echo mountain

2012-01-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

January 14 - February 25, 2012 at Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica

by Andy Brumer

If painter Robert Kingston were a poet, readers might associate his work less with the cerebral machinations of a T.S. Eliot, or the personal confessions of a Robert Lowell. One might, however, align him with the soulfully sensitive “Projective Verse” eruptions of Charles Olson, Robert Creeley and Robert Duncan. That group established the poetry component and cornerstone at the once vital but now defunct avant-garde, North Carolina-based art school called Black Mountain College. They felt that their poetic lines unfolded into the metaphorical ‘open field’ of the blank page and were driven into creation via the cadence and duration of breathing itself. These poets, like their Abstract Expressionist forebears, stood committed to producing a process-oriented art from the center of their bodies. The late Cy Twombly might stand as a painter-practitioner of this, if not a similar aesthetic. Not surprisingly, people often position Kingston’s work alongside Twombly’s.

In these new, large-scale paintings Kingston treads the same painterly path of lyrical abstraction that has resulted in a series of highly regarded exhibitions stretching back over the last twenty-five years. Kingston has stated that for him, each painting begins with “... making a random mark” on a gessoed canvas, an act or projection which instantly engages him in an intense yet playful conversation with both his space and materials (mostly acrylic paint, but sometimes including white house paint and graphite pencil on canvas). His process involves smearing, scribbling, layering, and erasing. Through it, the artist builds textured surfaces that feel like visceral and woven atmospheres, through which painted fragments of various densities weave and wander like birds flying through clouds or boats bobbing among waves.

Questions of finished or unfinished become mute if not meaningless when considering a Kingston painting, in part because the artist’s bountiful fountain of images command such intense visual consideration in and of themselves that while looking at one portion of a canvas, the rest of the painting might collapse into a kind of humming blur. Furthermore, though painterly in the modernist manner of Matisse and Diebenkorn, Kingston’s canvases also direct a trompe d’oeil nod to a Schwitters or a Rauschenberg-type assemblage. Therefore a patch of smeared black paint in one of these Kingston paintings alludes to a piece of pasted newsprint, while a swatch of cadmium blue becomes a “framed” and metaphorical section of the ocean in another.

Of course, each painting’s “sections” never fail to resolve themselves into balanced and integrated wholes. Yet feeling in Kingston’s work doesn’t straddle archetypes or express opposite ideas simultaneously. Rather the emotions of each canvas unfold sequentially and coexist comfortably next to one another. Therefore some whimsically doodled lines of graphite dance with a tangent patch of rugged paint in one painting, while a veiled dreamscape visible through layers of light wash along with a vivid and brightly painted suggestion of a stout forest dot the virtual geography of another.

The attentive and receptive viewer will find here same kind of masterly execution, ripe imagination and fearless optimism that Kingston has exhibited throughout what has steadily evolved into a distinguished body of work.

This week in the studio

2011-07-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

Twombly on Twombly

2011-07-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

"It's instinctive in a certain kind of painting, not as if you were painting an object or special things, but it's like coming through the nervous system. It's like a nervous system. It's not described, it's happening. The feeling is going on with the task. The line is the feeling, from a soft thing, a dreamy thing, to something hard, something arid, something lonely, something ending, something beginning. It's like I'm experiencing something frightening, I'm experiencing the thing and I have to be at that state because I'm also going." - Cy Twombly

Cy and I in New York at the MOMA.

Three new paintings in the studio

2011-07-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday Studio

2011-06-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

First strokes in new studio

2011-06-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

Two to San Francisco

2011-05-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

New Studio

2011-05-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

I've rented the former Alfie's Appliance on the corner of Lake Avenue and Altadena Drive in Altadena, California as my new studio/project space.

website: echomountainproject.com

studio this week

2011-04-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday Studio

2011-03-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

two in progress

2011-01-14T16:03:00.000-08:00

sidetrack

2011-01-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

First painting of the new year.

A collage and a poem

2010-11-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

Poem by Maw Shein Win - collaboration (2010)

things that begin

i.
tinctures for sparrow. a capsized pumpkin. shadow blots. memento mori. wrestle the chimera.
ladder to sky. palliative feathers and dreaming crickets. elephant key.
contained custards. braided turnips and scalloped fur coats. tempests and gladiators.
painted things.

ii.
riotous hips and ribcage. a being-filled with liquid. stop, stop now. please. continue. over is it yet.
the doctor’s eyelashes are butterflies. she was a little man. he was a little woman.
sleeping children with locks and tresses. lost in the desert. found in the forest.
pointed things.

iii.
crushed tundra and crossed eyes. trinkets and sceptres and waterfalls in brazil.
he believes in magic, and so do i. nine times nine equals twine. dragon fruit scooped into bowls.
owls and blue spaces in sparkling lots. matters can complicate matters. a slithering towards.
planted things.

Studio in Progress

2010-09-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

Show at Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica

2010-09-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

The new paintings installed at the Ruth Bachofner Gallery through October 11, 2010.

Paintings to Art Hampton

2010-07-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

for East Hampton

2010-06-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Four for San Francisco

2010-06-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Naxos 60 x 48

Piraeus 60 x 48

Kithyra 60 x 48

Paros 72 x 60

Paintings for Rome

2010-03-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

In progress - there will be twenty

two in the studio

2010-01-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

Antioch

Outrigger

2010-01-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

two paintings in progress.

Apis

2010-01-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

The Artist's Fragile Ego

2009-11-15T23:33:00.000-08:00

My original post was about something I've gotten over now - but I received a great comment from Christopher Rico that I've decided to post instead.

This is such a raw post because everyone who does this feels that fragility at one time or another. The slights, the exclusion, the rejection; these things are part of it. My words are inadequate, except to say that your work is solid and your feelings are normal and human. NYC was a glorious success, as I'm certain Miami will be as well. If you had the opportunity to see your work in a new light, then that is something to be thankful for, no matter what kind of light shone on it.

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”

-Martha Graham

November 16, 2009 5:27 AM

for New York...

2009-09-22T01:09:00.000-07:00

Work in progress for my New York show!

Thursday October 22 - Randall Scott Gallery in Brooklyn.

Strabo

2009-07-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

The painting I'm donating to the Los Angeles Art Association auction opening this Saturday at Gallery 825 on La Cienega.

Update: The director of Soetheby's bought my piece!

Two From the studio

2009-07-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

I am experimenting with a much rougher approach. Trying to eliminate all definite shapes or forms.

Chinese Gardens

2009-05-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I went to the Huntington to see their fantastic exhibit of Chinese Paintings. Later I wandered through their Chinese gardens.

"Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi."

Harbor Freeway Traveling North

2009-05-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

After watching Danny Shain's car and skateboard videos I made this video while driving through downtown Los Angeles and the four tunnels underneath the four hills in the Chavez Ravine. Then combined it with some shots I had flying into Los Angeles. I was listening to Enrico Rava and that seemed to fit.

Santa Monica Show Opens

2009-04-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

My exhibit opened at Ruth Bachofner Gallery in Santa Monica.

See paintings here. Visit the reception here.

2 drawings

2009-03-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Broke out an old bottle of india ink. Had to add some water it was almost dried out... but it came back to life. Started drawing randomly and a riverbank appeared then 2 figures and some canoes... on the opposite bank a fort or maybe a church.

Tore up a bunch of false starts and made a small collage.

2009-02-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

A third larger piece up and running. Still raw with a little too much with the copper red but still am liking the Turneresque space and atmosphere.

in progress

2009-02-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

A couple of paintings in the studio. They went colorful for a moment but have returned to cloudy white.

2009-01-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

a beautiful little video by my friend Patrick Healy.

Best Wishes for 2009!

2009-01-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! As a friend pointed out to me though the real celebration begins on January 20th when we get our new president!

Wishing you hope, change, peace and love in the new year with a big helping of courage to go with it!

San Francisco trip

2008-11-18T20:00:00.001-08:00

I flew into San Francisco on November 6 to attend the opening of my exhibit at the Dolby Chadwick Gallery that same evening. View the works here.

Group Show

2008-08-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Ruth Bachofner featured two new paintings of mine; Pell-mell (above) and Ancona in her summer abstract painting show.

Below I'm pictured with some members of the painting group Bauhaus Nouveau.

HK Zamani at Solway/Jones

2008-06-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

My longtime friend Habib Kheradyar Zamani opened his exhibition last weekend at the Solway/Jones Gallery on Wilshire Boulevard. The gallery was packed. A testament not only to his many friends but also to the indelible mark he has made on the LA art scene with the ten year run of his now shuttered gallery Post.

Those who have followed Habib's work in recent years are familiar with his use of the geodesic dome as emblem and icon and it was here everywhere in evidence. Originally, I believe, the dome was a facet of his installation and performance pieces but he has now worked it into almost every aspect of his work; including: drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, sculpture and now video.

I've always read Habib's domes as metaphor for the institutions and traditions, the edifice that we 'inhabit' and usually regard as something carved in stone with marble columns but which may actually be, as Habib seems to imply, more ephemeral, nomadic and collapsible. Something altogether more portable, something we can live in and take with us as we make our ways through the various diaspora and cross cultural currents and eddies of our socially fragmented contemporary world. His domes loosely scarfed with sometimes dangling fabric have more in common with the torn tent or shelter of a migratory tribe than with the modernist architecture of Buckminster Fuller.

In this exhibit Habib adds a dynamic new twist to his idea of dome as 'habitat' - namely dome as 'vehicle' or 'transport'. Or to be more precise, dome as 'aircraft'. In two new delicately atmospheric paintings and a video we are presented with the spectacle of a dome high in a vast sky; buffeted by winds, fabric taut and flapping, impossibly fragile in that open expanse but holding its own - a tiny canoe on a stormy sea. Gone is the commanding, centered, iconic composition of many of the earlier pieces and the now vulnerable little dome is forced to form a tentative but dynamic relationship to the open sky.

Are we to believe that in a fragile construct of our memories and dreams, our thoughts and meditations, our culture and our language if lashed together just so and powered sincerely by our desires and our hopes we too can trace an arc across the heavens? I believe so.

As if to emphasize this point Habib has expertly piloted his dome (see top picture above) from his Downtown loft across the skies of Los Angeles and set it neatly down within the Miracle Mile gallery space of Solway/Jones. Yes it was a harrowing journey - we can see that in the video - but now the dome rests lightly and buoyantly against the ceiling of the gallery tethered only by the precision of its mooring. It invites our contemplation and our wonder.

Click these pictures to enlarge them.

Barbara Kerwin Exhibit

2008-05-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

Barbara Kerwin's exhibition of elegant and coolly formal abstractions opened recently in Santa Monica. In her earlier work Barbara used a more static grid format that was mostly powered by her lush use of encaustic paint and her sophisticated palette. In her more recent paintings however she employs a shifting grid format that allows for her strengths but creates a more dynamic and at the same time more playful outcome.

accidental video at reception

Read and view more about Barbara Kerwin's work here.

painting in red thinking of Bill Brice

2008-03-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on a red painting. It has bigger shapes and less of them than the blue painting. To me they vaguely reference classical and Roman architecture in a clunky sort of way. I had been thinking for the last few days of Bill Brice who passed away last week (read his obituary here). He was an early favorite of mine an artist best known for grand-scale abstract paintings that suggested fragments of ancient classical ruins. His very elegant and essential paintings seemed to conflate the quirky, personal and modernist tendancies of Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee with the formal, epic and monumentel grandeur of classical antiquity. An unlikely seeming juxtaposition that he nevertheless pulled off to tremendous effect (quite literally - some of the paintings wewre 119 inches high!).

Blue Painting in Progress

2008-03-23T00:32:00.001-07:00

Had fun with this blue painting today. Maybe its too busy without enough "breathing room" but the process of drawing/doodling and then covering/editing with blobs and scrapes of color is a forgiving and intuitive way to work.

Sam Francis at Jack Rutberg

2008-02-18T00:24:00.001-08:00

On Saturday evening I attended the opening of Sam Francis' "Black and White" prints at Jack Rutberg's on La Brea. Francis is undoubtedly one of the heavyweights of Los Angeles abstract painting and I've always counted myself a fan - I am especially taken by his large scale untitled painting shown at Ace a couple of years ago (see here). I must confess though that I have always been a little put off by his use of high chroma and primary red, yellow and blue. The colors always felt lightweight in relation to the lyrical application of splatters and the epic spaces he invoked. The Rutberg show promised a chance to see Francis stripped down and essential. On entering the gallery one is struck by the comprehensiveness of the exhibit only to feel in the next moment that perhaps it is too comprehensive. There are quite a few pieces that never resolve out of a lumpen and formless grisaille. A few more are diamonds in the rough and only a handful are true gems that approach the sublime quality of Francis' best work. Among them the large piece pictured above (enlarge it to view it to advantage), Square(1973)(see it here) and White Chip(1973)(see it here). Silver Field(1973)(here) makes clear what should always be obvious in Francis' work but is here (without the distraction of a high chroma) very noticable - namely his debt to Jackson Pollock. But where Pollock's sombre and melencholy pallette of tans, ochres and greys evoke a heroic but tragically doomed struggle against chaos and dissolution Francis' often sweet pallette makes his very similar drips and splatters seem at best a type of cosmic play - not unlike Miro. Another parallel or tangental connection this time to a fellow Los Angeles abstract heavyweight also surfaces in a small and clunky splatter grid - a format explored far more extensively and eloquently by Ed Moses (example here) about a decade later.
Ironically and contrary to the title of this exhibit Francis' most powerful works in this showing (such as the one pictured above) are achieved not through black and white but through a subtle and masterful use and blend of various tones of dark grey in which he is able to achieve a sublime and profound result of form and grace the equal to anyone.

At the opening I ran into my very first drawing teacher - Don Emery - who first introduced me to the term "mark making" at Santa Monica College circa 1982!
More on this exhibit from Jack Rutberg here.

Winter Solstice 2007

2007-12-23T21:12:00.000-08:00

As we enter the new year, and at this time for celebrations of the winter solstice, I pray we can find in our hearts a kindness and goodwill towards each other.

Aaron Petersen Paintings

2007-12-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

I caught the opening to Aaron Petersen’s painting show at Ruth Bachofner’s in Santa Monica last Saturday night. I was immediately struck by the sense of space he had evoked. Not the fractured, cubist derived space of many abstract paintings but a far vaster, epic and lyrical space. These are the spaces of a world (this one or another) and Petersen’s comes complete with flora and fauna and a breathable atmosphere. The jewel-like painting passages are offset and balanced by an ominous apocalyptical quality. As I stared into these abstract paintings it occurred to me that perhaps Petersen’s ancestors are not Pollock and DeKooning but possibly Hieronymus Bosch and Albrecht Altdorfer.
View and read more about Aaron Petersen here and here.

Scientists think cave holds roots of Rome

2007-11-28T08:53:00.000-08:00

They believe the recently found cavity is where by ancient legend a wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the city's founders.
From Reuters
November 24, 2007
ROME -- Italian archaeologists believe they have found the cave where, according to legend, a she-wolf nursed Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome.
An underground cavity decorated with seashells, colored marble mosaics and pumice stones was discovered near the ruins of the palace of Emperor Augustus on the Palatine hill.
Experts are "reasonably certain," they said, that it is the long-lost Lupercale (from the Latin word for wolf), the place of worship sacred to ancient Romans. "This could reasonably be the place bearing witness to the myth of Rome, one of the most well-known in the world, the legendary cave where the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus," Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli said at a news conference Tuesday.

The cave was found 52 feet underground, in a previously unexplored area, during restoration work on the palace of Augustus, the first Roman emperor.
Archaeologists investigating Renaissance descriptions of the sanctuary used a camera probe whose images suggest the vault, which has a white eagle at the center, is well-preserved.
"You can imagine our amazement. We almost screamed," said Giorgio Croci, head of the archaeological team working on the restoration of the Palatine, which overlooks the Forum.
According to the myth, Romulus and Remus, twin sons of the god Mars, were abandoned in a cradle by the banks of the river Tiber where a wolf found them and fed them with her milk. The brothers are said to have founded Rome at the site on April 21, 753 BC, and ended up fighting over who should be in charge. Romulus killed Remus and became Rome's first king.
Archaeologists said the cave's location reinforced their belief that it was the Lupercale.
"It is clear that Augustus . . . wanted his residence to be built in a place which was sacred for the city of Rome," Croci said. The emperor restored the sanctuary and probably connected it to his own palace, he said.
Finding out more about the cave without damaging it or the foundations of the surrounding ruins will not be easy.
More than two-thirds of the cavity, which is about 26 feet high and 23 feet wide, is filled with debris and earth after part of it collapsed. It is not clear where the entrance is. "We have to investigate with extreme caution. . . . This is a precious thing which is certainly more than 2,000 years old," Croci said.
Andrea Carandini, an archaeologist specializing in ancient Rome, called it "one of the most significant discoveries ever."
Closed to the public for decades due to the risk of collapse, Augustus' palace will reopen in February.

So What - by Miles Davis and Co.

2007-11-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

I've always been a fan of Miles Davis and especially the album Kind of Blue; so after listening to it at least a thousand times it was interesting to run across this version of So What on you tube. Fascinating finally to actually be able to see the players - although Bill Evans is not playing piano here. Interesting to note that they all smoke cigarettes between solos.

Art Fairs Miami

2007-11-16T12:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy time finishing up paintings for Ruth Bachofner and Dolby Chadwick Galleries to take to the art fairs in Miami. See some of them here.

Painting Exhibit Opens!

2007-10-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

My painting show opened last Saturday night at Ruth Bachofner Gallery which is at the Bergamot Station Art center in Santa Monica, California. Friends, supporters, my teachers and my students all were there. Perhaps the artist is always plagued with doubts and woulda-coulda-shoulda - I know I always am - but nevertheless there were many well wishers and thumbs up, enough to ease my anxieties enough so that I enjoyed the evening and found some peace with the work. The paintings always look much better just hanging in the gallery!
I'm pictured above with Ruth and Hermann Bachofner in front of Rhumba. Visit the reception and view the paintings here.

California on Fire!

2007-10-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

All of California seems to be on fire. Its very frightening for those of us who live in the foothills. The first picture is from today's Los Angeles Times the second is from the hill above the house earlier this summer(just below Echo Mountain). Firefighters put that fire out in an afternoon.

Show Installed

2007-10-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

My painting show is installed and ready for the opening this Saturday at Ruth Bachofner Gallery in Santa Monica. You are invited! For info click here. After installing there was time for a hike!

Mark Dutcher Painting

2007-10-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

I saw Mark Dutcher's opening in chinatown at High Energy Constructs last Saturday night. Large canvases with thick paint and collage. Color on black - tragic and comic at once. Powerful and confident. See more here.