Art of Armor

As the name implies, Art of Armor recently opened at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, gives us a broad look into the aesthetics of samurai armor.  The exhibition features more than 140 objects from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller collection, including armored horses carrying combat-ready samurai in full regalia.
Having come to appreciate armor through my love of ukyio-e prints I was aware of how artfully they were portrayed in print media but I wasn't prepared for the staggering detail observed in a large scale exhibit of actual examples. 

Kuniyoshi - The last stand of the Kusunoki at Shijô-nawate under a hail of arrows in 1348 (1857)

Nor would I have been surprised to learn that artists had taken liberties to embellish the amount of decoration to add drama to the action of a print. Nothing could be further from the truth as the detail and elaboration of each samurai's armor was a masterpiece of collaborative efforts that would difficult to capture in its entirety. 

Breastplate detail

Artisans required to manufacture these armors included metal workers both forgers and decorative, braid makers and embroiderers, painters and sculptors, in short an army of artists to make the suit of one warrior.  Each suit in the collection is a riot of color texture and the style of each is unique, which is perhaps partly due to the preferences of the curators and the original collectors Ann and J. Gabriel Barbier-Mueller.

faceplates

Some items are clearly ceremonial and some purpose built as protection or weapon but all show an attention to artistry that have helped the samurai to transcend cultural roots and become embedded in our collective consciousness.

The other purpose of the ornamentation is identification.  While rank and file warriors needed little more than a badge on the helmet or breastplate and perhaps a flag on their backs the men of high rank wanted to be identified, both to their men but also to be recognized so that their deeds of valor could be noted.  In times of peace samurai of wealth and rank could commission highly eccentric designs.

helmet

Although far removed from the era of the samurai and now subject to our romantic notions gleaned from popular culture this exhibition is certain to raise a renewed interest in the actual lives and times of samurai in feudal Japan.

Samurai - Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier- Mueller Collection on view in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts through August 4th.

m the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection

Halfway to Boston

iStatic - ©William Evertson 2009

There have been more than a few times where I have been transfixed by the repetitive flicker of images on the TV screen.  All too often the electrons form into images of violence.  The events that recently transpired in Boston were just one more in a succession of the terror we inflict upon each other. Now the speculations concerning motives will eat up our news cycle until the next senseless violent act takes center stage.

All that to say for my little piece of this story, I was preparing for a bit of fun in Boston that was ruined. I was preparing to promote the art world based comic that I produce with collaborator Susan Shulman at Boston's ComicCon.

Already earlier in the week the marathon bombers had wrecked their havoc and once again our lives were altered.  People are resilient, Boston is resilient and life goes on, and with a heavy heart we continued our plans. By yesterday (Friday) things again had taken a turn for the worse with more death, a shootout with police and an entire city in lock down.

All day we waited along with thousands of others hoping that no more had to be victims in this drama. I was caught up in my own little drama of waiting to see if the event organizers would cancel. Their Facebook page was divided among those who didn't want to be cowed by the terror and those urging the prudence of cancellation in the face of the unprecedented "shelter in place" order and closing of all mass transit.

By 3pm it seemed as if the comiccon was still on and after checking with our hotel I set off for the two hour drive to Boston. Halfway there I got a text from my son; The Hynes convention center pulled the plug on events. I cancelled our hotel, turned around and headed home.  Probably for the best because my mood was foul and my heart was heavy; not where I needed to be when exhibiting or promoting art.
As most everyone know by now, the "shelter in place" was lifted and soon after more drama as the second bomber was eventually taken into custody amidst the largest police presence I've ever seen.

Today my heart is still heavy as I contemplate those who died, those who suffered massive injury, those whose lives are never to be the same because of this.

I'll got back into the studio today and begin new works of art and attempt to process the violence in our world.

Laying Track

Palmer Hayden, from John Henry series.

I recently read a story about building the first railroads. How each day material would get ferried forward and new track laid. Then the train backs up and picks up more material. Next day, start over.

Some days it's like that when I'm making art. I'm backing and then I'm laying new track this week because making art isn't just paint on canvas or ink on paper; sometimes I back up and write.

This morning as I set out to write I came across an injustice, seemingly small in our world of appropriated images becoming commonplace. I was looking through my images to illustrate the blog post title of laying track and then decided to google laying track.

Palmer Hayden, The Janitor Who Paints

I came across the picture above that was being used to promote a workshop "Sounds of American History" based on an authors book on John Henry. I searched for an attribution to the work, found none, but was just able to make out the artist signature.  Palmer Hayden it turns out spent more than his share of backing up to move forward. He focused on the African American experience with works from the urban background of Harlem as well as his (now) famous John Henry series of paintings created over 10 years. Link to Hayden on Wikipedia.

Please folks, if you are going to use an artist's work (even a deceased artist) to promote or illustrate something online, how about an attribution?

So....many days are filled with satisfying the preconditions to that studio time when you are actually at work on art. this past week was one of them.

First of all, PR and kudos for a great exhibit  curated by Cathy Nolan Vincevic for the Gordon Nash Library.  The exhibition titled, The Book Remade" is focused on books re-worked, re-organized, painted, cut ornamented or embellished. I'm happy to have my artist book, "Three Little Kittens Rekindled" included in this international group of altered books.


Curator and Head Librarian Cathy Nolan Vincevic

I wrote a blog post about the construction of the book back in March. My book was constructed with traditional hand binding techniques but made to resemble Amazon's Kindle.  That post has more of my thoughts on the distribution of literary material, our embrace of electronic media and the copyright of that material originally found in oral tradition.  The Gordon-Nash Library's blog contains the complete listing of artists. On display through April.

Preparation is underway for spending the weekend in Boston at ComicCon where Susan Shulman and I plan on exhibiting Kalicorp Art Mysteries.  Although as I write this the fallout of Mondays bombing of the Boston Marathon is still playing out. My heart goes out to those injured and lost loved ones in this horrific violence.

We'll Be at the Hynes Convention Center on Saturday, April 20th from 10am -7pm and Sunday, April 21 from 10am - 5pm.
(Email from the organizers indicate this will go on as planned - and artists are donating to the Red Cross for the Boston Marathon victims relief effort)

Gathering the promotional material for Artist Alley

Link to the latest from the Kalicorp Art Mysteries Blog

Six Blocks - Thirteen Times

 Background gradations built up with three colors

Light yellow of sail

Land mass was printed twice to get a gradation.

Sail highlights and mountain shadows

First printing of dark sky gradation

Final block printed three times for black, violet in trees and umber on monkey

Admiral He's Stowaway, image 11 x 17 printed on 13 x 19 paper (6 on Kizuki Hanga and 6 on Echizen Kozo).   This image is part of the illustrations that make up the novel and corpus of work from Analogue Narratives, an exquisite corpse multimedia work in progress.  Analogue Narratives features work by Mara Thompson, Lee Goldberg, Susan Shulman, Mark Bloch, Ria Vanden Eynde, myself and surprise guests from time to time.

Back to Moku Hanga

He's Monkey - woodblock key - image size 11 x 17"

I had to put this woodcut on hold for a bit over a month while other studio projects with deadlines took precedent.  But this image which accompanies the exquisite corpse blog I contribute to finally got some attention this past week.

Analogue Narratives is currently an online project in search of a physical exhibition space.  It began three years ago as a collaborative writing project based on the premise of finishing Rene Daumal's unfinished novel, Mount Analogue.  Daumal passed away leaving his surreal tale of the search for enlightenment without an ending.  Our story picks up on the fabled mountain of no certain location and the artists I work with contribute writings, illustrations and video concerning our own search for an ending.

Stack of 5 clear acetates with a ghost of ink remaining after transfer to the plywood blocks. 

I depart from the traditional methods of transferring image to the blocks.  After I work out my colors and the number of blocks I need to get those colors, I print each color as black on acetate and place them on the blocks while the ink is sill wet. 

The image at the top now carved - (black ink from proofing)

Block for deeper violets and lemon yellow on monkey.

Block for ochre in sail area

Block for background gradients

Carved area allows white of paper to form the snow pack on the mountain.

Block for orange/reds (almost finished)

This image began as a combination of several ink drawings that I scanned into Photoshop, combined, experimented with coloration and later separated the colors for the blocks.  This forms a starting point as I begin to work with various inks this coming week.  

Admiral He's Monkey © William Evertson 2013

Click to open Analogue Narratives

Altered Book

Three Little Kittens, altered book, 7.5 x 9.5" tooled leather cover with gold leaf, © William Evertson

In preparing a piece to exhibit in the Gordon-Nash Library exhibition of "The Book Remade" I had to make a detour from my usual bookmaking habits.  The exhibition concerns the "altered book" as a core principle; re-worked, reorganized, painted, cut, ornamented or embellished.   
I re-imagined my usual start from the beginning, handmade approach.  I began to think of the history of books, their transformative power, their methods of construction and their means of distribution.

The desire to record and transmit our thoughts to others is a major evolutionary accomplishment and the concept of book fundamental to that continuing process.  In an equally fundamental way, the means of distribution of knowledge and opinion via the written word has aspects of power that define access and control. The secrets of paper-making where once closely guarded, limiting accessibility, while  Guttenberg's movable type increased accessibility.

My thoughts turned to the most current revolution in the production and transmission of books - the e-reader.  

My piece, titled, Three Little Kittens Rekindled, began as a download from the multinational corporation Amazon.  I purchased the Paul Galdone illustrated version of Three Little Kittens for $4.99.      Although Galdone illustrated many children's books I remember from my childhood, Three Little Kittens actually belongs to no one. It began with oral roots in the British folk tradition.  The rhyme was first published in Britain in 1833 as an anonymous addition to a volume of Eliza Lee Cabot Follen's verse.   Eventually it was absorbed into the Mother Goose collection of nursery rhymes.  

Illustration from Ballantyne's 1858 version

My alteration is a meditation on ownership and transmission.  I have re-appropriate the Kindle electronic version and have returned it to the roots of bookmaking in the form of a handmade book. 

Paul Galdone illustrated version as viewed on kindle. 

Scanned images printed on Arches Text Wove

Starting with images scanned directly from the kindle, they were pigment printed on Arches Text paper, a fine art paper used in bookmaking.

The pages are collated and are sewn into two signatures. 

Spreading paste on the book leather cover.

A cover illustration from a 1952 Golden Book version of Three Little Kittens was used a basis for my pixelated version.  This was printed on glossy stock and pasted into to the screen area of the book leather cover.

The cover was embossed, tooled and gold leafed to bring out kindle keypad details.

Three Little Kittens Rekindled - an altered book © William Evertson 2013

An endless dance of a common tale that has become common property and used by authors and illustrators alike to make a living.  Once a rhyme that you could say aloud for free now exists on Amazon in an endlessly repeatable electronic format which renders it essentially free but now can be purchased for $4.99. 

Facebook event page for The Book Remade.  Gordon-Nash Library, New Hampton, NH. Running through April with a closing reception on April 24th.

No Laughing Matter

Yue Minjun -Woodcut 1 The Grasslands Series - woodcut 47 x 34" - 2008

Smith College Museum of Art is currently hosting an exhibition titled, Collecting - Art of Asia. While I found fascinating work throughout the exhibit, I spent most of my time in the Sacerdote Gallery on the main floor with Prints: 1950 - 2013.  The artists, representing Japan, China, Korea and Pakistan use a variety of printmaking techniques.  Of special interest to me as a printmaker was a chance to see some practitioners of sosaku-hanga.  Sosaku-hanga, which literally means "creative prints" is a 20th century departure from the traditional division of the labor of producing a woodblock print with the artist taking control of all three of the main tasks of producing a woodcut print. In the ukiyo-e genre that most of us are familiar with you actually have a collaborative process involving an artist, a carver and a printer. In sosaku-hanga the artist works all three disciplines.

Munakata Shikō Sand Nest 1938 (printed in 1957) 13.5 x16 woodcut

Munakata's small block printed simply in black is a wonderful example by one of the artists associated with sosaku-hanga.  Munakata was known for often spontaneously creating his image during the carving process. As a printmaker who plans the image but is open to change inspired by the carving process the idea of just beginning a a carving to see what emerges is both frightening and intriguing.  

Another favorite from the show was a print by Kiyoshi Saito.  It's hard to describe the difference from seeing this in person to here in thumbnail, but the detail, textures and subtle coloration have an impact that brought me back time and time again to marvel at its creation.

Kiyoshi Saito - Winter in Aizu - woodcut - ca1940

Another post Mao approach to woodcut inspired by western abstraction was a piece by Goto Hidehiko.

Goto Hidehiko Silent Night - woodcut

Silent Night is from a a suite of works commissioned by collectors Mary and Norman Tolman who hoped the collection containing eight artists working abstractly on the subject of "Hope for the Future" would help restore Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 disasters (both political and natural).  Goto's piece with its small white space which seems to reach through various surfaces is both a subtle and yet powerful example of the woodcut process.

Fang Lijun  2000.6.25   woodcut 2000 47 x 32"

Another twist to sosaku-hanga was the development of what is termed Cynical Realism. The works typically tend to the ironic or display contempt and disillusionment with Chinese society.  Fang Lijun uses jigsaws and power tools to fashion these large and rough figures.  

                                      Yue Minjun -Woodcut 2(?) The Grasslands Series - woodcut 47 x 34" - 2008

The piece on top and this are part of the Grassland series by Minjun who is also associated with Cynical Realism.  Quoting Minjun, "Smiling is a refusal to think deeply when you feel there are things about which you have no way of thinking deeply or which are too difficult to think about and you need to get rid of your thoughts."

Annie Bissett, woodcut artist and blogger also has a great review of this show.

Smith College Museum of Art - Collecting - Art of Asia - though May 26th (North Hampton, MA) 

This Lautrec is Damned Brazen

La Vache Enragé - 1896 - color lithograph - 79 x 57.5 cm

So begins a critique from 1893 by Félix Fénéon in the introduction to the catalogue for the Toulouse-Lautrec & His World exhibition.  A powerful exhibit now on view in Connecticut's New Britain Museum of American Art highlights a collection of over 150 works on paper.  Drawings, many lithographs and a handful of original posters comprise the show.  Fénéon continued, "he couldn't care less about outlines or colors."

  Edmée Lescot - 1893 - lithograph - 27 x 19 cm

After viewing the exhibition, and at a distance of over a century, it is difficult to asses the scandalous nature of Lautrec's subject matter or his line.  In fact what is most striking is the incredible economy of line that was used to create the frenzy of his favorite subjects, the actors, dancers, circus performers and prostitutes of Montmartre.

Surrounded by the survey of his work one realizes that Lautrec not only was a man in touch with his times but had a major role in defining those times.  He lived at a time of rapid developments in lithography which made possible the large scale posters he is famous for.  In turn his posters made his subjects recognizable throughout Paris.

The piece above shows his use of crachis, a splattered ink technique that helps define gradations much like the moku hanga woodcuts from Japan that he admired and collected.  The celebrity and courtesan were also  favorite subject matter in many Ukyio-e prints.

Utagawa Kunisada - Lady Naruto no mae - ca 1847-1852

While not intended as a survey of Lautrec's work and there are no painting included here, it did strike me that his brief 36 years were those of unceasing output.  The many pencil sketches attest to his penchant for evenings of Paris nightlife followed by days in the lithography studio.  The lithographs appears to be worked directly on the stone rather than traced of copied, giving them an extraordinary spontaneity.

Jane Avril - color lithograph - 124 x 91.5 cm

And of course without Lautrec's attention to celebrity where would Warhol be?

Toulouse-Lautrec & His World

January 12–May 12, 2013 at the New Britain Museum of American Art 

Over the Top

Preparing the rewards to send to the Art Mysteries Kickstarter sponsors.

It took almost the whole 30 days but the Art Mysteries Kickstarter succeeded.  It took much more emotional toll than I imagined.  It took more PR than I'm usually comfortable with. It took over 80 wonderful sponsors believing in the value of the project.

The project is a series of collaborative comics in which Susan Shulman, Ria Vanden Eynde and I explore the mysteries, controversies and hi-jinks of the contemporary art world.

But before we move into high gear assembling the artwork that will make up our 6th issue, I'm pouring over Excel spreadsheets making sure that the rewards we promised are out the door and in the mail to those sponsors.  Best of all many of those people will receive the next four of our limited edition comics.

For those unfamiliar with Kickstarter (we found many more than we imagined), it is a funding platform for creative projects.  It is geared to fund specific projects involving film, games, music, art, design and technology.  Since it launched in 2009 over 36,000 projects have been funded by the broad based crowd sourcing that forms this model of funding.


Only about 44% of projects that are launched reach their funding goals and the Kickstarter model makes it an all or nothing funding.  Either you get enough commitments to complete your project or you go back to the drawing board.

Backers ultimately decide if you have a worthy project and whether they have confidence that you can accomplish your goals.  Plus, we sincerely believe that backing Art Mysteries amounts to more than a handout.
Our backers believe in our ability to make a positive contribution to that subset of the art world that includes artists publications, zines and graphic novels.

William Evertson and Susan Shulman in a panel detail from Issue #6 - due out late March, 2013

How does it compare to our usual method of competing for funds from traditional art granting sources? I think we found that despite the initial discomfort of making personal pitches to our friends, colleagues and complete strangers, that we were ultimately very pleasantly surprised that so many people have confidence in our vision.

Although competing in the shrinking arena of foundation funding has certainly provided a wonderful stack of rejection letters to keep warm with.

Now that the Kickstarter has come to an end you can still support this particular Kali Collective project by buying single issues from our website at seekingkali.com.

Each issue features many fine under-represented artists, art criticism and liberal doses of satire as we explore what it takes to make it in Artworld.

It's a Dance

Imagine You - ©William Evertson (woodcut 14" x 20")

I muse about this as I'm printing my latest series. I can only think this because recently I've been taking ballroom dance lessons.  A peculiar hobby to take up for someone as uncoordinated as myself.  Yet twice a week for the last several months I've been dragging my wife to a dance studio because I have this nagging suspicion that I need more dance in my art.

In my studio I'm brushing water on the woodblock, priming it.  Soon I'll be charging it with the pigment  and paste.  The paper, a fine and expensive Japanese washi, lies in its damp pack bed achieving a proper moisture level that I know I'll recognize not from some instrument but by feel as I pick it up and observe the softness of its drape.

I think about the dance. I'd like to have some of the fluidity of my youth back but I'll make do with the repetition of movements until they become less stiff at least.  I need to forget the steps and remember the steps all at once.

There is a fish, a giant carp leaping from a wave and speaking to me as I climb a mountain. He seems improbable yet natural and he becomes the muse for this print.  The idea is set and all that remains is creating the steps.  The drawing, the transfer to the block and the carving.  Some parts practiced, some without thought and some done from a hard won mastery learned only from a life time of mistakes and trial.

Carving the transfer

I look at the other dancers in the studio.  They've been here much longer, they flow and glide; I still think, think, think. Where are my feet, where is my torso, where is the beat and I despair that I will not find them.  I am the fish out of water as I learn to free myself to dance.

Charging the block with pigment.

The pigments are mixed, the paste is prepared, the paper is soft.  The brushes are prepared and ready; all little maru bakes whose bristles I still remember carefully splitting by rubbing each for an hour over sharkskin.  All in preparation for another dance session with my woodblocks.

I'm starting to get the slow dances.  In the waltz there's enough space in the rhythms to forget and remember and yet move.  The progress is slow; but then it always is.  Back in my studio I'm in control again.

Making the impression.

I charge the blocks with their pigments and press the backs of soft paper with the baren.  I lift a corner and make an adjustment.  I begin the second and third color and dance the papers around the studio.

Checking the image.

I think it's working.