BOOKS: 1999/2019

BOOKS: Twenty Years Later 1999/2019  

My book series began in my last year of art school at the University of Oregon as I was my persuing my BFA in Painting and it became my terminal project exhibition for my graduation with honours. I already knew at this point that I was an abstract painter and that I had some hard feelings towards the “art establishment.” While I respected my peers in the program, I didn’t want to create the same large scale glossy paintings that they were doing at the time. I wanted to create something more intimate, meaningful, and honest from my work. I wanted to use common materials and somehow make art more accessible. I wanted the viewer to have an experience with the work.

I created my abstractions in found hardback books that I gathered one by one out of the free bin of a local bookstore. I selected the discarded and withdrawn books and their beautifully yellowed pages as they were now somehow without value. I sometimes tore them apart to showcase their skeletons and hidden features while I painted with oil bar, drew with colour pencils and graphite, and commandeered their stories making them into something new. I assumed personalities and told other people’s stories, while creating small abstractions within the taped, stitched, and bound pages. These books were rough, raw, and dirty though the concept and belief behind them were fully considered. These were meant to be read and handled like any other book. The story received was meant for the viewer alone and could be closed up and left for another. Each person handling the books became part of the story and the story became part of the viewer as they walked away. They had just touched modern art. They had just had it in the palm of their hands.

For my terminal exhibition at the University’s Laverne Krause Gallery, I set up a sofa, a woven rug, a coffee table, end tables, and chairs. Turning the gallery into a familiar setting, a place that invited you to sit and relax without having to say it. My books littered the coffee table overlapping, some open, some closed. No instructions, simply relying on human nature, curiosity, and comfort to encourage the viewer to experience the art, to turn the pages and be.

I have always had a problem with the exclusivity of art and sadly the idea by many that art requires specialist skills, knowledge or education to understand and appreciate it fully. For many, there is an imaginary barrier between themselves and art, especially when it comes to abstraction. All art requires is time and the willingness to see but before that can happen, it must be accessible. The guard of the viewer must be lowered, the defenses calmed and soothed to foster understanding. If I can put art into a format that is more easily understood and accessible then I can change people’s experience of art. If I can take something that might be seen as scary or intimidating on a gallery wall and put it in the hands of the viewer, they are now dominating the art, the art is no longer dominating them.

photo by Mairi Brown taken at Art Walk Porty

Most viewers will understand books even at their most basic level they will understand picture books. If I put modern art in books that they can touch and feel, smell, read, feel the weight of the work in the books, then I can get them to slow down and have an experience. The average time people spend looking at paintings on a wall in a museum or gallery is 17-27 seconds. That is not an experience. We have been trained that art is not to be touched. It is revered, fragile, valuable, untouchable. We view it with our hands jammed in our pockets, behind our back, behind a rope, behind a taped line, we do not gesticulate towards or talk loudly about it. The art becomes void. The art becomes detached from reality and it’s humanness. Some humans will also detach from it or never even attempt it. I find this thought deeply wounding.

Join me here again next week on my Friday Studio Blog for Part II of the written discussion of my books. Until then you can hear me speak about by books on this week's video visit. Thanks again to everyone who came to see my books art Art Walk Porty last weekend. It was a joy to meet you and share my passion for this work.

Thank you.

More flashcards and more art!

this is where I hide

mixed media on paper 6x4"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
sold

This was another busy week getting ready for First Thursday at the Fayetteville Underground. The week leading up to the openings is always exciting and this week was no exception. I am pleased to report First Thursday went off without a hitch and all the exhibitions were well received. It really was wonderful to have visiting Scottish artist Stewart Bremner present at his and Craig Munro's exhibition, iteration/span. I know he enjoyed talking with people about their work last night. Luckily for those local folks who might have missed First Thursday, Stewart will be giving an artist talk at the Fayetteville Underground tomorrow, Saturday May 7th from 11am-12noon.

In other news, I did manage to paint this week and I am grateful. I worked on some more flashcards. When time is tight and inspiration is low it is still better to paint than not, and it is even more of a victory. I am glad I was reminded of this. Perhaps, it was having Stewart working in my studio. He was busy painting while also preparing for iteration/span and I thought if he can paint during this chaotic time, then perhaps I can to! Here is a link to his recent paintings.

And here are the newest selections from my affordable flashcard series. The paper isn't perfect, there are some rough bits where the tape masked the borders. These works are about the process, the immediacy and the action of making. These are flashcards and the paintings are the answer. You provide the questions. For more information on how you can reserve and purchase one of these small works please email me at megancha@gmail.com and stay tuned, more flashcards to come...

the textures of you
mixed media on paper 6x4"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
sold

the hope that lives undercover
mixed media on paper 6x4"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
sold

patterns from the past
mixed media on paper 6x4"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
sold

If wishes were stitches
(I'd have you all sewn up)
mixed media on paper 6x4"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
sold

Assembly in darkness
mixed media on paper 6x4"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
sold

Until next week, keep fighting but don't forget to have fun too.

Tiny Virtues

Today, I want to delve into the creative process and meaning behind my painting, "Tiny Virtues." I think it is important to have an opportunity to discuss a work of art with the viewer and for the artist and the viewer to have a dialog about the work. This is not always possible, actually most of the time, this is not possible. Art openings are usually crowded, and it is hard to have an intimate discussion with the viewer about the work, or the work is being shown away from the artist, and unfortunately the artist and viewer will never meet. I am excited to have this opportunity to discuss this piece and my painting process with you.

When I go into my studio to paint, I know a few things for sure. I know that I am an abstract painter. I know that some of my paintings may have an implied horizon line, and organic shapes that resemble a known object, but that my main goal is for my work to be intrinsically abstract in nature.

I know that I love color. I am drawn to deep, rich colors that include blues, greens, deep yellows, golds, oranges, deep rusty reds, and olive greens. I know that I love texture, whether the paint is thick and craggy or creates a subtle texture that resembles those found in nature, such as lichen, mold or rust, these patterns have always appealed to me. I know that I love gritty pencil lines, and charcoal smudges. I know that I love oval and smooth rounded organic shapes. I like how colors can float on top of each other to produce something new, create depth, and illumination.

I know that I work fast, and that I work on several paintings at a time.

So, these are some of the basic things I know before I paint. Everything after this is usually intuitive, and process based. It is a journey of sorts, and many problems come up along the way, and the fun is solving the problems. I work with the materials as I maintain balance and intensity, as well as creating works that will connect with one another in a series while not being too repetitious.

My actual painting process varies some from one painting to another, but there are some basic aspects that are common.

The process behind the painting "Tiny Virtues," started off with a ground color. I cover the whole canvas with a yellow ochre or gold acrylic paint and then allow it to dry.

My next step in this process is to take a dark oil color, a rich brown and cover the entire painting. I use walnut oil in my paint and make rich earthy brown syrup that glides over the canvas. When the whole painting is now brown, I then spray it down with water, and let the water bead up on the oily surface. I then take different types of paper, sometimes newsprint, sometimes heavier drawing paper and cover the wet painting, to let the paper absorb the paint and the water. As I pull the paper off the canvas, the paint is lifted as well and leaves behind a texture and the yellow is now glowing from behind the brown surface. There are shapes left behind from the water and the paper, due to the amount of pressure I applied to the surface. If I like what I see I leave it to dry for several days, or I keep working until I have the surface that I desire.

The next step in the piece "Tiny Virtues," is the ovals. I have created these ovals by a stencil (an index card where I drew and cut out the shapes I desired) I wanted to regulate the shapes, and making my own stencil seemed to make sense. I have dubbed these ovals "comfort shapes." I feel compelled to make these shapes, it seems like the most natural and comfortable shape my hand wants to draw. I have always loved pods, ovals, and any rounded organic shape. It seems like the shapes brings a peace and comfort to those who see them as well as those compelled to draw them. Sometimes these shapes represent feelings or hold the essence of something unspoken. I view them as little sentient beings; sometimes they can be isolated or flock together. Sometimes they are solemn or ghostly, while other times they are playful. I painted in the oval shapes with gold, and they have a texture of brush strokes with a bit of relief. I let these shapes dry.

The final step in the painting is the blue horizontal swaths of color across the piece. This is my favorite blue, and is created by mixing a blue and a brown together to create a luscious blue green that is rich and mysterious (I am always surprised that all my paintings aren't this blue as I love this special color so much). The blue paint is brushed on in a way that the stripes aren’t perfectly filled in, creating a sense of urgency. When this final step is done, I look at the painting and make sure it "clicks" for me. For me, the work needs to feel balanced, with all the elements involved getting their due and yet there is a mystery still unfolding. I like all my paintings to have a mysterious edge about them.

As the painting process ends, the titling process begins. I have to get to know the work awhile before the title emerges. I love words and I love atmosphere- and I try to convey that in my titles, while also alerting the viewer to an element of the painting that they might have missed just under the surface. I use the titles to create another layer of the mystery. This piece is titled "Tiny Virtues," and is all about the ovals. The painting is large, and there are lots of areas and textures that vie for the viewer’s attention, yet the ovals hover in the space caught by the blue bands, they are suspended. They are the tiny virtues. We often just see the larger picture, but floating in front of us are the tiny virtues. The little gifts in life, like fireflies, or some dark encapsulated beauty that is unnamed floating around us without our knowledge.

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know a little about my painting process and the piece "Tiny Virtues" as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you.

"Tiny Virtues" is currently on view at Lacuna Modern Interiors located at 620 N. College Ave. in Fayetteville, Arkansas along with three other of my paintings. This piece is for sale through the DDP gallery in Fayetteville.