Chapters
by Daniel Stuelpnagel
Chapter Six
untitled # 137 (2002)
collection of Eric Kjome (San Francisco)This and a companion piece were the only direct expression of September 11th that emerged through my art.
Perhaps this repression of impact was an indication that I was not yet ready to acknowledge the power I was developing, or to connect it with the possibility of narrative comment.
Or perhaps I was simply working through a series of paintings defining my life as a microcosm of the nature of life in the universe, and I was able to separate the course of human events from what I saw as the primary focus of my work.
Expressed in the seascapes, that would be a nature devoid of human presence, a look back at a past on the planet before even the smoke from a man-made fire had appeared on the horizon. The geometric grids were more elusive. Were these visual references to the architectural record, a minimalist overview of the twentieth-century development of sophisticated database and computing technology, or could I set aside these contemporary constructs and see through the work to the underlying crystalline order and refraction just as it appeared in nature ?
untitled # 140 (2002)
collection of Jenny and Joe Hovermill (Baltimore)Using larger gestures still contained within small and medium-sized canvases, I was pushing back the inclination to develop striped patterns, and becoming more interested in the musical rhythm of architecture, and the development of a bird’s-eye view, perhaps distilling some satellite-photo imagery, processing my ongoing fascination with internet database technology and the patterns of experimental quantum chromodynamics.
untitled # 141 (2002)
collection of Funk & Bolton, Attorneys (Baltimore)To develop and reveal surface texture and layers, I was using large palette knives and trowels to scrape wet paint from the surface, going further with the sculptural process that enabled me to simultaneously take the paintings to their utmost degree of sophistication with regard to the subtle impasto (held to one or two millimeters in depth), while also building layers and demonstrating sufficient implications of mineral components and textural contrasts to bring the work to a new level of power and originality.
All the while, I planned to return to Washington for a solo exhibition at Parish Gallery; even while giving myself over to the life that was growing around me, I had a long-term plan based on Norman’s acceptance of my work in the gallery, and I knew that the work I was doing was in some way proving to him that I was in fact worth representing.
Rather than staying in DC and waiting in the wings, I was going to the ends of the Earth, sending back news of my travels and success, and trusting that he would recognize my growing commitment.
I was selling paintings to friends and collectors, and eight of the new geometrics were including in a four-person exhibition at Exploding Head Gallery in July of 2002, my first professional gallery show.
I sold five pieces that spring, at prices between one and two thousand, so I was still establishing a range of prices, still struggling financially since leaving the temp-job paychecks behind, and still breaking new ground conceptually with the work that I was painstakingly bringing out of the studio.
untitled # 150 (2002)In San Francisco, I was introduced to performance art and live painting, exhibited through group shows and met artists at Hunters Point and all over the city, and became immersed in a diverse circle of photographers and multimedia artists who recapitulated my experience at Burning Man, helping me to realize that after four years, I was growing into my identity as an artist.
Observing the overlapping pursuits of various functional and successful artists in that intensive environment gave me essential information about different ways to do it, that is to make a career of art while still remaining focused on the creative gesture.
I made studio visits at every opportunity, and began to meet successful career artists who were represented by five or ten galleries across the nation or around the world. I began to envision a career that would continue to facilitate international travel, with the memory of the rustic and pristine islands very fresh in my mind.
I had moments of excitement, recognition and success, finding a path that did not limit me, a creative path that was indistinguishable from the person and the work, a unified field of endeavor bringing me so much joy and intensity that I had difficulty believing I had made the leap.
The nine-to-five existence I had led for eight years was still with me. I had vaulted into a different world, but after just four years I was still wearing some of my old skin, which would prove stubbornly constraining as I carried my old ideas into a new world. I felt I did not fit in, yet I shared the passion, and so any limitations of acceptance were strictly self-imposed.
California has a way, like every masterpiece, of reflecting our most genuine thoughts and feelings, directly relevant and immediate, facilitating intersubjective transference, bringing us the experiences and relationships we need to grow into the people we are about to become.
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