EXHIBITION: 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." Other than the black shapes on the left side and some on the right, most of the panel was scraped. To build a new image, each new mark was a response to what was there- including the heads of Queen Elizabeth and Albert Einstein. A DOUBLE UNIVERSE. Ruth loved it.
DOUBLE UNIVERSE (18X 24) oil pastel/ collage/slated masonite
One way or another various artworks left unfinished have come to my studio. They hang around, I see what's there, where it might go. The idea being to work from where it lays- with complete freedom to add, change and invent- only enough until there is a complete, finished painting.
When Patricia Segnan's studio was closed in 1990, I was given some rolled up canvases marked 'unfinished.' Every once in a while I unrolled them with an eye to 'finishing' them. The drawn marks and colors were very-very pale in comparison to the ones Patricia had stretched and exhibited. Finally I stretched them, pulled out the oil paints and pastels, and with a sense of the atmosphere, carefully began to see where they would go.
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
Working in Studio/Gallery 202, Myrtle Katzen started this landscape (circa 2009.) One day she put it in the trash, saying some of the colors weren't right. Hmm? I hated to see an interesting start abandoned so with permission, using the same palette, 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
This landscape was started by Alex, Myrtle's grandson when he was in grade school. Some of the colors and shapes were killing each other, but there were some good things going on. It had a certain joie de vivre. About to be abandoned, it was handed to me. Which colors to adjust, what to add, how to keep the joie? Two hands, one joie. |
In the spring of 2019, walking up a hill in the neighborhood, I spied these two canvases in sacks beside the trash cans. The neighbor was home and agreed that I could recycle them. One canvas was a picture of a dog wearing a coat, apparently painted from a photograph, with an almost appealing expression. The composition wasn't too bad but the colors were terrible. The other was an unremarkable herringbone pattern in several shades of blues like a color test. The pouch got a total makeover while the herringbone went through several stages becoming something very different.
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
Andy Snow wasn't sure what to do with this painting only half painted by Lila Snow. It came to my studio in February 2021, presenting a new challenge. Looking closely you will see Lila's writing. Towards the bottom she wrote, "BASQUIAT," the name of an artist who developed a graffiti painting style. The darkest diagonal 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.
Andy Snow wasn't sure what to do with this painting only half painted by Lila Snow. It came to my studio in February 2021, presenting a new challenge. Looking closely you will see Lila's writing. Towards the bottom she wrote, "BASQUIAT," the name of an artist who developed a graffiti painting style. The darkest diagonal 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. Despite sponge painting the frames, she was dissatisfied. I suggested a collaboration if she was willing. Instead of deep-sixing them, she handed them over. I collaged pieces from a print on rice paper and boldly painted and gave them new names.
DREAMING IN B&W (14X 18") collage/acrylic/artboard
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GARDENING (14x 18') collage/acrylic/artpanel
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