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Revelations...
From the moment they were resolved, I have wanted to show the two figure paintings as a pair, with the subversive, negative space of the building in 'Prophecy' on the left balanced by the building in relief in 'Coat of Paint' on the right. Side by side, they were interesting but never convincing. This new arrangement excites - the two figures seperated by 'The Space Between'.
It was meant to be- all three paintings the same height. The dark violet-void the same proportions as the two flanking figures, its curve linking to the curve of their backs. The identity of the dark-space now multiplies: it is Central Park, the 'Space Between' West Side and East Side. It is the view through the window of the Stillman Apartment. It is an alley, through which the figures may walk. It is hierachial, with the central curve higher than the others. It is the third figure - Quinn? It is allegorical. It is the alley from where Quinn obsessively watches the apartment. It is infinity. It is 'Nowhere'. 'And this was, finally, was all he ever asked of things: to be nowhere'*
We go full -circle: we are back once again in Grand Central Station, where Quinn has to choose which Stillman to follow.....one a madman, one an innocent or imposter...
* p:4, 'The New York Trilogy'
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Fowey River panorama with Village Hall studio bottom-left
Beautiful, unspoilt Polruan was our location for the latest 'Freedom in Painting' course in Cornwall.
Subject matter was not hard to find: the spectacular diamond-shaped panorama of the busy River Fowey, the intimacy of the small working boatyard and the framed glimpses of river between buildings were the catalyst for the many strong paintings made during the five days.
The course began with demonstrations followed by three group exercises designed to enter painting three different ways: through colour & shape, through mark-making, and after a drawing session on location, through abstraction and extreme reduction. Building on this, from this point on it was up to the artists to explore the relationship between line and colour and decide how much figuration/information their paintings needed or how 'abstract' or 'figurative' they wished their paintings to be.
All nonsense of course to have these labels, but the aim of the course, through the exercises, the response to the landscape, the demonstations, dialogue and a creative environment was for each artist to aquire more knowledge and ideas about painting and its possibilities, hopefully creating a desired shift in their own practice.
And to have a couple of pieces to hang on the wall!
Carol Hayslip's drawings
GALLERY
TESTIMONIALS
'To learn from someone who is passionate about art was fab SUE FRAY
'A brilliant course. It fulfilled all my goals of producing an abstract painting and learning how to loosen up my current way of working' ANITA BONE
'Ashley keeps us on point and spends time to consider and suggest without being emphatic.Great! CAROL HAYSLIP
'Thanks for your dedication and serious honesty' GERALDINE FRANKLIN
'Polruan' 25x35cms ASHLEY HANSON
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'City of Glass 9 - (Fiction & Fact)' 120x200cms
As the 'City of Glass' series nears completion - there is a final idea to explore - and after a time of reflection, I would like to announce, in advance, a new series '20 Books=20 Paintings' which I aim to complete by 1 September 2018. A year to find a gallery to show the series as a coherent whole. Materials are ordered: each painting will be 45x70cms.
In a shift from 'City of Glass', each of the twenty paintings will be sourced from a different novel, whose identity will remain a secret. If the viewer wishes, there will be clues in the paint and if you know my tastes....
Each of the pieces will be in the 'book-format', ie two canvases joined together, referencing both the genre and the painting as 'object'. This was a favoured format in City of Glass; see 'Fiction & Fact' above and the paintings below. And of course this years 'WestSideStory' and 'EastSideStory'.
In paralell, there will be a continuation of work inspired by the sea, the shapes and imagery of harbour-towns, the sensations of light, weather and colour. This is a lifelong series. As a discipline, I think I'll continue with the idea of a block of colour in the bottom left corner that links 'The Sea' and 'Crane (Polruan)' below, which establishes and controls the space.
'The Sea' 70x70cms 'Crane (Polruan)' 40x30cms
'City of Glass 10 - (StillmanStillman)' 120x200cms
'City of Glass 5 - (Truthville,N.Y.) & City of Glass 4 - (Hope Falls, hope falls...)'
'City of Glass 11 - (StillmanStillman)'
'City of Glass 32 - (The Apartment)' 70x100cms
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PAIRS/OPPOSITES: West-Side/East-Side...sensation and context...information and imagination...'map-truth' and 'painting-truth'...natural and the man-made landscape...male/female..
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City of Glass 62 - (WestSideStory) 40x60cms
SAT 17 JUNE
A sad day and a good day - the end of Open Studios and the resolution of my painting. For the title I've gone for the WestSideStory and all the baggage that goes with it, but I like the link to the book-format of the paintings and to the novel.*
Conversations today: an American couple talking about the new work, joining the debate about City of Glass 61 & 62 as a pair and how wide the gap between them should be....a comment from another artist about this piece '...making New York beautiful, moving away from the ugly, drooping willie of Manhattan' (!)
Back to the painting: saturated colour, working in density and proportion. The dominant verticality/stripes is disrupted but more visually satisfying because of it. The backward step with the green at the end of yesterdays session forced me to look again at the purple. What is detail? It is what happens at the end of a painting to bring focus and refinement and difference and added complexity and above all, clarity. The addition of snaking Broadway helps the painting a lot - the curve of Riverside Drive no longer stark and isolated. A small area of heavier, knifed purples to break up the flatness... a pattern of 'hovering' green printed city blocks... a new yellow glow on the extreme right ... an almost hidden long 'banjo-pier' shaped mark, revealed again by scrubbing away , now contributing....a long central horizontal, coming forward, cutting the space, pulling the two sides together...lines/marks with beauty and precision, formal necessity and context...triple whammy...the streets where Stillman walks, the boundaries/borders of 110thSt, Riverside Park, 72ndSt and Amsterdam Ave.
With the twin purple angled piers there are possibilities of the illusion of a receding space, the New York canyon thing again, the idea reinforced by cooler colours 'beyond'. The view through buildings...are we getting closer to depicting Quinn's observation post in the alley, watching the entrance to the apartment on E69thSt?
detail
In the studio
FRI 16 JUNE
Still have doubts (below )- the left panel seems more successful, the right almost decorative and too linear, the angled purple piers cancelled out by the twin paralell lines to the right. I've been putting in detail/information/references to the story all day to find out what they do to the painting and whether the painting needs them. Feels like there needs to be a further paring down. Tried a green at the end of the day, making a connection with 'EastSide' which didn't work, Maybe it's too much of a fixation, trying to make paintings work as a pair.
Friday
day 1
* The New York Trilogy' by Paul Auster