My second month of paintings
February, 2016
Since January 1, I have been posting one piece of art a day on Instagram (@ade3) and Tumblr. Follow me if you want to keep up with this ongoing project. I will let the art speak for itself, but if you want the back story, scroll to the end. And if you missed my first post you might want to start there.
Theme 1: Skulls
Theme 2: Art Show Remix
Theme 3: BMW
Theme 4: Compass
The Back Story…
As I explained in my first post, the goal of my painting-a-day project is to develop some themes from the chaotic archives of unfinished work in my basement studio.
The first theme for February was skulls. I found a series of line drawings of skulls that I did some time around 1999 and I wanted to mash them up with my collage/textural technique. I was nervous that these would dip too deeply into trite territory, but I think I managed to put a new spin on an overused symbol. Watch for more skull art from me later this year.
The second theme of the month was remixing imagery from the promotion of my senior art show from 2001.
To raise interest in my ary show I went around our campus screen printing my posters directly on the buildings. It was basically graffiti, and in hindsight I was probably lucky I didn’t get in more trouble. I was asked to remove the paint from the buildings and get official approval before promoting my show any further.
Once I removed the graffiti I set out to print some less controversial posters. Instead of printing on white paper, I used an assortment of wallpaper as the base layer of my prints. The design of my poster contained cropped images of the source imagery used in my paintings. You might recognize the lilies and spider flower from last month.
The other promotion for my show was invitations. I created 100 small pieces of art in my collage/painting style. I printed the invitation on semi-transparent vellum paper and folded it over the individually numbered pieces of art. Here is a short video showing what the result looked like.
One image on the poster, which you can see most clearly on day 44, is a silhouette of my cousin standing on top of a mountain. I took the photo on a backpacking trip in the Rocky Mountains. He is a man I have admired my entire life and his heroic stance pretty much sums up how I have always viewed him. His last name is Aufdemberge which is German for “on the mountain.” Being a part of the Aufdemberge family has shaped me as much as anything else and our annual campouts are always a highlight of my year.
The third theme I explored this month was a BMW badge from a photo I took of a Z3. It is one of the first images I ever burned into a silkscreen. Day 50 shows a print I made in 1998. I remember being exhilarated by the technique of using a squeegee to pull paint through a screen. At the time I didn’t know how central to my work this technique would become. As far as the symbolism, I have always been a car guy. Check out The Zombie Mobile for more of my thoughts on automobiles.
The final theme of the month comes from an image of a compass. This is a newer image that I haven’t exhibited yet. The actual compass in the picture, however, is something I’ve had since I was a boyscout. It was a gift from my dad, and aside from my swiss army knife, it was one of the most prized possessions of my youth. Symbolically it works in my art because it hints at ideas of direction and goals. It also connects with some of my newer work (which I haven’t posted yet) that uses maps.
That sums it up for February. Thanks for reading. Remember to follow me on Instagram (@ade3) or Tumblr if you want to see my daily art. I will make another post like this next month to show the next 30 paintings. Stay creative.
