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his new york gallery ...ez.ezairry
and special exhibits.........epson photo center
.............................an...graven images blog
graven images
I think of my paintings as icons or totems derived from biological forms. Each image is conceived whole in the mind and performed (written) and refined on canvas, paper, plaster or computer screen.
The Kayak Roll (http://www.qajaqusa.org/QK/rolls/rolls.html) is one of those skills that can change ones sense of oneself. Learning to roll can be terrifying. One has to purposely capsize ones boat, then use the paddle to grip the surface, you use your hips and knees to flip the boat right side up, then you bring your body out of the water and finally the head comes up last. This head up last maneuver is counter-intuitive, after all we all want to bring our heads out of the water first. No matter how well the novice understands the principles of rolling (intellectually) most people try to roll with a tremendous effort applied to the paddle, then they try to wrench themselves out of the water head first. Of course this means that the roll won't work and this improper form could even cause an injury.
I make my art with the same type of visual and muscle memory that is used in the Kayak Roll. I also find a similarity with the sweeping curves used in the roll and the sweeping curves in the gestural marks that I use in my work. My paintings are hieroglyphs that tell visceral stories. I believe that there are archetypal images that are part of our beings. We are attracted to the shapes and colors of ripe fruits and women's bodies. We are repelled by sharp teeth and snake shapes. I believe that these archetypes are wired into our brains and are basically part of our beings. I am trying to find these icons within myself and use them as keys to unlock the visual depository.
digital marquetry
This is what I call digital Marquetry. The shapes are cut and pasted from photos of stone, lead, slate, rust and the hull of a light ship. I have been collecting images of textured surfaces on photo safaris for the past few of months which I've been using to create a photo palette. This has been a real break through for me in the development my digital art technique.
I've printed these on 13" X 19" paper.
.....................................................................................The cracked white area / the white line on a road.
The brown from an African Dung Sculpture of a water buffalo.
The rust is from a rusting Hudson River pier
............................................................................................A wall with worn advertising peeling off.
......The red is the hull of an old light ship
................................................................The yellow is from a painted steel plate.
I see the imperfections in the borders between my shapes as artifacts of my digital process not unlike drips in painting. Sometimes drips work. Of course sometimes seeing the process can blow an effect. If I am really careful I can make these look like photos of well made objects. Although I think that I have done this in some pieces I'm not sure that I should always aim for this kind of effect. Even though I am producing images on a very sophisticated 21st century Machine I am still an artist who aims for the crude and the primitive. I aspire to be rough like Dubuffet or Leger.I like to accept accidents from the natural World into my work. Some times a curve can be smoothly produced by a single gestural stroke but sometimes I like to laboriously produce a curve in increments so I can exercise more control over the resulting shapes. This can sometimes seem hesitant. I sometimes like hesitancy.
................................................................I like to avoid illusion or at least use it sparingly.
...........I like the idea of color and shape on a 2D plane. ..........................................Anti-illusionism.
These are digital images made out of forms cut and pasted from photos of textured surfaces. Painted stucco, painted concrete, rust, and pebbles.
I have been using photos of textures and surfaces, trying to keep the surfaces of the photographed objects at the surface of my image to avoid the illusion of turning the surface into a window.
It appears that I have created a different kind of illusion.
Harry Spitz
85 Pitt St. apt #21
NY, NY 10002
email: h.spitz@verizon dot net