Monthly Studio Update - September, 2001
RECENT PASTEL DRAWINGS
In the glare of the recent terrorist attack in the U.S., my original introduction* to this exhibition seemed somewhat esoteric. In it, I discussed my manner of perception and contrasted it to the postmodern art of Paul McCarthy. But there is a profound similarity between the terrorist attacks and the Paul McCarthy exhibitions at LACOMA and The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York--both romanticize the destruction of human values. I do not imply that the McCarthy exhibition is an act of war or that he should be censored in any way or put on trial and shot. But I do consider the destruction of human values to be evil, whether it is against human beings, material production, or in the spiritual realm of art.
Evil can never support people who desire to live.
Within that context I do not find it irrelevant to present my online exhibition of Recent Pastel Drawings. They are, after all, about light.
The acts of heroism I have seen and read about are incredible. It fills me with pride to see the dignity, fortitude, and lightening-quick problem-solving actions of the Americans under this attack. One image I have in my mind is of the hundreds of firefighters rushing into the damaged WTC. Though it is not allot, 10% of all proceeds received by September 30th will be donated jointly to the American Red Cross and the NY Firefighter's Fund. The donations will be confirmed on October's Studio Update.
On with the show. All drawings are pastel on black Cansons paper, 20 x 25 inches, 51 x 64 cm.
1) Trees, $250 Sold
2) Trees 2, $275 Sold
3) Road, $275 Sold
4) Road 2, $300
5) Cows, $225
6) Cypress, $300 Sold
7) Meadow, $275 Sold
8) Pants 1, $150
9) Pants 2, $225 Sold
10) Plants, $250
11) Road 3, $225
12) Seascape, $250 Sold
13) Landscape, $175
14) Ancient Rock Tombs, $275 Sold
15) Land n Sea, $175 Sold
16) Storm, $175
17) Olive Trees, $175
18) Trees 3, $200
19) Palm, $275 Sold
20) Trees 4, $250
21) Road 4, $200 Sold
22) Trees 5, $225
23) Road 5, $300
24) Palm 2, $300 Sold
25) Landscape 2, $250
26) Bamboo, $300
27) Landscape 3, $250
28) Trees 6, $175
29) Trees 7, $200
30) Trees 8, $225
31) Trees 9, $150 Sold
32) Pine, $200 Sold
33) Turkish Coastline, $150 Sold
34) Turkish Coastline 2, $150 Sold
35) Dry Grass, $175
36) Trees 10, $175 Sold
37) Yellow House, $225 Sold
38) Ancient Rock Tomb 2, $250
39) Ancient Rock Tomb 3, $250
Shipping:
Your artwork will be shipped to via Fed Ex or DHL International Express. It should take 5 business days or less and you will be able to track its journey through the Internet. We will split the transportation cost 50/50, which means you will pay $25 extra. The work will be insured. The past 20 or so pieces I have sent from Greece to the U.S. have arrived perfectly and no additional cost or duty tax has been charged.
Payment:
First contact me, newberry@rho.forthnet.gr, with your request. Then we can arrange that you pay with your credit card or by a bank transfer. If you are a personal acquaintance, I will accept checks. I am sure the pastel is better looking than the image on your screen, and I'll guarantee your satisfaction with it.
Additionally, two pastel drawings Mario and Susanna may be purchased through Enlightenment. Enlightenment is a site devoted to serious, young and old, philosophers and scholars and, of course, enlightened minds.
Welcome to my online exhibition, Recent Pastel Drawings. These drawings were made in late August and in early September.
The Drawings:
The subject matter of these pastel drawings is predominantly landscapes of Rhodes. The countryside here is extremely beautiful and it reminds me of growing up in La Jolla, California.
When I choose to draw a pastel landscape it is not only the site I am interested in. Two paramount considerations are the light and the color of the subject. If those two things are not present then either I create a boring, nondescript drawing or I pull on the resources of my imagination which gives the drawing a slightly artificial color. That artificiality is what the French Impressionists were opposed to and hence their and my stress on drawing and working from nature.
You might notice that each drawing has its own color scheme. The nuance of color comes about from observing the atmosphere of that particular moment. Another thing you might notice is that I have composed large areas of light and shadow--a form of abstraction.
One huge problem for artists working outdoors in nature is that the conditions of the site change, i.e. the sun moves. Therefore I work the drawings as fast as I can, in under an hour. Even as the hour is getting on I can see new highlights on the site, ones that I hadn't seen before and which I hadn't seen because they were not there before. Then it is time to STOP. Or I will be forever chasing the light and shadows across the landscape. If I continue drawing these new highlights the positive effect I had in my drawing disappears under a pile of shadows and highlights that have no relation to each other.
Another aspect related to the time constraint is how much detail can I convey. Details are only as good as the form they convey. And details take lots of time to draw, which is impossible for me in under an hour. Therefore my priority is to draw the color and light of the big forms and reject the non-essential, in the context of time, details like the individual leaves of a tree.
The Philosophical Connection:
I am always thinking of the philosophical implications of the art I make. These pastels can be held up, in a simple manner, as symbols of perceptual identification, of observing our surroundings and focusing our attention. You might be surprised how many artists completely disregard reality and work either solely from their imagination or by pure deduction. For me the extreme case of this type of disregard for visual reality is a type of blindness, which I find really odd in anyone devoted to visual communication.
The Context of this Exhibition:
Periodically I interrupt work on my major pieces and make small paintings or pastels. This series marks one of those breaks. Far from being inconsequential, I use this outdoor work to study the many facets of light and to push myself to experiment with different colors.
But there is a larger context that I am always aware of, which is that I am a representational artist working in a postmodern art world. For many people postmodernism is hard to define but, to give you an idea of what it means, I would like to give you one example. Please take a look at and read my review about Paul McCarthy's recent exhibitions at LACOMA and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.
Even though my pastel exhibition is not an exhibition of my major work, I think it serves quite well as a foil to McCarthy's. On the one hand, you have themes of humanity's evil, on the other, the beauty of nature and light; you have an artist who explicitly deploys the destruction of painting versus an artist who revels in it; and you have an artist who projects self-pitying self-absorption versus an artist who is excited by looking out at the world. I think it is time to question the curatorial choices of the leading museums of contemporary art.
That is all for September, though I think it is a lot. :) Stay tuned, interesting things will be up in October.
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