Archive for March, 2007

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Next show: 2007 Arizona Biennial; Third Arizona Biennial in a row!

Friday, March 30th, 2007

I am pleased to announce that my painting FF0000uturo, shown here, has been selected for the 2007 Arizona Biennial. The exhibition will be hosted, as always, by the Tucson Museum of Art.

2007 Arizona BiennialThe 2007 Arizona Biennial will run from May 19 through August 19. The guest curator is Ms. Dianne Vanderlip, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Denver Art Museum.

My painting’s appearance marks the third straight time in which I will exhibit in an Arizona Biennial, a fact of which I’m very proud. In 2003, To Rinse Away the Tiny Particles was selected by guest curator Toby Kamps, now director of the Institute for Contemporary Art in Portland, Maine. In 2005, Synthetic Landscape was chosen by Siri Engberg, curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Here’s a bit of trivia: Last time around, only Kevin Lucero Less, Oliver Hibert, and I had shown in both the 2003 and 2005 AZ biennials. Oliver didn’t apply for the show this time. Had he, however, he certainly would have been shown again, too. (Oliver, I’ve already told you this, but it’s not going to be the same without you!)

So, my friends, I hope you can make it to the Tucson Museum of Art this summer to check out the show. The biennial is always an interesting cross-section of what’s going on, in terms of the arts, in this strange and sublime state I call home.

More soon,
— Grant Wiggins

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On minimalism and pop art: Two new small paintings

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

Here are a couple of paintings that I started over the weekend and just finished. They’re both 9 x 12 inches. I wish the fluorescent paint (the pink in the yet-to-be-named piece at left and the orange in the piece at right) showed up better, but I think you get the idea.

I love fluorescent paint! There’s nothing like how it glows at twilight or in a dimly lit room.

Minimalism and Pop Art

Minimalism and pop art

Meantime, I’ve been thinking a lot about a rethinking of minimalism that I saw in Art in America a couple of years back. At the onset of his essay, Pepe Karmel writes, “Together with Pop art, Minimalism continues to provide the basic language of contemporary art. It has become the great patriarchal symbol against which artists and critics rebel, championing Neo-Expressionism, Neo-Realism or Neo-Mad Magazine, only to succumb to Minimalism’s repetitious, all-embracing spell. But what is this art that retains such a hold on us?”

It’s funny now, but for a long time — especially in 2003, when I was first getting into minimalist art — I saw minimalism and pop art as polar opposites. Minimalism somehow ascetically negated popular culture. I used to agonize — I thought I had to choose one approach over the other.

From my current point of view, however, minimalism and pop art are complementary. They overlap, even — and the paintings you see above are proof. Fluorescent paint is, in my opinion, a pop art medium. It’s a commercial material, used to grab attention on windows, signs, and stock cars. But one can easily apply fluorescent paint to a minimalist composition, like the painting you see on the right.

Further, with vector-based software programs like Illustrator, minimalist and pop art compositions can come from the same place: one’s screen. The end product is just a matter of adding or subtracting graphical elements.

Ultimately, however, I’m not entirely sure how useful it is to talking about minimalism and pop art, anyway. I’d rather be talking about genres of the future — what’s going to happen, not what happened in 1964. So everything I just wrote is kind of moot. But wait, that’s being postmodern!

Thanks for reading.

— Grant Wiggins

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Two new sketches

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

Here are two new sketches. I’m a bit hung up on the yellow/pink/brown pattern. I think I’m going to use it until my eyes can’t take it anymore!

Two new sketches
Two new sketches

The second sketch entered my mind immediately after I made the previous post. Don’t know if I’ll turn it into a painting yet. I’m just thinking about it.

More new work is on the way!

— Grant Wiggins

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Bright abstract painting: In the studio March 21, 2007

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

My five-day experiment with the bright abstract painting now known as At Compatriot Be Glycerol is nearing an end. I started this painting on Saturday; here’s what it looks like now. All that’s left are some touch-ups here and there.

Bright Abstract Painting

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. It might turn out to be little more than a study. Stepping back from it, I see two paintings in one. I may not have achieved the “harmonic dischord,” if I may call it that, that I was seeking when I started.

I really enjoy pieces of this bright abstract painting, but ultimately, I’m not convinced that all elements are balanced. (Or maybe I just need some sleep!) Regardless of the outcome, I had fun getting to this point. And I’ve learned something from the experience.

— Grant Wiggins

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Southwest Airlines art: In the studio March 19, 2007

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Sometimes, inspiration can come from the unlikeliest places. On Saturday, I sketched out and started a new painting, inspired by vintage video footage of Southwest Airlines.

Please pardon the tangent while I explain myself:

I spotted the footage one month ago, on a PBS special that explores the book Good to Great, by Jim Collins. Southwest Airlines is one of the case studies in Mr. Collins’s book; Southwest is one of a few companies that transformed themselves into a great company by adopting a “hedgehog concept.” I won’t get into specifics here, because this is a blog about art, not management. (One could employ Good to Great principles to art, but I’m puzzled over how the “economic engine” part would work!)

Regardless, while Mr. Collins wasn’t waving his hands violently, or when Southwest founder Herb Kelleher wasn’t talking about greatness, the program would cut to stock footage of Southwest’s early days.

There it was — brilliant stuff spanning the 70s and early 80s: feathered hair and 3-piece beige business suits made of wool! I think of the early Southwest as Braniff for the proletariat. What the world needs now, I have decided, is a piece of vintage-themed Southwest Airlines art!

Anyway, I sketched out the frame you see at left (the low-res photo of a TV) and used it as the basis for the Southwest Airlines art sketch you see in the center.

The diagonal stripes in the background, and on the cash register, seemed very dynamic to me. And I as messed around with the composition on Saturday, I added another pattern I recently designed (upper right corner of the composition) and chose to employ my favorite color scheme of the moment: chocolate brown, yellow, and fluorescent pink.

The photo on the far right demonstrates progress I’ve made to date. I’m debating on how to handle the blue lighting bolts — I think they might be better straight, like the 2002 Interstate Batteries NASCAR car.

One more thing: I realized something funny as I got further into the painting. I recalled Alexander Calder’s designs for Braniff’s airplanes, from the mid-1970s. There is an odd similarity between the brown-yellow-pink pattern and Calder’s designs. I used this pattern totally on accident, but given the link to Southwest and aviation, I have to wonder whether this was the work of the unconscious. Who knows.

— Grant Wiggins

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New art designs: The Omega Machine

Friday, March 16th, 2007

These new art designs represent an experiment — I have no idea where they’re going or whether they’re even usable. But that’s part of the beauty of having an art blog. You can post stuff and see what the rest of the world thinks. (I don’t even know if I’ll paint these new art designs!)

Omega 1 Omega 2

Regardless, the foundation of this design — the horizontal stripes — is a package of Japanese Nissin brand ramen. (Tangent: I beseech you to visit the most entertaining website chikinramen.com.)

I figured that these new art designs represent an opportunity to exercise an oft-pondered color scheme of chocolate brown, cadmium yellow, and fluorescent pink — a genetic mutation of a motorcross jersey that Travis Pastrana wore.

The oval in the middle is borrowed from a graphical element on a bottle of Kao bleach (could be tile cleaner). The lighting bolts are the colors of the Miami Dolphins National Football League team. About the patterns in the center: the one on the left is a re-creation of a popular Burberry tartan. The one on the right is one I made about a year ago (It’s not the most complicated or revolution pattern, but I like it.), but still haven’t used.

Collectively, these new art designs have a working title of The Omega Machine, just because the title popped into my head that way.

If you like this design, I invite you to check out similar paintings in this site’s Abstract Art Gallery.

Next project: I’ve put Like Antique Shopping 100 Years from Now on hold for a bit, and I’m about to start work on the purple piece shown on my blog entry of March 8, 2007, “New Art Sketches.”

Your thoughts? I welcome your comments! Thanks for stopping by.

— Grant Wiggins

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In my home art studio March 13, 2007

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

Here’s a photo, taken in my home art studio this afternoon, of Like Antique Shopping 100 Years from Now in progress. (For a sketch, see my art blog’s first post, from March 5, 2007.)

Home Art Studio March 13

I’ve almost reached the halfway point. Soon, I’ll be ready to start on the patterns that will fill the painting’s background.

On the home art studio stereo: I officially have stopped listening to Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? because it had seeped far too deeply into my head, and I couldn’t get it out! The album is really, really quite good, living up to all of the hype and coverage.

To counteract the effects of Hissing Fauna, I tried playing some old punk, including The Buzzcocks’ Singles Going Steady, The Jam’s In the City, and Black Flag’s Damaged (What an album that still is!).

But I’m also very, very fond of Matthew Friedberger’s Winter Women & Holy Ghost Language School. Being a huge fan of The Fiery Furnaces, I really dig Friedberger’s solo work. He is mad, mad, mad! And his music — and the Furnaces’ — is perfect to paint along to.

— Grant Wiggins

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An homage to a glorious 70s geometric pattern

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

I don’t care about the scandal concerning former American Idle — I mean American Idol — contestant Antonella Barba. (If you’re not familiar with the story, some topless photos of her were revealed online a few weeks ago. She was voted off the show by judges this week. No longer a contestant, Antonella Barba is now free to speak with the media.) Big deal!

What I do care about is the tremendous favor Antonella Barba did for bad 70s geometric patterns! She wore a seemingly custom minidress that looks like it was made from vintage Dekoplus fabric. The pattern is glorious!

The moment I saw the dress on TV (On E! network … I swear it was an accident!), I knew that I had to find images of it and do something with it. In tribute to the 70s geometric pattern, I recreated the pattern in Illustrator, with a different color scheme — a cross between Froot Loops and the logo of Wynn’s USA (an automotive maintenance company). I also made the collage below that. Consider all of this filed away for future use.

Thank you for pushing bad 70s geometric patterns further out into the mainstream, Antonella Barba! Meantime, if you know anything about the original pattern or dress, please email me at wiggz@wiggz.com.
70s geometric patterns70s geometric patterns

— Grant Wiggins

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Interlocking stripes

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

This may not turn out to be the most charismatic blog post ever. My source of inspiration isn’t the most charismatic. But hey! Whatever.

Glenn Roeder wears a certain tie virtually every game. It’s a pretty straightforward tie, but I think it’s pretty cool. (If you’re not familiar with who Glenn Roeder is, he’s the manager of English soccer team Newcastle United.) I found this photo online to show you what I mean.

I’ve tried to mess with the tie’s pattern. I dig the interlocking stripes, so I thought I could mash them up and make them collide a bit . . . maybe even add more layers of colliding stripes for a more chaotic effect. I’ll have to file this away for future use.

In other news: Today was a glorious day in Tempe, Arizona. A high temp of 88 and not a cloud in the sky. Ideal for opening up the house and letting the breeze roll through the studio. As it gets warmer, the acrylic paint dries faster, which is a very good thing. And so I started work, officially, on Like Antique Shopping 100 Years Ago. (Sketch here.).

interlocking

— Grant Wiggins

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New art sketches

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

I’ve got all these ideas to paint things and I’ll never quit painting! There’s so much left to do, and I’ve just started.

I’m closing out my Wednesday by acknowledging that my free time today was invested in fixing wiggz.com, so that it works on Internet Exploder. (Why doesn’t everyone use Firefox?) Got all that done, and now it’s time to move on to making new pieces, after a two-week hiatus.

Here are two recent art sketches. Just something to look at.

Quick random thought: Skateboarder Mike Vallely in an interview: “If you don’t quit, you will eventually succeed.” If you’ve seen him skate, you know what he means. If he’s determined to land something, he will not quit! I refuse to quit, too.

— Grant Wiggins

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