Tag Archives: sculpture

The Way ►

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But… I don’t want to make an Art about the fury of chaos and apocalyptic energies. It is too negative. I muddled over this for nearly a year. How do I make this a positive expression for me the creator? I don’t want to drudge over this. This was while carving the Ouroboros Snake and I already had a set idea of change as circular and self-completing. I didn’t want a distraction.

But I definitely heard the message. Gradually at first, I thought to make a video short of the blast moment from the point-of-view of the survivor, in watching their shock and following their reactions. There would characters who would not be told that without warning they would be blasted with loud sound and blinding light… um, this way I could record their raw reactions and a narrative would follow? OK, slow down… What the hell Matt. How are you even considering this?

By Summer I’d thought of a million things while I basically was getting stoned and swimming at the lake. Still, the idea sat there like the pile of rubble at the site, untouched with an orange fence around it.

One day as I floated in the water, I began to think. Me, a small clot of self-assembling and somehow sentient proteins, immersed in water, surrounded by forest and earth, under the deep blue sky, overlooked by the radiant yellow Sun.

WATER – EARTH – AIR – FIRE

At that moment, I believed these fundamental symbolic elements of matter-enabled-by -energy, in vast concatenation and generation create reality – a creative force which is equal and opposite the explosive. It is the melting together. And that little blob, me, is the witness of this conclusive assembly and integration of parts, which is the World.

Now I have two drawings to do. One of rapid dissolution and one of steadfast concretion. So as not to be overwhelmed by the energies of either, I am working on them together, in balance. It is just a thing I do for my own discovery, like in a sketchbook, meant for self-study.

Exploded What?!

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What do I mean, the Exploded House? Not too recently a house in my neighborhood blew-up! 2AM! The old guy there was using propane tanks in the basement to run his furnace… and well, there was a leak. That’s what you do when the gas company cuts you off. Apparently, he’d been doing it for years. He survived with injuries.

The next day I went to see it. Four main walls were flattened like pedals of a perfect lotus flower, inner walls neatly stacked and aligned with them. The roof sat, semi-intact to one side, as if a soap bubble had burst. Pop! At the center, the basement, was an empty box. Everything else was blown in shreds about the yards like mist and rain. The perimeter trees were singed, the truck’s tires were melted. Smells of dust and charred wood.

I keep thinking about him, at 2 AM being shot out there, like from an ejection-bed. What did he hear or see or feel of that brief bright light and thunder! Sensations of abrupt and maximum intensity and overwhelmed perceptions doesn’t begin to cover it.

So, imagine the total blast of his momentary experience was YOUR experience, every day, all day long, you hear, see, and feel the fires of stars burning. That’s the exploding house. That’s reality being continuously torn apart and reassembled, and that’s your inner-self and spirit also. A supreme example of the Way, it is the elementary fabric undergoing transformations everywhere at all times. It is the engine that drives the Way and upon which the Way is formed.

Now, the question is… What would I do to incorporate these ideas into a work of Art? Do I need to? Is this a part of my narrative? What do I want to say?

Crocodile Balances the World, preview

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The world had fallen out of balance. 
The Dragon King of the South Ocean is missing (Where did he go?) 
Nothing is on its axis. 
Who will hold up the world? 
There are no more Dragons.  

A Crocodile offers to try. 
He says, “I am large, and the closest thing to a Dragon. I will try”. 
He steps up onto the back of the Great Turtle and grasps the World
And lifts it up and balances it on the end of his nose. 
As he does this he himself becomes a Dragon.

“Crocodile Balances the World and Becomes the Dragon King” 

The world had fallen out of balance as the Dragon King of the South Ocean had gone missing (Where did he go?). Nothing remained in its proper axis, and there were no more Dragons to uphold the world. 

Amidst the imbalance, a Crocodile stepped forward and offered to try. He stated, “I am large and the closest thing to a Dragon. I will give it a shot.” With determination, he mounted the back of the Great Turtle, seized the World, and carefully balanced it on the end of his nose.

In this selfless act, the Crocodile underwent a transformation, becoming a Dragon himself—the savior the world needed. 

The style of this tale draws inspiration from my Bee micro-dramas, where the Crocodile embodies the role of an Everyman, earnestly striving to restore equilibrium to the World. His humility only enhances his noble efforts and aspirations. 

El Jardin Studio

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The new studio was finished February. It turned out much better than I expected. “A.” seems mostly happy with it. We’ve named it El Jardin, “The Garden”, and it’s an incarnation of a Tango clubhouse. We’re now set up to host Tango events, art and music shows, house guests, and more. For the past months we’ve been running a twice-monthly practica with our neighborhood tango friends. It is a private space by, so we’ve working on a balanced policy about who’s invited to come there.

These pictures show the progress from Fall 2021 to Spring 2022. First the wood floor is installed then it is covered while the painting takes place. After that the floor is “finished” and then we’re dancing! (without countertops)…

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.

a_venusd_adamg_venus

 

 

 

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.

picstack

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

layout

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.

construction

With judgment, refine and clean up the drawing.

refine

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

schematicgrid

..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”.

a_nudemodel

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

b_nudemodel

Progressing to some clay models.

c_nudemodel

e_nudemodel

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

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This is the first time since I brought the show home that I’ve been thinking again about new works to make. Meanwhile I’d been dancing tango a lot, and listening closely to people talk about art, & when they warily mention what they themselves are doing creatively. Once you are out as an artist more and more people will say to you what they are doing or aspire to do. There are lots of poets, dancers and photographers out there, and painters & sculptors; and the children of artists or someone in the family who does or would do something. The great stereotype of the Artist in other times was the bohemian starving in the garret in Paris, or hanging out in 50’s Greenwich Village at the bar. Today, the artists I know are the anonymous persons who’re working nine to five, struggling to find a any moment at all to create something beautiful & meaningful to, at least, themselves. Everyone, whatever you’re trying to do – keep doing it, and see what happens.

I didn’t know what I wanted next; something experimental and abstract – printing, carved low relief, or drawing on canvas ; another heavy involving production in wood or metal; something really large, and lightweight (who has enough papier-mache in their life?)? Then I remembered that the whole time I was finishing the last thing, I was already considering the next. So I’m going to go ahead with all of them and see which one compels me the most. I’ve cleared out the shop, collected most of the materials, and I have firewood for the stove. Hello Winter & introspection & creativity.

Chase and patina

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When the cast piece is complete, and the sprues are cut-off, there remain scars where the grinder or saw was used. These areas need to be finished to match the look of the rest of the surface. To chase, is a metalworking term, to ornament metal by engraving or embossing. From this:

To this:

b_chase

Just mess it up with chisels, punches, files, hammers, stones, whatever, it don’t try too hard to make a match of the texture. It’ll look fine when you heat the spot with a propane torch, which darkens the metal by oxidation I guess.

I leave it all outside for several weeks, and I spray it down regularly with a teaspoon of cupric nitrate mixed with 12 oz water.

..and it slowly turns this nice color. This is patina.

e_chase

When I’m ready to commit to the patina, I give it a light wax to stabilize and protect it. This darkens and warms up the colors, and brings out the shiny highlights both at once. Real nice.

g_chase

h_chase

i_chase

A and Q supply a nice rock for a base, and Eureka! It is finished & ready to show.

 

Less is More 6x9 75

October 4 – November 1, 2013

Main Gallery: Joyce Brienza & Matt De Genaro
Opening Reception: Friday, October 4 – 7pm – 9pm

Paint Creek Center for the Arts
407 Pine Street
Rochester, MI 48307

Gallery Hours: Monday – Thursday 9am – 9pm, Friday 9am – 5pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm