Northwest expedition

Posted by Zach

I am spending the holidays in Seattle with my older brother who lives here. While staying, I had a chance to explore not only Seattle, but around the city as well... spent some time snowboarding in Steven's Pass and Mt. Baker.. lots of snow in the mountains and some really beautiful terrain.






While in Seattle, I made a point to visit the newly remodeled Seattle Museum of Art.. only had a chance to snap a couple of pictures.. they were pretty strict about not taking pics inside.. but a crazy installation right at the entrance.




Of all the other great work they were showing, this is the only other installation i could snap. It is entirely made of glass! Apparently, there is a pretty big glass art scene in the Northwest... Seattle, Portland, etc.. I think this exemplifies this.


At the museum, I met up with Robert Hardgrave. He is a Seattle based artist whose work I have been following for some time now.. It was great to meet up with him finally in person. He took me to his studio in the Ballard to see some of his new work in progress. He has an upcoming show at the soon to be disclosed new location of the Lineage Gallery.. Previously in Philadelphia, but soon to be moving to NYC under a new name, Lineage will certainly be blessed with the new work Robert is putting out.










The last place I tried to hit in the Ballard was OKOK gallery. Currently, they are dedicating the entire space to the new work of Grant Barnhart, another artist I have huge amounts of respect for.. Unforfunately, Grant was traveling at the time.. and the gallery was closed.. poo.

And now for some of my own..

Posted by Zach

I probably won't post much more on the progress of my work after this.. at least not on these particular pieces.. Don't want to show all the work before the show opens.. you will just have to come and see it in person at the show!

Inspiration

Posted by Zach

Working on these paintings for the last 2 weeks has really made me aware of how totally new and different oil painting is from watercolor. Because I'm playing with this entire new medium and it's variety of uses and application, I have been driven to reexamine other artists work I respect. I'm thinking, "How did they do it?" I thought I'd post some images of artworks that have always inspired me, but especially now are helping to shape how I am approaching this current body of work.
Damn, it's both inspiring and discouraging to see how amazing these artists are at their craft..

A long time favorite.. his drawings are unmatched and I really relate to his palette and application of paint.. Egon Schiele.
Sometimes his subject matter is a bit racy.. but hey, i'm open.







Also of course Schiele's teacher and predecessor, Gustav Klimt.. i like his style of clumping objects together in very basic shapes.. his flattening of space.. very angular and hard edged.. i can understand that coming from drawing.


Pablo Picasso.. basically a master of all types of painting style and philosophy.. i particularly enjoy the subdued colors, and sober characters of his Blue and Rose periods..



Salvador Dali.. just because he is insane.. I imagine he must have taken some heat for these paintings in his day.. they seem so pagan! I love that about these..



A more contemporary artist, Phil Hale. I mean, his subject matter, his ultra-dramatic lighting, his color.. it's all amazing. I can maybe venture a guess as to how he does it, but his work is completely out of question to me.. How do you get this good??







Lastly, an artist that's a bit closer to home for me.. Ralph Steadman.. altho probably a bit more removed from "oil painter" his style and energy has always attracted me.. plus his characters are spot on!





There are many, many more but I think I will leave them for a later date.. gotta get to painting..

Tony's Studio in the BX & some progress shots

Posted by Tony

Here are a some shots of me in the studio getting down early October/November. It's a been very real thus far, the gang has really come together with our direction and the show looks to be heading for some serious illness.


My defense against the Dark Arts stance.

Jeezus Piece has been Rockin Hard lately but I've been having a friggin blast doing Judas......Peep the Technique.
Keep your eyes peeled ya'll The Trinity's got more on the way.

Flashback to "Transparencies"

Posted by Marion

My friend Jess hit me up today to let me know she scoped one of my paintings on someones body!? I have to say I was taken back a bit...

Anyway here's the original- from my and Zach's first show, "Transparencies" & below it is the new SKIN version by Virginia Elwood nyadorned.com
exciting!

Progress snapshot

Posted by Zach

This piece pretty much sums up what was running through my head in Argentina:



And also some progress shots of other pieces i'm working on.. For the first time, I am working in oils for a number of pieces.. basically because I'm feeling the need to diversify.. It's a foreign process to me, painting in oils.. and almost the exact opposite of painting in watercolor. But I have really been enjoying it.. the process itself, and not just the end product, is the fun part with oils.

Argentina

Posted by Zach

Between work, I recently traveled to Argentina for 2 weeks - 4 days in Buenos Aires and almost the entire rest of the trip backpacking in various areas of the Patagonia region. Not only did I come back with some great experiences, but also some real inspiration for this show.. the entire time I traveled, i was drawing images in my mind of broken down cars spilling unchecked exhaust, knarly creatures existing in tangled bushes and old trees in the mountains, natural landscapes dotted with plastic bags and remnants from human activity. The weather in southern Argentina was wild and very windy.. it truly felt like you were on the edge of the earth.. like the weather could almost pick you up and toss you aside if it so chose. I think for that same reason, there was garbage strewn about almost everywhere. The wind would pretty much rip into and scatter everything that wasn't tied down or secured.

There is a lot to say about this trip and i can't say it all here.. Let these few images from the trip explain.

Zach's workspace

Check out some pics of my (Zach Johnsen) studio in Brooklyn, some work in progress, and some random tidbits.. this is where i sit down and work at the moment.





















Check out some wood cuts by a good friend of mine, Jen Sesma... and you'll see one of her prints too.. really great
stuff. This is in the same studio as mine..









..and she has a TON of art supplies.. including paint!

Work Session 1

The Trinity consists of Zach Johnsen from Brooklyn, Marion Bolognesi from Queens, and Tony Philippou of the Bronx.. These 3 New Yorkers will be invading Thinkspace Gallery in Las Angeles on Feb 8th of next year..

With that being said, we got together a couple weeks back for our first formal work session at Tony Philippou's studio in the Bronx. We had business to attend to, so here are a couple snaps from the day..