Final Paintings for Fall ’10 Painting Class

So I enrolled in this class to break loose of the limiting decisions and unnecessary beliefs I’d been holding on to about art and painting.  I wanted to talk out some of the things I’d been tripping over, and I wanted to have a conversation with artists (in this case, graduate students working on their MFA degrees, and an instructor who has been painting and thinking about all this for 30+ years.

And to a great extent, it has worked.  If not for my art — at least for my head.  And, I think also for my art — at least a little.

Here are my last 2 paintings for the class.

Fallen Imprisoned, copyright 2010 by Lynn Whitlark. Carbon, vivianite, indanthrone blue, prussian blue on Arches Natural White cotton rag paper; 22" x 30", and natural 100% cotton muslin.

The first, called Fallen Imprisoned is the final painting in the “Imprisoned” series.  There is a painting on the surface — though it is very faint.  It is a shadow of the previous crouched figure.  Everything else on the painting is made of painted cloth.  The cloth doll figure, and the shreds of “his” (the doll’s) skin, swirling around him.

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Agreement is Shared Tattoo, copyright 2010 by Lynn Whitlark. 140lb Arches Natural White hot press cotton rag paper. 16" x 20" Carbon, vivianite, and Derwent Inktense pencils.

The second painting is not part of the Imprisoned series.  It is something else.  The words between the face and the thigh say:

Agreement is shared tattoo

and the repeated single word ‘agreement’ appears 3 more times in other places on the paper.

Which is probably only going to make sense in the context of the Graves model of human development.  Tattoos have very specific purposes for L2 and L3 in the Graves Model.  These purposes — and the medium of the tattoo change at L4+L5, and then again at L6+L7.  This painting is an attempt to talk about the form, medium, and purpose of L8 tattoo.  Clear as mud, right?  Not a problem.  It’s just a painting.  The important thing is that our agreements are as indelible and unmistakable as a tattoo mark.  They identify us.  They make us recognizable to each other and to everyone else.

“Imprisoned” Barely Nomic Painting w/ 7 Images

Imprisoned Closed Cover, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark; 22" x 30". 400lb Arches cotton rag paper, and treated canvas mesh.

Okay.  So this is a project for the graduate level painting/art class I’m taking.  I don’t have the undergrad degree in art or BFA that these guys have (many of them are 1 or 2 semesters away from an MFA) — so I don’t know what undergrads do compared to what grad students do.

I have no idea (still) how to put my stuff in the room with their stuff — they all do different kinds of things for different kinds of reasons.

But the prof. asks me to do art that represents the way the inside of my head works.

I’d told him about nomics.  Graves.  Particle physics.  Matching and mismatching.  Timeline therapy.  Hypnosis.  You know.  Some of the stuff that rattles around in my head.

So this is the first attempt to do that.  It’s a little bit nomic.  Mostly it’s about opening boxes — which I haven’t ever mentioned to the prof. (so far)  And it also works as the visual test for the meta-program: matching/mismatching sort.

For the curious, the inscription on the last image (which I photographed poorly) says:

Just the thought
of opening the box
is enough
to break the seal

This collection of images opens like a book — or a pop-up book.  Closed, it measures 22″ x 30″.  Fully opened, the book part is 30″ x 42″, with a drop down piece that is 22″ x 14″, and a separate, stand-alone piece that is 18″ x 24″.  Pigments used include Indanthrone Blue; Carbon soot; ground Amathyst;, Unbleached Titanium, Prussian Blue; Green Earth; Lapis Lazuli; Pyramidazolone Yellow, Phthalo Green (B); and ground Vivianite.

At any give stage in the opening, between 2 and 4 images are visible (out of a total of 7.)

Imprisoned Closed Cover, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark; 22″ x 30″. 400lb Arches cotton rag paper, and treated canvas mesh.

Imprisoned Unfolded Cover, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark; 22″ x 30″. 400lb Arches cotton rag paper, and treated canvas mesh.

Imprisoned Opened Book Stage 1, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark; 30″ x 42″, 140lb Arches Hot Press Cotton Rag Paper; 100% cotton fabric

Imprisoned Chaotic Inside Cover, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark; 16″ x 22″, Arches 140lb Hot Press Cotton Rag

4″ x 6″ Arches 140lb Rough cotton rag; Imprisoned Color Relief, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark

18″ x 24″ Arches Cold Pressed Cotton Rag; Imprisoned Color Relief, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark

Watercolor on 30″ x 30″ Cotton fabric; Imprisoned on Cloth, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark

24″ x 32″ Watercolor on Textured Foam-core Board; Imprisoned Inside Back Cover, Copyright 2010 Lynn Whitlark; Text reads: Just the thought / of opening the box / is enough / to break the seal /