Studio update: Studio visits, exhibitions, new work

In preparation for a studio visit from collectors (and friends) over Fourth of July weekend, I manically re-organized the warren of attic rooms I�ve adopted for a studio in my Mystic, CT, house. The visit went well, and I sold a couple paintings from the 2007 Tower Series, which I�ve rarely shown publicly. At the same time, I realized that however lucrative selling work from the studio may be, the audience is so limited it’s ultimately unsatisfying. I emerged from the long weekend determined to line up some new shows, and sent letters to friends asking for advice. I want to thank everyone who has graciously stepped forward with suggestions and help.

In my new paintings, I�m engrossed in the subtleties of color. Sure, I took a Bauhaus-type color class at art school, but in previous work, using color struck me as both thorny and precious, so I always worked with an austere, severely limited palette. But this summer, due in part to time spent at the studio shack in Beacon, NY, where I visited Dia:Beacon and saw installations by Blinky Palermo and Imi Knoebel, I became fascinated by color mixing and color relationships. Dia is certainly an odd place to discover color, but gradually I’ve overcome my chromophobia. I started a series of color studies on cardboard (which will be available in my Pierogi file in the fall), several 40″ x 54″ canvases (unstretched so I can get them out of the attic), a dozen small constructed wood pieces, and some sewn canvas collages. I�m at that anxious beginning stage in a new series when anything can happen, good and bad. In my next Studio Update, I�ll let you know what happens. Of course, now that the attic is presentable, if you feel like coming to Mystic, let’s arrange a studio visit.
Images: My painting room in the attic (above, right) is small but thankfully air conditioned. Dog Fiona is sleeping near the easel that I found in the trash a few years ago. At left, above, unstretched paintings are hanging to dry. At right, the front attic windows from outside.

Note: Look for my article about Dia’s Imi Knoebel installation, “24 Colors–For Blinky,” in the July/August issue of The Brooklyn Rail.

Related posts:
Studio update: Itinerant painter (May 9, 2008)
Habitat for Artists: Studio shack update (May 18, 2008)
Studio update: Unplugged in Beacon (June 6, 2008)
Studio update: Studio visits, exhibitions, new work (July 12, 2008)