Phil Irish Adventures of a painterly imagination

Shattered Women

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:18:08 -0400

These two paintings grabbed me, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It has an amazing collection -- one room included Luc Tuymans, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, and other current painterly bright lights. Just so you’ll think I’m neurotic about images of abused women, here’s Dumas’ amazing Dead Girl.

Having already sated myself with work in the contemporary building, I was surprised to be so riveted by expressionist work in a cubist vein. Yet here it is, and I keep thinking about these pieces.
I came across the Otto Dix piece in a room of quite comfortable German expressionist works. In contrast, this work disoriented me -- the raw red, the fracturing of the body, multiplied breasts and disjointed arms. The composition jams the woman’s head into the very corner of the canvas, her massive eye and strange mouth somehow reminiscent of de Kooning’s Woman I. That mouth is both a grimace and a smile, frustrating a clear reading. Otto Dix would become known for his scathing visual commentary of German society between the wars, but this early work takes a mythological subject: Leda and the Swan. The mythological theme doesn’t appear academic, however, but is rendered with psychological impact and, perhaps, political import as well.
Like the woman, the swan is fractured as if viewed through cut crystal. The geometry serves to both accentuate the rhythms of the form and to suggest the swan’s movement. Both urgent and violent, the swan’s neck protrudes with a broken, serpentine trajectory. I keep looking for swan genitals, and think perhaps Zeus’s phallic member does make an appearance there, red rather than blue?
This version of Leda and the Swan is not about titillating the viewer with a nubile beauty snuggling up with an extended swan’s neck. The violence of the composition is discomfiting, and one’s empathy - rather than desire - runs to Leda’s side. We are witnessing rape.
This painting grabs me, in part, because it shows such a different harnessing of Cubism’s expressive force. Cubism is often analytical and inward, cleverly playing with linguistic slippages and mashed perspectives. While its visual challenge resonates powerfully with the changes underway early in the 20th century, Cubism’s brokenness of vision is rarely attached to emotional and personal upheaval. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is brilliantly charged, but the countless still lives ask other questions. With Otto Dix, that splintered vision has a directness that makes psychic violence and fragmentation palpable.
A second painting, only a few rooms away, continued this line of questioning: Picasso’s Weeping Woman with Handkerchief (1937). Picasso painted a series of “weeping woman” images during and after the work on Guernica, his compelling, 25’ wide mural in response to the Nazi bombing of the Spanish city. A weeping woman, at the left side of the mural, holds her dead infant and raises her piercing cry to the heavens. That the weeping woman at LACMA is an emblem of deep human grief and political injustice (her head scarf identifies her as Spanish) does not negate more personal aspects of the image. Dora Maar, Picasso’s mistress from 1936 to 1944, served as the model for each of the Weeping Woman images. Alberto Manguel suggests that Picasso’s accusations and mockery provoked these tears from Dora, and that Picasso repeatedly induced and then sketched her distraught state. While the painted portraits followed Guernica, Picasso’s sketches of Dora weeping actually pre-date Guernica by more than 8 months. “I could never see her, never imagine her, except crying,” Picasso stated. From Dora’s perspective, she said “They’re all Picassos, not one is Dora Maar.” There is power in this image of a shattered face. The painting is made more horrifying by the duplicity of the personal acts of abuse beneath the public cry for justice.
Theories of selfhood have shifted in recent decades, positing a fractured or contingent identity for people. A stable, core sense of self - some true “me” deep within - has been criticized by writers like Lacan (wasn’t Lacan Dora Maar’s therapist?), Foucault, and Baudrillard. Instead, conflicting social structures and especially language are seen as shaping subjectivity. This vision of fragmented selfhood, fractured by political and personal suffering, inscribed by language, leads us back to these painted images. Might cubism’s meaning - rendered explicit in the anxious teeth, the droplets following their geometric paths from the tear shaped eyes, and the fraught gesture of grief - reflect the complexity and sorrow of this experience?

Pleasures (and ecology) of Pigment

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:39:03 -0400

I recently travelled to Portland and LA. -- crystalizing some of my learning in blog form may be useful. This post covers my visit to the factory of Gamblin Artist’s Colors in Portland.
A year ago, a French paint company that was seeking an “artist rep” to develop demos with their materials sent me a large box of paint to work with. To my dismay, I didn’t enjoy the handling characteristics of the paint, and the colours - though beautiful in the tube - were muddy when mixed. Obviously, I had to distance myself from that project.
Realizing that this kind of opportunity exists, however, I scanned my paint table. If I could be involved with any paint company, who would it be? The array of colours and alkyd mediums on the table made it clear, and I gave Gamblin a call.
I became their first Canadian artist rep, and gave educational presentations at various art schools and universities last year. The presentation is no sales pitch, but an in-depth look at the traits of different pigments, how to select colours to serve one’s artistic vision, the science of alkyds, and studio safety.
Visiting the factory, then, was a treat. To see the bags of pigment, and the step by step process to make an artist quality paint, was beautiful. The factory doesn’t smell like solvent, either, since their solvent is so mild. The smell of linseed oil draws you to the rich piles of lushous, vibrant hues.
As a committed painter, I have learned so much lore about the history and uses of colours through the centuries. It is a kind of hagiography of colour, moving beyond technique toward a rich connection with the imaginative practices of artists, right back to the earth the pigments come from. To see this same passion at Gamblin was exciting.
OIL PAINTING AND THE ENVIRONMENT
This question of a painter’s relationship to the environment is important, and I gained some interesting perspective from Scott Gellatly - who has greatly deepened my understanding of the technical aspects of oils. He spoke of an artist who was showing with an ecologically oriented commercial gallery. The dealer, however, demanded that he switch from oils to acrylics. Acrylics, being water based, have a reputation for being sustainable, while oils, which require some solvent, are being demonized. The whole production process should be considered, however --
the binder for acrylics is a petroleum product, while linseed oil grows in fields.
water wastage in the production of acrylics is a concern; oil colours are easier to produce without waste.
acrylic painters often flush pigment down the drain; when artists use oils, they tend to use little solvent, yet are careful to dispose of any waste with care.
highly refined solvents (ie Gamsol) evaporate more slowly than traditional odourless solvents, and are safe enough that you find them in cosmetics.
Gamblin aims to reuse all of their materials, preventing waste and pollution. The prime example of this is their custom colour Torrit Grey. Each year they collect all the high quality pigment from their ventilation system, or other sources of waste, and combine it into a unique colouristic grey. Since the grey will shift each year, some artists (ie Nicole Collins) have begun collecting them and labeling them by year.
The net effect of this visit to the factory is a desire to get back into the studio, and push some colour around.

A Catalogue of Grads

Sat, 7 May 2011 00:13:31 -0400

At the beginning of April, I designed a catalogue featuring each of the 2011 graduates from York’s MFA program. It has been great getting to know these folk, and also exciting to have the budget to produce the largest publication design I have done to date!
If you want to download the catalogue, go for it! Click Here.
The artists included are:
Ian August paints from models of architectural spaces, a confounding mix of modernist references, common materials, and illusionistic surfaces. Artist’s Website
Grace Channer’s videos and sculptural installations negotiate broad sweeps of black history.
Alexandra Gelis makes video and photographic works that interrogate colonialism and landscape in central america.
Colwyn Griffith’s photographs subtly track shifts in time, whether in light or in fine layers of dust. Artist’s Website
Alex Kisilevich stages photo shoots about camouflage, and the ways and reasons that we hide. Artist’s Website
Maria Flawia Litwin presents the newly discovered work of Polish photographer, Rosa Selawiska (wink, wink)
Logan MacDonald’s installations include collage, text scrawled on lumber, and florescent bulbs, forming a witty and heady mix of delicate gestures. Artist’s Website
Margarita Macdonald’s lithographs and screen prints make visible the struggles of unseen migrants navigating the Mexico/US border

Congrats on all of your thesis shows!

Kids Art Classes

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:56:41 -0400

Over the next few months, I will be teaching several courses. These courses are a great pleasure, each offering unique. At this point, there is still room to register: do join us!

Guelph School of Art
YOUNG ARTISTS ONE: AGES 5-7
6 SATURDAYS, MAY 7 – JUNE 18, 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM, $140.00 +HST
*No class Saturday May 21
Imaginations required! Our young artists will be learning some of the basics while experimenting with a wide range of materials and techniques such as: printmaking, chalk and oil pastels, acrylic and tempera paints, many drawing instruments, air-dry clay, collage and ‘found’ media. Having this much fun can be messy so remember to wear old clothes. *Class content changes each term to allowed for continued registration.

YOUNG ARTISTS TWO: AGES 8-11
6 SATURDAYS, MAY 7 – JUNE 18, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM, $140.00 +HST
*No class Saturday May 21

Ready for a host of new art ideas and materials? We’ll be using professional level watercolours, acrylic and oil paints, a wide range of papers, lots of drawing materials, and a host of 3D stuff as we take an adventurous look at classical and contemporary art. Along the way we’ll be honing skills in drawing, design, colour theory and composition; learning some art history, learning about contemporary artists and having a lot of fun! Students should dress in clothes that can get messy. *Class content changes each term to allow for continued registration.
To register: 519-767-1317 or gsa@wyndhamARTsupplies.com

STUDIO 101 FOR TEENS
This class is designed for students age 14 to 17.
3 DAYS, TUESDAY - THURSDAY, AUGUST 2 – 4, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM, $175.00 +HST

Studio 101 is an exploration of materials and techniques. Students will learn about both historical and contemporary artists and artwork. Discover new techniques and different ways of expressing ideas visually, using collage, drawing, painting and printmaking. Course content changes each summer to allow for repeat enrollments. *After the first day students should bring any reference material they wish to work from.

MATERIALS: Sketchbook 9”x12” or larger. All other materials included.

To register: 519-767-1317 or gsa@wyndhamARTsupplies.com
ART AND MUSIC CAMP,
at Silver Lake United Church Camp.
Residential camp, for ages 10 to 14.
AUGUST 7-12
This new camp is an exciting opportunity for 10-14 year olds who are interested in the creative side of things.
Art & Music camp will involve all the great camp activities that everyone loves – swimming, canoeing, games, session activities, and more – but will have a new focus on the arts.
On the art side, campers will have a chance to try their hand at drawing, painting and sculpture led by experienced artists who know how to help kids develop their skills.
As for music – get ready to rock! Campers will have a chance to develop their skill in an instrument and voice
in a band for the final evening battle of the bands with parents as the audience.
For more information, visit http://www.silverlakecamp.ca/index.html

Adult Art Classes

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:56:40 -0400

Over the next few months, I will be teaching several courses. These courses are a great pleasure, each offering unique. At this point, there is still room to register: do join us!

Guelph School of Art
LEARNING FROM THE MASTERS: EXPRESSIONISM
6 WEDNESDAYS, MAY 4 – JUNE 8, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, $172.00 +HST
This course follows on the heels of other “masters” explorations - and this has been such a hoot to teach, with great energy and learning among the participants. Previously, we followed the methods of Baroque oil glazing; Impressionist colour and brushwork; and then we visited the creative rivalry of Picasso and Matisse.
This session cranks up the passion, colour, narrative, and distortion by looking at expressionist masters. Students will learn by reproducing paintings by expressionist painters such as Franz Marc, Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Emil Nolde, Kathe Kollowitz. Understand the ideas and vision behind their work as you enter their world through demonstrations and discussions. Key expressionist approaches include accessing strong emotional content, expressive colour, heightened drama, expressive distortion, and strong brushwork.

To register: 519-767-1317 or gsa@wyndhamARTsupplies.com

Wellington County Museum Art Workshops in Elora
ASPECTS OF WATER
ONE WEEK INTENSIVE: July 25 - 29. $199.00 +HST
Shimmering light, reflections, movement, and dark depths: water is a rewarding challenge for painters! Focusing on this primal element, this course empowers students to learn techniques and processes while exploring the meaning of water. Technical demos, art historical mind-openers, and outdoor image quests will prime students to create compelling works in oil or acrylic. There will be lots of relaxed, creative studio time - with knowledgeable stimulation and support - to follow your interests and develop finished pieces.

This program runs a month of programming, with numerous classes available. What a great way to spend a week in beautiful Elora! To learn more, or to download the brochure, click here.
To register: 519-846-0916 x 522

Five Oaks: a sacred place.
WITH NEW EYES: PAINT AND COLLAGE
RESIDENTIAL RETREAT: AUGUST 15 - 19
Includes tuition, meals and accommodation: $595.00
This beautiful retreat centre, run by the United Church, has diverse programming for spiritual, justice, and creative seekers. The week I am there will also feature photography and creative writing retreats.
Open your imagination to new insights using paint and collage! Daily demos in oils or acrylic will introduce approaches and techniques. We will draw inspiration from compelling artworks, scripture, and the natural setting of Five Oaks. Technical instruction empowers us to trust our inner curiosity, passion, and symbolic vision.
For more information, click here.

Interrupted Magnolias

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:49:45 -0500

Through the fall, at York, I focused my studio practice on a few elements. While researching other approaches in my reading, I knew that ideas come through making. I worked with layers of ground colours, cut masking shapes, and spatial magnolia imagery.
This focused experiment led me to interesting places. While the imagery has an aspect of prettiness, I began to find that these pieces reflected much of my current personal and artistic struggle.
More work in this direction will be shown at an exhibition at Harbinger Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario, opening Saturday June 11th, 2 - 5 pm.

Breaking in the new space

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:33:56 -0400

Sometimes, in the creative pursuit, I seek new contexts in order to develop new work. Residencies are ideal for this. For some years, I have also wanted to undertake a masters program - to throw myself into an academic setting again, to have the regular spark of ideas exchanged, and to delve into questions that have grown from my work over the last three years.
In September, I began my Masters (MFA) at York University. As my life is full of changes, collapses, and revisioning, this is an ideal moment to dive into this project. It is a 2 year program.
Having a productive studio practice is at the heart of the program. At first, I was allotted a small and windowless space with sloping walls.... thankfully that space was ideal for someone who needs to work in the dark, and he offered to trade. Now I have fully moved into my new space, which you can see above. While smaller that the studio I have developed and loved at home, this studio already has the feeling of a gift.
The space I work in does, somehow, affect the creation that happens. As I intuit the new directions to come, I am excited about the potential of this room.

Sundays Palm Uprooted

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:55:27 -0400

I joined in a parade of palm-waving children yesterday. This moment of playful ritual echoed across the centuries, pulling us into the drama of heroic hope and execution that lies at the heart of Christianity’s most sacred week. As my preacher says, it’s crunch time.

Anselm Kiefer’s new installation, Palmsonntag (Palm Sunday), takes this festival as one of its touchstones.

Kiefer has built an international reputation by addressing epic themes at an operatic scale. Delving into the post-war psyche of his native Germany, he has mined the distinctive and taboo traits of its culture. He voraciously consumes material - including politics, religion, and history - for his allusive visual poetics. This new work (building on recent iterations in Paris and Los Angeles) is beautifully designed for a massive, high ceiling gallery at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

This work diverges from any work I have seen of Kiefer’s before. I certainly recognize the muted palette, enigmatic texts in multiple languages, and plaster-coated objects arranged in relation to painterly surfaces. The sense of both materials and space, however, push this work into another category altogether.

Everything is on fire

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

This fire was one of the most dramatic fires in Guelph, right in the downtown core. A powerful blaze consumed a building that held a place in the imaginations of many, as well as housing many artists and cultural workers.

Following the structure of my map paintings, I collected an annotated map from Guelph artist Greg Denton, who had rented a studio in that building for a year. His project for that year was “Out of Date: 365 self portraits” - creating one painting each day, marking the passage of time through the daily act of observational painting. You can see the paintings, which were installed in a series of grids, here.

While Greg had moved out long before the fire, it interests me that this locus of identity exploration has since gone up in smoke. The labour of construction and care to create those paintings contrasts to brutally with the raging fire the demolished the building in the course of a night.

This painting, then, is about the immolation of identity; the fury of life’s construction turned to ash. Can I relate to this personally? I would have to say yes... more so at this time than ever in my life. Watch it burn.

* * *

Here are two related pieces, painted at the same time as the larger work. I embarked on these, in part, to explore how to paint the water. Initially, the large painting was quite developed without any trace of fire-fighting. That fact began to trouble me so I sought a way to include water in the image. These small works have a raw directness that I am very pleased with.

“Lose Everything” “Burn”

* * *
The dotted window is an interesting feature of the large painting. My 9-year-old daughter was perplexed by it -- she does like things to be literal and always accuses me of “painting outside the lines.” She would enter the studio each day, and be horrified that I had developed the motif further.

She asked me what this glowing blue light is about, and my answer was simply that “fire is not the only story.”

That said, I will be doing more with fire in the coming months.

Troubled Perception (and how I keep destroying my glasses)

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:11:21 -0400

The eye is a strange and complex instrument. How the mechanics of the eye, and the refined interpretive strategies of the brain, result in how we see is a mystery.

This mystery is confounded yet further by the fact I keep destroying my glasses. And - the truth be known - my kids help me in this task:

Nice small late 90s frames: forever lost while bush-crashing during a game of capture the flag.

Sassy chunky frames: Arden didn’t like my imitation of a goose foraging for food, so she knocked the glasses off my face and off the bridge at Victoria Park, Kitchener.

Cool Wooden Frames (so they would float): cracked in half while greeting a soccer ball with my face.

2 months later: running with a dog, and Arden on my shoulders, we wipe out on ice. My first reaction is to ensure the my daughters safety --- then we realized the glasses were gone. In the road slush, or over the Elora bridge? They were never found....

And, after a period of almost two years: Ravenna ripped the arm off my glasses this week.

I’ve been reading “All about Colour” by Janice Lindsay.

I was spellbound reading about colour vision in various other
species. Bees, for example, can’t see our red -- but CAN see further at the other end of the spectrum: ultraviolet.
Owls shift their vision in the other direction: blind to blue, they can see infrared. We experience infrared only as heat, but owls can actually see it. This means, O Mouse racing through the grass, night is no cover for you. The owl can visual track the mouse’s heat through the darkness.

This has me thinking about how our colour perceptions are so removed from objectivity. Species by species - and person by person - we are responding to light in different ways. Lindsay outlines theories about how our vision has evolved to its current state: the pressures of seeking shelter and food and sex and security have layered effects on what our brain emphasizes or craves.

It also has me speculating about things, so very real, that are beyond my perception. Even when my glasses aren’t broken, there is more there than meets the eye.

Tactile Meditations

Tue, 5 May 2009 13:11:54 -0400

The work of Evita Schvallbe opened at Elora Centre for the Arts last week.

One of the pleasure of curating exhibitions is visiting artists studios. A year ago, I entered Evita’s studio in her home near Acton, Ontario, to be immersed in a mystical world. Drawing from diverse spiritual practices - principally Buddhism, but also Christianity and Chinese medicine - Evita has developed a powerful contemplative artform.

Each work in the Elements series uses the vaulted ceiling of a cathedral for its structure. Evita has researched and travelled extensively, finding the right geometry to harmonize with the traits of each particular element. The soaring lines and geometries draw your eyes, mandala like, toward the centre. Drawing western and eastern spiritual traditions together, these works are deeply evocative. Schvallbe’s command of silk fusion technique results in flowing, organic, shimmering colour. The sumptuous textures, vivid colours, and specific rhythms of each piece powerfully embody each of the Elements.

It was a fascinating to see how she has developed a unique repertoire of techniques to embody her specific vision. The wanted the pieces to be sculptural, architecturally 3-d, so she uses weighty felt. She wanted hues that delicately shift, so she interweaves patterns of vibrant silk strands to create her organic transitions of colour.

The extent of labour involved in this show is, in itself, compelling. The exhibition represents 10 years of labour. This kind of meticulous care is rare in art making these days. Yet the labour isn’t felt as a onerous task, or even an obsession, but rather as a spiritual practice that points to something deeper.

Together, these works create a very attractive image of the universe. Beauty and order claim the day. The sense of struggle and brokeness that shows up in both my artwork and spiritual understanding have little space here. Though there is a sense of “dissolution” or coming apart, it is seen as part of a larger dance between void and form. Each falls into its place within an intricate pattern.

The exhibition “The Dance of Form and Emptiness” continues until June 18th.

How I poisoned my daughter.

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:20:29 -0400

Well, I feel guilt and shame about this one. But it’s probably good for you to hear about.

Last week, working hard to get ready for exhibition, I had Ravenna in the studio with me for a while. I had her set up with the tempera paints, and she was wielding orange and pink with style. I had the camera out --- feeling like an amazing dad --- and I captured the moment to share with Anna upon her return. I moved to the computer to download the photos.

Suddenly I hear her cough. I turn, and Ravenna is holding a container of Odourless Mineral Spirits -- paint thinner -- and is feebly saying “milk.” No, honey, that is NOT milk! (Indeed, the colour was far from white). In a moment, she was in my arms, and I was calling poison control and the ambulance.

She began to vomit, as I held her over the sink. At first the vomit was rather clear and mucous like... but after about 5 times it was clear that her stomach was expelling everything. It was painful to see the expression of confusion on her face, but I was able to comfort her through it. The ambulance arrived very quickly, and we were off to the hospital. We had to spend 8 hours there, being monitored, until they felt the timing was right to do an xray of her lungs...

The dangers, as I understand them now, are not exactly what you would expect. The advice is to avoid vomiting if you can, for the chemical does less damage through digestion than in your throat. The real danger is if it enters your lungs. It can enter your lungs on the way down your throat, but also while vomiting. Imagine your watery throat getting coated with an oily film of toxicity, and that poison slowly dripping into your lungs... Something like that is what happened to Ravenna. By 8 pm, the x-ray indicated that she had a chemical pneumonia. She was pale and listless, and it was horrifying. (Of course Anna had joined us at the hospital, and Arden came to visit too).

Ravenna spent 2 nights in the hospital, receiving antibiotics through an IV in her arm. She slept so much. Anna and I took turns sleeping there. Finally, she regained her energy and curiosity -- we walked endlessly around the ward -- and we knew it was safe to go home. She has continued on oral antibiotics for the past week. We have a check-up tomorrow.

There are many dangers in this studio. Sharp objects and tools, nails and screws, pigments and binders and varnishes... In many ways, this is a joyous place for a child to create and explore. Obviously, I have to take greater precautions. It all happened so fast. How I wish I could take back those moments, and prevent her from going through this.

I am so relieved that she is well. That she is recovering fully. I can’t express how big my gratitude is. Thankful for the speed and skill of our medical system, for the grace of God around us, and for the support of family and friends. Forgive me, forgive me for being careless. Careless with my greatest treasures. Ravenna is pretty much over it, but I still have some stuff to work through here.