Abraham Storer - where have you been all my life?

Picked up some old copies of "New American Paintings" at the Antique Market and happened across this guy, Abraham Storer. His artist statement was so similar to what I was trying to do in thesis it was almost ridiculous.  Of course, I was going through one of my old sketchbooks looking for some scrap paper and there's a little note in there to look him up.  and I didn't? Until now?  How did this happen?  Someone suggested that I look this guy up and I totally didn't.  Sometimes I am the WORST.   

Either way see for yourself - the pictures get me every-time.  This man knows his way around a composition - negative space everywhere - everything is a void or a reflection or a lit tent in the dark unknown - just a mass of paint - like a monolith in front of you.  So very very good. 

Yet, at the same time I feel like if I actually looked him up when someone first told me to - I wouldn't have been nearly as into it.  I think I needed to push some paint around first.  

Anyways, Abe, if you're reading this, I think we are art twins.  Even our websites are the same!  You wanna maybe hang out? We can talk about painting and the symbolic significance of the landscape, squighy brushes, the best oil paint brand, our favourite trees, maybe go camping or something.  It will be great. 

I promise.

~K

Artspirational Quotations

Unsolicited Art Advice: 

Learn through action; it doesn't matter what you think - only what you make. 

"Materials are like elementary particles: charged but indifferent. They do not listen in on your fantasies, do not get up and move in response to your idle wishes. The blunt truth is they do precisely what your hands make them do. They paint lays exactly where you put it- the words you wrote, not the ones you needed to write or thought about writing- are the only ones that appear on the paper. in the words of Ben Shaim "the painter who stands before an empty canvas must think in terms of paint"

What counts, in making art, is the actual fit between the contents of your head and the qualities of your materials. The knowledge you need to make that fit comes from noticing what really happens as you work – the way the materials respond, and the way that response (and resistance) suggest new ideas to you. It’s those real and ordinary changes that matter. Art is about carrying things out, and materials are what can be carried out. Because they are real, they are reliable.”

Be Discriminating; everything you make is useful - not everything you make is good.  You know the difference. 

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

 - Ira Glass

Quit Procrastinating; stop writing on your blog - make some paintings instead.

"Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.” ― Chuck Close