Chapters
by Daniel Stuelpnagel
Chapter Twelve
untitled # 287 (2004)
collection of Victoria and Keith Murray (Baltimore)As I began to recognize the emergence of my capabilities, it felt like a foundation upon which to build, and by the time I had been working steadily for seven years, approaching three hundred paintings, that foundation was becoming progressively more solid.
I was fascinated by the parallels between life and art, and I was living in the midst of this very theme. My personal journey had been one of conceptual challenges and various obstacles, some out there in the world and some self-imposed within my own internal universe.
As I grew to believe in my own strength, and the quality and value of my work, I felt vindicated. Through all of the doubt and uncertainty, I not only recognized these developments but also had the genuine pleasure of seeing them recognized by galleries and collectors as well.
The law firm of Funk & Bolton in Baltimore commissioned me to create a collection for their offices just a few blocks from the harbor, on the twelfth floor at 36 South Charles Street.
By the end of 2004, I had installed my first corporate collection of ten paintings, purchased for more than twelve thousand dollars, which was my most substantial sale at the time.
And I had the great pleasure of working directly with partners Bryan Bolton and David Funk and their staff, with the goal of creating a collection of art works that would enhance the environment and the daily activities of the people there.
Working out of a newly established studio in Baltimore shared with mosaic artist Cinder Hypki, I brought in several studio works and also stretched and painted new pieces on commission to fit the dimensions of the space, so that the installed collection was especially well-integrated and complete.
While the first ten paintings comprised a collection designed and curated especially for the public space in their offices, this was just the beginning of my work for my largest collector to date, who made a commitment to original art, expressed a belief in my work, and gave me creative freedom to work as a designer.
In this unique relationship, I continued to give them first access to new work coming out of the studio, and so there were additional pieces to be added to the collection in the year ahead.
Finally being settled for the foreseeable future back in my home town, I was still inclined to travel, and spent the first two months of 2005 living in Bologna, Italy, and traveling to more than a dozen cities, experiencing the language, art and architecture of an inspiring landscape.
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