Oriental art juxtaposes power and harmony in a variety of ways. The calmness of the gestural lines has a sense that I am looking for following the tragic and emotionally intense end of the past year.
I have chosen the Red Crown Crane for the first series.
If you are interested in purchasing any of these one of a kind original paintings on paper please contact me at Don@Donaldkolberg.com
In the wake of being selected by Barebrush.com to have one of my artworks from the “Pattern Woman” series in their June 2016 calendar, I’ve created a new book featuring a more extensive view of additional works. The calendar is on view at Barebrush.com and the individual work occupies the June 9th slot. The book is available at Peecho.com.
If you’re still looking for ways to procrastinate about filing your taxes, I’m supplying some fodder for your foolery. And of course a wonderful poster about…Coffee. So here you go.
First, I can’t help but give a nod to my mentor and friend artist Harold Garde who in his mid 90’s is still creating insightful significant art. This is a wonderful video.
Next is an incredible retelling of Plato’s allegory of the cave
And finally a little piece of software you may find useful when you don’t want to give out your email on the multitude of web forms floating around
http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html
That’s it for now and while you may be tired of hearing this, no one I know seems to complain.
Imagination is Never Still. The Marks We Make Are Verbs
I believe that everyone wants to express some inner mood or feeling through a visual language that others can understand. Rembrandt, aside from all his other incredible work, expressed his inner exploration through self portraits. Dozens of these works span his lifetime, giving expression to a visual language that speaks about each separate period in his life. Other artists froze moments in humanity creating not just a picture of a time but a feeling. Still others stripped the image bare and gave us pure emotion, movement, texture or color and let us decide what we are seeing. Sculptors have presented us with ideals of the human form. Others have created assemblages that move us to examine our own beliefs. Others create environments where we can let our own ideas run amuck. So I guess where I’m going with this very scaled down anthology of the history of art is that ART BEGINS EVERYWHERE.
And visual thinking is at the core of it all. I know some people will jump up and ask about all those other senses. But think about it. In fact let’s take the time to explore a simple idea that will become one of the most complicated examples I can present.
In your mind picture a house. Did you picture a suburban ranch with three bedrooms, an apartment in a crowded city, a hut in an open landscape or the mansion of your dreams. Was the feeling happy, sad, disgust, envy or maybe even a sense of longing? Take the time and listen to the sounds around your imagined house. Be aware of what’s going on around the house. Can you smell cooking or a new mowed lawn or the accumulation of garbage along the side of the house? When we perceive an object, in this case a house, we are conscious of it through all our senses but we know it through a variety of cues and associations related to our visual language. The more developed the language the deeper the meaning of the object. If we picture garbage we can smell it, if we see an empty room we sense its lack of life.
It is in our ability to go beyond our growth in this visual awareness past the limits of our sensory impressions and definitions that will allow us to know where art begins.
I will continue this exploration in future installments
This past year I have been lucky and unlucky enough to have sold a number of pieces. The Lucky part is HEY I’m an artist and it feels good to sell artwork. The unlucky part is that I sold them as I was getting ready for two shows. I felt they were going to be the centerpieces of the show. That’s when it struck me. I’m not setting up a museum so that the art can be viewed. I’m trying to sell my work.
Somewhere along that long line of chasing the show and dealing with a very slow economy I lost site of what I was doing. Sure I want people to see what I’m doing and appreciate my visual voice but I also want them to have the work in their homes. So I guess what I’m saying is take a breath, show your work and enjoy the results.
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