Minneapolis: Sunday in the Park

With fall in the air we decided to take advantage of the nice weather for another Sunday afternoon stroll in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden across from the Walker Art Center.

The Claes Oldenburg /Coosje van Bruggen ever popular installation "Spoonbridge and Cherry" was surprisingly devoid of photo-op wedding parties today.  The early fall breeze and spraying mists may have kept some at bay.

I’ve never been totally at home with Minimalism but Sol Lewitt’s “X with Columns” a concrete and cinder block temple in the snap below, is nicely softened by its environment.  Today however, no one was climbing on or through it.

One of my favorite works in the sculpture garden is this interactive sculpture below by Dan Graham   titled “Two way Mirror” a labyrinth of steel, glass and arborvitae hedges.

Graham's punched steel mirrors plays with reflection and transparency.  The images are affected by the sunlight and change during the course of the day. 

In this second snap, I went around to the other side of the wall and although we seem to be together ...we are actually looking at each other from opposite side

The Sculpture Garden sadly, has some serious accessibility issues with their sidewalks and paths.  But I understand they hope to address that problem soon.
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Scholar's Rock II

This charcoal is a second version of a "Scholar's Rock" formation.  Such rocks served as objects of meditation for scholars and were admired for their abstract beauty and unusual convoluted shapes symbolizing mountainous landscapes of Buddhist and Taoist immortals.

I started this one (like the last) by rubbing my fingers in charcoal dust and smudging the paper with it much like finger painting!

Highlighs are then brought back in by what is call "negative drawing"....or ERASING!

(click of any photo to enlarge for better detail)

Although it is messy and does not mix with finger food snacking, this method has the effect of creating soft gradations without the use of harsh lines.


BTW:  I actually documented this one with my little point and shoot set in video mode and hope to post it soon.   Well...as soon as I teach myself how to edit video!

Scholar's Rock

Scholar's Rock

Due to unforeseen circumstances and lack of studio opportunity, my painting has recently been curtailed. 
In the meantime I turned instead to experimenting with drawing media and techniques that are less familiar to me.

This is the first stage of a charcoal...a WIP or work in progress.
(you can click on images to view them larger)

This image is loosely based on a rock formation called a "Scholar's Rock".  

These formations are found mostly in China in areas such as Lake Taihu, and are greatly prized as objects of meditation and contemplation.
They are considered to be objects of great aesthetic value throughout the world.  Many are found here in gardens and in major museums from Boston to San Francisco.

This is not done with charcoal pencils or sticks...but rather with charcoal dust directly drawn with my finger.  Occasionally I use a blending stump or an eraser as a drawing tool.

Rather than producing the darks and lights with instruments or pencils, I prefer sinking in the dark areas with hands and fingers. 

This way, I get more of a feeling of building and molding the nooks and crannies rather than "reproducing" them!  

A VERMONT LEGACY

Maxfield Parrish (Premier painter of the Golden Age of Illustration) was a friend of my grandfather Col. Thomas Lull.  They lived on opposite sides of the covered bridge that connected Windsor, Vermont with the area of New Hampshire where Parrish lived and worked.  Parrish often came into Windsor for coffee and to gather material for his landscapes of Vermont countryside for the annual calendars printed from his paintings. 

 Lull Brook Winter
1945

"Lull Brook Winter" takes its inspiration from the brook named after the Lull Family who settled that area.  The brook still traverses the bucolic Vermont countryside and I often revisit Lull Brook when I'm back east and It is my hope to do my own (updated) verion of Lull Brook sometime in the near future.  Meanwhile I have a lot of other painting to do in anticipation for my next exhibit. 

 

MY BARCELONA LEGACY

A number of years back, while I was in New York to arrange for my solo show, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view the closing days of an exhibition titled "Barcelona and Modernity".

The exhibition was of interest to me because (despite my 'waspy' name), I am 50% Hispanic. 

My Grandfather was from Puerto Rico but my grandmother was born in Barcelona and it is through her that I have familial connections to the artist named Alejandro de Riquer who worked in the Art Nouveau circle of Antonio Gaudi.

  

Alejandro de Riquer

(1856-1920)

What a thrill it was to encounter 4 of his works as I walked through the galleries.

The show traced his and other late 19^th century Barcelona artist's Art Nouveau roots on up through the 20^th century modernist work of Picasso, Miro, & Dali whose intellectual center was the Cafe Quatre Gats.

(left) Riquer: Cover illustration for the Quatre Gats Art Journal 1899

(right) Picasso: Drawing to publize the 4 Gats Cafe  1900

I'm so glad I hung on to my little collection of his prints and drawings that have been passed down to me and I cherish them all the more having seen his work in the context of his generation of artists.  Most of the print engravings are "exlibris" commissioned by wealthy families to personalize their books. 
This one below however is so large I framed it up to be admired on a wall.

Engraving: exlibris "Casa Davalos"



detail below

As I am able to remove the glass to photograph them, I hope to continue posting some more images of his work in this blog at a future time.

With Art Nouveau interests on both sides of my family, I guess it is not surprising that my vision remains steadfastly planted in "organic" imagery.