J-Fish....is not a rapper, 6 1/2 guidelines to being a serious art critic, pink socks and The Story



J-Fish, acrylics on 4 canvases of 40x50cm, October2011


Random Comment:
- you got some crazy, zoned out spider going on there!

Random Reply:
> I know...and some kind of alien thing, or maybe it's a jellyfish

Random Response:
- where's the alien thing? Ooooh, I see it now...
　

Bonus: 6 1/2 Guidelines to being a Serious Art Critic.
(from the MC chat)

- ART IS SERIOUS! (1)

> Exactly. Spectacles ON please (2)

- I have them on...wait, let me get my ART spectacles... they are black and have thicker rims (= 1/2)

> Good. Pouting your mouth? (= 3)

- Then (4) place hand under chin in thoughtful, contemplative gesture.

> Good, good. Tapping pen against teeth...(= 5)

- (6) proclaim said piece of art "a thought provoking insight into difficult socio-economic conditions is the south of Holland".
　

*pink sock diversion*

(from the uncensored photo) ---->

THE STORY
~by Mattline Kimmick

The art critic takes a generous swig of free champagne from the nearest waiter... god, he loves gallery openings. The free booze, the inflated sense of importance...what a life it is... the life of an art critic......Still, he couldn't quite stop thinking about her socks. Whatever was she thinking...if she wanted to make it as an artist, she'd have to smarten up... get some fashion advice. Then there was that little voice: 'She'd need to be safe in such a bad neighborhood though, glow in the dark socks...what else can a girl do?' Very little, he thought to himself. Ha! To have to sacrifice fashion for one's own physical safety! 'Must be rough in the South' he mused... and with a gallant swing he swooped his elegant scarf over his right shoulder.
Weeks later he is still haunted by her dazzling pink socks. After three weeks of begging, she finally sends them to him in the mail. Needless to say...they are smelly. He never quite recovers...his sense of smell never does return. As he wanders through the neigborhood at night...looking lost...all people notice are those socks...hanging from his ears...it is a difficult thing to watch. A man forlorn, fallen from grace... once the figurehead of the arts community... now a love lorn straggler, communing with the night and the bottle of vodka clutched tight to his chest.

-The End- (please don't cry)

Peacock



peacock, acrylics on 60x80cm canvas, October2011



Turn-painterism DIY

One of the simplest ways to "change" visual material is to turn it.



red and yellow, acrylics on 60x80cm canvas, september 2011



Which is why...abstract painters have more fun...

Abstract painters have turn-painterism contests...it involves a lot of quick spinning, and hanging upside down for inspiration...

Yeah, it's pretty intense.

Don't try this at home with your figurative landscape painting or Ikea cityscape!

You never know what might happen...

The Greatness of Smallness: Mailbox Projects & The-Here-and-Now

'openings', acrylics on 3 canvases of 20x20cm, September 2011

It helps to have simplistic challenges. To make work small enough to fit through a mailbox, that was the
practical aim... 20 x 20 cm canvases...




Paw Opening, acrylics on 20x20 cm canvas, September 2011

 It's different from painting big canvases because small ones get crowded a lot more quickly. There's no space to "paint around", allowing a theme to develop. The first stroke IS the theme, take it or leave it.

'Clouds Opening', acrylics on 20x20 cm canvas, September 2011

It's like that with a lot of small things in general.

'Jump Opening', acrylics on 20x20 cm canvas, September 2011

That one thing you say to your neighbour, that one look you give the woman standing next to you in line
for the supermarket check-out, that one phonecall...

'Melons and Such', acrylics on 3 canvases of 20x20cm, September 2011

Small gestures, no space to 'improvise until you have what you want'... if you considered what it is you want, that is.

'Bit(e) of M', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

Are small daily gestures creative acts? I think so.

'And Such', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

It just happens right there and then and has whichever effect it has...pretty direct.

'Melon', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

It's not nessarily about getting things right, but it is about paying attention. About being
present for all those little moments that make up a day. Whatever they are...

'Yep', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

BIG canvases and other BIG creative projects are great, because you get to keep redesigning them until you're satisfied. Who wouldn't want to be able to live a day like that? To keep tweaking it, until it's just right...and then keep it.

(But sometimes, that's too romantic. There's too much yearning.)

'Fff', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

SMALL canvases and SMALL creative projects are great because they pretty much happen in-the-moment
there is no time to wish anything were any different.

It's live jazz versus the studio album.

Painted to the music of Audiofeel. Speaking of which...I'll be painting LIVE to their acoustic gig on the 15th this month. Crowdsurfing on canvasboard? Crowd painting? ...who knows? (I think live painting as such is already pretty exciting though!) Check it out if you happen to be in the southern part of the Netherlands!