#jameselkins

[sli-writes]

Essay: When does the painter become the audience.

This is a question I have only recently stumbled upon, and is mainly inspired by my moments in the studio versus what I am witnessing amongst my fellow artists - some of whom have gone on to become successes in the naturalistic sense and others (myself included); learning, changing, mixing and crossing fingers.

Leonardo Da vinci. Saint John the Baptist, 1513 & 1516

It occurred to me that understanding the ways of the two, painter and audience, would be a natural place to go from. Now I exist in both worlds, as a painter and designer (namely graphic, for the time being) and the answer to the design work I find are often easier to get to: there are all sorts of studies, surveys and templates that are known and proven to have work, you can google just about any sort of design and you’ll land at a starting point guaranteeing success. Sure, you will change a colour here, the font size there, even remain in the popular style of the time and you’ll be guaranteed success without any measure as to your worth. Not to say there aren’t moments of phenomenal work, there can be. As for the painter, oh I don’t possess the eloquent language of the brilliant minds, vividly describing to you the flow moments in the studio when the material becomes alchemic as James Elkins speaks of in his book ‘What painting is’ or Mary Oliver writing of the ordinary mind in one of her essays titled ‘Of power and time’ in her book ‘Upstream”. But as the painter, I have been searching for the necessary moment in which it is okay to become the ‘audience;’ “what makes the smile mysterious,” “that’s just a blob of white paint” or “I could do that.”  I do however believe there is a danger in the idea itself, especially when the questions are at a surface level, only concerned with the market or trends, not a great place to be working from when seeking ‘greatness.’

Claude Monet. Water Lilies, 1897–99

Francisco Goya. They Do Not Know The Way, c.1810-1814

I’ll tell you; the exercise of paint is a very conscious one, an active engagement and you start to realise why on some days Leonardo would sometimes make his way to the church and not pick up the paint brush for his fresco. You see, I believe it is the material that offers the experience; the effects of the experience do consider the drive or walk to the work, the conversations had, a life lived a certain way, sure, but the fundamentality of the work itself lies in it’s moments had with the painter. What are such moments of brilliancy you wonder; it is Goya laboring on his ‘Disasters of war’ etchings, Monet miraculously capturing light in his ‘Water Lilies,’ having suffered significant loss of vision from cataracts and Leonardo creating atmosphere with the same will (you imagine) as God had with the words “Let there be light.” It is this dance that I believe leads to great works, and the lack of resulting in an artist who is strictly working in the way of a design product creative, with the likes of Damien Hirst leading the way.

Damien Hirst. For the Love of God, 2007

I am too currently engaged in this dance and I’ve decided my audience will be that of other greats, similar to how I know some of the greatest musicians, the likes of Kanye West, to be driven to make music  (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) better than their favourite artists.

I believe all the artist does is present the world as they see and have experienced it...at least that’s what I think the best art does, none of that conceptual stuff only open to a niche group (you know that group) whose dance is strictly one of a social experiment to see how far they can take the market before they realise it’s all phantasmagoric.  

Kanye West. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 2010

[danielvandernoon]

Thank you @ccandratx for a beaaauuttiful residency ❤️‍🔥🏝✨ • I enjoyed an incredibly productive 2 months working through all sorts of alchemic experiments with natural pigments, plastics and colour 🟡🟢🔵🟣 in the company of great artists and talkative cats and my joe✨✨🐈🐈‍⬛😻✨❤️ • Thank you for memorable experiences @philip_groezinger @ustina_yakovleva @kamillabischof @kadar_brock_studio @andrewjilka @borjanaventzislavova @jackieherbst_ @juliakarlala @josiepraest and all the wonderful new people I met during my stay ☀️☀️☀️ • Shout out to @herbalist_line and @oliverkongstad for also coming with grrreeaattt inspiration prior to the residency with their excitement / showing of the power of natural pigments & natural dyes 😁🌲🌸🌻 • 📸 @piter.creative @cinc.produccions ❤️ • #cca #ccaartistinresidence #andratx #illesbalears #artistresidency #palmamallorca #artiststudio #naturalpigments #asbæk #rojostudio #oilpainting #lacdye #oldholland #canvaspainting #contemporarypainting #newworks #whatpaintingis #jameselkins #contemporarycolour #art2022 #plantpainting #drawingnature #naturalworks #alchemy #danielvandernoon #artistinstudio #contemporaryartist #🏝 #🇪🇺 #🌞🌞🌞 https://www.instagram.com/p/CZW2gkTs8BX/?utm_medium=tumblr

[kellykilmer]

I finished Boris Pasternak's "I Remember" last night. I'm very glad that I read it and I plan on revisiting it again soon with a pen and paper next to me to take notes. There is lots to learn in this small and unusual gem of a book. I'm still reading James Elkins' "What a Painting Is." It is a book to dip in and out of. "This is not a book about paintings, but about the act of painting, and the kinds of thought that are taken to be embedded in paint itself..." #BorisPasternak #JamesElkins #GreatWriters #artBooks #WhatIAmReading #OnMyShelf https://www.instagram.com/kellytmkilmer/p/CZQNR6ePGgD/?utm_medium=tumblr

[earlyrepresentations]

“This is Florida with lots of green grass around it.” Samantha experiments with paint in two very different way by first making a large block of purple and then enclosing it with green lines and second by interweaving wiggly lines, careful not to mix the colors. Samantha experiences the magical and transformative quality of paint that art critic and historian James Elkins describes as “Liquid Thought” in his book What Painting is.

[ashermainsart]

Some light anatomy and theory at #arthouse473. #artgrenada #grenadaartisland #grenada #art #creativecalliste #anatomy #jameselkins http://bit.ly/2B2Uvdp

[mauriziobongiovanni-blog]

Book of the day... Pictures & Tears. A History of People Who Have Cried in Front of Paintings #jameselkins💧💧💧#catsofinstagram (presso London, United Kingdom)

[lipscomics]

Getting ready for another week of teaching art by rereading this again. Highly recommended to any art teacher or art student. #jameselkins #teachingart

[danielvandernoon]

“Alchemy is the art that knows how to make a substance no formula can describe” ✨✨✨ James Elkins • 🎨👨🏼‍🎨Less about theory and more about aaaallll of the gooey details about the substance of paint, the alchemy and the history of painting - along with lots of savvy wanderings about the creative processes which can relate to a person working with painting, mixing colours and dreaming endlessly in images! • It’s a little pricey since it seems out of print - if anybodyy out there has other books to recommend in the realm of painting, history of pigments, painting & psychology drop ‘em below! Thanks for bringing up this one @camarx.jpg 😜 @routledgeart • #artbooks #readingiscool #jameselkins #alchemy #oilpainting #danielslibrary #bookstoread2022 #whatpaintingis #routledgeart #artistinthestudio #artistresidency #readersofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/danielvandernoon/p/CYZNWubMUZt/?utm_medium=tumblr

[danielvandernoon]

The fruity work so far from my artist residency @ccandratx ❤️ on the island of Mallorca 🏝 • Notes from an island (which may or may not reach you depending on your algorithm) 🌜🏝✨ • In my experience, artist residencies represent the opportunity to play Frankenstein - turn my practice inside out, chip-chop influences and re-visit my past, wrestle with my present and reinvent a new future. • This time round the main objective is to take a look at the materials from which I make my work; using natural plant dyes, sourcing pigments from the island - as well as the more plastic/artificial materials. I've been crushing and grinding, foraging and finding; as well as maintaining some relative sanity through collaging, drawing and painting. • Here’s my PALME MORTRE NEGRE pigment made from the charcoal of a burned 🌴🔥 mixed with linseed oil 💘 • #frankenstein #experimentarium #pigmentmaking #plantdye #naturalcolours #plastic #🌎 #process #progresso #alchemy #chemistry #develop #winover #palmemorte #worksonpaper #naturaloils #mallorca #andratx #reducing #materiality #jameselkins #hipermarket #shinypokemon (at CCA Andratx) https://www.instagram.com/danielvandernoon/p/CXjKcAUs-W8/?utm_medium=tumblr

[danielvandernoon]

The fruity work so far from my artist residency @ccandratx ❤️ on the island of Mallorca 🏝 • Notes from an island (which may or may not reach you depending on your algorithm) 🌜🏝✨ • In my experience, artist residencies represent the opportunity to play Frankenstein - turn my practice inside out, chip-chop influences and re-visit my past, wrestle with my present and reinvent a new future. • This time round the main objective is to take a look at the materials from which I make my work; using natural plant dyes, sourcing pigments from the island - as well as the more plastic/artificial materials. I've been crushing and grinding, foraging and finding; as well as maintaining some relative sanity through collaging, drawing and painting. • Here’s my PALME MORTRE NEGRE pigment made from the charcoal of a burned 🌴🔥 mixed with linseed oil 💘 • #frankenstein #experimentarium #pigmentmaking #plantdye #naturalcolours #plastic #🌎 #process #progresso #alchemy #chemistry #develop #winover #palmemorte #worksonpaper #naturaloils #mallorca #andratx #reducing #materiality #jameselkins #hipermarket #shinypokemon (at CCA Andratx) https://www.instagram.com/danielvandernoon/p/CXjKcAUs-W8/?utm_medium=tumblr