I've been juggling a few things in the settlement phase of this summer studio that I might have lost a email or two, or so my twitchy feeling tells me so. My deepest apologies to anyone who hasn't received a reply, please write again!
***
Chris Ashley sends his regards and the considerable compliment of dwelling on the work:
Holy smokes, Dennis, that is one beautiful painting.Thanks, Chris. I don't mean to make this a love fest, but I've always liked how you notice things when you write about art. Your writing resonates with my belief in embodiment (in painting/art). I really admire how you can kick in the serious art writing mode in your blog. Great stufff.
And perhaps disturbing, too. I love the faint
charcoal-like drawn outlines, those slices into the
green slugs near the bottom with the inserted black
dots, and those long skeins of green sliding up from
the middle towards the top (which, BTW, make me think
of Leon Kossoff)- or, are they hanging down? It's a
very evocative image- skull, face, pelvis. It's like
those green blobs at the bottom just slid over the
figure, have done whatever it is they do- something
invasive?- and are moving off somewhere else. Maybe
it's current events, but there's something very
"war-like" about this image, at least how it appears
in the small image on your weblog.Cheers,
Chris
Now, why do I think of Donald Judd when I read your writing? I haven't read enough Judd and I can't call up enough info with a Google search with my furtive wifi surfing here to verify my guess. But didn't the great D.J. dwell in a similar way with a straight-ahead -factual-you-are-there low profile interpretation of his experience of art?
***
Chris Jagers sent a hello:
Yea, there's plenty of strange feeling in a repair job. First, there is the pleasant surprise to see my painting again. If and when a painting sells, I wonder if I will ever see it again. Add to this, my attendant pet idea that a work of art is in constant movement, either towards a landfill or a museum. Therefore, I also get a charge of gratitude that someone out there is kind enough to guard the work into the proper direction in it's journey. I too get that "preexisting rules" feeling, seeing traces of an old self Dennis 2.0 to today's Dennis 5.0.Dennis,
That repair trip sounds wonderful. Perhaps, if you are lucky, you will be able to repair more of your paintings in the future! This post caught my attention, because I have been thinking about how interesting it is to patch one's own work (in my case, a purposeful interruption). To do this, you must treat yourself as if you were someone else, and be sensitive to all these preexisting rules of surface and method which you must follow. Wierd!
You make everything seem so exotic, and very Un-Dallas. Thanks
Chris
By the way, Dallas is plenty exotic. Especially as I understand from the European P.O.V., ideas about Texas are pretty wild over here --as far as I can tell so far.
***
I have recently connected with Harold Hollingsworth, an artist living and working in Seattle. We call each other cousin even though we have yet to verify the blood connection with mapping our family trees. I mean, how many Hollingsworths are there in this world? He's started a blog, and I'll get his link into the Soup of Links asap.
I was reading your report from Nice, had a chuckle. The collectors in Seattle here sound like the same that you met, one used to be the richest man in the world, now only the 2nd richest, one has Hopper's painting, Chop Suey in his study, and one couple have one of the best Philip Guston's you'll never see, well, until they pass and bequeth it to the Seattle Art Museum. When I first began at artech I wondered like you would the people be exciting, strange and mysterious, alas, hardly, but they all had one thing in common, nice kitchens! On the subject of our common last name, Hollingsworth, that grade school experience, yeah, we share that one, and those damn little squares that never had enough for HAROLD LEWIS HOLLINGSWORTH, so it always looked more like HAROLD LEWIS HOLLINGSW...
I feel ya brother, I feel ya!later cousin!
Harold
Harold's painting resonates with my print work, lots of correspondence going on there. It must be a gene thing. Cousin Harold is a scooter guy too! Check his stuff out here.
***
And last, here's a group email from an old Navy buddy who has reconnected with another, Tom O'Sullivan. I thought I'd throw it in to give you all a feel for the Navy days for me back in the day. Tom is and was a close friend and it's great to hear that he's doing great. Barrel chested, hairy and eyes like a wolf that he would use to mess with your head all maddog and all. I remember Tom reciting the "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" blind drunk as we taxied back to the ship at the tail end of a liberty call. I love the Irish today principally because of him.
These guys are about to have a reunion in Bremerton Washington soon:Steve,
?
I called Tom and we had a fun conversation of memories of 30+ years ago. If you talk to him, ask him about the time I smacked his ass with a ShellBack shellalie during the cross the equator event, and he almost sent me overboard with a right cross to the face. I still remember that event thinking how lucky I was not to have created a for real 'Man Overboard' .
?
Tom sounds good, probably won't make it to Bremerton, but he has a ton of fun stories to tell. I listened to just a few and they were things we both recalled as if they happened yesterday. Funny how old geezers have small dicks, no hair, but memories like a steel trap !!
?
I guess he doesn't have internet because I gave him me email address but he didn't have one that I could reply to. If he talks to you, tell him that I really enjoyed the phone call.
?
Share this with Dennis Cimino too, he will get a kick out of it. I need to clean my email address book, I think I got like 4 Dennis email addresses. I will send this to all and hopefully 1 will get to him.
?
I will also add some other email addresses to see if this gets any feedback. Pat Costello and maybe Johnny Gaines, among others.
?
My appologies for the long email list...some are probably old, others are duplicates, but didn't want to miss anyone as the Truxtun reunion is next week.
?
Burntree 26 Charlie... On Station and Ready for Call for Fire !!
You don't have a freaking email address? Jesus Christ, Tom... it's time to get with the program! (Well, I guess he won't be reading this.)
Posted by Dennis at July 26, 2006 5:14 PM
Leave a comment