Tag Archives | abstract art

Coming down to the wire…

By John on August 20, 2011 in Paros

It’s a misty and cloudy day this morning with nine short days before I head back to the Aegean Center, Europe and the future of my life. Today I was supposed to go on a hike with some of the ‘Page’ editors, but we have postponed and will meet for lunch instead. They wish to monopolize as much of my time as possible, but I must maintain balance in all things today. There are the usual tasks that comes with every Saturday morning and there are those I wish to accomplish before I attend an arts opening this evening. There is darkroom work today, that’s for sure. I have 5 rolls of Ilford PanF 50 120 that I need to develop and hang this afternoon and tonight I need to print at least one, if not two, pieces for some people who allowed me to photograph on their property. If I get a chance, I’ll scan and add to the website before I scoot out next Monday. I’ll need to tone those before I deliver them, that’s for sure.

I have run a ‘test pack’ and am fairly secure on what I am bringing and what I am leaving behind. Since I will be in Italy for the first month I need to bring some nicer clothes with me. Long pants, shoes, shirts, etc…One cannot dress down in Florence and Rome like one does on Paros. The Italians frown on shirts and t-shirts in their churches and restaurants, and with good reason: it’s smacks of laziness, poverty and disrespect.

The American culture, or the ‘Culture of Death’ as I like to call it, raises this attitude to the level of acceptance. What we consider mainstream here in the USA, i.e. fashion, music, food and general knowledge derives itself from abject poverty and ignorance. The other day I was driving behind a large Ford pick-up with the proud emblem ‘Redneck’ on the back; the television is rife with political religious crazies espousing a dangerously medievalist and venomous doctrine geared towards the poor, the paranoid and the poorly educated; the radio airwaves are saturated with violence, misogyny and anger; I look around at the sullen faces of today’s youth and wonder who these people are that could be our future? This can be a daunting vision, all of this. I find light and growth in isolated pockets of humanism and spirit. Arts communities are more important than ever these days, and of course they are the first programs to lose any outside funding front the powers that be. That money must go elsewhere. I am convince we are either on the brink, or already within, a New Dark Ages. The Enlightenment is over, as is the Renaissance that preceded it. But this is a natural cycle. It is just our luck to be at the low end of the bell curve.

In any case I am out of here soon enough. I’ll leave the bucolic Hudson Valley behind for a few months while I engage in a lengthy peripatetic lecture through Italy and Greece. I’ll try to update this as I go along, I hope more than I usually do. Next post: Florence, Italy.

Caio,

JDCM

Possible show and travel draws near…

By John on July 7, 2011 in Paros, Uncategorized

I leave for Italy and the Aegean Center Italian session in a little over month-and-a-half. To be honest I am not sure, beyond the art history context, what I will be doing. I am nervous about the fall and what it will bring to me. Obviously ‘change’ will be a constant. With all the drama of last spring behind me I hope to make a fresh start with the Aegean Center and build some new bridges in the local community as well as the school dynamic. What my role will be as a third semester intern is unknown, but I have written of this already. I have only the ability to let the Universe decide these things for me and act accordingly. I have been emailing the people I know and so far no response. Perhaps this is my own impatience since I tend to write back to those who email me all but immediately. Other people have their lives to live and I cannot expect them to jump onto their keyboards and drop me a line. The urge to begin ‘test packing’ is filling me and I have new gear to bring, namely a new laptop which is something I have never traveled with before. I’ll see how it packs in my carry-on bag today, perhaps, and test the weight.

I am in negotiations with the owner of a great space for a small solo show. I hope to hang the event for an August opening running through Labor day, but I may have to skip that weekend as it would make it difficult for the owner to sign a lease with anyone else beginning on the first of the month. I will be flexible with this and take what I can get. I will also have to pay rent, which is a cost I had not anticipated, but in the long run do-able and necessary if I want this show in such a short amount of time. I will have have 12 figure studies and twelve ‘rural views’, all medium format and all sized in an intimate manner that draws the viewer into the image. We shall see, we shall see…I am ‘acting as if’, however, and prepping my work for the show. This means matting, framing and having it gallery ready. I will not push away any other opportunities for other viewings. Once again, the Universe is in charge. I can only do the footwork and accept the results. Some of the new images can be seen on my photo site, so I won’t post them here.

More to come…JDCM

The ghost town…

By John on June 10, 2011 in Paros, Uncategorized

It is quiet here. Although there are small knots of tourists, mostly retirees, the nature of Paroikia has changed with the departure of many of my fellow Aegean Center students. There’s no more back and forth from classes or the digital lab, the darkroom or painting studios. The cafes are no longer host to small throngs of eager-eyed art students from abroad, at least from my perspective. I am still working in the dark room, though, at night when the air is, conceivably, cooler. This is really not true since the ambient temperature in the room itself is upwards of 70*F. I have had to begin cooling down the developer with ice packs made from 500ml bottles and even then it takes a while for the soup to drop to 21C. I am currently printing snapshots from my time here: landscapes, hikes and street scenes. Mostly for memory’s sake than anything else. Tonight I’ll enlarge a small landscape from a hike: olive groves, stone walls, rocky hills behind and puffy white clouds in an azure sky. It should be a pretty little piece and if I get it down I’ll make three copies for gifts.

I am having my horoscope read today by a fellow student from Belgium and it will be interesting to see if the reading matches up with my current life changes and bio-rhythmic waves. I am packing boxes for storage and shipping having already shipped my portfolios and a box containing my 4×5 back to the US already. The shipper said 3 to 5 days, which means a week at least. I hope they reach Ancramdale in good shape. The weather has been odd. The scirocco that has been coming through the Cyclades as of late has brought with it dust, hot Saharan winds and a general laziness that speaks of even hotter climes than Paros. Yesterday was hot and cloudy most of the morning and I lay on the beach enjoying the heat without the direct sunlight. Back at my flat and after my siesta I awoke at 4:30 to find that the clouds had rolled away and the sun returned in all of its blistering glory. ‘Hot’ is a relative term, but it was that alright. By sundown it had cooled a bit but I slept with the air-con blowing so at least I was able to get a full night’s rest without sweating.

I have been given permission to update my photo site with some of the figure studies I have created. I call this series ‘Opus’, which in Latin means ‘work’. They will be in series and I will have to have the prints scanned when I get home. It will take some time, but time I have. Strange…Many years ago I was in a rock band called ‘Furnace’. I wanted to create a larger, longer piece called ‘God-Family-Work’. This idea was pooh-poohed by the other band members and I was eventually drummed out of the group for being too irresponsible and lazy. Now I am creating a piece I call ‘Opus’. Perhaps this is a philosophical thread that has always run through my life. Today I search family, or more precisely a community of fellows; I continue my seeking for guidance from a Power greater than myself and I labor for the results I wish to attain. Am I living the design I hope to create?

More to come..

JDCM

In the Aegean Center digital lab…

By John on May 30, 2011 in Paros, Uncategorized

This is an update from Greece, from the digital lab at the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts. I feel like a ship at sea calling ship-to-shore on the shortwave. An update from Greece, indeed. It has been a tumultuous three months. I have created some amazing work and I am grateful to have been here. Personally and emotionally, however, I have been put through the ringer. I have been called a friend by some, ignored by many, ostracized by a few and even, I think, been thought of as a suspicious character by at least one or two people. Throughout all of this I have made a couple of friends with some of the younger students and lost one as well, someone who I treated decently and cared for deeply. Such is life. I will never get used to that gut-sick feeling of grief and loss. I am not ashamed or upset about how I have behaved: I was honorable and righteous in thought and deed. But I digress…

We are all wrapping up the term: painters are painting their final strokes; digital printers are slipping out the final pieces of Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Matte, Pearl or Baryta. In the darkroom my commitment to the four portfolios is finished but I still have to print some copies for the models I have worked with. The Ensemble begins it’s short series of 4 performances this week. Next week most of the students begin to leave, some directly back to the USA although some are loitering in Europe for a week or so, myself included. I’ll stay on Paros until the 17th and then head to Athens for about 4 or 5 days in the relative comfort of a hotel in the Plaka area of town. I’ll see some friends, watch some movies and catch some museum exhibits that I have seen before. I will be coming back for a third semester in a few months: more emotional stress, artistic expression and personal angst. What am I thinking?

More to come…

JDCM

Halfway through and coming down to the crunch…

By John on April 22, 2011 in Paros

This weekend is the Easter celebration. both for the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches. This means that Paros is jammed with holiday travelers as well as those returning to the island for a traditional family get-together. I could do without all the traffic, throngs of tourists and everything that comes along with it, but let’s face it–religion is Big Business and Bug Business needs money. I have always been uncomfortable with any group or ideology that tells me what to do. Big Religion is just as bad as Big Government. More shady deals based on power, money and the acquisition of More. But I digress…The events will be colorful and ancient, full of meaning for many.

My photography is progressing. I have several lovely images from the figure sessions (both film and digital) and will be cranking out more in the next two weeks. In the past few weeks the digital lab has increased its output and a couple of people who had been spinning their wheels seem to have had a fire lighted under them. This is good. To be honest I was growing disillusioned with the student body (my problem, not theirs), but hey, they are young and full of beans. Everyone is working at their own pace and they will all receive a wonderful gift of having been here. I can focus on my own work from here on and finish my portfolios. The group show is on June 3rd or 4th, which isn’t a lot of time…

More to come…JDCM

Athens greeted me with cool rain and grey eyes…

By John on March 2, 2011 in Paros

If I stand on the balcony of my hotel room and look to the left I see the Acropolis and the Parthenon through a small canyon of more modern buildings. I am back in Greece and I feel like I have never left. I know the streets, the alleyways and the mood of the people. It is still winter and the economy is in shambles, so they are very dark and full of woe–Wednesday’s Children one and all.

I didn’t sleep on the flight from New York, so I hit the sack when I checked in to the Hotel Attallos, just off of the Monastiraki. I slept for 6 hours then I went out for a coffee and met up with some Greek and ex-pat friends closer to the city center. I came back, grabbed a gyro and hit the hay. I have slept for another 4 hours and am now wide awake at 1:40 in the morning. No worries. I am in town for another day so I can use that time to re-aquaint myself with a museum or two. I need to buy my boat ticket for Friday also. I am meeting up with some returning students today and we’ll all go to Paros Friday morning.

I have an idea for a photo shoot based on the pre-Olympian gods, the Titans. It might make for interesting subjects for carbon printing or at least large format printing. I invision Edward Steichen’s images of sculptor Auguste Rodin and I see gods and goddesses in his place…

More to come,

JDCM

Packing it up, shutting it down…

By John on February 1, 2011 in Uncategorized

The day I fly to Greece approaches. In less than a month I’ll be back in Athens and in a world I am much more comfortable with. For some reason Europe always makes me feel more at home and relaxed than here in the US.

I have begun packing. I am mailing two boxes ahead of my arrival on Paros. One contains sheet film for my 4×5 and b/w paper. It is still cheaper to by European paper here in the US and mail it to Europe. It’s because of the VAT. The other box, which is much bigger, will have my 4×5 and medium format cameras coddled in bubble-wrap as well as some bulkier clothing and books. March and early April can be wet and cool in the Kyklades. This should lighten my carry-on and checked baggage loads a lot.

I have two shows this month: the first I hang on Sunday and it is at the Rhinecliff Hotel and open with an artist’s reception on February 11th. I am sharing the space with three other visual artists and I think the show will be up for a while after I leave. The second show is the CCCA show I have already blogged about. That reception is February 19th from 5-7PM and should be quite the time. The third group show is at a nearby assisted living venue called Noble Horizons. It will be a 14th Colony event and consist of small works. I’ll have a nice b/w silver print for that one ready to go and in the hands of a close friend.

After tomorrow night I’ll be shutting down the dark room until I return in June. I may still develop a roll or two of film, but the printing activity will cease. I’ll discard any chemistry that won’t last and cover the enlarger. Paper will go into the fridge. My sisters will come and go through out the month and I have already delegated tasks to the caregivers for my mother’s well-being. All is as it should be.

JDCM

My hat’s in the ring…

By John on January 23, 2011 in Uncategorized

A few weeks ago I submitted five new digital abstract pieces for a juried show in nearby Hudson, NY. I have been in group shows with the CCCA before and my work was well received, but much about my style, knowledge and technique have changed since then. Also, I have had many opportunities to submit work since that time four years ago but the timing always seemed to be off. Either I was out of the country, or I received the notice too late to have my work printed properly. Long story short, they accepted one image and I am very grateful for that. It will be a good show and an important show for me. Once more I have put myself out there in the public eye and have been accepted. Bravo for me!

The opening is February 19, 2011. Please come and bring a guest.

JDCM

A new year begins…

By John on January 2, 2011 in Uncategorized

Happy New Year to all! Please let this new year be a bit kinder and warmer than the last, with all of its fears and worries over what people felt to be really important. Money. What we need to do is act a little kinder towards one another and stay away from Belarus! No a place to go these days for a vacation.

Longnook

I leave for Athens in 59 days. I am going back to the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts for another term. I have been courted by both the digital printing guru and the darkroom sorceress and have chosen the ways of the darkroom for my work-study program. I will be working with my 4×5 and medium format primarily. I’ll bring my new digital–oh yes, I have upgraded to a Canon 5D MkII. It is lovely and full-frame which finally allows me to use the L-Series lenses to their full effect.

I have submitted 5 pieces for a juried show in Hudson, NY to be exhibited in the old Opera House in February. I hope that at least one is chosen and they give it a good space to see it. The pieces are all 11″x14″. As you can see by the image, it is following the abstract path I have been on for the past year. Whether I stay there, I don’t know. The Aegean Center will see to that. If this spring is half the catharsis that last spring was, then I should be in good shape for whatever the arts world throws at me.

I recently had the chance to visit a friend’s home and look at his art collection. I was unimpressed. Yes, it was all “very important” art and the artists were all “very important” but the work itself left me cold and uninspired: Modern art devoid of warmth, life and verve. It left me grateful that I love the work that I love and this work varies throughput the ages. Trust me, there is some very modern work that blows my mind as well as some older pieces that find dull and insipid. I think that actually it was the collector that I found dull, with his repetitive phrases of “important” and which museum wanted which pieces when he died. Very tacky.

The light is very flat today, but I hope to get out and shoot a roll or two. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunnier and I will take the 4×5 out and make some exposures. I am working on farm images these days. I have to call a nearby farmer and get permission to shoot on his property. That’s all I’m saying about it.

JDCM

New directions, new work…

By John on May 18, 2010 in Uncategorized

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As I have already written, my digital work here as undergone a profound fundamental change. Gone are the days of treating travel snapshots with the contrived gravity that only my own mind could grasp. Although my film work has changed as well, it remains more within the traditional scope of photography. The other has become more abstract and modern. The example I am posting is a close-up of the ground. It is from the seaport of Piraeus on a sunny day. The only manipulations I have performed are exposure and curve controls and some selective colors that augment rather than alter the reality of the image. It was taken with my old Canon Digital Rebel XT with a fixed 50mm lens. I tell you all these things because I do not believe that abstract art should be thought of as a riddle to unravel, but rather a representation of color and light. Be aware that the actual image is 250 x 400cm and fits on an A3 piece of paper. Also, the colors are much more vibrant. The yellow is brighter with more orange rather than the mustardy color on the screen. I apologize for that.

More to come,

JDCM

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