CURRENT EXHIBITION: TWO FOR ONE
Each of these paintings was started by an artist and abandoned. One way or another the works came to my studio to be finished. After observing, seeing what is there and where it might go, I begin to paint, always with the freedom to change, add or invent, to make a new, beguiling, complete artwork.
TWO ARTISTS - ONE PAINTING
ONCE RUTH LEVINE GAVE ME an oil pastel painting on masonite that she had scraped, reworked and given up on, saying, "Have fun with this." After considering the panel for a while, I set to work, each scrape and new mark responding to the last to build a new image. I collaged in heads of Queen Elizabeth and Einstein. She loved it. A double universe..
DOUBLE UNIVERSE (18X 24) oil pastel/ collage/slated masonite
I was given some rolled up canvases marked 'unfinished' from Patricia Segnan's studio when it was closed in the 90's. Every once in a while I would unroll them and wonder about 'finishing' them. The marks and color areas were very-very pale in comparison to the 'finished' ones that Pat stretched and exhibited. Finally I felt I had a sense of the atmosphere, pulled out my oil pastels, oil paint and solvent and carefully began to see what would develop.
CAMPING (18x 24") oil pastel/oil/canvas
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 AT THE BEACH (16X 20") oil paster/oil / canvas
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BREEZE (18X 24") oil pastel/oil/canvas
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 IN THE PARK (16X 12"). acrylic/ canvas
This landscape was started by Myrtle Katzen when she was working in Studio/ Gallery 202 (around 2009.) One day she put it, unfinished, in the trash, saying some of the colors weren't right. Hmm,what to do? I hated to see an interesting start abandoned so with permission, I went to town. Or rather to plein air in my imagination. A tree trunk or two were amalgamated, a couple colors and shapes changed and untouched areas painted. Myrtle liked it so much she kept it. |
 OUT THE WINDOW (12x 16"). acrylic/canvas
In a storage area of the studio, a painting made by Myrtle's grandson Alex while in grade school, was languishing. While there weren't any raw (unpainted) areas of the canvas, some of the colors didn't get along; the composition wasn't resolved. But it had a certain joie de vivre. About to be abandoned, it became a collaboration. Which colors to adjust, what to add, how to keep the joie? Two hands, one joie. |
In 2019 I was walking up a hill in the neighborhood and saw some frames and two canvases in sacks for the trash pick-up the next day. One canvas was a picture of a dog painted from a photograph, It had an almost appealing expression and was wearing a coat. The other, unremarkable, was a herringbone pattern in several shades of pale and iridescent blues- like a color test. I went to the door and asked the neighbor about recycling the materials and she agreed. The composition of the dog painting was not bad but the colors were killing it, so it got a make-over. The frames were recycled. And the herringbone became something else entirely.
FOUND DOG (20x 16") acrylic/canvas
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 CODE (20x16") acrylic/canvas
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THE ANDES (72x 36"). oil/ink/canvas
MEANWHILE,
Andy Snow wasn't sure what to do with this unfinished canvas by LILA SNOW. It came to my studio in February 2021, half painted and half raw, presenting a new challenge. Looking closely you will see Lila's writing throughout. Towards the bottom she wrote, "BASQUIAT," the name of an artist who developed a graffiti painting style. The darkest blue in the middle was there.
It took a while to decide the orientation of the canvas. A good deal of the marking was on raw areas, so to keep these marks meant thin washed/glazed areas rather than opaque color, all in harmony with the dark original turquoise.
This is how it came out.
MEANWHILE,
Andy Snow wasn't sure what to do with this unfinished canvas by LILA SNOW. It came to my studio in February 2021, half painted and half raw, presenting a new challenge. Looking closely you will see Lila's writing throughout. Towards the bottom she wrote, "BASQUIAT," the name of an artist who developed a graffiti painting style. The darkest blue in the middle was there.
It took a while to decide the orientation of the canvas. A good deal of the marking was on raw areas, so to keep these marks meant thin washed/glazed areas rather than opaque color, all in harmony with the dark original turquoise.
This is how it came out.
During a visit with Zinnia in the summer of 2002, she showed me two photo collages with acrylic on artboards that she had framed. Despite sponge painting the dark frames she was dissatisfied. I suggested, if she was willing, a collaboration. Instead of deep-sixing them, she handed them over. I collaged and boldly painted.
DREAMING IN B&W (14X 18") collage/acrylic/artboard
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GARDENING (14x 18') collage/acrylic/artpanel
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