Lia Strasser - Painter: November 2011

It's that time again...

Made room in the studio last night for a new series. Everything's stretched, primed and ready for another round of palette packed baroque action series. Flailing arms, tree trunk legs, and infernal fabrics here we come...

Painter's Jive - Fellow artists come to 515

Over the last few weeks I was graced with crits by fellow contemporary painters. Painting is wonderfully isolating - when I paint I think nothing beyond paint application, form and color - however when I open my studio doors to compatriots I feel connected to a greater nation. A nation built with stretchers and canvas, her citizens nurtured by ramen, our constitution written by our art teachers. We speak in similar tongues, crit speak, painters jive. We reference other painters, talk about struggle and conflict, we lap up praise and contemplate next moves.

So thanks guys! And without further ado here they are...

Andy Cross

Chuck Thomas

Holly Veselka

Labels: Andy Cross, Chuck Thomas, Holly Veselka

To all artists: from song writer via two dancers

Benjamin Scheuer, a close friend and inspiring musician, sent me this quote the other day. It was a comforting call to arms of sorts. Will print this out and hang in my studio —

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated
through you into action; and because there is only one of you in all
time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never
exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have
it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable
it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business
to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You
do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.

No artist is pleased...there is no satisfaction at any time. There is
only a queer, devine, dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us
marching and makes us more alive than the others."

-Martha Graham to Agnes DeMille

I included this painting I completed after a visit to Naples. It is roughly based on Caravaggio's The Seven Acts of Mercy, which hangs in the Pio Monte della Misericordia. There is a sense of gravity here - an unalterable force - similar to the force an artist feels. We are at both times slaves and winged nike to creation.

Also check Ben, the musical entrepreneur out : http://www.benjaminscheuer.com/

Labels: Agnes DeMille, Martha Graham