crazy fish painting activities and other art stuff

Started a crazy manic fish painting late Friday afternoon and early evening. The weather was fantastic, so I painted outside and also in my smallish barn/storage/workshop type building. 

in the barn area

Fun. 2 X 4 feet on primed masonite. Used some spray paint, house paint, and some acrylic paint. Kind of slapped the paint on there and it started looking like a fish creature deal. Had some Ids music playing from inside the studio. I love the Ids! One of my favorite bands. I guess they must be fairly obscure, because no one seems to know about them. 

Got a couple picts of the progress of the fish deal. Will update as it comes along. 

After some supper, got back in the studio to work on some stuff. One thing was my weird acrylic and oil pastel deal. Here are some photos of it. 

closeup of face

After a while, I moved to the other table and put in a little time on a bigger picture. This one is on a 42 inch by 40 feet long roll of awesome art paper. May never finish, or at the very least, it will be like 20 years from now. Have not made much progress, but like some happenings so far. 

start of really big drawing

While I was working on that, Audrey, who was also doing some random artwork, decided she want to paint on my shoulder. So, yeah. She took a photo of her work on my shoulder. Interesting concept, art being done on artist doing artwork. 

Audrey Sheridan did some painting on my back. Here is the result.

another view of Audrey's art on my while I was doing art

Not sure why, but I seem to love painting and drawing fish and other fishlike things. Some people might think its some sexual bullshit, but honestly, I just think fish and fishlike creatures look cool as hell. Jellyfish too. Nothing wrong with freakin jellyfishes! Fascinating creatures.

Also worked on this thing for a bit. Kooky creature guy. Part of bigger picture.

the complex, yet simple, process of creating art

Well, I don't know about other art type folks, but like to have at least 20 different things going on at once in the way of art. Bounce around from one thing to another. Much of the work I do is time consuming to begin with, but it actually usually takes longer to finish because I don't generally work on something straight through. In fact, I probably take this too far. I have stacks of unfinished pieces of artwork. Some, I might have started 20 years ago! Yes, true. I probably did not like where they were going or could not find the right path. However, if I pull that same piece out years later, I often and suddenly know what to do with it. Or, it gives me inspiration for something else. Crazy?

old sketches and stuff

Another thing I have noticed, is the direction I seem to be going. When I was a kid, I liked to paint and do pastel stuff. Then, I got into super detailed things with ink.

super detailed image

Although I still dig the crazy detail, lately I have found myself going back to simple lines and manic expression through painting in an almost abstract manner. I enjoy the simple process of making colored marks with a brush or whatever tool. I like the feeling of motion. I seem to be obsessed with fishes and jellyfish type creatures too. What's up with that? I am constantly intrigued with the idea that we are surrounded by floating creatures that occupy a parallel universe that overlaps ours, but that most people can't see. Obviously, I can see this universe. Duh. 

Recent stuff happening in studio.

But, yeah, some stuff lately is almost childlike. Could a kid do it? What does this mean? A fellow artist told me that this is the eventuality of most artists. You start out simple as a child, get more complex, then as you age you get back to the simple. For me, simple is cathartic. The act of painting or drawing is much more important than the result. Nobody will ever be able to know how I was feeling when I put down certain spirally strokes, or why I put this color here or there. But, I can guarantee this, when I was doing each and every image, I was conveying an emotion onto the piece of art. Perhaps a kid could do something comparable. I don't know. Maybe that is why the art of children is so wonderful. They are not inhibited like adults. They don't know any better. When my son Joseph was very young, he drew some cool little pictures. Ok, well, he still does. But, I used to look at them (ok, I still do), and find great inspiration and ideas would stem from his childhood views of life and the imaginary.

Some pretty weird but simple stuff

So, art for me is a constant back and forth of old and new. Trying to finish up three elongate ink and graphite pieces right now. 

weird creature guys

It is funny, and my own fault I guess, that people have always thought I only did black and white drawings. My own fault, because I mostly only showed the black and white ones. Weird? I do find the need to add serious detail much of the time, but not always. Here is a little buggy creature deal and a fish thingy I was working on the other day. 

buggy guy

fish creature thing

So, not sure what this all means, but there you go.

On the Square show at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership Gallery

My show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center is over and I think it went pretty well. Sold two paintings, "Uprooted"and "Reef of Dreams". Also sold quite a few prints. Lots of people seemed interested in the art too, so that was cool. 

Reef of Dreams

I gave two talks about my art at the gallery. The first was to the arts group associated with the RAC. The second talk was aimed at Mississippi University For Women art students, but it was also open to the public. Lots of folks came, so that was fun. Got recorded and an audio version was aired on the MUW radio station. 

 I will have three paintings on display this month in a group show called "On the Square" at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership Gallery at 200 Main Street in Starkville Mississippi. Come check out my work and the works of other Golden Triangle artists. Better yet, buy some! The three I have in  the show are "March Madness", "Green Number 2", and "Inquisitive Fish".

March Madness

Don't have an opening date yet, but will post it when I do.

 

Opening Reception for my show at the RAC a done deal

The opening for my show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center (RAC) in Downtown Columbus, MS was last night (August 1st, 2013) from 5:30-7:00 PM. I thought it went really well. Lots of folks showed up. In fact, people starting arriving before 5 PM and some did not leave until about 8 PM. They  basically had to turn the lights off to get us out of there! 

Sign on outside window

The crew at the RAC did a wonderful job with the show. It was hung nicely with some natural flow and certain pieces grouped together in meaningful ways. Lots of good food and wine and even homemade ice-cream with toppings! Cookies, brownies, all sorts of goodies.  They had a video that I had prepared of my work with music composed and performed by my son Joseph playing on a widescreen TV. That was pretty cool. Special thanks to everyone at the RAC, especially Renee Sheridan, who coordinated much of this show! Also thanks a million to Mark Wood, owner of the Chalet, who has helped me with framing and printing for several years now. Without him, I could not have these shows!

I would guess I had at least 75 originals framed and hung, and lots of prints for sale. Sold at least one bigger original and quite a few prints. Hopefully, more will sell throughout the month.

People hanging out

I met some very interesting people at the show, such as Bernie Imes who is a noted photographer; April Wallace, also a photographer; and many others. I finally got to meet Ali Fratesi and her boyfriend Dustin Pinion, a wonderful young couple who are practicing organic farming. They have apparently liked my art for some time, and finally got a chance to come to a show!

April Wallace (blue dress), me, and Bernie Imes chatting 

Dustin Pinion and Ali Fratesi

Also saw some old friends such as Tiffany Holder, who drove all the way down from the Smokey Mountains, and Susie McGovern, who now lives in North Carolina. Great to see those crazy chics. 

Me and Susie McGovern

Tiffany Holder and me

My high school art teacher, Nelle Elam, and her buddy Fay Fisher were there checking out the scene, as was awesome Starkville artist Liz Johnston.

Fay and Nelle

Some of my running buddies made it over for the show including Brent Wallace, Arash Taheri, Jorge Villarreal, Will Kallfelz, and Chad Anderson! Brent and Chad are also artists, so I think they appreciated the show.

Brent Wallace, trying to figure out what this picture means

Chad Anderson in deep thought, and Greg Sheridan looking like a cool man about town

Audrey Sheridan and Will Kallfelz hamming it up

Arash Taheri. Need I say more?

Jorge Villarreal

Folks seemed to enjoy the art. Many had questions, especially about how I did the color pieces and also how the collaborative works were done. People were super interested in the idea of doing collaborative pieces with other artists from around the world!

Martin Rendon talking with Renee Sheridan

guests viewing some collaborative artwork

Evan O'Donnel

Finally left the show just after 8 pm. Took Joseph and Audrey out to eat at Harvey's before heading home! A nice finish to a great evening. 

Rosenzweig Show Hung and Ready to Go!

My show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center is up! Thanks to Renee Sheridan, Mark Huerkamp, and all the others who hung the show. I have quite a few pieces up, somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-80 images. Fortunately, the Arts Center is a large space. I have much of that space occupied for sure though!

Rosenzweig Arts Center Show

Opening in 2 days at 5:30 pm on August 1st (Thursday).

The Mysterious Unseen World Around Us: drawings and mixed media paintings by Joe A. MacGown

Upcoming MacGown Exhibition at Rosenzweig Arts Center in Columbus, MS

Green Number 4

I will be having a one man show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center at 501 Main Street, Downtown Columbus, MS during the month of August, 2013. There will be a reception from 5:30 to 7:00 pm the first Thursday of that month (1 August). Opening, Next Thursday - 5:30-7:00 PM More info is available at http://www.columbus-arts.org/gallery-1/2013-gallery-shows/august-joe-macgown/ The show will include both new and older art. Most original pieces will be available for purchase, and prints of some pieces will be available as well. Of course, that is assuming that you are weird enough to want to buy any of this stuff;) II will also include collaborations that I have done with Bernard Dumaine, Sal Hunter, Joseph Larkin, Ben Tolman, Gromyko Semper, Marcel Bakker, Sander Jansen, Peter Sibrin, Deborah Valentine, and Janelle McKain. These collabs will not be for sale. I don't want to part with them;) I uploaded a video of some of this stuff today on Youtube with weird freaky keyboard in the background composed and recorded by my son Joseph MacGown. Anyway, check out the video!

Upcoming MacGown Exhibition at Rosezweig Arts Center in Columbus, MS

I will be having a one man show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center at 501 Main Street, Downtown Columbus, MS during the month of August, 2013. There will be a reception from 5:30 to 7:00 pm the first Thursday of that month (1 August). More info is available at http://www.columbus-arts.org/gallery-1/2013-gallery-shows/august-joe-macgown/ The show will include both new and older art. Most original pieces will be available for purchase, and prints of some pieces will be available as well. Of course, that is assuming that you are weird enough to want to buy any of this stuff;) Below are a few examples of what you might see at the show.