Art, Nature & Soul #46

Earlier this year, summer 2020, I was able to attend the MONET Exhibit at the Art Institute Chicago. Having been creating art since I was a young child & having been in the art, design & custom framing business low these 35 years past, I’ve come to understand that art is a lifelong pursuit, passion & learning experience. Currently on my larger more detailed artworks I’ve been doing more layering of color, especially in my mixed media pieces. Having got up close & studying these master works of Monet’s, I observed, that from a distance, like in a photo our eyes averages the image to their beauty, but that viewing just inches from the surface and having done some reading on the subject, discovered they are but layered amounts of pattern and paint done not, for the most part, in one sitting(alla prima), but many outdoor sessions (en plein air)and finishing up in the studio. As with all things, I’ve taken a more unconventional way of achieving my own goals, in observation and in execution, and in this case a more abstract realistic approach in my artwork, thus ‘Stairway to Heaven’ lyric is constantly playing in my head. But alas, here we are .

“If there's a bustle in your hedgerow
Don't be alarmed now
It's just a spring clean for the May queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on
And it makes me wonder”

Zeppelin (Songwriters: Jimmy Page / Robert Plant)

I work from life, photos & my imagination. In this case I took 5 different photos and created the desired composition and dynamic you see here. Each of the photos had different elements I wanted to show and express, from the varied flowers, color & shapes, to the grown over path that runs through the center of the piece. From creating the composition, until its completion took about 3 weeks. It’s all about the layered in mediums and the slow build, in these type works.

In this piece I wanted both the muted undertones, as well as the bright light high key ones. I began, as always with a drip and splatter underpainting, this one in an acrylic prism violet. Then, using a brush, laid in the colors intended, taking my palette knife and blending them together, to a muted coloration, while blocking in shapes, thus creating the preliminary composition to build off of. Once achieved, several palette knives, scratching tools, brushes and tissues were used to move the the paint around to create the image of a natural flower garden. Ebony pencil & 18k gold pen were used to enhance line and give depth. Oil pastel was then used to give more texture, color & pattern, enhancing the broken color and giving the more free design elements of scribble. My trademark of 18k gold leaf was laid in at the top, in the path as light hitting the edge. Taking my palette knife and pure color straight from the tube, I moved about the canvas dropping in bright happy color, thus scratching in my signature, it was complete & posted on social media.

*Me~ Woke up about 1:30am and couldn't get back to sleep, rolled out of bed about 2:30am...had some tea, read some Vonnegut and completed this 48"x24" mixed media piece, but it needs a title, any ideas???

One of the many, many responses was from a collector of my artwork. While I had been reading Vonnegut’s ‘Bluebeard’ ( a tongue in cheek romp through the abstract expressionist movement of the 50s) earlier that morning….Chris’s sentiments reminded of another of K.V.s novels.~

Chris G.

“Visions of Vonnegut. Very cool.”

In 79’-80’ish I read 'Slapstick' it was my first Kurt Vonnegut read. I was immediately hooked. If you haven't read it, it's a futuristic tale in which all the people of the world are assigned middle names, of flowers randomly. Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain, is the main character. Which ever flower you are, connects you to all the other like flowers, as family, so you are never alone. I'm partial to sunflowers, so that makes me Richard Sunflower-1 Sperry. What’s your flower? Are we family? Here’s where we all gather, mingle and dance, in the sun and a light breeze. After some thought a variation was settled on.

'Vonnegut's Garden' 48"x24" framed (a white traditional frame, as seen or a more contemporary clean line, black frame, its your choice) mixed media on canvas, $2400.oo. (plus a complimentary mini-me 12" square oil of your choice a $350.oo value). Message me with further questions on how this can be acquired. It can be shipped. (free mini-me of your choice with purchase of ‘Vonnegut’s Garden’ expires 12/31/2020)

preliminary underpainting, an abstract

Vonnegut’s Garden/completed

Center detail

framed in a traditional white, though a contemporary clean line black, works well too.

a more contemporary, clean line, black frame

Art, Nature & Soul #43

Mini-Me’s~Are a more raw & direct approach to my painting. Most certainly completed in one sitting, they assert & express, my more intuitive & free associative natures. These are the pieces I most experiment with, pushing the color combos, textures & general approach, with a matter-of-fact intent …Alla-Prima.

Playing in the paint, immersed in the color, & bathing in the light, my tools are ready to translate the world around me. I had in the past been working on various size canvas/panels for these smaller artworks, but this year I’ve decided to stick to the 12'“ square panel format, as I had a great carrier created for traveling with them. Initially intended for my Plein air works, it also works as a perfect drying rack. Working mostly from my own photo references, life, imagination & plein air work, over this past year, as the pandemic has limited my abiltity to travel and get new references. Recently, I have on occassion also incorperated, when inspired, Facebook friends & family, photos, as references for these studies. Usually a big no-no for me, as I have always worked from & used my own experiences & references in previous years. Now, though, inspiration is sweet inspiration, besides I’m not a literal interpreter of the more realistic.

My aresenol of supplies & tools, are an expanded palette, of color, color & more color. Having learned the limited palette of Rembrandt near 3 decades ago and knowing how to expand the color variety within that limit of, Titanium White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre & Venetian Red, I now challenge myself to create, blend, layer & mix new colors, to push the palette to a sublte extreme. As stated I’m using panel, ‘Richeson 12”x12” gessoed hardboard to paint on, for the most part. Then a variety of brushes, palette knives, scratching tools, sculpting tools, make-up applicators, kleenex, my fingers, medium & finishing varnish.

These artworks can be framed or placed on an easel, as they are. They are small, so they are easy and inexpensive to ship. Whether a collector, or new to the scene, they’re a great way to expand or start an art collection.

As always, feel free to comment or contact me if interested in acquiring a ‘SPERRY’ original.

Thank you

Richard Sperry

Art, Nature & Soul #32

Abstract Realism

Abstract realism is difficult to explain because of the infusion of two distinct styles of art: abstract and realistic. Abstract Realism is the infusion of the elements of design with the depiction of real life in visual art. Realistic imagery is still there, it is sometimes distorted and given fantastically invented abstract forms. . Abstract art is art that doesn't have a definable focus. It is art that exists through patterns, colors, texture and line without the need for an external motivation. Realistic art consists of art that aims to replicate nature. When these two elements combine to create an abstract impression of real life, you get abstract realism.

Being more of expressionist inclined this battle of fusions and ideas, can be found in my lifetime of artwork. Initially seperate concepts for me, I’ve worked diligently to combine them. The concept can be combined in varying degrees of abstract and realism. Rembrandt, most may think of as realism except for, when you get up close to the work, rather than line, we see edges. Edges where blobs of paint create patterns & the design elements abstractly, to which the representational subjects mass is defined and conveyed more realistically.

For me it becomes a spiritual admission. Where as my thoughts on the vary essence of life & meaning is conceptualized in paint. All life is connected atoms, not lines that sepearate entities, but edges blurring one into the other, stardust energy, if you will. Fractals, Chaos & Universiality combining the physical and concious worlds. In my paintings, a more thoughful & emotional gesture is intended, using symbols and mythology.

His name is Gray~He was a hunter of sorts who loved everything beautiful. Narcissus was proud, in that he disdained those who loved him, wanting them to prove their devotion to his striking beauty. Narcissist is one who has a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance or public perception. Once, during the summer, he was getting thirsty after hunting, and he was lured to a pool where he leaned upon the water and saw himself in the bloom of youth. Narcissus did not realize it was merely his own reflection and fell deeply in love with it, as if it were somebody else. Unable to leave the allure of his image, he eventually realized that his love could not be reciprocated and he melted away from the fire of passion burning inside him, eventually turning into a gold and white flower.

‘Gray, Shades of Narcissist, 30”x30” mixed media on canvas (acrylic & oil paint, 18k gold leaf and paint pen, & ebony pencil)

Your comments & questions are welcome

~Richard

Art, Nature & Soul #29

On occassion I’m commissioned to do more decorative abstract artwork, as well. This piece was taylored to this collectors home with little information. That being primarily of color & size, as the client already liked and knew what I do and that’s the key. Being an artist and doing commissions, can be tricky because it’s a meeting of the minds, both collector and artist merged.

At 60”x15” and horizontal the important part for me was giving it a focal spot. This was achieved by using silver leaf and stronger color at the center and tapering off as the piece expanded the depths of the horizon. The rest was basic design elements: color, line, texture, shape, space & so on. Beyond my typical approach, which begins with a three color acrylic splash painting, followed by laying in the my oils, increasingly, I began to utilize a ‘Scraffito’ technique to scratch into previous layers of color, thus giving more line, direction & texture, plus adding in 18k gold or silver leaf as I’ve done in this work.

The piece then completed, sent an image off to the customer for their approval and was framed in a simple black gallery frame, delivered & hung to their delight.

Commissions welcome & as always feel free to comment or ask questions

~Richard

commissioned artwork in its home

Art, Nature & Soul #13

Trying to engage a broader, more universal, world wide audience and have them relate to or see themselves, as participant, in my artwork has been a goal for a great many years. Whether an abstract, landscape, or figurative work, I've worked toward a person having an emotional response to the colors, textures, patterns, composition and design of a given painting. 

In the more figurative works done at this time, I eliminated any standard visual impact that could be used to judge, criticize or discriminate and gave the persons an equal basis regardless of economic status, sex, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, mental illness or ability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression/dysphoria, sex characteristics, religious, creed, or individual political opinions in which to express themselves, their being, their love.

This smaller work, done utilizing a drip,  splatter, splash technique I had developed over a great many years.  Shifting from my abstract work into a more figurative piece, carving with palette knife, then using sculpting tools to create edges, add line, and so, the figures emerge embracing, with a  passionate kiss, untouched by human evaluations, identified on their own terms.

'Another Kiss' 12"x12" acrylic on canvas (2012) available 

Art, Nature & Soul #12

Inspiration comes in many forms and from many avenues. I grew up in a little one bedroom yellow house, until age 7, in a nearby suburb of Chicago. The house was set back further from the road, as compared to others in the neighborhood. Me, my mother, father, sisters, & on occassion, extended family members lived there,  when they needed a place to stay temporarily.  

Memories flood back from days gone by. An early memory being  one of the great mystery of snow. Around age 5, I had scooped up some snow and saved it in a metal & lidded minnow bucket, to save for the spring, only to find when spring had come, the snow had melted. I suppose we all have these kind of experiences, but for me, it became a realization of a few things. One being, the awe of beauty, another of the inevitability of loss and still another of emmense possibilites of learning.

This piece was painted in 2011, at the plateau in my drip & splatter fusions of abtract and representational subject matters. I'm using acrylic and interference paints here. Swirling loaded brushes of color on a substrate, allowing them to drip, then  splattering them with h2o to encourage the process, followed by carving and directing the flow with a palette knife to create the subject and story, the painting is then completed with more splattering.   

Van Gogh & Gauguin have there yellow house experience and I had mine, a duality and juxtaposition of turbulence and joy.

'Yellow House' 19.5"x15.5" acrylic on board 

Your comments and questions are welcome.  

Art, Nature & Soul #10

Cross that bridge when you get to it. About 25 years ago, I took a train trip across the  U.S. southwest, stopping at the various places along the way. We were able to schedule as many off's and on, stays as we liked. Amtrack has a route, the 'Southwest Chief', if you want to see America, its the only way to travel. Sleeper cars, lounge & dining car, plus a dome car in which to see the whole panoramic view.  We took an enormous amount of photos and video, great references for paintings and memories too.

San Francisco was one of our highlights on the epic trip, working in acrylic I tried to capture both the complexities of life there and the bridge that stands as a beacon of hope and safety for many. It's not all 'Sunshine, Lollypops & Rainbows', all the time, but it is a place where no matter what your thoughts on life are, you will find acceptance and kindred spirits.

Using a drip and splatter method of layering paint glazes and giving some line with palette knife the bridge emerges from the dark, an overcast seaside landscape to reveal safe passage, for all that seek it.

As always your questions and comments are welcome.   

"Gateway to Freedom' 24"x20" acrylic  

Art, Nature, & Soul #9

During the late 80s, there were several controversial art exhibits, one of art photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's (then recently deceased) work, still another artist, had painted Chicago Mayor Harold Washington in drag, and yet another, where the american flag, spread upon the floor in which the viewers were asked to walk upon it and sign the guest book. It was the tail end of the decade in which HIV/Aids, made its self known here in the U.S. and questions of sexuality, gender identity and freedom were again called into question.

Throughout most of the 80s, I too, was struggling with some these questions for myself and as an aspiring artist was striving to communicate my ideas and thoughts on them. As more of an outsider artist, I was constantly experimenting with the mediums available, figurative works appealed to me, expressing the human condition was important, DALI (also recently deceased) was hugely popular and the more surreal the art, all the better for me. More so, then and recently, I had just become familiar with Ed Paschke's, more social and political artworks, as well. Hence, most of the work I produced back then, had these things in mind and does just that, tries to self express, answer questons.

One piece I created back in the day, is entirely too avant garde, risque and racey for general consumption, lending itself to a more private viewing. However, this piece inspired by my personal struggles, plus Rodin & Klimt's take on what it means to love, artworks entitled 'The Kiss', is archived, and survives still in my personal collection as a homage to those turbulent days and my finding resolve.

As always, your thoughts, questions and comments are welcome.

The Kiss, (yr. 1990), 24x36, Oil on Canvas, Richard Sperry

Art, Nature & Soul #8

A decade or so ago, I was creating primarily in acrylics, using a drip, splash, splatter and palette knife approach, with subjects being both abstract and representational in an attempt to merge the two concepts into a unified idea.

I love walking and nature and spend lots of time outside doing so, observing it and trying to take it all in. I'm fascinated with the idea of fractals and overcome with the idea that those patterns echoe and ripple, no matter how large or small, on and on into infinity and back. They whisper to me, that all life regardless of its differences, is connected to each other in a symbiotic relationship. 

There are paths to choose, decisions to make, and no matter which ones you do, to most there is a way re-route, if only  you keep moving forward, being true to yourself. Some of us take a more direct route to get to a destination as quick as possible. Others of us prefer the more circuitous routes and  scenic by-ways. I've been more of the latter, wanting for the thing that eludes us most, the abilty to put our whole selves in the moment and breath it all in.

This piece is inpired by a forest preserve by my home and one of the paths I've walked over a great many years. What began with a blank canvas, was stretched over strainer bars, primed, then slowly color glazes were applied, again and again, until, with a palette knife the path was clear and subtle details were added to journey's end.   

'Sky's the Limit' 24"x30" acrylic on canvas~SOLD     

Art, Nature & Soul #7

One of my favorite authors/thinkers once quipped, that the problem with abstract art is that it doesn't have a horizon line. Kurt Vonnegut also said and I quote, "I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center."

As more of an outsider artist, which is to say, an artist with very little formal training and making their way through the conformitities of the day, I'm more experimental in approach. As a boy of 12, I remember wanting for that eureeka moment and thinking that true art must be created in a vacuum. I doodled and drew often, mostly the people around me. Da Vinci, Dali, Van Gogh, Carravagio, & Pollock, were and are my primary artists of interest, as a child and young adult. 

From caricatures to realism, to the more surreal and impressionism, and on to post-impressionism and expressionism, I've created in pencil, pen & ink, soft pastel, clay, oil, acrylic, and a multitude of various fusions of mediums, exploring the possibilities.  Always with the idea in mind that I too could fuse ideas together into a single approach.

With this idea in mind, over a decade ago I began to blend my representational and abstract ideas together. This piece is one of the results of the process of bringing these ideas together. It is done in acrylics in a drip and splatter approach that is layered in a multitude of glazes. It is, I believe, one of my successful works of abstract with a horizon line.

Please feel free to comment.

'The Edge' 60"x48" acrylic on canvas by Richard Sperry

Art, Nature & Soul #6

From my earliest memories of drawing, my primary interests were of people. There are even ones in crayon, around my studio, that were done when I was 6 or 7 years of age. Throughout my childhood you could find me doing drawings of the people around me, mostly cartoon or caricature in style. Sometime in middle school my interests in Leonardo Da Vinci and a more realistic approach took hold as did my medium of choice being pencil. Later in high school, pen & ink cartoons, of all my classmates and teachers, then followed by some commissioned portrait works in soft pastel. While I found realism a struggle and favored the more stylized or caricature works, I had it my head to become a portrait painter and studied that for a time. In my 20s, I really wanted to study with a local rococo style portrait artist, but did not happen, then later took a Rembrandt style portrait class at the SAIC. Life is demanding, our priorities are often dictated to us, as such my openness to to impressionism, post impressionism and expressionism opened up a wide berth of creative outlets and opportunities for artistic growth.  I explored these arenas of art and found them more conducive to the particulars of my life. Over the past decade or so my primary subjects tend to be more landscape and abstract, either building up those basic design essentials or breaking them down into their essence. However, I still love people, doing realistic figurative work and sometimes I have the opportunity to do such. This was the case in this piece and became a merging of learning, mediums, subjects and ideas. Feel free to comment or ask questions. 

Thank you for your support. ~ Richard

'Dream Sequence #50' 24"x20" mixed media on canvas    

Art, Nature & Soul #5

I created this piece in 1997 and it has hung in my home since then. It still intrigues, holds my attention and seems to be telling, conveying a truth, of my own inner mystery. While I took many art classes growing up, I found myself constantly experimenting with the various mediums and had not sought or received much formal training. However, when I was younger, in my teens & 20s, I had it in my head to become a portrait painter and found myself taking a Rembrandt style painting class at the S.A.I.C. The palette was limited, was a great learning experience, with a fabulous teacher, as a plus, a Goya Exhibit was going on and I loved the history/story telling nature of his work. 

Soon after, I created this piece. Often times if an artist changes style to style to rapidly its thought they do not know who they are as an artist.   The fact is, that is, my truth is,  that a duality exists in myself and I'm simply not inclined or compelled to destroy it in the name of image. In other words, in the words of Donnie and Marie, "I'm a little bit country and a little bit rock n' roll." (obscure reference #1) While over the years I have refined my vision, I will always continue to experiment and be surprised when they go well.

This is a mixed media piece, that many persons have wanted to acquire, but I simply can't part with it, at any price. (Well, we'll see. Ha!) The many, many layers and various mediums create a field of depth and color shift that's uncanny. Depending on the type of light and it's intensity the painting actually changes from cool to warm and not all at once or as a constant. but as a growing evolving entity in its luminosity. Years ago it inspired this thought,~

    "Art, like the night sky, whether abstract or representational, invites us to imagine, participate and create stories. As we view and gaze endlessly, subtle changes in our perception and vision transforms what we see, at the speed of light, in our minds eye."

~Richard Sperry 

'Infinity & Chaos' 1997,  48"x36" mixed media on canvas.

Art, Nature & Soul #3

I often find myself in the unique position of receiving a relatively objective critique of my work, unbeknowst to the viewer and critic. Sometimes that can be quite harsh given peoples diverse taste and appreciation for art. Even so I try to take something constructive away from that too. Most of the time though the overall take home is positive. There is much turmoil in the lives of people, including myself and so I strive to find those moments of quiet reflection. This work, has been in a group show on flight, a solo exhibit of my artwork and has been hanging rather prominently  on the walls of Proud Fox Gallery & Frame Shop over this summer. 

Some of the things I've heard are, 'How peaceful', 'Serene', 'Less is more',  'Nice approaching feeling on those birds. All due to knowing what drawing and paint can do in the eye.', 'This should have been the piece awarded', and 'How subtle' to name a few. Trust me I get my fair share of, 'My child could do that', 'I don't get it' and I think to myself, awesome buy your child some art supplies, sign them up for art classes and please get out to an art museum, but thats another story, for another time.

Sublties are something that has taken me along time to grow into. It's very easy to to throw color around, overstate with your brush and beat people over the head with the message and theme of your work. After many years of experimenting and studying, I'm currently using a more multi media approach to layer paint, build those ideas, and leave the bold for the finale and exclamation point. Please enjoy and always feel free to comment on my work.  

SOLD 'Meditations on Flight' 36"x36" oil over acrylic on canvas

Art, Nature & Soul #2

A most unsual piece for me to do, but inspiration just happens and I went with it. We had just arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on the fringe of Cape Cod. I've been on a mission to learn about the plight of the endangered species of whales, especially those along the eastern coast of the U.S.A. It seemed to me, a good place to start was the New Bedford Whaling Museum. To uderstand why they are endangered, I wanted to understand what happened to bring this many leviathans of the sea, to the brink of extinction. Upon our arrival and parking, we noticed a church. It looked familar and turned out to be Seaman's Bethel. The same church that appears in 1956 film, 'Moby Dick', where Orson Welles gives his most famous surmon on the Jonah and the Whale. On to the museum, which was an indepth, and not just a study of whaleing but, the nature of whales. It turned out New Bedford Whaling was the largest industry at the time and was lighting the world, at a great cost, the near obliteration of several species of whale. Thankfully the discovery of our ability to harness electric and edison's light bulb, put an abrupt end to the whaleing industry, just in time.  This turned out to be one of the most fascinating museums I'd ever been to. Standing outside on the balcony of the museum, I beheld this panoramic view of the town and Buzzards Bay. It brought me back to another time, another place, with great awe and wonderment. 

 'Buzzards Bay', 24"x20", oil on canvas.