not blend as easy, so getting effects I want with cotton paper will now make it “easier” with my preferred paper.

5×7 Watercolor & cotton Paper

by Wayne Wolfson

Summer III

Unintentionally, my last three paintings form a cohesive series. The news continues to be bleak. It is the responsibility of all artists to do their thing. Not necessarily art with a message but putting forth things of beauty as a reminder that there are things out there bigger than ourselves. And more importantly, not everything need be connected to a “Us versus them” issue.

As I cool down on use of some of my other social media sites I had a revelation. Just because you disagree with someone or even if they are legitimately wrong, it’s often not worth yelling back. You are not going to change hearts and minds. Even if in the right, more often than not it is just adding to the cacophony, feeding the pervading negative zeitgeist.

All art regardless of medium is a way to look towards better days, here’s hoping I see you there.

Summer III 11×17 Watercolor & Tan Paper

by Wayne Wolfson

The Caketts: a retrospective

It’s that time a year again. I am lucky enough to get a birthday cake from The Caketts. Music remains my main source of inspiration and outside of serving the creative process, my main passion.

Every year the cake is musically themed. I have no say in what it will be, although obviously it’s music I like.

The first cake I ever got was reproducing The Rolling Stone’s Let It Bleed album cover but with cats replacing the lads.

One eats with their eyes first. Aside from that obvious pleasure, the cakes themselves are very good. The flavors are always unique. This year’s (Miles Davis/Gil Evans Sketches of Spain album cover) was a Manhattan flavored cake. With the bits of bourbon macerated cherry to be found within combining with everything else going on, the cake was patisserie-decadent enough to easily be expected to be found in Vienna.

Everything is made from scratch, no prebought sheet cakes, no stencils. Even all frostings are made by hand, nothing shooting out of plastic tubes, aisle five thank you kindly.

These are all the cakes over years so far, in order. (W/later cakes my name is watermarked on photo. This might seem overly cautious but w/first photos i Put up of a cake, people just put it on their Instagram w/no attribution where it garnered thousands of views. Insult to injury, in one case, person who reposted knew me but w/pic put that they forgot where they had come across this. In general, if you didn’t create it ask person who did. Or at very least, link to their site. It’s basically stealing other wise.)

Frank Zappa Live @ Odeon album cover

by Wayne Wolfson

Summer II

Blogs, social media, online news, news updates via text, it is way too easy to get caught up in doom scrolling. The seemingly reasonable assertion that to be hyper vigilant in regards to all the bad things allows one to have a hand on the wheel so to speak. While I do think it important to know what’s going on, a steady diet of the bleak and negative is not healthy for anyone. Even if unintentionally, you end up just adding to the negative. There needs to be some moments of calm, peace and the positive, otherwise what’s the point of it all?

I would like to think that at the very least my work offers a brief respite from the woes of every day life and its accompanying concerns. A moment of beauty to serve as a counter balance to the bleak and out of our control so often now a part of the news. Sometimes a way to implement change is by just engaging with the things outside of the struggle.

This is a commissioned piece.

Tan Paper & Watercolor 11×17 inches.

by Wayne Wolfson

Cinefield® Menage A T

There’s an old adage that money makes money. This saying is still parroted today but the meaning is mostly no longer known. If you are in sales and have a specific number which must be reached within a certain time frame, if lucky enough to reach it well ahead of schedule then most likely you will find yourself well over the number by the deadline.

Why? Because you are now relaxed, goal met. Time left on the clock, you can continue to sell with a casual mien which puts others at ease and prevents motives from being scrutinized.

Essentially, this is the power of wiggle room. Anytime you find yourself with no pressures of time frame or other matters of control, it facilitates a kind of ease in which things can get done.

Of course there’s many types of wiggle room, it’s far from restricted to a sales thing.

Currently, I find myself with wiggle room of no expectations of gallerists or other decision makers. This leaves me free to explore and stretch myself which suits me as I never want my work to become mere mannerisms.

I shake things up with what and how I create while I can. It’s a way to facilitate evolution too.

Most of my CINEFIELD® work is 11×17 inches. My last two I kept the size the same but set out with different goals for both, sort of challenges to myself. Wiggle room, wiggle room, I decided to keep the challenge method going.

For this one, I decided to go much smaller 6×8 inches. Although I prefer a certain amount of density compositionally, I would eschew that too. I also decided to make this one more overtly narrative. Luminescent elements so much a large part of other pieces would be dropped down to a smattering in favor of a more limited, muted palette.

I was pleased with the results. This piece is very different from its siblings. As is always the case, the images used are all from photos which I personally took. I used no digital magic, only the traditional method of scissors and adhesive applied with a small brush.

by Wayne Wolfson

Summer

There’s been much talk lately of the negative effect on teens body images via social media. I do not disagree with this. However, the internet has always had a tenuous grasp on reality. People of every age add filters to their face/body when posting photos, all kinds of other tweaks. Then there is the side-stand duckbill face, the de rigueur for an entire generation of women when doing selfies. Eventually. this pose and look will be viewed with same amusement as footage from bygone eras where men’s hair is overly brill creamed to the point of looking plastic.

To me, the truth has always been beautiful. The truth is unavoidable too. One can apply as many filters as are available but at some point you are going to have to go out in the real world as you really are. These things, the importance of trends et al, only have the power of the importance which we give them.

The beauty of truth is why I largely prefer to use subjects (friends et al) that I know for my work. The trust placed in me means that they can relax, eschewing any overly academic or glam poses. Even after all this time, one of my greatest pleasures is to portray flesh via paint. Sometimes, I still feel like the musician marveling at the notes that they are making.

“Summer” 11×17 inches watercolor & tan paper

by Wayne Wolfson

CINEFIELD® Carousing

Often when you read a biography on artists, in any medium, I have noticed a commonality. There seems to be a career sweet spot. This is when they have established their voice, have an audience and can comfortably exist while serving the process. They are not necessarily as big as they will become.

What makes this the sweet spot is the ability to still 100% follow one’s own North Star. No consideration is given towards audience nor critic expectations. New directions can be taken, old ones dropped.

The tragedy of all of this is that this phase is often recognized by the artist only well after the fact.

I am lucky to recognize that I am in the sweet spot. With no forced upon restrictions nor expectations, I experiment. Even when it is a direction I decide not to go in, this freedom fosters evolution.

My last Cinefield®, I wanted to make more rhythmic than previous ones. With this one, I wanted a greater density. I went with a more limited color palette as to make it more noticeable. I tried several new things with this piece which will now just be part of my regular process.

With all my Cinefield® works, I only use photos which I personally took. Another different thing for this one, I only used two photos (in general with these works I don’t use too many, but this is even less). The piece is 11×17 inches. No digital magic just scissors and adhesive applied with a tiny brush.

Errata: copyright. People, especially with visual work, prominently display copyright notices. Definitely copyright your work, before you post it anywhere, before you submit it anywhere. However, the watermarks and notices are a distraction and according to many gallerists and editors I have spoken with, the mark of an amateur. To have the notice on edge of paper, it can be clipped off. To have giant watermark, your are wrecking effect of your piece.

Some might complain that to copyright everything one puts out can be cost prohibitive. With drawings, things where an artists hand is so blatantly present, it is not necessary. As for the rest, it actually makes an artist assess their work better. No one hits a bullseye each and every time. If you are considering copyrighting a work w/its accompanying fee, you have to be more honest with yourself.

Copyright is not a forcefield which will prevent people from lifting an image you created. It gives you a quick recourse to take back what is yours. Generation Instagram feels that if it is online and they like it, it’s a victimless crime to use it as content. Copyright allows you to get it back quicker or really drop the hammer should someone actually be monetizing one of your creations.

by Wayne Wolfson

Art Balm

I am in the middle of working on a new CINEFIELD® and so other big works are on hold until done. There is still the nightly drawing/woodshedding. After a week or so, I find myself missing painting. I am lucky that my lyra pieces are a close approximation, it gives me the same serving the process emotional pay off.

Although the lyra pieces are also a form of woodshedding, I consider all the mediums I use of equal value, nothing is a second class citizen.. If I can get the effects i want in monochrome, especially for portraits, then when I am using my paints, it becomes “easier”.

Stateside, the news continues to be bleak. Everything has morphed into culture wars, a forced upon life or death struggles. A lot of it manages to be very serious and also absurd. It’s become too easy for one to remain amped up from a steady diet of doom scrolling, shaking their fist at the other side while veins July Fourth pop in the forehead. Even as the book banners morph more and more into (most likely) book burners, know it has to eventually pass.

In the interim, all artists have a duty to do their thing. Not to have specific political messages in their work, but to show beauty, even terrible beauty or ugly beauty. It serves as a reminder there is something bigger than oneself out there, culture. It’s a way to show that emotions besides the negative ones can be equally as strong.

If everything but the fight and thoughts of the enemy drop away, what’s the point of it all?

Two Lyra pieces 5×7

by Wayne Wolfson