City abstracts in progress

I got back to work today after about 10 days away from the studio. Visits to Nashville and New York City were great and re-energized me. It was exciting to start some new paintings this afternoon, continuing my series of cityscapes. Or, maybe these will end up in my abstracts series.

City Abstracts - June2013 (in progress), acrylic, spray paint, collage

Large-Scale Painting in Progress: Gallery District Lofts

Still a work in progress, this large-scale painting is inspired by NYC's and Chicago's orginal gallery districts: SoHo and River North. The painting is done on canvas and is about 7 feet high by 10 feet wide. So far, I've been using acrylic and spray paint but will be adding more layers using different painting and drawing media. I've been painting it on the floor and outside on the roof of the studio building. Soon, it will go up on the wall.

 Gallery District Lofts, mixed media on canvas (work in progress), 2013

My first job in the city was in River North at a consumer tech magazine. At lunch I'd go visit galleries or just walk around the neighborhood. Some things are still the same, some different. It's definitely more developed than it was 19 years ago. For example, Walmart Express has replaced the Pearl Art Store. I've visited SoHo since the mid-90's - well past it's heyday - and it's changed a lot since then. I'm sure it's a far cry from what it was in the late 60's/early 70's when artists started moving there and taking over buildings and all kinds of art was converging at the same time in the same place.

This makes me think about how neighborhoods evolve with the help of artists and small galleries who eventually get pushed out due to high rents. Commercialism creeps in. It gets a little less edgy because it's creative core moves on. I'm currently reading the book Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida which explores these ideas in depth. But, these places also hold an eternal nostalgia that keep us coming back. I guess there's also that a new place where interesting art or music is percolating just below the surface - waiting to get shown.

New Paintings: Street grids and traffic congestion

These three abstract paintings are inspired by traffic congestion and street grids of the city. I started them off by collaging maps onto the surface, then adding acrylic paint and spray paint. I used a variety of objects as stencils to create some of the shapes. I painted them simultaneously in order to create cohesiveness in colors, shapes, and style. These are part of my abstract series of paintings.

Intersections, acrylic, spray paint, collage on panel, 24x24, 2013

Merging, acrylic, spray paint, collage on panel, 24x24, 2013 

Rush Hour, acrylic, spray paint, collage on panel, 24x24, 2013

New Mixed Media Paintings on Panel

These two new paintings were created using acrylic, spray paint, and collaged maps and sheet music on birch wood panel. Using spray paint was a new experiment for me and I think it worked out pretty well. The application of the paint gives these two paintings a more immediate, sketch-like feel. I like how the layers of collage turned out too. The maps I included are from the Chicago Bike Map and various travels (New York City, Paris, San Francisco). I have a lot more maps from traveling, so I want to create more paintings like these to add to my Cityscapes series.

The finished pieces are the first two images below followed by close-ups so you can better see the layers.

 Rooftop Jam, acrylic, spray paint and collage on panel, 36x24, 2013

 Sidetracked, acrylic, spray paint and collage on panel, 18x24, 2013

Here are the detailed close-ups of Rooftop Jam:

Here are the detailed close-ups of Sidetracked:

Abstracts finished for open studios

I finished up the 5 abstracts that I've been working on the last couple weeks. They're all hung and ready for the open studios tomorrow night. Art on two floors, live music, and the Taquero Fusion food truck in the parking lot.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the work on display:

Cornelia Arts Building Open Studios
Friday, May 10, 6-10pm
1800 W. Cornelia, Studio #201
Chicago, IL 60657

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Cornelia Website
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Hope to see you!