Upcoming Exhibition in Pittsburgh PA

I have a piece in a show that opens March 3rd (6pm) at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. The show is juried and is part of a NSAL competition. There are some pretty sweet cash prizes to be had and I've put forth a watercolor effort I'm quite proud of. There is a cropped preview of the painting above. Please come to the show if you are available, I will be in Pittsburgh and would love to see you.

The work is entitled "The Point at Which the Stream Emerges" and depicts the Nine Mile Run culvert opening at the Braddock Avenue entrance to Frick Park. The site is a significant focal point of interest in Pittsburgh at the moment. The Nine Mile Run Watershed Association is actively designing a forward thinking demonstration project at this location, one that considers and improves upon the existing nature and culture relationships.

I painted this, in part, in an attempt to preserve and crystalize this particular moment. The image acts as a dual symbol; one reflecting upon the past decisions and policies that lead to such a state, and the other symbolizing the catalyst that moved people to dream and actively change the world that we live in. I hope that the painting can serve as point of departure for dialogue, some will still see it as a sewer and some will be passionately engaged with what it is "becoming."

I also am scratching the surface on a concept I'd like to call the politics of space. When painting charged "landscapes" - it seems as if the issues in that space are embedded in the physical structure in a way that can be read like a text. More on that as it develops.

Throwback in the Self-Referential Sense.

In the spirit of 1998...



I present a little watercolor piece called "Dance with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight."

This came out of a watercolor class I was in Connecticut where I was the only male, and the only person under 50 I believe. There were a lot of flowers and soft pastel colored paintings in the group, and this painting was a response to that. It didn't go over too well. But the class was great.

I happen to like the deep color blue of the night sky and the way the mask sits on the face. It appears to almost be grafted on. The style is very comic book like, which is difficult with watercolors. The mask seems more alive than the fellow who wears it.

Whoa!

Watercolor is a medium that was completely censored from Carnegie Mellon University. Not officially, of course, but the underlying tone of students and teachers alike was "turning up the nose." I think watercolors require a deftness in paint application that can really be beautiful.

I will be chasing that beauty in 2007.