i write occasionally about other artists’ work, less so my own. my good friend philip golabuk in florida asked what is special to me about “crone reveals.” here is the email i sent in reply:
“this painting is done on top of an old one that i turned upside down. i do that sometimes to give myself parameters outside my control and to encourage my ’subconscious’ to get into the act. (also to recycle.)
“as i explored the terrain with brush and paint, a figure emerged that i recognized as an ancient crone. this was wondrous. continuing to paint in the same manner, in sort of a conscious and willing trance, the other figure(s), and the environs, all came forth out of the same who-knows? my strong feeling was that the crone emerged to reveal the scene to me. a most amazing way, perhaps, of talking to myself. at any rate, the revelation came from deep and went deep.”
Sometimes art comes from the heart’s hidden spaces.
i had way more fun at
artspace404’s wild wacky wonderful “mad science lab” today than anyone had a right to expect! giving the “lab” in conjunction with their current exhibition, the artists -
annalisa and
vanessa vobis, and
craig dietrich – put on a five-act play..ful two hours, making vivariums, taking lint roller samples of the outdoors to add to a profile of santa rosa, smothering potatoes in plastic (you had to be there), turning uncarded wool into felt, and .. oh yes, one silkscreen adventure! the freeing grace of the trio was that they claimed no scientific knowledge at all. it was about trying things, making things up; i.e., art!
the mad science lab was just one more totally cool happening (it’s the third exhibition) at the newly re-conceived arts council exhibition space at 404 mendocino avenue in santa rosa. artspace404 isn’t the only contemporary exhibition space in sonoma county (the high quality quicksilver comes to mind), but it is definitely the most risk-taking and experimental! kudos to jennifer sloan (executive director), nicole lee (exhibitions director), and michael friedenberg (board president) for the gutsy new direction. -james
It is a thrill to watch a young and talented artist like
Ryan Douglas work. He has the high spirits and energy, and the passion for an artistic vision, that promise so much for his artistic future and ours.
Douglas brings to his quest a wonderful gift of drawing. His eye is sharp, and he lays down a line so nimble that it kidnaps and carries home the subtlest nuances at the edge of a human figure on a background of moving colors and shapes that gradually interpenetrate the figure as nature does us all. Few can resist loving Ryan’s drawings.
"Trap Door"
Ryan also paints. The work exhibited at
Hammerfriar in Healdsburg, California, opening May 13 2009, is rooted squarely in grappling creatively with edges. Douglas’ artistic vision leads him to dig deep into the limits that edges imply, to explore transgressions of those limits, and to express the transformations and changes that take place in such interpenetrations. Doors and doorways haunt the art for their symbolism. A few of the paintings are on door panels.
Technically, Ryan’s drawing is more evolved than the painting. The charcoals and pastels of the drawings allow soft flow from one form to another without abrupt sense of departure. The artist uses house paints in his larger works, which challenge him to find softness where mostly sharp edges prevail. Figures and forms occasionally hold themselves at an indifferent distance from one another, thwarting the interpenetration and transformation of Douglas’ artistic vision.
This is the work of a young and vigorous artist who is creative and innovative. It is a delight to see young genius turn the arc light of a fine talent to the daunting task of illuminating such fundamental concerns of life and humanity.
