Joyce Lee on sun 25 aug 02
One of the new paintings is now hanging
in the living room and for now I'm content
with its placement. Actually, there is no
"over the couch" space since the couches are in the
middle of the room adjacent to the fireplace... very conventional =
arrangement, but mine own.
For those who've asked that I report:
I selected prints from other parts of the
house .... and one plate ..... to hang in proximity of the new painting. =
Now, THOSE walls from which the selections were made are askew, but =
they'll be easier
to re-arrange than the new painting has been. Genre/school (?), of =
course, is not the same but each addition has some element or color that =
seems to unify the space somewhat, yet creates a bit of a surprise when =
the eye encounters the pairings. =20
The new abstract work has a horizontal line (a plane? an
angle?) subtly repeated vertically up the painting ... you have to be =
looking for such in order to notice, I think.... looks somewhat like =
sections of the line of a roof. The colors
are more or less blues with a bit of greens,
yellows, reds etc. I hung a vertical, narrow print of Rie Munoz's just =
around the bend from the abstract work. (Rie is a Scandinavian artist =
living in Alaska who paints Alaskan scenes from a markedly different =
perspective ... have
collected her for years ... now she's too
expensive for really good prints. Don't tell me that she's too =
commercial..... maybe that's because she's good.) Anyway,
in a cartoon-style watercolor, a roof line
is repeated from just above the pier to
the outer top edge of the painting. I did the same with a couple of =
other works that have series of horizontal lines moving up vertically in =
the paintings, though not remindful of
roof lines. For contrast, and because it
looks great and is exciting all by itself,
I hung a neriage plate of claybud Bryan
Johnson (I think it's neriage, colored clay
pounded together so that a random pattern emerges when thrown?). =
Bryan's plate is round with
wavelike, jagged lines merging, 3/4s up from the bottom edge, into what =
could be
a surfer's Big One ... colors are blues with
white, a bit of yellow and very subtle olive
greens. (This is an extraordinary plate; every artist who visits wants =
me to at least
will it to him or her ... I say, "When I go, it
goes." AND don't tell them that I have two from the same block of clay =
so theme (?) is similar. This "grouping" (?) is next
to a large window that also looks out on the
three horizontal lines which are the ranges of the Sierra Nevada =
foothills .... horizontal and serrated ..... with the blue sky, white =
clouds, purple, mauve and navy shadows..... nice.
Whatever, there's a sense of harmony in the arrangement but one of =
surprise, also.
I realize that aesthetics are intangible influences on our lives ... =
daily influences.
So, believing this, I also believe that good
art does indeed have to match the sofa, speaking metaphorically and =
having nothing particularly to do with color. "Match" is the key word, =
whether the "match" is made through a logical process, which I used in =
part .... or is intuited, which also happened with me. Even if the =
"sofa" must be tossed out or recovered or simply re-arranged, some sense =
of integration of
artistic elements must occur for the art to
have its full impact on our senses .... at least, for me..... where I =
am....... at the moment.... today.
Joyce
In the Mojave hoping you'll overlook my
lack of artspeak. It's been a long, long time since I took Art =
Appreciation 101 .... and my only real art museums were the Louvre, the =
big one in Chicago, and a couple in Amsterdam ...... and many in Los =
Angeles and Pasadena (Norton Simon?)... and in Mexico City (many times)
...... in these, however, I was too overcome
to concentrate on the patter that came with the event. Seems they were =
pretty thoughtfully "arranged," too. No out-of-synch sofas there. Lots =
of such in my life, but that's another saga...... also, ongoing...
I came from the generation that was befuddled by some "wild&crazy" dress =
designer who stated that Blue may be worn with Green .... IF they're the =
"right" shades of blue and green ..... and all else is coordinated..... =
etcetcetc
=20
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