James McNeill Whistler: Adaptation of an Artist's Radical Template. (Part 1 of 2)

                                                Self Portrait  C.T. Rasmuss, oil (2008).

After 10 years of putting my heart n soul into this, I can now safely say with humility: "that I am an artist, and will die an artist".

I believe that I've moved forward  in my life in many ways, thanks to my particular "Pursuit of Happiness"; which is: painting and sculpture mostly.  The fuel is my past, both good & bad; and the need for a higher spiritual being beyond my present state, in a never ending perpetual focus.

Given the clarity which I see all of this, there still remains the other half: "How to sustain/fund my exploration?"; I personally believe that Universally we are at a crossroads in the art-world, with many more than just 2 = +, as we are much more complex than any other generation before us, technologically, population wise, philosophically, religiously, you name it..

The reason for my blog post is: I plan to present a local gallery with a curated show(all of my own artwork) with a focus on introducing a new way in which the art interacts with the patrons or viewer.  In an effort to bring the meaning of Contemporary art up to speed with our modern society; as the current standard of white walls, wine, and paintings all in a row, is a standard that was introduced over a century ago.

Via this post and Part II, I hope to show you how this change was a response to then what was a modern time, which has been outdated for sometime now, and how again it's time for a major upgrade.  I believe it's not up to the galleries to make this upgrade, as they try, in an effort to make sales and purely customer based, but it's always been up to us, the story tellers, the creators of these ideas that make the world reflect upon itself.

There is a great example of how a single artist can influence "the way things are done", this particular artist I'm speaking of and inspired by was a radical with radical ideas, painting ideas and methods; who changed the way things were done in his time, he promoted himself in a new way and single handidly influenced the standard, to adapt to the changing times and needs of his era:

Portrait in Grey, self portrait  James McNeill Whistler, oil (1872).

Before getting into the nitty gritty, first a few examples of James McNeill Whistler's innovations,

"Whistler invented a monogram signature—a stylized butterfly based on his initials—and always placed it deliberately as a compositional element, not just a maker's mark. His devotion to overall harmony extended to interior decoration, furniture, and the design of frames and even entire exhibitions. He became a central figure in the Aesthetic movement, which was founded on the philosophy of "art for art's sake" and emphasized artistic principles, elevated taste, and creative eclecticism in the conception and production of furniture, metalwork, ceramics and glass, textiles and wallpaper, and other objects. He was also an influential print-maker. Whistler's innovative paintings and pronouncements invited controversy."

     -Heilbrunn Timeline of art History

Link to: source article online

This is where I leave you for now; next I will give you more specifics on Whistler's contributions to the art-world, "art for art's sake" - wise, etc. and I'll show you how I plan to adapt his "template" to the way things must change for today.  There's a great change that must take place worldwide, especially in a way that the dedicated artist can be fully successful in the 21st Century; (of course there are many solutions to a problem); and I've firm belief in in this vision of mine, which is derived from a Master of masters.

Follow this link to view the completed part 2 of 2.

What's in The MoMA? Artist - Paulo Guimaraes Gets Inspired (Part 1 of 2).

Ode to Picasso  C.T. Rasmuss, pastel (2008).

  What's at the MoMA?

For those of you who are not familiar with the MoMA, its the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, definitely the best museum I've ever visited, of course in my short career I have visited a small portion thus far, but it's a top museum worldwide nonetheless, especially for Modern art.

Recently I viewed a post on Facebook by artist friend, Paulo Guimaraes, where he states:

"Heaven does exist! It's called the 5th floor at MoMA!!!! Seurat, Cezanne, Van Gogh, oh myyyyyyy!"

This got me to thinking: “How could I bring Paulo's latest 2 works of art that he shared with me, and the topic we've been discussing over my last few blog posts together?”

Answer - The MoMA!!!!

It is filled with masters, especially with Picasso's if not more so than any other artist of the Modern era, our discussion has been about “going into the past and seeking out the Masters for influence”, what better way than seeing their work up close? As evidenced by Paulo's reaction to his visit, and what better place than the MoMA?(for a person living in Bronx, NY).

Next there's Paulo's two pieces of artwork(seen below), where he told me that he was influenced by Picasso and a Contemporary by the name of Keith Haring, And if you notice in his statement of excitement/revelation; he doesn't mention Picasso, perhaps because re-familiarizing with a master took a back seat that day, to the excitement of new horizons, therefore opening his eyes to the potentiality of other “heroes”!

The God Particle Dualistic Confusion Chamber  Paulo Guimaraes, oil/pencil (2014).

The Root of all Evil  Paulo Guimaraes, oil/pencil (2014).

In turn, I believe experiences like this of his, lead to other findings on top of that; and once we familiarize ourselves with these new found heroes, perhaps then we move onto discover their very own heroes, for example: 2 of Cezanne's(who Paulo refers to) heroes were: Gustave Courbet and Eugene Delacroix, and they of course had their heroes as well, and so on..

I'm not saying Paulo never saw a Cezanne or Van Gogh till now, but upon his visit, he has become more aware of his “surroundings” as an artist in a world of creativity; passed down from generation to generation, displayed in a Museum where the Masters reside, and their ideas are as inspiring as the day they were generated, if not more so.

To be Continued...

[To familiarize you with Keith Haring, here's one of his artworks that struck my fancy if you will; an artist whose work I've come across many times, and if it weren't for Paulo sharing his influences for these two paintings, I may never have given him the attention he deserves]:

Follow this - Link for more on Keith Haring<

Sunflower Harvest - 2014 by C.T. Rasmuss.

My last oil, en plein air, inspired me so much, by way of process and every which way; that I've decided to get my butt going again: before fall arrives I'm planning do a another oil, this time on Sunflowers that I grew this summer.

I figure now to do a series on all 4 seasons, as I just purchased 3 additional canvases for a great price of the same size, the same size as my 'Matisse Garden', the en plein air which I'm referring to.  The canvases are 18" x 24" which I feel are perfect for a still life -floral- as they're also easy to view and carry back and forth to and fro from my studio.

I chose the best 12 photos I took and cleaned them up the best I could, same as last time, weather permitting, I hope to paint it's entirety outdoors, where I'll arrange the photos onto the canvas and alternate them as I see fit, creating an overall, natural composition in harmony with the outdoor mood I'm in:

Add caption

Link to: Matisse Garden - en plein air, an oil by C.T. Rasmuss.

Matisse Garden by C.T. Rasmuss, oil; in process/Part II - FINISHED (Summer of 2014).

Matisse Garden - Summer of 2014, en plein air  C.T. Rasmuss, oil.

It took me all summer, but after some struggles in finishing what I started, I was able to....well finish. I believe it took me 5 settings all together, being that it's an oil, I used Liquin for the first time to help drying process along the way, as I'm not keen to additives, but it helped I believe. As I had no excuses for not being able to finish it before summer was over, because it still needing to dry in between settings, lol.

As I first set off in the beginning of the summer to do an en plein air, still life from my own flowers in in my own garden space; in the style of Matisse(but still a tribute to Monet's Garden), I thought it would be a simple process: take pictures, paint from photos and the live ones in front of me, and done(one day if that). Whoops - I was wrong, it ended up being a beautiful process and to pay such a process the proper respect, it takes the proper time and devotion, which took a whole summer, and I just finished in September a few days ago.

Here's a link to the original post in June when I started, it also contains photos of the 5 flowers I originally had in mind:   link to Matisse Garden - original post.

And I have posted 4 additional flowers which I eventually added to the piece; 4 much needed flowers that I had the blessing to have on hand, growing around me in the comfort of my own home:

The End

of the summer that is..

Copying the Masters leads to True ORIGINALITY.

Jackson Starr-fish  C.T. Rasmuss, acrylic (Aug. 2014).

When people grace me with the pleasure of asking me about my process, I respond enthusiastically as best I can; I tell them where my inspiration stems, and where I wish to take it(if given the proper time, and no tangents).

And at times I have other artists, especially, challenge me as to why, in this particular case(referring to Jackson Starr-fish) "Why copy Jackson Pollock, why not do your own thing?".  Well, once n for all I hope to give a good enough explanation, worthy for any further criticisms, or doubt from here on out..

Here below is Pollock's 'Wooden Horse', 1956:

   'Wooden Horse, number 10A'  Jackson Pollock, enamel/wood (1956). 

...I mention this because when I first got to New York in 2006-7, I encountered this piece and it stood out to me more than any other of his and comparatively other artists, up to that point and ever since then worldwide, alive or dead.  This painting still does, but now in a different way, by comparing my 'Jackson Starr-fish' with Pollock's 'Wooden Horse'.  It say's to me: "I've succeeded in coming to terms with my encounter with this specific painting and the artist-master who created it!"

Now I may move on, because I believe the piece you see below, is the beginning of my separation as an artist from the master, specifically in this case Pollock; but this is just one line of work in my overall oeuvre, as I have many other inspirations, aspirations, and paths to start anew:

                                            Stop Sex Trade  C.T. Rasmuss, Mixed Media (Aug. 2014).

So this is where I leave you Pollock(as you left Benton), thanks for the technique and inspiration; I will proudly take it from here, and see where it leads me, as this fits into one of my philosophies: "...bringing the past into the future, creates a rich society".

I just hope someday that my artwork too, is worthy of duplication someday, in a effort to reach into the Great Beyond, an exercise necessary in order to truly be ORIGINAL.

American Dreamer: Connecting to Masters of the Past by C.T. Rasmuss

American Dreamer  C.T. Rasmuss, acrylic (2013-14).

Well this work of art has been well over a year in the making, including huge breaks between sittings; when I started on it, I took off like a shot, as if I were going down the path that all artists dream of.  Not saying that I was wrong, but it's just that I slowed down and had to put it away many times, haha - until I finally tuffed thru & finished it last night!

My idea revolved around Cezanne's 'Mont Sainte-Victoire and Viaduct', painted in (1882-85), "...series of portrayals of the Mont Sainte-Victoire, a veritable monument in the region, which is depicted more than 80 times by Cézanne in oil on canvas, watercolor and sketches."
Link to Article: The Mont Sainte-Victoire by Cezanne

When I was studying Cezanne in depth for the 1st time, I also came across George Braque's remakes of: Cezanne's "mountain" of a muse; Braque painted many variations in midst of developing his cubist style, so I sketched the one I was most drawn to, and later on put my plan into action.

Shown below are the two masterpieces I used as references which I drew sketches from:

Mont Sainte-Victoire and Viaduct  Paul Cezanne, oil (1882-85).

Not including the step in deciding and coming up with the idea/execution, here's step 1:

Step 2 was fusing them together with my style, and here's the preliminary result:

Just a few more sketches I could find, needed for adjustments on perspective:

In the end I hope I've been able to show you what I set out to do, and ultimately that is: how one generation of artists can communicate to the next, and how a contemporary today can still extract rich such beauty from the past, as if it were still alive...I hope!! 

ZEN Part II: Since When is This Not Mine?

ZEN  C.T. Rasmuss,  Lucid Mosaic (July 2014).

 

Here is ZEN, finished after 6 months of work, from Janurary to July, 2014.  I'm not sure how long it took as far as actual hours, but I can at least estimate it in the hundreds...still a few lose ends to deal with, driving those hours up even more..

 

Today I encountered an argument as to why artists should recieve royalties here in America on their work, once it reaches the auction houses beyond original sale(where the real value for priceless creations start), "Congress will consider the American Royalties Too (A.R.T.) Act, which would give artists five percent of the purchase price when their original works are resold at auction...The first droit de suite" law passed in France almost 100 years ago and similar laws exist in more than 60 countries."

 

I suffered in many ways to get this passion of mine, ZEN realized(lack of income, eye/physical strain, emotional/physical stress and agony), so, should I just recieve a mere possible $1,500(which at 250 hours =$6/hr) if I'm lucky or even less and be done with this piece, "my baby" forever..??  N then say it sold someday at acution, entering the prestige of a museum possibly for $80,000, should I just be able to attend the auction and not have any part in its official acceptance into the artworld.

 

Musicians hold the rights to their music beyond their death, authors too, so why not Aritsts??  This is my creation and if someone else profits, I'm happy for them, but if they make a fortune of my labor, and give me not my due respect, a mere %5 for inventing it in the first place; that's like saying Musicians, Writers, Filmmakers, Athletes etc. hold all the value in our culture vs. artists slave in the gutters of our culture?? 

 

I think not!  I slave today so that tomorrow can be better, not just for others, as its not right for someone to "low ball" me just because I'm desperate for more materials.  I'm cornered into a profession that takes time to develop, with out any real income up front, I hope our congress respects us and sees us as equals to other respected professions, by passing the law, as our co-partners in freedom/democracy, France has; the country who gave us The Statue of Liberty, created by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, an artist.

 

P.S. Why is it not acceptable for the buyer to scratch out my name and replace it with theirs?..

 

Link to: 'Artists Deserve Royalties'

 

 

Here is a sneak peak of the next of my Lucid Mosaics already in process as of August 5th, 2014:

 

A Provencal Garden, Letters to Bernard   C.T. Rasmuss, Lucid Mosaic in progress (2014).

Link to ZEN: Part I

Sunflowers for Mork from CHAD

Sunflowers for Mork  CHAD, Pencil (Aug. 11th 2014).



 A few days ago when I drew this Floral Still-Life, it was like any other day, specifically, one in which I was semi-satisfied with what I had accomplished for the day; this was at about 3pm I believe..

So I went outside and looked at my Sunflowers that had started to slouch over, began losing their pedals to the wind, and it's seeds to the birds; after a mix of being a spectator and "what more can be done?" Duh - what was my goal in planting them....Eureka!!

So I cut the ones that did their due and took them up stairs, where I put them into a carafe and wallah!
But why the title?  Well sadly this was the day the great comedian Robin Williams died...I found out this horrible, horrible news, just after finishing this drawing; no sooner than I confirmed it was true, I intuitively dedicated it to Mork, my 1st favorite person/actor when I was young, and now he's gone n all we can do is mourn..

Ode to Peter Pan and Bicentennial Man  CHAD, Marker (Aug 2014).

And the only way I know how to mourn is to honor the dead through my art, hence the title of this piece I did with marker today, its a photo copy of the original 'Sunflowers for Mork'. 

Kinda weird, I just realized that I signed the original drawing using my first name CHAD, marking it very personnal for me, and before I heard the news as I said before, making this all to surreal, very sad.   As these will not be from me the artist but strictly the kid inside who loved everything he did, and why I'll continue to sign them in this manner.

My intentions in mourning over the loss of this great artist, is to keep with the same original drawing and apply different methods and mediums to every copy, I will be dedicating each piece of art to my favorite Williams' characters, perhaps all of his roles, since he was JUST THAT WONDERFUL:(

Amen



My 1st Book Cover Arrives: A Lacanian Approach with Artwork by C.T. Rasmuss.

 

My book finally came in the mail today, about a year after being asked for the Copyright to my watercolor/gouache painting "Kandinsky Trial 1".  Of course I didn't write the book, so technically it's not my book, not sure really what it is, but the author signed it to me, which makes this specific copy very special!

 

I was excited to see it on my door step and after opening it, but for some reason I strangely felt empty inside; it's as if my sense of accomplishment went out the window after bringing the book through the door!  I feel so disconnected from this piece of work, not that I'm dissatisfied with it, but perhaps it's because I have no one to share it with..

 



Other than my selfish pity and ego aside, I sincerely believe this book will be a great success, now that I'm experiencing a sudden turn in mood: I recall a book by Jacques Lacan himself, the psychoanalyst that Jonathan Redmond, the author bases his analysis upon; the book found below is graced by M.C. Escher's 'Moebius Strip II'. 

Escher has been an idol of mine in every sense of the word 'art', he is the very 1st artist who's artwork I can ever remember having a sense of appreciation for.  The coincidence of Escher's artwork being on the cover of a book by Lacan, and my artwork being on the cover of a book based on a Lacanian approach; was something I had discovered just last month searching the web(in anticipation of receiving my personalized copy).

 



So now that it's here and in my hand, I will try and do everything I can to be happy with it, and no matter how big or small the accomplishments also, from here on out; as today is the day a childhood hero of mine(the world over) took his own life...Robin Williams, who I'll always best know as 'Mork' from "Mork & Mindy", a show that will always remain pure in my heart.

I say this because I believe Robin's bright searing flame spattered to a spark, and his severe depressive state extinguished it. I can empathise with him to the extent that on a road of one accomplishment to the next, life can be very hard and disappointing, especially during the down times, which accompany the peaks.  I also think of how funny and fitting that these two types of books are just what a person like him & myself could use some studying of.  It may be too late for him but it's not for me, goodbye Mork, we'll miss you, but hello to more success, I hope, and the down times that accompany them.

Link to see: 'Kandinsky Trial 1' painting from Artist Integrity blog.


ZEN; Another Lucid Mosaic(in process) by C.T. Rasmuss.

'ZEN(in process)'  C.T. Rasmuss, Lucid mosaic(original concept by C.T.).



Here's the Lucid Mosaic I've been workin on since, late January of this year; I've posted some conceptual drawings below, in order of conception.  Just to verify to anyone who has followed my career and my original mosaic/painting method - My direct influences for this particular style is not just the pouring method of Jackson Pollock and impasto style of Van Gogh, but here particularly like my last Mosaic('Night & Day; A Modern Dilemma' by C.T. Rasmuss) my additional influences on this one are: Frank Stella for the color/grayscale effect, and M.C. Escher concerning composition and mathematics.

 

 

 



I have included these preliminary drawings to give you a sense of my preparation that goes into, coming up with the ideas for my mosaics.  Many people, other artists and professionals of all kind always talk about being afraid of others stealing their ideas; as for me, I am some what concerned, when the thought of it crosses my mind, but I feel in my heart that I'm blessed with a talent that is to be shared with those who are willing, and if my talent/idea is truly strong and unique enuff, as I 'believe' it to be, then I've nothing to worry about.

 

 

 

Enjoy and I hope you learn something, especially from how we can learn so much from the Masters..

 

 

Link to: ZEN Part II - The Finished Piece



 



The Flower Bowl - Fresh from Rasmuss' Garden.

Flower Bowl 1  C.T. Rasmuss, Ink Print/acrylic (June 2014).

                               
I've been growing flowers and a garden for the last two years, and from last year to this year I've learned a lot, I've become more efficient and knowledgeable in the whole thing; as I have more types of flowers and volume, due to perennials that return each year and knowing better as to which annuals to buy.

Even though I don't plan on staying where I live more than just a few years, I can take what flowers I have planted with me, where I will be ahead of the game when I start fresh in a new place.  The day I find a more permanent living situation, and when I do, I plan on going all out like the great Impressionist leader, Claude Monet, where he was able to take much inspiration from world famous garden, which included his most famous Water Lilies!

Here you can see the beginnings of my flower collection for this year, at least from a month ago, it takes a bit of time to get a good amount of flowers blooming all at the same time- I'm finding out; since it was a sparse amount, I took a really neat ceramic bowl with an interesting pattern on it and placed what I had in the bowl, and rather than do a painting I figured a drawing would better do the trick! 

I was so pleased with results of the 1st drawing, I went for a second composition which I'm well pleased with also!  The two shown below are in order of creation, and the main picture up at the top of the post with a dash of some color, is a photo copy of the 1st drawing(which I also made plenty for my students to do the same, as this was a quick example of what they could do to theirs).

Flower Bowl 1 C.T. Rasmuss, Graphite (June 2014).

Flower Bowl 2  C.T. Rasmuss, Graphite (June 2014).

My advice to you is: if you would like to get more in touch with nature and have some beautiful things to paint, draw or just learn from, go plant some flowers:)

<Follow this link for my blog on Matisse Garden<

Matisse Garden; C.T. Rasmuss, oil; in process (June 2014).

Matisse Garden  C.T. Rasmuss, oil; 18"x24" (June 2014).

 

  In this journey, this is what I have so far; good start I think- after only a few hours, when I had to stop cause I thought it was gonna rain.  I usually don't care about a little unexpected water, but since I'm working in oil with this one, I figured I take no chances(oil paintings-have a special meaning to me as it is also so in the traditional art world, who says I'm not a conformist?? haha).

 

So for this piece which I'm working on, I added: Liquin- quickens drying time, 1st time I used it since art school; due to working en plein air, and considering the un-predictable weather-time.  I 1st then took pictures of all the flowers I'm going to paint in this Floral-still Life, as I mentioned in my notes before starting all this today: "I have a specific goal in mind, yet the result is never known & can never be completely pre-meditated.", and so, had came true once again.

 

One intention I had in mind was to add my signature geometric-pattern to the foreground(as far as I know so for the last 5 years  or so it's been), another was a mix between Rouault and my earlier works with a self-imposed frame(Seurat and many pointillists did this but that's another story and style), but this frame isn't ready to be introduced yet; but what was introduced completely unexpectedly was the Matisse style floral columns. 

 

Here I've used my signature columns for my backgrounds many times, to compliment my geometric foregrounds, but not in this manner, In this painting I've unexpectedly and delightfully been influenced by Henri Matisse.

 

And these some of the flowers in my garden/planters and a few from my neighbor's planters for a stronger palette(all taken with the ease of my I-phone and later edited for better quality):

 

Pay special attencion to the last(#6) purple/green plant w/ little delicate white flowers, it's the inspiration for the Matisse style columns, white flowers soon to come...

 

 



Just now I searched the internet a bit and found a great example of Matisse's floral patterns he was famous for incorporating especially in his Still-lifes, this one particularly, mine closely resembles, fate?? I believe it's possible:

Still Life - Histoire Juives  Henri Matisse, oil.