THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESSS!!!!

This is a first of a series of works that I based on the methodology and process of Brice Marden (at least in my mind… to start with). This one veered off track a bit and ended up as you see above.

I wrote a few words on the man here. I think what I might like about Marden is his work ethic, process, and single mindedness.

Inspiration:

I had a dream where I was watching a gallery dealer selling some work. They were sitting behind a fancy desk and putting the push on a couple. My memory i just a split moment where the dealer pulls a painting from behind his chair and says something along the lines of “Can I interest you in this Marden”. I remember looking at that painting and thinking ‘wow, that is really great. I can feel his process as I look at it”. And in my dream, when I looked at it, I could see each mark he was making and the reasoning behind it and how that mark informed other marks and well… just that entire process that I was imagining seeing was really somethikng else.

Why do This Work Based on Marden?

I am more fascinated by the entire abstract expressionist movement. I’m flabbergasted that the major art figures of our last century can be reduced to actions that little children can take. With the smallest bit of coaching, a child of ten could drip paint like Pollock, splash paint like Frankenthaller, or break plates like Schnable. A centuries worth of practice devoted itself to living by Greenberg’s abstract expressionist teachings and the Picasso mantra “It took me 20 years to learn to paint, it took me the rest of my life to forget”.

I can understand the cultural importance of a singular piece like Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ or a Pollock painting. My mind is agog though when I think about the enormous weight this movement had over generations of artists and…

How is What I did Based on Marden?

I approached what I am doing seriously. I started by listening to hour after hour of interviews and talks. I got to appreciate his artistic approach. I’m not an expert on Marden and I’m not going to take the time to fully understand him. What I do appreciate the very tense rules based approach he took as an artist. He was all about exploration while at the same time the rules he placed on his explorative work were stifling enough to box him into the narrowest of …

More Inspiration:

Text to come -

**Starting Point:** Getting some color and initial shapes down.

Trying to follow the rules of Marden. Not really staying on course.

**End of Session** 7

I almost veered off and turned this into a pattern/narrative/figurative painting.
I vividly see a guy behind a bodega counter at the bottom and people shopping in the store above.

**End of Session 17**

For a moment, I was putting all four of the 'Marden’ pictures into television sets. I thought that might be a clever framing device…

**End of Session 18**

I thought I had a good idea when I added the text to Philosophie de Pacotille. I started to add a layer of text onto a lot of my paintings, in this case WARNING.

**End of Session 30**

I was trying to bring back the ‘Marden-Edge’. I like where it is here. At this point I think I was starting to push the 3rd dimension a bit more heavily than before.

**End of Session** 36

I was really trying to make this work. I wanted to keep the right edge… have something that was different in texture abutting the abstract jumble.

**End of Session** 49

I realized that the right side didn’t work like I was trying and started blowing it up.

**End of Session 59**

I like how this moved.
I like the idea of having that totally different color/texture that could be introduced with this green shape.
I feel like its come together 100% for me here. I know where it needs to go now.

**Undergrad Work**

In a way I feel like I am coming back to work like this painting.
I did this in undergrad. I was trying to do a painting that would be based on a Rothko while flipping it on its head by adding all of the busy work.

What did I learn?

Ooftah. It takes a LOT of work to cover a panel this size with egg tempera.

I have a new found appreciation for Marden. In one of the interviews I listened to, someone asked “How should a person look at your work?” Marden replied “You pick a line and you follow it around the canvas”. by this I think he was saying that his work, the lines were a map that helps you the viewer wander across the canvas in a curated manner (if you wish). The lines will take you on a story that is about the process of making the work. - I focused on that thought while I was working. How one shape in my work interacted with other shapes and all together the work I did, even though it looks nothing like Marden’s, I feel like it is a piece about process and discovery the same way his was.

I feel that part of Marden’s process is about adding and taking away in an effort to find the ‘correct’ thing that should be there.

My Personal Initial Judgement of the Work:

I am trying to judge my work on an axis (three pillars: Craftsmanship, design, and concept).

Craftsmanship:
Design: Design includes the markmaking style and the
Concept:

MARDEN 1 - ATLAS: ABSTRACTION - RÉGIME GRAVITAIRE #I