Not sure of the title for this piece yet, but it's coming along. It's based on one of the night photos I took during my San Francisco trip last November. I'm planning on another visit this year as well.
I've been a bit lax in posting over the last few weeks, but I'm sure I'll make up for it in the following months. Getting the shadows right on the building and working in the colors of the city at night has been the challenge on this painting. With the last few works I've been bringing back the collaged text subtly. It's interesting that of late I've questioned my motivation behind collaging the elements into the work. I know in art school that many of my professors warned of becoming an mannerist of yourself. There were many artists to whom they felt had "sold out" listed. Well, in short they instilled this fear within me.
Recently, though I was told by someone who wasn't really a big art person that what they thought what made my work stand out of the crowd of other artists they've seen was that added level of subtext within my work. They felt that the carefully blended fading in and out collaged text elements within my work addressed modern society. Oddly, this reminded me of why I've done it for so many years and that although it's become a ritualized thing that I just do that the conceptual meaning behind it hasn't been lost, but simply internalized so deeply that I just don't think about it and focus on the other elements of the work.
As far as the artists that were labeled as "sell outs" - I'm now wondering if they just hadn't found their niche. I know for myself that I feel that the urban environments that I paint are a bottomless well of inspiration for me. I used to struggle to find inspiration and would have creative blocks. Now I just go out with my camera and discover meaning within myself through what I find out there.
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