Architecture of the World Boxes
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
"Painting Your ABC's" from 15Bytes
Subscribe to 15Bytes online art magazine published monthly by visiting here: http://www.artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/
The following review appeared in October 2011 issue of 15Bytes:
Painting Your ABCs
Toni Youngblood's Calligraffiti at Charley Hafen
Try to teach a young child how to read and you’ll know just how mysterious the alphabet is. Language comes naturally to children and I think it is always amazing to see how quickly a toddler becomes fluent with sophisticated grammar and words. When they try to make sense of language by looking at the swirls and lines of the English alphabet, however, the process is anything but natural. Soon enough, though, no matter how irrational or arbitrary the relationship between language and alphabet most children master the process and the alphabet becomes a natural part of their lives. In a literate society the alphabet is like a second skin through which we experience the world.
Maybe that’s why, ever since language started being written down, cultures have experimented with different alphabets. These experiments have sometimes been functional, like the straight lines the Phoenicians used because of their writing tool, the stylus. Just as often they’ve been aesthetic, like fashion wardrobes. How else can you explain Gothic script, our love of fonts or the wonderful artistry of Far Eastern alphabets? All of this must be what fascinates artists like Toni Youngblood, who explore alphabets, real or imaginary, as an artistic medium.
Youngblood’s Calligraffiti series, which is now up at Charley Hafen Gallery, is a collection of compact abstract works that uses alphabets, or what look like alphabets, as integral components in layered, decorative works.|0| Abstract artists often talk of “mark-making” so it is no wonder that many of them drift naturally to using our most common mark, the As,Bs and Cs of the alphabet as elements in their work (another local artist who does this is Sue Slade, whose show at Phillips Gallery in June was fabulous).
Try to teach a young child how to read and you’ll know just how mysterious the alphabet is. Language comes naturally to children and I think it is always amazing to see how quickly a toddler becomes fluent with sophisticated grammar and words. When they try to make sense of language by looking at the swirls and lines of the English alphabet, however, the process is anything but natural. Soon enough, though, no matter how irrational or arbitrary the relationship between language and alphabet most children master the process and the alphabet becomes a natural part of their lives. In a literate society the alphabet is like a second skin through which we experience the world.
Maybe that’s why, ever since language started being written down, cultures have experimented with different alphabets. These experiments have sometimes been functional, like the straight lines the Phoenicians used because of their writing tool, the stylus. Just as often they’ve been aesthetic, like fashion wardrobes. How else can you explain Gothic script, our love of fonts or the wonderful artistry of Far Eastern alphabets? All of this must be what fascinates artists like Toni Youngblood, who explore alphabets, real or imaginary, as an artistic medium.
Youngblood’s Calligraffiti series, which is now up at Charley Hafen Gallery, is a collection of compact abstract works that uses alphabets, or what look like alphabets, as integral components in layered, decorative works.|0| Abstract artists often talk of “mark-making” so it is no wonder that many of them drift naturally to using our most common mark, the As,Bs and Cs of the alphabet as elements in their work (another local artist who does this is Sue Slade, whose show at Phillips Gallery in June was fabulous).
(0)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Encaustic seems to be everywhere these days and for some artists wax is just a way to mask lazy work. But in Youngblood’s painting the encaustic is essential because it allows her to build up layers, into which she paints or scrapes her alphabets. From far back these paintings can look like the patterned work of an abstract expressionist. Up close you see the familiar swirls and lines of an alphabet, but they seem a natural part of the whole surface, rather than sitting on top of the painting, like ink on paper.|1| The alphabets don’t spell out words. Some are just scrawls that give the sense of writing.|2| In other pieces Youngblood uses found materials, like nails, to give off the effect of characters.|3| Or at least they feel like characters -- the result of the fact that we have become so used to seeing letters, from the serifs on our computer screen to the scrawl of our doctors' notes – even if we don’t know what they “say.” In that way Toni Youngblood’s Calligraffiti paintings take us back to the wonder and mystery of childhood.|4|
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Calligraffiti on "The Post"
I'm sharing a link to the article written by Geoff Wichert on his blog The Post---
Gallery Symbiosis: Toni Youngblood at Charley Hafen Jewelers and Gallery
The full article can be seen here.
The web address to The Post:
http://postgeoff.com/
I enjoyed Geoff Wichert's remarks about different types of gallery spaces: "Those that present art in a relatively blank, abstract space that strives not to impose any undue influence on the works displayed" versus those that show art "in a space that conjures the scale and furnishings of a potential owner's home".
My thesis, Museum for a Private Collection of Twentieth-Century American Art, published in 1990 in partial fulfillment of my my graduate degree in architecture (M.Arch) examined these opposing ideas about the display of art.
Thanks to Geoff for visiting my exhibit at Charley Hafen's and for writing his observations.
An excerpt from Geoff Wichert's article follows...
All Photographs by Geoff Wichert - Click on photos for closer view.
Charley Hafen Gallery exploits its older building to give clients an idea of how the art will look in their homes (above). The arrangement of several works on a common theme can unify a busy or cluttered area ('Sweat Equity Nos. 1, 2, & 3 by Toni Youngblood, Encaustic on Board w/Mixed Media, right).
An unusual placement allows these small works to relate to the natural world outside the window (left) What looks like art fixing an architectural problem is only temporary: the stairs will soon connect to more shops on the second floor (right)
(Portrait at the stair landing: Lionel Hampton and David Halliday, by Toni Youngblood 2011, acrylic on canvas)
Monday, October 3, 2011
New/Old books on California artists
I'm adding a few titles to my collection of books on California art and artists. The subject is meaningful to me, having studied painting in California myself. I found used copies of all these books on Amazon.com.
A free-spirited wave of creative energy swept through the San Francisco art community after World War II. Challenging accepted modes of painting, Abstract Expressionists produced highly experimental works that jolted the public out of its postwar complacency. Susan Landauer's comprehensive examination of this dynamic movement provides the first clear picture of the artists and influences that came together in San Francisco's invigorating world of Abstract Expressionism.
Amazon.com Review
Amazon.com Review
A free-spirited wave of creative energy swept through the San Francisco art community after World War II. Challenging accepted modes of painting, Abstract Expressionists produced highly experimental works that jolted the public out of its postwar complacency. Susan Landauer's comprehensive examination of this dynamic movement provides the first clear picture of the artists and influences that came together in San Francisco's invigorating world of Abstract Expressionism.
For many years California was the edge of the American world, and perhaps because of this, it, more than any other state, has inspired an art reflective of the frontier, of the American dream. Beautifully illustrated with over seventy landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes, Paintings of California explores some of the finest results of this inspiration, including works by Albert Bierstadt, Childe Hassam, Granville Redmond, Millard Sheets, Elmer Bischoff, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney, and many more.
California embodies the American desire to explore frontiers. Collected here in Paintings of California are the works of over sixty of America's finest artists, all of whom were drawn to the beauty of California's kaleidoscopic geography and the pioneering spirit of her people.
Amazon.com Review
When these six artists first banded together in 1917, the San Francisco art establishment found their work raw and undeveloped. According to Nancy Boas, however, these painters represent the first fully evolved reflection of modern art on the West Coast. Her scholarly and engaging study is tantamount to a discovery of a previously unknown group of painters, and it is unusual in that it recounts the birth of modern art in a nonurban setting. She elegantly and convincingly balances biography with analysis, intertwining six personal stories into a much larger story, which is really about the birth of modernism, an integral segment of America's artistic heritage. These artists' works are expressive, energetic, and ablaze with vivid color, reminiscent of a quality of rarefied light found in Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park series or Vincent van Gogh's Arles paintings.
And now, I'm impatiently awaiting the arrival of above ordered books. ;o)
And now, I'm impatiently awaiting the arrival of above ordered books. ;o)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Reading spots
Sigh...it has been so pleasant being outdoors this Summer. Fall is easing in on us and I'll need to consider moving inside for this little pleasure.
Looking through my collection of photos in an attempt to entice and inspire myself into welcoming the change of seasons, I came up with a few nice indoor settings for a good read...
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Encaustic Paintings
Blistering Blizzard (Blue Wave) - 12x9 inches encaustic on panel - Toni Youngblood, $400 framed.
Above: Bass Player, 22"x22" encaustic on panel - Toni Youngblood, $850
SOLD
SOLD (J.and K.H.)
The four pieces below measure approximately 9 x 12 inches
Above: Don't Hide Them - Toni Youngblood, $350 framed.
Above: Living in Acronymia - Toni Youngblood, $500 (Custom Frame)
Sketch Pad Series - The following twenty pieces measure approximately 7x5 - $30 each (including a small easel, unframed).
Above: G-Major - SOLD (K.C.)
Calligraffiti - Toni Youngblood - September 2011
Along with my training in the tradition of representational drawing and painting, came rigorous design, analytical and critical dialogue. I learned to work with many materials and techniques in art school and later in graduate school in architecture.
During my painting studies, I chose elective courses in graphic design, which included the study of typography. Each week was spent learning the characteristics of a different typeface by carefully drafting the individual letters of its alphabet. The goal of this meticulous exercise was to facilitate the selection of appropriate typefaces for the design of graphic communication such as that used in advertising. The character of a typeface communicates something beyond the written message and may either support the message or distract from it. My interest in the imagery of the written and printed word is rooted in this early training.
After hand drafting alphabets in many typefaces, I have a great appreciation for computer typesetting and word processing programs, stencils and any other expedient tools and methods available to produce letters. With this detailed practice behind me, I am in awe of the phenomenon that only a few shapes or pen strokes can create a letter or symbol that, when appropriately grouped, produces words that express ideas. And I revel in the loose flowing motion of hand writing.
In three decades, my preference has evolved into using a broad brush and less literal technique. Rather than represent only what the eye sees---a compilation of physical features---I am more interested in interpreting what I see and feel in its essence, its nature. In music, it would be improvisation over straight melody. In some ways, I think this process is like designing a logo---paring down in graphic form the nature and essence of a business.
Beach tide as it glades across sand – Beach Tide, 2009
What I “see” when I close my eyes and listen to music – Where Music Lives, 2009
Cursive pen strokes of a hand-written message – Dreamt in Italian, 2009
A wave of bliss – Suffering Happiness, 2009
Mid-night rumblings of an active volcano on the island of Sicily – Thank you, Mt. Etna
Warmth, texture and color of a favorite medieval Italian hill town – Todi, 2009
Calligraffiti is the continuation of a series of works I began a couple of years ago. Those first paintings were composed of layers of acrylic paint using a mask or frisket of wax---applying a layer of paint, applying clear wax frisket with a brush or drip technique, then applying paint of a different color, then removing the wax at critical points in the process to reveal color layers beneath. The resulting figures resembled written language in form, order and pattern.
The more recent works which are shown in this exhibit are created with encaustic (color pigment mixed with hot beeswax and damar resin crystals for hardening) and compatible mixed media, such as oil pastel crayon, paper pieces, nails and other found objects. Encaustic painting, as a medium, is over 2000 years old.
Toni Youngblood – Salt Lake City , Utah
Bachelor of Art – Painting, California State University , San Jose
Master of Architecture, University of Washington , Seattle
Also on display during the exhibit at Charley Hafen Jewelers - Gallery is the portrait commission I painted for musician David Halliday, Lionel Hampton & David Halliday, acrylic on canvas, 30x40 inches, 2011...SOLD
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