Tribute to Mucha

If you haven’t looked at Mucha’s art recently, it is worth looking at again. I think so at least.

Here is my tribute to him. You can tell that I couldn’t stay away from the figure any longer and had to go back to work on a figurative piece.

This is an oil over gold leaf on canvas painting. Only 16″ x 20″. Small enough to be able to work quickly on.

What do you think?

I obviously add my own style to it. Some people may not even recognize Mucha’s influence, but I’m ok with that.

Here’s a pic of the studio. You get a better idea of how big (or small) 16″ x 20″ is.

Cubist Rain

This is a drawing I spent a few hours on.
Still trying to work on making art without the need for objects, but it isn’t easy for me.

Me in my studio thinking of what to do next....

Do you have any ideas?

Drawing on the wall #1

In the most recent piece, “Drawing #1″, I decided to stick to keeping it simple and just draw… Well 99% at least. Enough to keep calling this a drawing instead of a painting.

I absent mindedly started drawing like I was reading a book. Left to right methodically working away until I had reached half way. Oh, by the way, this is is a 10′ wide by 3′ tall drawing on a single piece of paper. Once it was pointed out to me that I was just drawing a landscape from left to right without much excitement or growth, I jumped over to the right side and started intentionally drawing non-representationally… to the best of my ability that is. I eventually reached a point where I had two completely different drawings on teh same piece of paper and cutting it in half would just be a cop-out. 

My first couple attempts just weren’t enough and I’m not sure that it is finished just yet.

Check it out and tell me what you think. 

I am excited to have a lot to post now!

Cara, my Fiancee, let me borrow her camera and take pictures of my pieces I have been working on.
To see them without any discussion or explanation you can easily do so by going to my Flickr account.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenlursen/
Thanks for reading!

Painting on the Wall #2

One touch of the finger can bring down a castle of dominoes. Victory comes way too easy when you actually do something. The obstacles of the mind are the greatest obstacles of all.

Pain is a life time companion who will never leave your side, even when you take drugs to shut him up. I think good friends could take notes. I know I do. I just try not to be a pain…

This piece was originally entitled “Introduction” but as the journey of the painting carried on, even that introduction that once shown so bright, has faded from glory. Leaving me and my brushes to trudge through the journey toward the next mountain top.

So Carry on my friend, carry onward toward the prize. You know you want it, go for it. I’ll do the same.
Thank you for reading,
Stephen

New show is going up today!

The Winthrop University Master of Fine Arts Department is putting together the “Works in Progress” Show and will be on Campus this week in the Lewendowski Gallery in the first floor of McClaurin Hall. I will have two pieces in the show viewable on Monday. I will post pictures of the show Monday as well for all to see who are too far to see the show in person.
Thank you to all who are able to make it out to the show and show your support. As of right now there is no official opening party, so it really is there for all to come at their own convenience during business hours of 9 am to 5 pm.
Thank you,
Stephen

Dealing with terror in our society of insensitivity...

I am working on a series of paintings about human relationships. As one studies the paintings one would come to their own conclusions about what is happening between them, but one thing is sure, it isn’t pastel flowery.

I was recently reminded of the culture I live in. A culture saturated with the stench of desensitization from the entertainment and news media which constantly one-up the previous with greater intensity and special effects. John Stuart always has news broadcasters to laugh at for making the mundane and respectful extreme and outrageous. For instance, the snow storm of this past week in the DC area has been called “Snowmageddon”, “snowpocalipse”, and “The Snowtorious B.I.G.” Everything has to be the end of the world to be watched in this society. There is no room to filter the news and entertainment through a filter of reality.

This same necessity for the extreme exists in the art world. Be done with the old and create the new, the better, the “original”. To be original is difficult. In fact the majority of artists in the world are what is called derivative artists. These artists see something they like and say to themselves “I like that! I want to do something like that!” Whether it is known or not, this type of artist has the “glass ceiling” restricting their ability to become great because they never show the world anything they have never seen before. And as previously said, it is a requirement for a great number of interested viewers, let alone fans and buyers.

Back to my project, My portraits may be literally unique, but the idea behind them and the application of the paint isn’t entirely original and therefor are a part of the process for me, rather than the end product.

Please take a look at my pieces at my flickr.com account.

I have a new showing at The Brickhouse Tavern In Davidson, NC

I am proud to have sold a couple pieces from the Brickhouse Tavern (http://brickhousetavern.com/) in Davidson, NC. Just yesterday I spent a couple hours installing new art.

If you get hungry and just so happen to be in the area, please stop in and take a look. My art is in the gallery in the back behind the big glass french doors. 

The Development of Christian Art inside the church walls.

I’m learning a bit about why somethings are, the way they are.

What I mean, is that for many years I have looked at Michelangelo as inspiration in the creation of larger than life art both figuratively , culturally, spiritually and literally (as in size and place). The issue recently revealed to me is this:

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

So when you see the Sistine chapel and many other churches for that matter it is hard to imagine that these icons or illustrations weren’t used at all for worship. That they merely served their in illustrating a bible story and it ended there. What if I being who I am today create art of some kind that I mean to only honor God… Lets say I am commissioned by a church to do a particular kind of piece that hangs within its walls. What if it is actually used down the road somewhere or time for actual worship, as though there were something within the painting of spirit… A god. Would I be responsible for the sins of someone else? Am I sinning because someone else worships my art like the old pagan days of statue worship?

I learned how the Catholic church justified this during the Iconoclast movement in the seventh and eighth centuries a.d. (iconoclasts were those who opposed icons and sought to violently destroy them as heresies. Iconophiles were those who believed icons should exist.)
In my research in the Library, I found this official explanation from the church, made by the Council of Trullan in 692 AD.

Canon 82

“In some pictures of the venerable icons, a lamb is painted to which the Precursor points his finger, which is received as a type of grace, indicating beforehand through the Law, our true Lamb, Christ our God. Embracing therefore the ancient types and shadows as symbols of the truth, and patterns given to the church , we prefer "grace and truth," receiving it as the fulfilment of the Law. In order therefore that that which is perfect may be delineated to the eyes of all, at least in coloured expression, we decree that the figure in human form of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, Christ our God, be henceforth exhibited in images, instead of the ancient lamb, so that all may understand by means of it the depths of the humiliation of the Word of God, and that we may recall to our memory his conversation in the flesh, his passion and salutary death, and his redemption which was wrought for the whole world.”

I find this very interesting. Mainly because the desire was to be able to show the world Christ, all the while the world at the time was illiterate and even when they were in the church services they couldn’t understand the Latin or ancient Greek being spoken.

Now we live in a day and age when literacy is the majority in our culture. So are images still justifiable? With what reason can I continue to do what I do? To Glorify God of course, but one can not glorify in disobedience to the one they are glorifying. Maybe the explanation is as simple as: “I am making images that no one can or will worship.”

Here is an experts opinion on the matter:

“The honor shown the image passes over to the archetype.” He also illustrates the concept by saying, “If I point to a statue of Caesar and ask you ‘Who is that?’, your answer would properly be, ‘It is Caesar.’ When you say such you do not mean that the stone itself is Caesar, but rather, the name and honor you ascribe to the statue passes over to the original, the archetype, Caesar himself.” So it is with an Icon.

None the less there is still controversy. What can we say, we are dealing with humanity aren’t we?

“In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, only flat or bas-relief images are used. The Greeks, having a long, pagan tradition of statuary, found the sensual quality of three-dimensional representations did more to glorify the human aspect of the flesh rather than the divine nature of the spirit and so prohibitions were created against statuary. The Romans, on the other hand, did not adopt these prohibitions and so there is still statuary among the Roman Catholics to this day. Because the Greeks rejected statuary, the Byzantine style of iconography was developed in which figures were stylized in a manner that emphasized their holiness rather than their humanity. Symbolism allowed the icon to present highly complex material in a very simple way, making it possible to educate even the illiterate in theology. The interiors of Orthodox Churches are often completely covered in icons.”

So what I take from this conversation with history and Bible is that images not believed to be idols of worship are probably ok, since sin comes from the heart. A heart chosing oneself or another over god. After all that has been said it is really simply summed up in the 1st commandment: “Do not have any other gods before me.” (Ex. 20:2)