“Model From Crime Page” 2010, watercolor by Paul Dodd currently on view in the Finger Lakes Show at Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York
There seems to be no limit to the supply of fresh faces to paint. This one and another are currently in the biennial Finger Lakes Show at the Memorial Art Gallery. They asked me to record a brief statement about my work and you can hear it by calling 585 627-4132 and then 8 when they ask for the “stop number.” Click the photo above to view the whole piece.
I just listened to it and I can’t believe how dry it sounds. Geez! And I can see myself reading the statement from my notebook. I hate those typewritten artist’s statements and don’t read them unless I’m totally taken by the piece. Somehow I thought these recorded notes would be different and they are but mine doesn’t add much to the work. For kicks you can call back and push random stop numbers for some disjointed artist’s statements.
We drove to Auburn yesterday for the Artist’s Reception for the “Made In NY 2009” show at the Shweinfurth Art Center. One of my favorite Crime Faces was accepted in this show and it was given a prime spot in the center room. They have good taste in Auburn or maybe it’s just that they have the maximum security State Correctional Facility here and they recognized one of their own.
Sarah Palin was there yesterday with the first dude celebrating William Seward’s decision to purchase Alaska. Seward, radical opponent of slavery, practiced law in Auburn, became governor of New York and then Secretary of State under Lincoln before returning to Auburn. He made the decision to purchase Alaska from the Russians, a call that was ridiculed as “Seward’s Folly”.
We were delighted to see our friends, Alice and Julio, at the opening and the four of us darted around the room picking our favorites. We were the last ones to leave. Peggi, Alice and Julio can be seen studying Scott McCarney’s piece in the background of the blowup of this photo. Auburn, like so many small cities in New York, saw it’s heyday about a century ago and has settled in as a beautiful town.
Paul Dodd “Crime Face 46” detail. Click photo for full painting.
I was preparing an online submission of a group of paintings to a show and I was trying to chose which paintings to feature as details. Naturally I turned to Peggi for her expert opinion. I had a few guys open on my monitor and she said. “Well I have already told you which one I like the best”. And of course it is the one I have featured up top but I hadn’t shot it yet. So I set up my Lowel lights tonight and shot her and few others.
Paul Dodd Crime Face Paintings in Living Room Early 2008
Peggi answered the phone tonight and a guy asked to speak to Paul. I said, “Hello” and the man/boy voice said, “Fuck you” and hung up. I’m thinking it was the answer to the title of yesterday’s post.
As brutal an exercise as painting can be, it is as brutal an exercise for me to look at one of my paintings. Of course it is not entirely brutal, but close. I’m talking about looking at the finished painting and noting what goes through my mind on confronting it. Just what kind of a dialog do I have with this thing? In other words, why am I doing this?
I alone am responsible for expressing what is on the minds of these people and I need to enable them to hold up their end of an interesting conversation. The procedure for developing a painting is one part of this activity. The conversation with the finished thing is the other.
It is sort of interesting how little anyone who comes into our house has to say about these guys. If someone is not into a confrontation I completely respect that but I suspect the paintings are not speaking clearly enough yet. I think some people are afraid to look at them or they think they are so terrible they don’t want to be the position to have to comment on them so they look away. Maybe everybody has stuff like this in their living room.
I’m trying to pick a couple to enter in a show and I have a bunch of recent ones propped up in our living room. I’m leaning toward bottom left and third from left on the bottom. I’ve been adding to the group over the last month. I would like them to be more engaging.
I just finished “The Object Stares Back” by James Elkins. I fell asleep to it for the last few weeks and it surly is responsible for this entry. But he started to to piss me off because he tossed out too many ideas too quickly. I disagreed with many of his opening arguments and he didn’t take the time to defend them. On to the next entry.
My father emailed me this photo. He took it at the Margaret Explosion gig over Christmas. I didn’t really care for the art on the walls back then. It changes every month and there is already some new stuff up for our gig tonight.
I have a painting show there in January of ’09 and I got an invoice in the mail today for $50 for the privilege. Apparently you have to be a member of the Little Theater Film Society in order to exhibit there – a worthwhile cause. The Crime Faces ought to liven up the place. Here is link to the Rain Dance from our gig at RIT on Saturday. Phil Marshall is on guitar while Bob was in Anaheim.
