"The Aesthetic Persist"

 Art is a long strange trip.  Pay attention because sometimes it doubles back on itself.

Art leapt forward after nearly 50 drawings in the surrealist “Emergent Image” series.  Number 48 had potential to go further....

Investigation was required. A rendering of the original image streamlined its edges and accentuated the lovely central black shape.  The new drawing looked like a lovely mid-century ceramic sculpture.  

Check out those edges!

This idea ran its course after a few iterations and it was time to return to the series work with so-so results.  But the potential of the "Open Vessel" drawing...time to return for another rendering. 

(bean emergent image)

Flushing out those curves a little and working out the shading…but so what?  Hmm...What if the edges changed?  Another rendering.  Even worse. 

(first two rendering)

But then that wrinkle pattern itself was more interesting than the original shape.  What if the veins were included?  Oh YES.

What if the image were mirrored like a Rorschach print?  Aha.  From nearly 4 dozen random automatic styled drawings into meticulously rendered, highly ordered, intentional imagery.  Some with veins.

Ooh, surprise! Relates to artwork from the early 1980’s, who would suspect?

 

                               Persistent aesthetic!

https://jtnwdc.wixsite.com/jamesthatcherarts

  

"Emergent Images"

"Dream Girl," 2019 Enamel wash and gesso on canvas, 7" x 10"
James Thatcher  2019  copyright

The diminutive “Dream Girl” begged for a larger version.  Replicating textures on a large scale is a recurring issue in the studio.  This was no exception and it has led to a new body of artwork.  

Using hay on a very wet surface would cause a paint wash to gather around the hay and would theoretically result in a frost-like pattern that might approximate that background texture.

Not so much.  But pouring more paint over that experiment created such an interesting result that I didn’t need the girl’s portrait anymore. 

"Dream"  2020  Enamel wash and alfalfa on canvas, 44" x 66"
James Thatcher  2020  copyright 

The question of how to get that frost-like texture continued to puzzle me.  The next attempt was crumpled paper with an added wash.  The way the wash gathered in the wrinkles created wonderful possibilities for free-style composing.  

All other ideas have been banished. 

Success caused me to prepare dozens of crumpled and washed papers to draw into during the coming days.  

Forty papers.

The “Emergent Images” series currently stands at 30 pieces which measure 7” x 10”.  There are a few additional quarter-sheet works.

"Emergent Image #3"  2020  Enamel wash and pencil on paper, 7" x 10"
James Thatcher  2020  copyright

"Emergent Image #10"  2020  Enamel wash and pencil on paper, 7" x 10"
James Thatcher  2020  copyright

"Emergent Image #16"  2020  Enamel wash and pencil on paper, 7" x 10"
James Thatcher  2020 copyright

I look forward to creating drawings using full sheets (22” x 30”) as this series moves forward.

https://jtnwdc.wixsite.com/jamesthatcherarts  

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  I believe this and extend it to all communication, including visual art.  The random techniques of Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism express directly the joie de vivre abundant within me by the Holy Spirit.  

However, in recent pieces imagery is reduced to panels of texture, bridging into a gritty form of Minimalism.  Whether chunky or slick, the materials are being emphasized and are more expressive in spite of the paintings increasingly stoic forms. 

I edit heavily.   I pile on paint and thickly textural elements like leaves, grasses or bark.  The latest works feature hay from my dairy barn studio and cat tails gathered from marshes in upstate New York.  I use local elements as a way of assimilating my environment and regional culture. 

After embedding these elements into the paint I scrape off what I can.  Of what remains, I isolate the lines and shapes that are the essence of the chaotic underpainting.  The experience and process of this discovery motivates my creative urge.  I look for surprise in materials, process and imagery, as surprise is the beginning of delight!

Here's the latest!