tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55421099267451809272024-02-07T18:41:42.966-08:00Ryan Swallow - BlogRandom rumination about art and lifeRyan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-51275310244928063652013-05-18T23:55:00.001-07:002013-05-19T00:01:47.601-07:00What happened to appreciating pure aesthetics? My problem with Americans: If you can't wear it, use it or sit on it... you say, fuck it. Why isn't aesthetic pleasure a commodity? Why do people prefer to look at beige walls? Why can't people see the value of a line or a curve or chiaroscuro? There was a time in my life where I valued my optical experience over all else. It was the best part of my life. I can't imagine a life without a visual feast.<br />
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<br />Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-1454246884184329632013-05-18T14:59:00.000-07:002013-05-18T14:59:31.585-07:00Daria EndresenI'm really kind of diggin' this photographer's style. Her name is Daria Endresen. She is a digital artist/photo-manipulator that works out of Oslo, Norway and Paris, France. Oddly similar to one of my favorite painters, <a href="http://www.nerdruminstitute.com/" target="_blank">Odd Nerdrum</a>. See more at <a href="http://dariaendresen.com/" target="_blank">her website</a><br />
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<br />Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-58131133785163558962013-03-16T23:28:00.000-07:002013-03-16T23:33:19.446-07:00The Pioneertown Studio<span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">After spending a year in Mexico and a year back in Utah, I decided to go back to Pioneertown. I used to go there when I lived in L.A. with my friends Billy and Paul to a little rental cabin to get away from the grid, do some rock climbing and drinking and had always loved it. </span><span style="font-size: small;">I got a gig house-sitting the house behind it for the summer and started to lust after this shell as a possible studio. It was basically a shell when I found it. The people that had lived there before had gutted it and left it a mess. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif7f6aJAfz9yWb4G_KvJQkkSZPZScP62-l2hQ3B645_BYix2oLQYCdQu3LsA9kJdsai-qNcO63h_njq2-FxkzQXZYEEvJf8OHZhnc8zR4HoKGxX4AImLy1838XizkbiyuVtYeKcSpj2rG4/s1600/91190005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif7f6aJAfz9yWb4G_KvJQkkSZPZScP62-l2hQ3B645_BYix2oLQYCdQu3LsA9kJdsai-qNcO63h_njq2-FxkzQXZYEEvJf8OHZhnc8zR4HoKGxX4AImLy1838XizkbiyuVtYeKcSpj2rG4/s1600/91190005.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a> There were no plants in the front
except for one tree. I painted the exterior, replaced windows and doors, enclosed the shed
addition, laid cement on the front porch with a rock wall, built a
goldfish pond with lilies, built an awning over the front window and
planted trees, bushes and hundreds of cactus. On the interior I
repainted everything, tore out the tile and did a treatment on the
cement floor, installed a window paned door to the bedroom, installed a
wood burning stove in the bedroom, added window treatments, installed a
new kitchen sink and counter top, fixed the roof and much more. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My
neighbors were roadrunners, rabbits, coyotes, bobcats, owls, eagles and
a bunch of varmints that I liked to shoot from my porch. The
surrounding rocky hills were an awesome place to go rock hopping and
meditating. Pioneertown has a rich history. Lots of famous bands were starting to show up and there was a large artistic community. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Joshua Tree National Park was just 20 minutes away.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I had the Pioneertown Studio for quite a few years. This
was my sanctuary and inspiration for many years. I lost myself there
and rediscovered myself there. I also created some of my best stuff
there.</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html%22%3E%3C/a%3E">Inspiration Discussion</a>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-53180079653885934952012-02-15T23:13:00.001-08:002013-01-24T19:50:56.768-08:00DeepI remember smelling my great aunt's coffee on the way to my uncle's funeral at the tender age of 7 and thinking it was the best thing I had ever smelled. I have always loved deep rich flavors, sights and smells. A smokey scotch, a peppery rich port, a rish sweet espresso roasted coffee bean, the soft, lush, deep flavor of a good cigar. The beauty of the tragic heroine. Deep accents and dark, rich colors are a trademark of my paintings. The chiaroscoro in a painting or picture is necessary to satisfy my aesthetical cravings. These are all things that are antithetical to my upbringing and yet supremely satisfying and comforting to me. I recognized these senses and feelings early on in my life but it took years for me to homogenize them into my reality. So many experiences that define me and are denied so many. I feel for them... there is so much out there to experience, taste, explore.Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-55514909340563045272009-04-24T15:38:00.000-07:002009-04-24T16:55:54.109-07:00Inspiration<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">People always ask "Where do you get your inspiration from?'. I think its true that myself along with many other artists find inspiration in different ways on different days. For me, inspiration rarely comes when I wake up in the morning and more often than not it will only show up when I put myself to work and get engaged. </span></span></span><a href="http://ryanswallow.com/ArtQuotes.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Picasso</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> said "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working". This is more often the case with me. </span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is not to say that I am an uninspired artist, it just means that if you wait for inspiration, it may not come and you will have "writer's block" so to speak... indefinately. It is in the act of painting that inspiration comes, and once it comes it takes over everything... sometimes to the point where you loose track of time and your environment. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Some artist's say they have a </span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">muse</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> ... which I personally will never be able to understand. I work alone, the way I like it.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><img src="http://www.askart.com/AskART/photos/CNY20060510_3135/157.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 356px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="Nathan Oliveira" /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Nathan Oliveira</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You're sitting there with your muse and your muse is telling you something and you’re following it, and you end up the next day looking at it and thinking "what the hell was the muse saying to me?"<br />-Nathan Oliveira<br /><br />What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.<br />-Eugene Delacroix</span></span></span></div>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-76644806109848214062009-04-22T16:55:00.000-07:002009-04-22T17:07:24.893-07:00Hermanas II<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I just realized that I hadn't done a post about Hermanas II being finished. About 7 years ago I finished a painting that I worked on periodically for almost a year. I called it Hermanas. It depicts 4 women, three with veils, all facing the opposite direction of the viewer. It was 7 feet by 5 feet. I sold the piece and have always wanted to do it again in a more compelling way.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjws5-4qeI-BsYlLKhZLUoaCcR8NHoTE12pJkDYqqIgdtc72PedblkjR_r2PfBnOMaml95jkf-PCoM_r5ToLkhmoAu63UlOU4zuU5kTCSWyJRbi4F-YAdSuVKYuwp_xRZ_X8niM12IpI2xM/s320/2+Hermanas_jpg.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 202px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327670019974765810" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Her</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">manas by Ryan Swallow - Acrylic on Canvas 84"x60"</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The result was Hermanas II which I finished a few weeks ago...<br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih-kcfjApHX6F-5WiaHgDvAVkXLPbkLQZhP8I6XU5122LlZgezHIuaZoGmrSC-hhO0LN58GEjF8xn87mxjwdKM0GtQ096SFHmE07hrrcptxhgIn6Tbyzx1NQhGiwaagN9etjoQtE7mDr4m/s1600-h/hermanasIIweb.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih-kcfjApHX6F-5WiaHgDvAVkXLPbkLQZhP8I6XU5122LlZgezHIuaZoGmrSC-hhO0LN58GEjF8xn87mxjwdKM0GtQ096SFHmE07hrrcptxhgIn6Tbyzx1NQhGiwaagN9etjoQtE7mDr4m/s320/hermanasIIweb.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327669885516817058" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:10px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:10px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Her</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:10px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">manas II by Ryan Swallow - Acrylic on Canvas 72"x60"</span></span></span></span></span><br /></div></span></div></div>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-22096810599711011492009-04-19T10:17:00.000-07:002009-04-19T17:44:54.038-07:00Walk Away!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I've noticed something over the years while looking at incredibly bad art... People don't know when to put down the brush and stop. There is a place for overworked surfaces, but when it succeeds it is generally intentional. What I'm talking about is a piece where the frustration or ineptitude causes someone to work and rework a section or an entire piece until it turns into a pile of shit. Generally speaking, none of said paintings would have EVER been good, but on occasion you'll see pieces with hints of brilliance that could have been good if the artist had simply put down the brush and walked away.<br />In large paintings you can really observe this illness. One section worked to death and other sections with little or no effort to bring all parts into a whole. You will see artists quite often step back... I myself sometimes spend almost equal time stepping back and observing as I do time with the brush. This is an important part of the process and one that allows you to mold what you have done into the vision of the future. The ability to know when to walk away is one that all great artists must have.<br />-Ryan Swallow</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">"A painting is never finished - it simply stops in interesting places."<br />- Paul Gardner<br /></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUcfmj6T6l8-uXsxE9HoD25FlHdK1eYDcR3oRFeMUSOpMdh5ImTSr_rXegOCm_Z1INZOXZxNL8aa4MQoDgFKpB4-2uIy1ptfVnsIpNgvBDL6eJT_NDNQVyCRcCTksy8TdOsrFYmtFrYkAR/s200/8054.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 142px;" border="0" alt="Gerhard Richter - Lesende Reader 1994" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326566168413611954" /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">"I can't always reach the image in my mind.. almost never, in fact... so that the abstract image I create is not quite there, but it gets to the point where I can leave it."<br />-Gerhard Richter</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">"Reader" Oil on Canvas by Gerhard Richte</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">r</span></span></span><br /></div></span></div></div>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-84805590865062911142009-04-10T17:46:00.000-07:002009-04-11T14:37:55.031-07:00Creativity and Madness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrb_po36I3quUFQSIYbrdu5Gn7vj8I-OGyAueCykaI21sv2vEPt_1v4tiSNVM14K-B6Y4TceD7LsTSYreYvFMXHHWOxJmBc2SPB6izY4REmX-r5mMt8FdAOPebusm96j_A9gQHKkKHdmU/s1600-h/creatmadbook.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px af10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrb_po36I3quUFQSIYbrdu5Gn7vj8I-OGyAueCykaI21sv2vEPt_1v4tiSNVM14K-B6Y4TceD7LsTSYreYvFMXHHWOxJmBc2SPB6izY4REmX-r5mMt8FdAOPebusm96j_A9gQHKkKHdmU/s200/creatmadbook.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323543766681128194" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I highly recommend a book called </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Creativity & Madness: Psychological Studies of Art & Artists". </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">You can find it used online for 20 bucks or new at the </span></span><a href="http://www.aimed.com/book.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">author's website </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">for $25. I read it years ago and recently picked it up again. The most interestingly self-relevent subject matter discussed is regarding "mirroring" and/or the Oedipal complex in which the artist sees the parent as an artist and feels the need to repeat and surpass the parent's ability in order to win their favor... even after the parent's death. Vincent van Gogh's mother sketched flowers, Jackson Pollack's mother was a weaver and quilt maker and encouraged art in the house, Frida Kahlo's father was a professional photographer, Picasso's father an artist.</span></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5A6eQ1BCHKajP3x8L51R81BsMCoXecRvFuVHv7cjxtTdDsvGv2gibfnKlL9leAunlODzuiWmFqnmxm_A3JSLRo0PE5M8oj71_BjnQVf360KnmJCG01MaB4VDpXyzF7b-RXzr2dHj2KEF/s200/Willy+in+Detail_jpg.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" border="0" alt="Detail of Willy by Ryan Swallow" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323551083656591634" /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I grew up watching my father paint landscapes, farmland, buildings and swallow birds. My early attempts at drawing were average to horrible. It wasn't until I was 18 and taking my first drawing class in college that I knew I could draw. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">After I put this book down I spent a lot of time reflecting on my own life, my decisions and how I had been impacted by my father's passion for painting. I'll leave it at that for now, but there is certainly a connection there that I believe is less genetic and more an observed admiration that transforms a person into an artist.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Ryan Swallow<br /><br />Although the dream is a very strange phenomenon and an inexplicable mystery, far more inexplicable is the mystery and aspect our minds confer on certain objects and aspects of life. Psychologically speaking, to discover something mysterious in objects is a symptom of cerebral abnormality related to certain kinds of insanity. I believe, however, that such abnormal moments can be found in everyone, and it is all the more fortunate when they occur in individuals with creative talent or with clairvoyant powers. Art is the fatal net which catches these strange moments on the wing like mysterious butterflies, fleeing the innocence and distraction of common men. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Giorgio de Chirico</span></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAAH6jozfd5JyrQGWi3V2H00jWsTeKjZVOh3w7URPLiF6P8nITFTU-jGgjvzEcuxWAoej_CMjThZvCKeODK9xWGed_qtPHKU9tRJW-xPawtc2Dd0ItBpDn2_Pm3OF0ddeRSKF8AbSMaL8m/s200/Diana_by_Augustus_Saint-Gaudens.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A great artist… must be shaken by the naked truths that will not be comforted. This divine discontent, this disequilibrium, this state of inner tension is the source of artistic energy. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Goethe<br /><br />What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Augustus Saint-Gaudens<br /><br />There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Oscar Levant</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The fine arts once divorcing themselves from truth are quite certain to fall mad, if they do not die. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Thomas Carlyle, Latter Day Pamphlets, no. 8<br /><br />Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Magdalena Abakanowicz</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br />Art should astonish, transmute, transfix. One must work at the tissue between truth and paranoia. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Brett Whiteley<br /></span></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpqQM0M7zvKg4PKoNE22sSWUo8oT0E1bvYnAoYTWTlDlGsZVNqn5nEQmXXxZT7RBFJa7K2cu8k4XEB2CNMggaZsQM6VdKERu4DWQXoWcfcRIKZGHhQp1dKRTXtKUTYKPzxTqVOl-N_4Kys/s200/halsman-philippe-in-volupate-mors-salvador-dali-7200018.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 158px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323539924240862018" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For me, painting is a way to forget life. It is a cry in the night, a strangled laugh.<br />-Georges Rouault</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br />I paint in order not to cry.<br />- Paul Klee </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The only difference between myself and a madman is that I am not mad.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Salvador Dali</span></span></div></span></span></div></div></div></div>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-61953075027854052262009-04-08T16:22:00.000-07:002009-04-10T17:45:10.577-07:00Why talk about ART?<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The first shows I had were at my own little studio/gallery in Portland, Oregon called Trixhaus Gallery. With each new show, I became increasingly withdrawn and ended up at the favorite place of gallery junkies - the free wine bar. The reason for this was the unrelenting jabber about the paintings, their meaning, and the endless opines on likes and dislikes. I'll never forget my first big show. There were critics, photographers, artists, rich people and just about every other kind of typical gallery-goer. Within the first hour, I had someone trash my work right next to me, not knowing who I was. I have pretty thick skin these days, but back then my ego was fairly fragile. The first time I read Francis Bacon's quote "If you can talk about it, why paint it?", I thought: "This should be posted in every gallery and museum in the world". The most wonderful and powerful thing about art is that it speaks to us without words, that paintings <strong><u>are</u> </strong>the words of the artist and that <strong><u>that</u> </strong>connection meets somewhere between the viewer and the painting. <strong><u>Of course</u></strong> paintings leave unanswered questions, but isn't that what makes us want to look at them every day and possess them? Most great artists are dead and weren't fully appreciated in their lifetime... the appreciation came after anyone could ask any questions. So I'll leave it to you to decide, but for me, let the art and not the artist speak to you. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">-Ryan Swallow</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />It's always hopeless talking about painting - one never does anything but talk around it - because, if you could explain you painting, you would be explaining you instincts.<br />-Francis Bacon<br /><br />Art is made to disturb. Science reassures. There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.<br />-Georges Braque<br /><br />An artist cannot talk about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">-Jean Cocteau<br /><br />It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work.<br />-Henry Moore<br /><br />One of the best things about paintings is their silence - which prompts reflection and random reverie.<br />-Mark Stevens<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNM3kK7e_MuOaW2tAU9Khb0OH-aM3TJGVTIHxXePAegVUt-qhsfCKjTTO9IuwYnq3YMWbnjPK3X__oSF8gRR-IjkWGC5ob0lkmidN_YU2M378wbie07N0DG-trKQufOQ4YruN8op_Zs9IE/s1600-h/HopperEdward-ElevenAM.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 197px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322480057429085138" border="0" alt="Edward Hopper - Eleven AM" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNM3kK7e_MuOaW2tAU9Khb0OH-aM3TJGVTIHxXePAegVUt-qhsfCKjTTO9IuwYnq3YMWbnjPK3X__oSF8gRR-IjkWGC5ob0lkmidN_YU2M378wbie07N0DG-trKQufOQ4YruN8op_Zs9IE/s200/HopperEdward-ElevenAM.jpg" /></a>If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.<br />-Edward Hopper<br /><br />As far as I am concerned, a painting speaks for itself. What is the use of giving explanations, when all is said and done? A painter has only one language.<br />-Pablo Picasso<br /><br />I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way--things I had no words for.<br />-Georgia O'Keeffe<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px; "></span></span><div><span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px; ">Art is made to disturb. Science reassures. There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 26px; ">-<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Georges Braque</span></span></span></div></div>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-63505057755537184112009-04-03T17:23:00.000-07:002009-04-08T17:24:22.025-07:00Thoughts on Mortality<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The more I produce, the less I am certain. On the road along which the artist walks, night falls ever more densely. Finally, he dies blind. -Albert Camus<br /><br />Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty. -Edgar Degas<br /><br />Soon I'll be old and I've done precious little in this world for lack of time. I am always afraid I'll become senile before I've finished what I've undertaken. -Paul Gauguin<br /><br />You're only as young as the last time you changed your mind. -Timothy Leary<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLPjf_SIK8feHNXoNWELNpNIzwihVU3y9u-gEcpHQDDFv2OhiLmHxPkEYPDHO1Q6Va-DrxaVgwQVI4rhM_2tWQ4zJnF094sc__poRhAnKxMkf1inNP0Hpo0jXSjMF03WlK4ENXlVaKSyCJ/s1600-h/portrait_basquiat.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 197px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320630461956824610" border="0" alt="Jean-Michel Basquiat" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLPjf_SIK8feHNXoNWELNpNIzwihVU3y9u-gEcpHQDDFv2OhiLmHxPkEYPDHO1Q6Va-DrxaVgwQVI4rhM_2tWQ4zJnF094sc__poRhAnKxMkf1inNP0Hpo0jXSjMF03WlK4ENXlVaKSyCJ/s200/portrait_basquiat.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Dying young is the easy way out. It's much harder to keep your edge and keep it going. -Robert Longo on Jean-Michel Basquiat </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />It's a shock for me to go through and see all those years of painting my life, which is very personal for me. It's a very difficult thing for an artist to look back at his work. -Andrew Wyeth</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-52553630295362395922009-03-21T13:48:00.000-07:002009-04-08T17:29:25.924-07:00Thoughts on "The Nude" in Art<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik4ifQ0bTF4E8TwvRPife8JnpK-FD6Jgf8bVNvbfsb8IaQNwRh36eJG6LpzrghtiyudfWrQa_8mEvQ98zl9dSvfa6q64tDUt5GA_hhVNR9lff03268tZT_BHgQ-cNOK5vfqCdMI1ZvUSXW/s1600-h/Michelangelo.bmp"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 146px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315756373024188770" border="0" alt="Libyan Sibyl" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik4ifQ0bTF4E8TwvRPife8JnpK-FD6Jgf8bVNvbfsb8IaQNwRh36eJG6LpzrghtiyudfWrQa_8mEvQ98zl9dSvfa6q64tDUt5GA_hhVNR9lff03268tZT_BHgQ-cNOK5vfqCdMI1ZvUSXW/s200/Michelangelo.bmp" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> And who is so barbarous as not to understand that the foot of a man is nobler than his shoe, and his skin nobler than that of the sheep with which he is clothed. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">-Michelangelo<br /><br />He who does not master the nude, cannot understand the principles of architecture. </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">-Michelangelo </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color:#ff6600;">Libyan Sibyl from the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo, thought by some to be a male model for a female figure.</span></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When we respect the nude, we will no longer have any shame about it. </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">-Robert Henri<br /><br />I look at a nude. There are myriads of tiny tints. I must find the ones that will make the flesh <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJfxwKHibeAouStGZ-gUPIBV0D2x2DRZL5fI8eU7EZKwOH-hXY0-_h7ukIC8YnflMVPtbXMU8MqoNzm0mUTVZULx7ms9zjFzWdGMAK-KiQOEtdz5TTiRBjpqRXKzlsum87haEUfAaMI_Es/s1600-h/jason2web.jpg"></a>on my canvas live and quiver. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">-Pierre-Auguste Renoir <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCGiyK_RebaCJ_RDS_w4j8bgZk6IbKQQO8j47pI_7u1lrtB-KesSc6ENVSRwB_PW_ZYUsEkrcj1yrvgYH9VoxAy589wtXYKVjfDOrt0gR6c8sLMZg3r1DWL3sEJ1pV3P86MjcL6BakQmuI/s1600-h/jason2web.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 192px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320887041467748946" border="0" alt="Nude by Ryan Swallow" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCGiyK_RebaCJ_RDS_w4j8bgZk6IbKQQO8j47pI_7u1lrtB-KesSc6ENVSRwB_PW_ZYUsEkrcj1yrvgYH9VoxAy589wtXYKVjfDOrt0gR6c8sLMZg3r1DWL3sEJ1pV3P86MjcL6BakQmuI/s200/jason2web.jpg" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><span style="color:#c0c0c0;">There is no subject I can paint which is more frustrating and at the same time extremely satisfying than the figure.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#c0c0c0;">-Ryan Swallow</span><br /><br />I never think I have finished a nude until I think I could pinch it. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">-Pierre-Auguste Renoir </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdE844yW3ZzYMpxmRZ1dAui8WOjPHUEMWWxEgLnx5NnpBmEOOIgDJ1buCDcXZ_BrHWAJjoK3GnXg6q8_UTCMmK7_1UMBV3BCMnwVHbVuU2KX_Za-wKET62_3KmOyyMqvZysYtGP07VNOzv/s1600-h/711079431_3b2c3ab470_o.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 112px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315754720237977186" border="0" alt="Bikini by Wayne Thiebaud" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdE844yW3ZzYMpxmRZ1dAui8WOjPHUEMWWxEgLnx5NnpBmEOOIgDJ1buCDcXZ_BrHWAJjoK3GnXg6q8_UTCMmK7_1UMBV3BCMnwVHbVuU2KX_Za-wKET62_3KmOyyMqvZysYtGP07VNOzv/s200/711079431_3b2c3ab470_o.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It's the most important study there is and the most challenging and the most difficult. -Wayne Thiebaud -<em>on drawing the nude</em> </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;color:#ff6600;">Bikini by Wayne Thiebaud</span> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVRZuJsCYE6lX8aIzLS1WKtUTnCWJlUpZk8hEheO_Yd7iZ_ufivDZYYz4qC-01_koez8KnH2ImGXLGB48m3Oq2ORfxaIro9lGwFgnBgD7tA8YOXiSZeMLiFiIlOxHgTmKqvL_BWaGLd8l/s1600-h/jason2web.jpg"></a>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-82635950949002850412009-03-16T13:48:00.000-07:002009-04-08T17:26:12.877-07:00John Singer Sargent Quote<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"Everytime I paint a portrait I lose a friend"</span><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313891865273049746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 140px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGVCB1OZQqdXEldOo_4clrI97Gn9SqIfwX3vFMh6Sd96mf0PI-sPUwIfhxBwI0AC0Iiqzdy7CYU0MEs8fX30c4998qOLg8G5RdR5ANOAFDmLBiA_VMXnkovUKtPIO8IoS4AZGxFibhumod/s200/420px-Sargent_John_Singer_Spanish_Dancer.jpg" border="0" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_eUkGKwHC_jTf5NVxql3bYOZvQ5Loc9IAtw2Po9DFG1mbFj5C2ZWPPSZjgtfBUBmDlMjMvMx7405ukn2F0Dfp9LLi1ggdS8ZqcUUyxfMYMfY9DrmtYkc_YTIJ-ZVasUxqVsfDxoLSKMYP/s1600-h/Nude-Egyptian-Girl.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313894228693666818" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 54px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_eUkGKwHC_jTf5NVxql3bYOZvQ5Loc9IAtw2Po9DFG1mbFj5C2ZWPPSZjgtfBUBmDlMjMvMx7405ukn2F0Dfp9LLi1ggdS8ZqcUUyxfMYMfY9DrmtYkc_YTIJ-ZVasUxqVsfDxoLSKMYP/s200/Nude-Egyptian-Girl.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:78%;color:#ff6600;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:78%;color:#ff6600;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:78%;color:#ff6600;">Favorites: "Spanish Dancer" & "Nude Egyptian Girl"</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-72272815363463578432009-03-13T17:19:00.000-07:002009-03-21T21:36:17.567-07:00Hermanas II<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">An update of the progress on the newest painting - Hermanas II</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQp14aHY4aqpTpbToYgrKNq6cRQcGcjdLALsSQlyun90xd7_Fe-9J2QvcTvCJphHCaH-_lbqsN1PmRvTlSwQxe_y85Kt8Jp5P-Kuty11isnwu3voyjfgHBWnSbOckP4iOmn7ZRN0-euh41/s1600-h/second.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312831756633088386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 234px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQp14aHY4aqpTpbToYgrKNq6cRQcGcjdLALsSQlyun90xd7_Fe-9J2QvcTvCJphHCaH-_lbqsN1PmRvTlSwQxe_y85Kt8Jp5P-Kuty11isnwu3voyjfgHBWnSbOckP4iOmn7ZRN0-euh41/s320/second.jpg" border="0" /></a>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-88028883543148633062009-03-10T17:27:00.000-07:002009-03-21T21:36:49.506-07:00Hermanas II<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The beginnings of the latest painting I'm working on.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGGconiFRSjWy6jRO3G3yGeRm2KdWakGuMFC1nt0v53uqV6Q3bW6fnVLR0FhGvBmbK7WfLbFUzkqcW2I86S4ZhkcWTuE3PGPwsuecKyDJaj-Q8cds6xhNpsAPUd73xaD5XaVgDvHGfMFB/s1600-h/first.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311720881777242898" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 186px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGGconiFRSjWy6jRO3G3yGeRm2KdWakGuMFC1nt0v53uqV6Q3bW6fnVLR0FhGvBmbK7WfLbFUzkqcW2I86S4ZhkcWTuE3PGPwsuecKyDJaj-Q8cds6xhNpsAPUd73xaD5XaVgDvHGfMFB/s320/first.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDhn-yKmEQYYjIkxlubK6_A8UYpF4EjbDqerbdlItmaBf1gOk2VfHaWjtm0pHjyJSSYMYWukkt63f3PrtjJsvl2XIbNLnoPw50UtYGHN3AXyBLJ0UMPYw1zq6eU5EDcLn0siu0qaaJq3bS/s1600-h/first.jpg"></a></div>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-69008818888939390652009-03-05T12:24:00.000-08:002009-04-08T17:26:12.877-07:00Lucian Freud Quote<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1Me4i1Cmli397vJswzms1Cs1_fzAK1f66b8sW_jP6yN-kK9cX0_Ft6Ef98g88OR4bzxrIr-SKfSNdmd6crC2WV-c_gBbwMFJGzAKJkrp5L3Sm-TuM93xccwIqXSM9ayrl0C-ekThgw2S/s1600-h/kate-moss-tv2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309817603943510066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 269px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1Me4i1Cmli397vJswzms1Cs1_fzAK1f66b8sW_jP6yN-kK9cX0_Ft6Ef98g88OR4bzxrIr-SKfSNdmd6crC2WV-c_gBbwMFJGzAKJkrp5L3Sm-TuM93xccwIqXSM9ayrl0C-ekThgw2S/s320/kate-moss-tv2.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I remember Francis Bacon would say that he felt he was giving art what he thought it previously lacked. With me, it's what Yeats called the fascination with what's difficult. I'm only trying to do what I can't do.</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-55895382707323696262009-03-03T14:48:00.000-08:002009-04-08T17:26:12.877-07:00Fran Lebowitz quote<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass.<br />-Fran Lebowitz</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-85515923833884469552009-02-28T10:00:00.000-08:002009-04-08T17:31:42.730-07:00Phaedrus II complete<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Just finished Phaedrus II<br /></span><br /><object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=" height="366" width="400" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="_cx" value="15875"><param name="_cy" value="14420"><param name="FlashVars" value=""><param name="Movie" value="http://www.ryanswallow.com/paintings/phaedrus.swf"><param name="Src" value="http://www.ryanswallow.com/paintings/phaedrus.swf"><param name="WMode" value="Window"><param name="Play" value="0"><param name="Loop" value="-1"><param name="Quality" value="High"><param name="SAlign" value=""><param name="Menu" value="-1"><param name="Base" value=""><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value=""><param name="Scale" value="ShowAll"><param name="DeviceFont" value="0"><param name="EmbedMovie" value="0"><param name="BGColor" value="000000"><param name="SWRemote" value=""><param name="MovieData" value=""><param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1"><param name="Profile" value="0"><param name="ProfileAddress" value=""><param name="ProfilePort" value="0"><param name="AllowNetworking" value="all"><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="false"><br /> <br /> <br /> <embed src="http://www.ryanswallow.com/paintings/phaedrus.swf" width="400" height="366" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000"></embed></object>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-48774726156457290862009-02-26T15:16:00.000-08:002009-03-21T21:22:53.240-07:00Book Cover<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghck3a0wKpFnrvXTgNMQfTLZ1NwL94sitwD0e1SbLZPQrF9VG74pZKjlSk3atRPAaeO0AtvIHyYSj2a7ld4ut8Hzb0VcDVHk7DcE33LCi0F31hD8J2rPBssivsYRHwRuGr_OpGTV5Ogigm/s1600-h/WillyBookCover.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307250598846336498" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 215px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghck3a0wKpFnrvXTgNMQfTLZ1NwL94sitwD0e1SbLZPQrF9VG74pZKjlSk3atRPAaeO0AtvIHyYSj2a7ld4ut8Hzb0VcDVHk7DcE33LCi0F31hD8J2rPBssivsYRHwRuGr_OpGTV5Ogigm/s320/WillyBookCover.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This is a painting of mine "Willy" that was used as a book cover for a Spanish translation of "The Place" by Annie Ernaux.</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-19583667937850110172009-02-26T08:13:00.000-08:002009-04-08T17:26:12.877-07:00John Ciardi - Quote of the Day<span style="font-family:arial;">Modern Art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-42262775721070329412009-02-25T15:42:00.000-08:002009-04-08T17:26:12.878-07:00Benjamin Franklin<span style="font-family:arial;">Those things that hurt, instruct.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">-Benjamin Franklin</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-57191963697738583972009-02-25T11:08:00.001-08:002009-04-08T17:30:12.049-07:00A Ryanism<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Point of view is less in the positioning of the viewer and more in the time spent meditating the view.</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-70280919308607204712009-02-25T11:05:00.000-08:002009-04-08T17:30:12.050-07:00Rambling about Portraits and Wallpaper<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There lies a balance somewhere between intimacy and aloofness or naiveté which must exist between the painter and his human subject or model. Intimacy or extreme familiarity creates conflict between what the artist has seen of the subjects soul and what he actually sees with human eyes. A battle ensues and most often the painter loses, is never satisfied, because the painter cannot paint the soul or essence of a person. The same applies with the self-portrait. The painter seeing his image in a contorted two-dimensional mirror, struggles with the sense of how he appears to others and the distorted view of his soul. This explains the painful process I have gone through in painting myself. A certain detachment is required. The opposite extreme being a purely imagined character with no similarities to any model, friend or figure the artist has viewed before. My point or theory being that the most moving portrait is of someone that captures the essence of humankind; one that any viewer can feel a sense of intimacy and mystery in the same moment; a picture that contains bits and pieces of the painters experience, existence and memory as well as current references and models.I suppose this theory is my goal and when I have achieved it in the past, it is quite apparent. People feel so intimately associated with the painting and yet are left with so many questions. People need to be left with questions, but these questions bring me to another related point: Answering these questions about my paintings is completely pointless and devalues the paintings worth, not only for the buyer, but the viewer. The collective human experience creates a sense of kinship with all people, but when art (in any medium) is specifically defined by the artist for the public, the viewing public has lost its need for art. The music becomes something to fill the air, the theater or ballet a place to fill a social quota or impress a date, the painting is then something to fill the space on the wall. This sickens me, because I know that most of the paying public is spending their money on art for these exact reasons. If there is a title, a description, a definition of every specific piece of art, then there is no naiveté, no mystery, there are no questions, no underlying connection and beauty. Then art ceases to be art; ceases to be priceless and becomes worthless.</span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5542109926745180927.post-60560542560092882182009-02-25T10:59:00.000-08:002009-04-08T17:26:12.878-07:00Francis Bacon Quotes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR7Bo3hFD-CNt1dwIbsPSeJQPagyfccjVkGWofWO04W-F7oO2AaN8Sb_OQoOXMXC-SiVJh57W-q0dLK5tC6sh2U8TikP-sSev3iRWPu6GJHo103ANJ0T8ZMU6TjRw1m3g4rD_j-9_JofpH/s1600-h/Beldam_Francis_Bacon_in_his_studio,_seated.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306812074653045634" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 133px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR7Bo3hFD-CNt1dwIbsPSeJQPagyfccjVkGWofWO04W-F7oO2AaN8Sb_OQoOXMXC-SiVJh57W-q0dLK5tC6sh2U8TikP-sSev3iRWPu6GJHo103ANJ0T8ZMU6TjRw1m3g4rD_j-9_JofpH/s200/Beldam_Francis_Bacon_in_his_studio,_seated.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> If you can talk about it, why paint it?<br />-Francis Bacon<br /><br />I enjoy life but I have absolutely no belief In anything, I don't say that anguish doesn't play a part in my work. The very fact that you exist, that you see what's going on around you, that must create anguish in anybody. I have a feeling of mortality all the time because if life excites you, its opposite, death, like a shadow, must excite you.<br />-Francis Bacon<br /><br />Great art is always a way of concentrating, reinventing what is called fact, what we know of our existence - a reconcentration... tearing away the veils that fact acquires through time. Ideas always acquire appearance veils, the attitudes people acquire of their time and earlier time. Really good artists tear down those veils.<br />-Francis Bacon<br /><br />It's always hopeless talking about painting - one never does anything but talk around it - because, if you could explain you painting, you would be explaining you instincts.<br />-Francis Bacon<br /><br />Everybody has his own interpretation of a painting he sees. I don't mind if people have different interpretations of what I have painted ... A picture should be a re-creation of an event rather than an illustration of an object; but there is no tension in the picture unless there is the struggle with the object.<br />-Francis Bacon<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I think that great art is deeply ordered. Even if within the order there may be enormously instinctive and accidental things, nevertheless I think that they come out of a desire for ordering and for returning fact onto the nervous system in a more violent way. Why, after the great artists, do people ever try to do anything again? Only because, from generation to generation, through what the great artists have done, the instincts change.<br />-Francis Bacon </span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306812197992138002" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 187px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cUl_Y_rzjzP14Mm-NFlGuzxHqyjh6ErBD0XSbL-tu764zIYYl_U_O64d1tdC91GdysmjBIBeM0Pf5qLtfxwYnCt-ZanMW8pA32xG8DY4lwU7_AbIrZVvR2hiuOecbamKAGzKPgdFtDN8/s200/francis-bacon-1.jpg" border="0" />One of the reasons why I don't like abstract painting, or why it doesn't interest me, is that I think painting is a duality, and that abstract painting is an entirely aesthetic thing... There's never any tension in it. -Francis Bacon The moment there are several figures - at any rate several figures on the same canvas - the story begins to be elaborated. And the moment the story is elaborated, the boredom sets in; the story talks louder than the paint... I don't want to avoid telling a story, but I want very, very much to do the thing that Valéry said - to give the sensation without the boredom of it's conveyance. And the moment the story enters, the boredom comes upon you.<br />-Francis Bacon </span>Ryan Swallowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074644728457895558noreply@blogger.com0