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Gregg Chadwick The Monk's Road 36"x36" oil on panel 2018
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Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Sunday, August 26, 2018
The Monk's Road
Saturday, June 03, 2017
"Bookseller's Night" by Gregg Chadwick in the latest issue of The Santa Ana River Review
Honored to have my painting "Bookseller's Night" in the latest issue of The Santa Ana River Review. A wonderful art and literary magazine out of UC Riverside.
Link Here: http://sarreview.ucr.edu/booksellers-night/
Link Here: http://sarreview.ucr.edu/booksellers-night/
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Tomorrow and Thursday in Nor Cal: The Painted Word Book Tour
I am honored to announce the publication of my latest collaboration with the author Phil Cousineau:
The Painted Word.
The Painted Word.
Sixty-three of my artworks are included in this new volume.
Book Tour Dates - All Are Welcome & All Events are Free. I will bring a group of the artworks included in the book to each event listed below:
In Northern California:
51 Tamal Vista Blvd | Corte Madera, California
Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 7:00 PM (Art by Gregg Chadwick Courtesy The Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco)
City Lights Booksellers | 261 Columbus Avenue | San Francisco, California
Thursday, September 13, 2012, 7:00 PM (Art by Gregg Chadwick Courtesy The Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco)
In Southern California:
Phil Cousineau and Gregg Chadwick on The Painted Word at Warwick's Books | 7812 Girard Avenue | La Jolla, California
Wednesday, November 7, 2012, 7:30 PM
Phil Cousineau and Gregg Chadwick on The Painted Word | Book Soup | 8818 Sunset Blvd West | Hollywood, California
Thursday, November 8, 2012, 7:00 PM
NEW BOOK: The Painted Word By Phil Cousineau and Gregg Chadwick
"When Phil Cousineau and Gregg Chadwick join creative forces it is an important event. This historic collaboration shines with fresh insights into both language and art."
— Alexander Eliot, author of 300 Years of American Painting and The Global Myths
— Alexander Eliot, author of 300 Years of American Painting and The Global Myths
Notes on the Artwork In The Painted Word
When I was young, the form of words—the way they looked— intrigued me and I often wondered what it would be like to look at a word and not be able to read or understand it. In essence, I wondered about the indecipherable mystery behind the word. The artworks I have created for The Painted Word take that sense of mystery into the world of paint and image.
Each creation began with that wonderful, slippery stuff that never wants to be tamed or pinned down: paint. Specifically, I use oil paint for its historical resonance and also because of its liquid origins in the oil pressed from flax. From this plant comes both linseed oil, which is mixed with dry powdered pigments to create oil paint, and linen, which traditionally has been used as the surface that oils are painted upon. Whenever I unroll a new bolt of linen in my studio a rich fragrance reminis- cent of a newly cut field fills the room.
I find that freshly stretched paintings waiting for their first touch of color invite the mystery of life and creation. The word stories written by Phil Cousineau opened up a similar sense of wonder. Like the words, each tube of paint also brought its history into the room. Color names are words steeped in myth and meaning. Lapis Lazuli evokes dangerous treks along the Silk Road into Afghanistan that brought this exquisite blue stone into the workshops of Renaissance artists. The pigment was so expensive and so important it was often reserved for coloring the heavens and Mary’s garments. A separate clause in the artist’s contract would dictate how much the client would pay for the Lapis Lazuli in addition to the amount paid for the artist’s services. Other colors weren’t so dear but were still rich in lore. Burnt Sienna is a warm brown earth pigment that was dug up in the fields surrounding Siena, Italy. Cinnabar, a brilliant red originally found in minerals veined with mercury, also made its way along the Silk Road from its source in China. I used all three of these colors in many of the paintings in The Painted Word.
When I was young, the form of words—the way they looked— intrigued me and I often wondered what it would be like to look at a word and not be able to read or understand it. In essence, I wondered about the indecipherable mystery behind the word. The artworks I have created for The Painted Word take that sense of mystery into the world of paint and image.
Each creation began with that wonderful, slippery stuff that never wants to be tamed or pinned down: paint. Specifically, I use oil paint for its historical resonance and also because of its liquid origins in the oil pressed from flax. From this plant comes both linseed oil, which is mixed with dry powdered pigments to create oil paint, and linen, which traditionally has been used as the surface that oils are painted upon. Whenever I unroll a new bolt of linen in my studio a rich fragrance reminis- cent of a newly cut field fills the room.
I find that freshly stretched paintings waiting for their first touch of color invite the mystery of life and creation. The word stories written by Phil Cousineau opened up a similar sense of wonder. Like the words, each tube of paint also brought its history into the room. Color names are words steeped in myth and meaning. Lapis Lazuli evokes dangerous treks along the Silk Road into Afghanistan that brought this exquisite blue stone into the workshops of Renaissance artists. The pigment was so expensive and so important it was often reserved for coloring the heavens and Mary’s garments. A separate clause in the artist’s contract would dictate how much the client would pay for the Lapis Lazuli in addition to the amount paid for the artist’s services. Other colors weren’t so dear but were still rich in lore. Burnt Sienna is a warm brown earth pigment that was dug up in the fields surrounding Siena, Italy. Cinnabar, a brilliant red originally found in minerals veined with mercury, also made its way along the Silk Road from its source in China. I used all three of these colors in many of the paintings in The Painted Word.
Gregg Chadwick
(From The Painted Word, available in September 2012.
Published in the United States by Viva Editions, an imprint of Cleis Press, Inc., 2246 Sixth Street, Berkeley, California 94710.)
"If The Painted Word were a club act, I'd sit there drinking in Cousineau's revelations, tales and mythologies until they kicked me out of the joint. Reading this brew of etymology, history, lore, and pop connections, with lambent illustrations by Gregg Chadwick, is just as intoxicating. A Cousineau riff on a (passionately selected) word is like Mark Twain meets Coleridge meets Casey Stengel meets---well, everyone who's fun and informative, whether the riff is on autologophagist (someone who eats his/her words) or jack, which, believe me, the world-traveled Cousineau knows when it comes to language. "
—Arthur Plotnik, author of The Elements of Expression: Putting Thoughts Into Words
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
La Vita Trasparente (The Transparent Life)
Gregg Chadwick
La Vita Trasparente (The Transparent Life)
48"x36" oil on linen 2012
Inspired by the poem
La Vita Trasparente by Luigi Fontanella:
LA VITA TRASPARENTE
Luigi Fontanella
Apre la città le sue strade,
corrono biciclette senza persone,
alla finestra s'affaccia
e sparisce un volto di donna,
le vetrine offrono sessi
per ogni stagione,
giro di vite:
balla una coppia agile e magra
nella piazza deserta,
la corsa degli uomini,
agita chiome il bosco
in controluce,
passi su foglie
e solchi di fango duro,
viale d'autunno
carrozza regale
pioggia di rugiada
e di carta:
la vita trasparente.
The Transparent Life
by Luigi Fontanella
(translation by W.S. di Piero)
the city opens its streets,
bicycles go by riderless,
a woman's face in a window
appears then vanishes,
shop windows offer fetishes
for every season,
lives turning,
a slender agile couple dances
in the deserted piazza,
the race men run,
the hairy woods shivering
against the grain of light,
footsteps on leaves
a furrow of stiff mud,
avenue of autumn
royal coach
rain of dew
and paper -
the transparent life.
More at:
Luigi Fontanella
Monday, July 23, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Seeing Deeply With Art Writer Peter Clothier at Gregg Chadwick's Studio on Thursday, May 24, 2012
Dear Friends,
I am honored to invite you to register for the next One Hour/One Painting Art Meditation Session which will be led by the distinguished art writer Peter Clothier at 6:30pm on May 24th, 2012 in my studio at the Santa Monica Airport.
Peter has recently hosted One Hour/ One Painting sessions at the Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series exhibit at the Orange County Museum of Art and at the LA Louver Gallery. When describing Peter Clothier's sessions, I am often asked what to expect. In short, Peter will guide a small group of people through an exercise in 'concentrated looking' over the course of one hour's time. He will do this by taking us, as individuals in a group, on a visual and contemplative tour of my large, six by eight foot, painting A Balance of Shadows. We will experience color, shape, space and image in a concentrated yet calm and meditative manner using our eyes and minds.
I see this as an 'exercise in learning how to see' or 'how to see more deeply' rather than an exercise in the making of an art piece. To clarify, we will not be making a painting of our own during this session.
While I will be at the session, I am not leading this event. It is being organized and led by Peter; there is a $25 charge per person payable to Peter Clothier by check or credit card at the event but please reserve a space with Emily (emilypersist86@gmail.com). I am honored that Peter has chosen to hold his event in my studio (but I do not receive any of the fees.)
Please see the flier below for further details on the piece we will be viewing, location, time, and how to register. If you have any questions feel free to contact me via email or my cell
415 533 1165, Peter's assistant Emily at emilypersist86@gmail.com, or Peter Clothier at peterclothier@mac.com.
This session will be discreetly videotaped for possible inclusion on the website of the Buddhist Journal, Tricycle. More on Tricycle at: http://www.tricycle.com/
I hope to see you at my studio on May 24, 2012.
Gregg
Peter Clothier's Bio:
Peter Clothier has a long and distinguished career as an an internationally-known art writer, novelist and poet. Peter avoids the jargon that obscures much current writing about art by using readily understood language that illuminates rather than obfuscates. Clothier seeks to achieve a harmony of mind, heart, and body in his work, and looks for this quality in the artists he writes about. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Artscene, ARTNews and other publications. Peter writes a daily weblog,The Buddha Diaries, and is a contributing blogger to The Huffington Post. He also hosts a monthly podcast entitled "The Art of Outrage," on ArtScene Visual Radio."
Peter Clothier's latest books are Persist and Mind Work.
Peter Clothier's latest books are Persist and Mind Work.
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Maurice Sendak: An Artist In Love With the World and the Things That Go Bump in the Night
by Gregg Chadwick
“Dear Mr. Sendak, How much does it cost to get to where the wild things are? If it is not expensive, my sister and I would like to spend the summer there.”
-From a letter sent by an eight year old reader to Maurice Sendak
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| Maurice Sendak Where the Wild Things Are Pen and ink and watercolor on paper 1963
Maurice Sendak was an artist in love with the world and with things that go bump in the night. Sendak looked deeply at the world around him. His vision included the visible nature of our existence and the invisible, but no less real, world of dreams. Sendak's beautifully crafted artworks for his books began with simple pencil sketches that were then enlarged and fleshed out with pen and ink which was then layered with glowing watercolor washes.
The finished paintings on paper reflect what Dave Eggers described in a Vanity Fair article on Sendak as the "unhinged and chiaroscuro subconscious of a child." Sendak's books and images appealed to readers of all ages. Sendak took the deep mysteries of life head-on and allowed us all to journey to where the wild things are.
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In an interview with Terry Gross in September 2011, Maurice Sendak reflected on his mortality and the transient nature of life in general:
"Yes. I'm not unhappy about becoming old. I'm not unhappy about what must be. It makes me cry only when I see my friends go before me and life is emptied. I don't believe in an afterlife, but I still fully expect to see my brother again. And it's like a dream life. I am reading a biography of Samuel Palmer, which is written by a woman in England. I can't remember her name. And it's sort of how I feel now, when he was just beginning to gain his strength as a creative man and beginning to see nature. But he believed in God, you see, and in heaven, and he believed in hell. Goodness gracious, that must have made life much easier. It's harder for us nonbelievers.But, you know, there's something I'm finding out as I'm aging that I am in love with the world. And I look right now, as we speak together, out my window in my studio and I see my trees and my beautiful, beautiful maples that are hundreds of years old, they're beautiful. And you see I can see how beautiful they are. I can take time to see how beautiful they are. It is a blessing to get old. It is a blessing to find the time to do the things, to read the books, to listen to the music. You know, I don't think I'm rationalizing anything. I really don't. This is all inevitable and I have no control over it."
We are fortunate that Maurice Sendak's love for beauty and the mystery of existence forged a unique vision that led to his magical books and images. He will be greatly missed.
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| Maurice Sendak Outside Over There Pen and ink and watercolor on paper 1978 |
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| Portrait of Maurice Sendak by Annie Leibovitz |
More at:
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Sunday, July 31, 2011
The Price of Beauty
by Gregg Chadwick
Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando)
Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake (Ohashi Atake no Yudachi)
(#58 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo)
Sheet: 14 3/16" x 9 1/8" woodblock print 9th month of 1857
Brooklyn Museum
Photo Courtesy The Brooklyn Museum
Japanese fiction is a great love of mine. My taste ranges widely from the postmodern antics of Murakami, to the quiet intellectualism of Endo, to the luminous spaces of Kawabata, and to the pent up rage of Mishima. In a culture which traditionally values quietly getting along even when catastrophe strikes, fiction allows a space for readers to wail with those who hurt and lash out at those who would oppress. Japanese novels of mystery and horror provide such a space to ponder the darker recesses of humanity. Mystery writer Keigo Higashino, originally from Osaka and now resident in Tokyo, is currently one of the best selling authors in Japan. Reading "The Devotion of Suspect X" provides understanding of his popularity. Higashino's prose is both quietly poetic and noir like in its straightforwardness.
"The Devotion of Suspect X" is set in 21st century Japan and describes the plight of a single mother with a young daughter as she takes drastic action to escape an abusive, estranged husband. A brilliant math teacher who lives down the hall comes to her aid. Or does he?
From there the story takes off. Make sure you read the book until the very end.
In much Japanese writing, an evocation of place is of utmost importance. This setting creates a mood in which the characters move and interact. The first chapter of "The Devotion of Suspect X" finds us in Tokyo near the Shin-Ohashi bridge, which is memorable for its depiction by the brilliant 19th century Japanese woodcut artist, Ando Hiroshige, in "Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake" (Ohashi Atake no Yudachi) from his One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. A Japanese reader, and those quite familiar with Japan, would likely find Hiroshige's memorable image, of figures huddling under straw umbrellas as they scurry across the bridge in an effort to hide from a driving. slanting rain, pop into their head. I know I did. And this image provided a rich backdrop of life under pressure from time and nature.
I enjoyed "The Devotion of Suspect X" very much and now have a new Japanese author to follow - Keigo Higashino.
More at:
Keigo Higashino
Hiroshige's "Shin-Ohashi Bridge"
Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake (Ohashi Atake no Yudachi)
(#58 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo)
Sheet: 14 3/16" x 9 1/8" woodblock print 9th month of 1857
Brooklyn Museum
Photo Courtesy The Brooklyn Museum
Japanese fiction is a great love of mine. My taste ranges widely from the postmodern antics of Murakami, to the quiet intellectualism of Endo, to the luminous spaces of Kawabata, and to the pent up rage of Mishima. In a culture which traditionally values quietly getting along even when catastrophe strikes, fiction allows a space for readers to wail with those who hurt and lash out at those who would oppress. Japanese novels of mystery and horror provide such a space to ponder the darker recesses of humanity. Mystery writer Keigo Higashino, originally from Osaka and now resident in Tokyo, is currently one of the best selling authors in Japan. Reading "The Devotion of Suspect X" provides understanding of his popularity. Higashino's prose is both quietly poetic and noir like in its straightforwardness.
"The Devotion of Suspect X" is set in 21st century Japan and describes the plight of a single mother with a young daughter as she takes drastic action to escape an abusive, estranged husband. A brilliant math teacher who lives down the hall comes to her aid. Or does he?
From there the story takes off. Make sure you read the book until the very end.
In much Japanese writing, an evocation of place is of utmost importance. This setting creates a mood in which the characters move and interact. The first chapter of "The Devotion of Suspect X" finds us in Tokyo near the Shin-Ohashi bridge, which is memorable for its depiction by the brilliant 19th century Japanese woodcut artist, Ando Hiroshige, in "Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake" (Ohashi Atake no Yudachi) from his One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. A Japanese reader, and those quite familiar with Japan, would likely find Hiroshige's memorable image, of figures huddling under straw umbrellas as they scurry across the bridge in an effort to hide from a driving. slanting rain, pop into their head. I know I did. And this image provided a rich backdrop of life under pressure from time and nature.
I enjoyed "The Devotion of Suspect X" very much and now have a new Japanese author to follow - Keigo Higashino.
More at:
Keigo Higashino
Hiroshige's "Shin-Ohashi Bridge"
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Cartographer's Dream
A nice video from Winona State University documenting my large, commissioned painting from 1999 - Cartographer's Dream.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Friday, July 01, 2011
Monday, May 31, 2010
Louise Bourgeois Has Died at 98
Louise Bourgeois photographed in 1990 behind her marble sculpture Eye to Eye (1970)
Photo Raimon Ramis
© Adagp, Paris 2008
"I have been to Hell and back and let me tell you it was wonderful."
- Louise Bourgeois
The artist Louise Bourgeois has died at 98 on Monday at the Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. It seemed that she would live forever. Her career has been historic.
Holland Cotter has just written in the New York Times that "her psychologically charged abstract sculptures, drawings and prints had a galvanizing effect on younger artists, particularly women."
I have been inspired by Louise Bourgeois' work for quite some time, having encountered her sculptures for the first time when I was a High School student taking classes at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC. Her life ends but the mystery embodied in her artwork lives on.
A recent bio provides the details:
"Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911 to a family of tapestry restorers. In 1938, Bourgeois married American art historian Robert Goldwater and moved to New York City, where she currently lives and works. In a career extending over seven decades, Bourgeois has explored her memories and fears in a complex body of work ranging from poetic drawings to room size installations. She has stated that she gives her emotions and fears a physical form. In 1982, Bourgeois was the first woman artist to receive a Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She represented America at the Venice Biennale in 1993, and was given the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton in 1997. In 2007, the Tate Modern in London, in collaboration with Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, organized a Retrospective of her work that travelled to the Guggenheim, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Hirshhorn in the United States."
More details to follow...
Louise Bourgeois, Artist and Sculptor, Is Dead
E' morta a 99 anni la grande Louis Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois edition to benefit Freedom to Marry
"Everyone should have the right to marry. To make a commitment to love someone forever is a beautiful thing."
- Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois
I do, 2010
Archival dyes on cloth with embroidery
16 × 12 inches; 40.6 × 30.4 cm
Edition of 300 with 35 APs
Gift of the Artist; Courtesy of Cheim & Read, New York
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