Author Archives: matthew DG

About matthew DG

What I'm making & seeing & saying

uncertainty

Why can I work with such certainty on intricate involving processes, but being spontaneous seems so difficult and confusing? You know how I work – being on step 37 of 77 gives me the structure of confidence to create without doubts about the outcome; the process covers up the reluctance to commitment to an idea and creates faith in the eventual results, brick-by-brick. But trying to be serendipitous with a new material and different imagery, means not completely knowing the ground you stand on, and wondering where you’re at and what’s next, much less, “is it finished?”

The Winter was so cold, I didn’t get out to my shop much. Even with the wood stove, I couldn’t get warm enough to work. But I did some drawings inside, on canvas, aside from the Venus idea I’ve shown here, that I’ll probably do as a wood carving. It’s underway whenever I can get to the tree trimmer’s and see what they’ll find for me, now that the snow’s melted

Meanwhile, this other thing showed up. I was drawing Roosters. Roosters, really, I don’t know why.

My guess is, once you’ve proposed the universal Feminine principal, that it must inevitably call forth the Masculine element.

Venus designing

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To build a larger sculpture from a small clay sketch uses some strategy to make the enlargement work without distorting to design. It’s said the Henry Moore worked his designs out in the size of something which could be held in his hand. That size is very helpful since the object can easily be turned in the hands and all sides studied and worked on evenly, and the contact of the hand, the Great Tool, is equal on all the parts of the object.

My way is to convert a small clay model into a design plan which I can measure and build from. To try and measure accurately from a small model and make enlargements of dimensions is too inaccurate. The model is freehand, and not symmetric, the enlargement scale is too great. I want to derive a schematic drawing which has the essentials of the design laid-out accurately on a grid, which can be enlarged and dimensioned from as needed when building the sculpture. I know my friends in digital computer 3D modeling are appalled, but this is an ancient tried-and-true method of building, anything, from a simple plan or sketch. As well, this design work will help me if I choose to also produce a 3D model, since the proportions of the design are already set down.

I’m working from my last idea, which has taken on the identity of a Venus, or else a proto-woman. I had hesitation about this, but I did get approval from women about it so of course I’m going ahead.

Take clear photos of the model, front, side, back, top, and bottom. Use a deep focal length to flatten out the image and reduce the perspective.

Open then in some software, maybe Photoshop, stack them up in with some transparency, and scale and rotate them so they’re even and of consistent size and orientation.

Then, lay them out in graphic design software, maybe Illustrator, and set some guidelines across their common points of reference.

Draw the design over the images, constructing from the reference points. The image is just a suggestion, you’re creating a new design, not just tracing the image exactly.

With judgment, refine and clean up the drawing.

Turn off the images layer, turn on a grid. And perhaps you have a useful schematic,

..which you can blow up to any size, print out, measure from, and trace onto any material, say, a block of wood, prepared for carving.

On tracks

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I haven’t been doing nothing; I liked having a show and getting all that attention so much that I applied for another one. Aside from the work in the last show, I have other things which have never or rarely been shown publicly. This is a collection I call the “colossi” because they’re all over 15 feet – among which are two inflatables, portable and easy to put up, if you have the space.

I thought about a partner to show with. I have a friend, John Harnois, a photographer, with whom I talked often over the years about applying for a show together at the Buckham Gallery in Flint. John also has some very interesting older work which has stayed in my mind. This work he calls the “Acrobat Series”, is nudes photographed with a panoramic camera. Although, what he’s best known for is selling his hand-raised chickens and eggs at the Ann Arbor farmer’s market.

And since it’s the age of internet communications, thank god galleries don’t require you to submit tedious proposals, resumes and statements, but accept webpages about your cooked-up ideas. See: http://colossiartshow.wordpress.com/ for John and my proposal. We probably won’t get it, but we try.

John’s voluptuous, factual, nudes have got me thinking – I’ve have a rough idea for new sculpture in wood to do, and what if I worked it along in the feeling of his oh-so literal nudes? My work’s ordinarily so cute and de-sexualized – what if?

I began with some notebook sketches I’ve had, called “Baby”.

Did some more drawings, this time a woman, a genuine reclining nude. So classic, no?

Progressing to some clay models.

I have a piece of cottonwood I’ve been saving for something to do. It should carve like styrofoam, or should I use real wood? Am I going to build this? I don’t know. Is it too weird?

Again

Imagery & Materials

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The next day I went back to give a gallery talk with Joyce and Mary, the curator. This was actually kind of fun, much better for talking about art than the few minutes you get with anyone at opening night. Joyce talked about her paintings and the imagery in them, it’s source, the cacophony of images which are the World, and the Mind. It made me think that what imagery is for painters, material is for sculptors. The myriad and endless supply of that thing from which we produce our work, the World. The materials I work from are found everywhere, cement, bronze, plastic, wood, iron, stone, steel, put to a purpose in the built world; but to give them a character and an expression which is their own, not an only utilitarian one, is art, is sculpture.

Every material brings it own nature that causes what I find to do with it. Wood is the only material that has been alive; it is a kind of flesh. Metal is unyielding, up to the point it is melted, and then it becomes suddenly pliable liquid. Stone was once liquid and is now crystal, harder than metal, it can only be chipped or ground, and by the simplest tools, hammer, sand, water. Plastic is like room-temperature metal, but can only be formed once, and never reformed again in a liquid, it becomes a soft stone. Clay is almost without an original identity, because it is all materials in one. It is a type of dirt, the earth. Everything else in distilled or mined or grown from it. It is primordial substance. Everything is clay. Clay is to sculpture what abstraction expression is for painting. A material able to express from out of the Mind whatever can be imagined… even the formless.

Opening Night

Installation

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The show is now set up. I went in on Friday with my trusty helper A., and hauled everything up the legendary flight of stairs to the gallery. Sculpture is heavy. Then we went dancing. Saturday I slept in and later on, I cleaned up my studio. Sunday I took stock of my life and decided I had done my best, I had presented myself well. I feel like my imagery is consistent, the materials are varied, and both are developed to distinction.

On Monday I went back again and took photos before Joyce arrived with her paintings, but really, our work looks so good together that I will shoot new ones.

I made this cuteness outside the front door of the gallery.

Press Release: "Less is and More"

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Here is the press release for my show, “Less is and More”, written by Mary Fortuna, Exhibition Director at Paint Creek Center for the Arts. I like Mary’s interpretation of my working process and I want to thank her for inviting me, and all the hard work she’s put into organizing and promoting this show.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Less is and More
Joyce Brienza and Matthew De Genaro
October 4 – November 1, 2013
Opening Reception Friday, October 4, 7 – 9 pm Gallery Talk Saturday, October
5, 2:00 pm

There are as many approaches to art making as there are artists. There are those who are inspired by a wealth of imagery, pattern, color, symbols, cultural and historical reference, and draw on all these elements to create drawings, paintings, collages or objects. Others are moved to simplify and refine their works, drawing on the Modernist interest in material and process. The one samples from any number of sources and seeks a means of unifying them to create a satisfying whole and convey meaning. The other works and reworks an idea, driven sometimes by the material at hand, sometimes by a working process, applying both to a generalized form that lends itself to repeated exploration and experimentation and abstraction. For this show, we have selected two very different artists who use their own individual approaches to create works that are unmistakably their own.

Joyce Brienza is the “more” of this Less/More equation. She uses a collage technique to sample a rich variety of images, patterns and other elements that carry personal associations that resonate for her, creating her “peculiar brand of hip hop.” The critical element for her is pattern, which serves multiple purposes. In the artist’s words, pattern “…is a reference to traditional “women’s” handiwork and questions the duality of high and low art. It provides a grid formation that connects the floating elements (information) together. And finally, it works to disrupt the continuity of the image, placing roadblocks in the way of logic and control.”
Matthew De Genaro produces work that is deceptively simple. He creates endless variations on the human figure, abstracting the essential form. He says, “…sometimes the nature of the material defines the figure, at other times it’s the process of working the material that defines it, and sometimes, the figure dictates the use of material and process.” He has explored his figures in every scale and in every material imaginable, including cast bronze, cast resin, carved wood, stone, fabricated wood and metal, inflated fabric, stacked rubber inner tubes, cardboard, even manipulated living grasses.
Joyce Brienza earned her MFA at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She has exhibited her work in gallery and museum shows all over the United States and in Germany, Argentina and The Netherlands. She teaches art at several schools in the Detroit area, and has participated in artist residencies in New Jersey and at Children’s Hospital in Detroit.

Matthew De Genaro earned his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums since 1980.
The works of these two artists complement each other, even as their methods and finished artworks are so divergent. They are two long-time Detroit area residents who have applied themselves for many years with a singular dedication to their methods and materials. They both explore their various media with a purpose and confidence that come from long experience and a willingness to experiment with everything at hand. What perhaps joins them, even with all their difference, is a sense of humor and a playful approach. They share the gift of being serious about their work, without taking themselves too seriously.
Please join us in welcoming these two artists at an opening reception on Friday, October 4th at 7:00 pm. We will host a gallery talk with the artists on Saturday, October 5th at 2:00 pm. The opening reception and gallery talk are free and open to the public. Visitors will enjoy an opportunity to meet the artists and gain some insight into their works.

This exhibit is supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kresge Foundation.

PCCA exhibitions are sponsored by Dokka Fasteners, the International Academy of Design & Technology, Rochester Hills Spine Care, Whims Insurance Agency and WiT.

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The mission of Paint Creek Center for the Arts is to enhance life in the region by promoting, encouraging and creating opportunities to participate in and appreciate the arts. Paint Creek Center for the Arts is open Monday through Thursday, 9:00am to 7:00pm, Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm, and Saturday, 10:00am to 4:00pm. PCCA is located at 407 Pine Street in downtown Rochester at the intersection of Pine and Fourth Streets. For information on exhibits, classes, the Art & Apples Festival, special events or volunteer opportunities, call 248-651-4110 or visit
www.pccart.org<http://www.pccart.org/>.

Mary Fortuna
PCCA Exhibitions Director
248.651.4110
www.pccart.org