In 2005, thanks to help from the Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs and Geoffrey LePlastrier, I was able to do a four-week residency at Stock 20 in Taichung, Taiwan at the invitation of director Mimi Liu. During the residency, I have been executing a series of drawings from memory, images recollected from my walks around Taichung.
The drawings are executed in traditional Chinese materials - brush, ink, and paper, all about ten inches high. They have an Asian feel about them, but they draw on a few Western sources as well. Probably the biggest influence on the work has been the tradition of Zenga (Jap., "Zen painting"), which emphasizes directness of expression, spontaneity, and humor. I am particularly interested in the work of Hakuin and his followers, notably Sengai. The Western sources include the childhood drawings of Balthus, collected by Ranier Maria Rilke in a volume called Mitsou, the graphic work of Belgian woodcut artist Franz Masereel, and the work of American comics artist John Porcellino.
The drawings represent something of a breakthrough for me, as I have to date been insistent, if not fanatical, about working directly from life. But over time I have become tired of the constraints involved, and aware of the rarity of art that has been made purely from life. Taken as a whole across all cultures and times, art has been an act of imagination, informed by observations from life. I have finally made this operate in my work, and I look forward to exploring a similar mode in color, on a larger scale, when I return to the US. More drawings are being added, as will be the case until I finish the residency in early January.
The digital representations here should be taken as approximate, due to the limitations of my camera and lighting in my studio. Once in the states I will have the work mounted flat, and then properly lighted and photographed.
This residency has been an opportunity of extraordinary rarity and good fortune. In addition to above people and the Division, I want to thank Elisabeth Condon, Wong Chi, Paint, and the entire staff at Stock 20, Dawn Lamonica, Elena Olson, and Dave Bricker. Too, as I hope is apparent from the drawings, my gratitude extends through these people and into the life around me, needing no specific cause or event or person to rest on.