Works of Art & Creative Process

Coucou Nr.5

2013-04-30T22:07:29Z

It's fantastic to be back home in Reykjavik. The ever-changing light conditions are inspiring and energizing. It must be around 11 pm and the sun is just going down and should rise again within a few hours. Although I'm recovering from the production of MAP, the grand opening at the Mörsburg castle and a grueling 12 hours of transit - I'm stoked to begin experimenting in our new studio. Matti's brought the space to a new dimension: it's now light, spacious and ready for action.

Back on the Swiss front I'm honored to be featured in this months issue of Coucou and am excited that new venues in art and culture are emerging. This is indeed a good sign for Winterthur.
www.coucoumagazin.ch

Coucou is Winterthur's new cultural magazine and is available per subscription or at:

-          Hako (Steinberggasse)
-          La Cyma (Neustadtgasse)
-          Bunter Hund (Veltheim)
-          Alte Kaserne (Technikumstrasse)
-          Kaufkaffe (Tösstalstrasse)
-          Obergass Bücherei (Obergasse)
-          Buch am Platz (Kirchplatz)
-          Music & Art (Steinberggasse)
-          Kraftfeld & Portier (Lagerplatz)
-          Villa Sträuli (Museumsstrasse)
-          Oxyd (Wülflingen)
-          FC Winterthur @LiberoBar & Salon Erika

There's no place like home

2013-04-21T18:47:00Z

Soon I'll be off to new pastures in Iceland which is flourishing into yet another home. What constitutes home when you've lived everywhere? I'm not fooling anyone, I'm aware of my proclivity to roam the world while I know perfectly well that home is within. Continually shifting worlds gives me the opportunity to lighten my load and extend my wingspan. Constant reorganization has gotten me down physically and mentally, yet may be a part of my metamorphose. I am reframing my references to everything around me and saying my goodbyes woefully. I've packed and repacked 23.5 kilos at least a dozen times. My suitcase is full of warm things, a fancy dress to wear to Birna and Smari's wedding, notebooks and books - namely Jospeh Campbell's -The Heroes Journey-. Oh, one day I'm bound to finish this gripping account of cultural rites of passage.

M&M Associates - Magdalena's Banquet
self portrait continued

Good beginnings

2013-04-14T07:47:00Z

Glancing at a faded bottle of coconut Hawaiian tanning oil, I'm reminded of why I came back during this time of year in the first place. Clearly I still harbor memories of a stunning Swiss springtime which is why when booking my flight to Winterthur, I believed I might actually be lucky enough to get a tan. I forgot the expression, "April doet wat hij wil". April does what he wants and a constant gray back drop is what April wants. Gray skies and difused light pose ideal conditions to paint and even photograph paintings. A color palette without gray is incomplete.

M&M Associates are at it again and we're popping out paintings like babies. I'm often asked how does it work? How do you brew to your ideas together? What do you discuss before you begin and what do you talk about as you work? Who paints what? There are numerous ways to approach a painting and I like the organic way.

Mike and I have been painting together for more than 2 years. We use a method which is based on the Brunaille approach of setting up a painting in tones of brown. Mike is a master of sculpting expressions. My forte lies in figure and form. Mike loves detail and I love the gesture of the brush stroke. We compliment each other.

Mike left, Michelle right

I could tell you that there are endless hours of thought process, discussing possible results, carefully selecting colors and appropriating tasks. However truth in the matter is we work symbiotically, ambidextrously, impulsively, intuitively and enthusiastically. Generally the painting starts with excitement for a theme or direction. Then we proceed to our unspoken tasks intuitively. Mike shows up with Pringles and Beer and I stretch the canvas. We'll cheers, then hang out on my magenta sofa and toy with the composition. The set up is distinctly the most important part of the painting. There's a lot to be said for a good beginning.

Life is continuously just starting

2013-04-05T00:14:35Z

News from Iceland... It's a go, Matti and I are proud renters of a perfectly dilapidated art studio (with a crack of a view of the ocean) in the heart of Reykjavik that's waiting for my return to be christened (and renovated)! Being in two places at once is trying my patience and although I'm anxious to move on (and renovate yet another art studio), these long gray weeks in Winterthur are well spent rounding up projects and consolidating my life in record time.

I've been questioning myself a little a lot lately, it's the sensible thing to do when making life changing leaps. I accept that my mindless wandering spirit has kept me off the beaten track up till now and that this is likely my genetic destiny. As I know not what lies ahead, I continue to probe the realms of my imagination through active day dreaming imagining all that could be. It's essential leg work for the great adventure ahead. So be it. Iceland it is!

In the meantime M&M Associates (Albrow and Bird) have been saddling up new works for our next exhibition. Check out the April issue of Coucou M&M make tracks.A could be title: the Canterbury Tales.
An ambiguous double self portrait on display at the Castle Mörsburg in Winterthur Switzerland from the 26th of April until October 2013.

Coalescence: oceanic themes

2013-02-27T14:13:00Z

Dreaming about larger canvasses and facing actual challenges of transporting sizable work inspired me and Marteinn to view a spacious well lit art studio on the Skulagata in downtown Reykjavik. It seems we're hooked and may make our decision soon. We're exploring new techniques on our second piece (below) and our first calf (above) is nearing completion. In between canvasses I'm researching a future book project cooperative with Icelandic artists. series the lovers collaborating with Marteinn Bjarnar Thordason

Soon I'll return to Winterthur to organize the production of the next issue of MAP. Mike Albrow and I will continue our celestial collaborative works which we will show at Schloss Morsburg and Eullachshalle in Winterthur this spring.

Timelessness

2013-02-02T09:39:34Z

I thought I would be afraid of the dark and that it would be never ending. I came to love the night and felt closer to the stars. I experienced a certain timelessness which is guided by the night. Iceland is dreamtime: waking dreams, lucid dreams and day dreams.oil on jute 220cm x 160cm Switzerland

Landscapes like mythical beasts
Silver light showers
alone with the wind and the sound of cracking snow
In nowhere-land I feel that I have always belonged to the universe

Orange drips and spatters
Pink envelopes yellow
I think I need a bigger brush

notebook in Iceland

Icelandic Artists

2013-01-01T17:55:00Z

Harsh weather conditions and long dark days are good for reflecting. During my internship at the Baer Art Center in June I explored sculpting paintings and ceramic installations and was especially interested in the transformational qualities of sensitive materials. After visiting the Kjarval Museum yesterday I felt that he and so many other great masters of the past had completed all that needed to be done with painting. Painting has been my tool for self expression for many years. My goal has been for the most part to maintain the aliveness of the materials and paint in such a way that the materials seem to move. However now I am longing to experience a painting which can breath and move with time.

It's been forty days since I arrived in Reykjavik and I'm still working on the same canvass applying materials I generally don't use in ways that are new to me. My residency at SIM has ended and I moved my canvas to a new location on the Lauveger. In the past two weeks while conversing with the canvass and viewing her from different perspectives it became apparant that the next step was to release her from her frame and experience what form she takes on next. Phase 1 is complete.I'm in good company with Eirikur Smith and his family at his studio in Hafnarbourg. He's the second icon of Icelandic art I've had the good fortune to meet. In the first grade his great gift for painting was revealed and since then Eirikur drew in place of math and music.

Iceland is flowing with passionate artists of all kinds. Last summer at the Baer Art Center I met Eggert Petturson who is well known for his wild flowers and rich use of oils. We liked each other and I connected to his paintings instantly. Since then I've seen his work in Islanksa Bank's art collection and at the I8.

Green night rainbows, white spirits and glowing apparitions.

2012-12-18T19:03:00Z

From a wooden cabin in the Kyos Valley North of Reykjavik early in the night the first swooping Aurora Borealis beamed over the sky like a green gray night rainbow. Swaying she changed form, color and intensity. Then divided herself into two slow swirling showers which departed into the night sky then reappeared behind us beaming light rays down upon us. Our dreamy light magic show lasted several hours. From the balcony of the clear black star studded night Orion's Belt was within hands reach while Pleiades blinked wildly. Sky - star - cloud gazing is my new hobby and reminds me of precious moments under a birch tree in my garden contemplating clouds.I'm back at the SIM studio in my tiny universe of color and feeling, dealing with poor artificial lighting conditions and just a few hours of natural light per day. Even in a new environment I haven't strayed from my color palette. However my use of materials has changed. This can be seen in the details. I have only one canvass and at one point will consider how to transport it. In the meantime I'm using what I have to continue my work. Thus far I've combined painting with acrylic paint, water mixable oils and metallic paints, drawing with oil pastels and pencil work.

SIM Artist Residency Reykjavik Day 11

2012-12-11T22:45:37Z

Painting is most difficult she said. You cannot hide in a painting. I said its a lot like love. She agreed and expounded, reason being one must dare to make the first stroke in empty perfection. You reveal all that you are. You unveil your inner map which reveals your most tender hopes and fears, your strengths and weaknesses, your past, present and future. We agreed no one likes a perfect painting, they cannot identify. Painting is as love, in that you need audacity to begin and wisdom to determine when it is finished.
Painting is a process of reviewing and embracing imperfections... at times i don't like what i see yet the painting teaches me to view my world as a whole. My father told me it is not the details which makes something beautiful it is the ability to see and accept things in their entirety. In love and as I paint my life mindlessly I express my fears then sometimes retreat into a pattern of failure. Shenpa alters my reality . I've made a rash brush stroke which i cannot take back. A painting is no place for regrets. I must accept and integrate my actions and am aware that my only course of action is to create a pattern which I believe to be new.

The association of Icelandic visual artists Reykjavik

2012-12-03T23:30:47Z

Day 2 Artist in Residence. Using acrylic paints as if they were water colors on a non absorbent underground takes several hours to dry. Dreaming of a second canvass for the down time. Monday morning seemed like an opportune time to wake up before sunrise. My Saturday night hangover acquired at Dillon's Whiskey Bar while dancing like crazy to punk revivalist and a bit of techno at Kaffiebarin was just the kick start I needed. I am far from isolated and feel very alive in this village city.