Paul Harryn studios

painting details ...

2010-01-13T22:40:00.003-05:00

view a short video of painting "details" with soundtrack: "time" ...

neuro series, update ...

2010-01-13T07:07:00.005-05:00

the 'neuro series' is now archived and uploaded to paulharryn.com ...

also, see essay by Joel Weishaus ...

being and becoming ...

2010-01-01T16:51:00.004-05:00

"being and becoming what?", pastel on paper, 1988.

aptly titled for a guy who hasn't posted anything on this blog for eight months ... and the answer to the question is a book in itself - a good book - because it has been one of the most artistically productive years of my life in terms of setting objectives and achieving them ...

no fanfare, grandstanding, or heaps of public adulation - quite the contrary - just slow, methodical, and long deliberate days of hard work with a pile of personal breakthroughs ...

"views of a secret" #2 ...

2009-04-29T19:45:00.001-04:00

22"h x 30"w, ink on vellum, 4.'09.

the "turnaround" ...

2009-03-19T20:20:00.015-04:00

process: december '08 - march '09

final installation 3-19-09 ...

"placid blues" ...

2009-02-28T10:06:00.016-05:00

the development of "placid blues" ...
[ 14 images ]

3.5'h x 16.5'w, acrylic paint on wood.
november 2008 - february 2009.

equestrian ...

2008-12-05T10:15:00.007-05:00

equestrian, 11-2008. 36"h x 80"w.

two details ...

vertiginous ...

2008-11-17T10:13:00.003-05:00

Vertiginous, 10-2008. 80"H x 96"W.
Acrylic paint on wooden panels.

vertiginous - details ...

2008-11-17T10:01:00.009-05:00

details [2] - each approximately 8"h x 12"w ...

CODA ...

2008-11-08T08:27:00.006-05:00

CODA, 1991.
Three-colored lithograph on D’Arches paper.
Size: 41.5”H x 29.5”W.
Limited edition of 30 signed prints.
Paul Harryn Studios © 1991

a three-color, limited edition lithograph - printed on D’Arches paper at the Rutger’s Center
for Innovative Printmaking.

CODA will be part of a group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City during 2010.

CODA is among the permanent collections of prints at the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Berman
Art Museum, and the Zimmerli Museum ...

CODA, by definition, is a system of signals - such as light, images, or sound, used to send messages.

This limited edition of thirty, hand -made prints was part of an extensive body of work by the artist
between 1988 and 1992 entitled: “Signals and Cells”.

artist's notes:
the artist as a conduit - the brain as palette -
neurology, dendrite, synapse - branches -
impenetrable landscapes - the organization of a
thought ...

dna structures, spirals, moon tigers, the spinal
column, nerve centers, ancient symbolism,
alchemy, fertility symbols, apparitions,
mysticism ...

the crescent moon occulting venus and mars,
sun dogs, astrological symbols, pi, unified
theories, mechanical rotations, clockwork,
native american ritual, sha’la’ko, desert
darkness, petroglyphs, shaman scepters,
paint brushes, and spiritual awakenings ...

the marvelous reality, the ineffable core, the
aleph, time ghosts, water memory ...

The images contained in CODA were the subject of hundreds of paintings and drawings that were exhibited in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and the Lehigh Valley; with one-person shows and catalogs from the Berman Museum and Lehigh University.

Artwork from this series has been distributed to private, corporate, and museum collections throughout the U.S. and Europe.

CODA was printed at Rutger’s Center for Innovative Printing in New Jersey under the supervision of Master Printer, Eileen Foti. The process involved manipulating, treating, and
aligning three massive litho stones with techniques developed by the artist to yield the highest quality printing of original art.

[seven of twelve remaining prints are being offered at $1,500 per print ... ]

4 of 64, i-ching paintings ...

2008-05-22T15:37:00.001-04:00

smaller paintings ...

2008-04-28T15:54:00.007-04:00

studio shots of recent work ...

2008-04-15T12:57:00.002-04:00

larger works ...

2007-12-13T10:27:00.000-05:00

seven heavens, 1993-96.
acrylic paint veiled on canvas.
7' h x 17' w

large scale works # 1 - 2007 ...

2007-12-11T12:27:00.001-05:00

' body electric ', 7'h x 9'w.
acrylic paint on wood panels.
© 2007

large scale works # 2 - 2007 ...

2007-12-11T12:23:00.000-05:00

' still water ', 7'h x 9'w.
acrylic paint on wood panels.
© 2007

large scale works # 3 - 2007 ...

2007-12-11T12:20:00.001-05:00

' break ', 7'h x 9'w.
acrylic paint on wood panels.
© 2007

large scale works # 4 - 2007 ...

2007-12-11T12:16:00.000-05:00

' where we live ', 7'h x 6'w.
acrylic paint on wood panel.
© 2007

large scale works # 5 - 2007 ...

2007-12-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

' the fall ', 7'h x 6'w.
acrylic paint on wood panel.
© 2007

large scale works # 6 - 2007 ...

2007-12-11T11:52:00.001-05:00

' river ', 7'h x 6'w.
acrylic paint on wood panel.
© 2007

body electric - details ...

2007-12-10T13:58:00.000-05:00

drawing ...

2007-12-02T11:17:00.000-05:00

to draw - to produce an image using lines or marks on a surface; using ones’ experience to obtain something from a source; allow air to flow in and upward freely so a fire can burn; take in a breath; left standing for flavor extraction; disembowelment; be the cause of a particular response; to remove; attract, induce to reveal or do something; reach a conclusion by deduction or inference from a set of circumstances; formulate or perceive; finish with an even score; an act of selecting components randomly - dragen, tragen ...

meandering lines, no intent or design - pen to paper - moment by moment - energy, split second commitments - building facts of indifference to gradual interest - evidence - focal distraction - referential attraction - when the eye seems stayed, add another page - natural flows, chi to the pen tip - surface resistance - size, pressure, weight - experience - physics of knowing - intuition - rendition - obliteration - focused attention - balance and harmony - lines looking true to the moment - like music would look - energy passed ...

gorky - tiepolo - twombley - picasso - gehry - hunt - marden - mompo - dufy - masson - kandinsky - rothko - rembrandt - pollock - kline - christo - serra - rockborne - seurat - de chirico - michelangelo - carravagio - ruebens - da vinci - massachio - giotto - duer - klimpt - cezanne - de kooning - miro - beuys - van gogh ...

mind map drawings ...

2007-12-01T10:38:00.000-05:00

mind maps, 1 - 3 [ left to right ] .

mind maps, 4 - 6 .

mind maps, 7 - 9 .

mind maps, 1 - 9 . ink on paper. 9" h x 12" w. © november, 2007.

diving ...

2007-11-13T18:38:00.001-05:00

what else do i know but painting ...
my earliest memories ...
finding joy, comfort, discovery, peace, sorrow, excitement, and my ‘self’ through painting, drawing, and making things ...
to what end ?
to serve - to be of service - to contribute - to provide something to society, to fulfill a need ...

i always knew that the job wasn’t going to be easy,
and not one that was going to be easy to learn -
the best examples are usually dead tragic heroes ...
or the living wanting,
or the living consumed by their own ego,
or the living insulated, isolated, and aloof ...
the few i knew or know -
just keep working, honing, modifying, and hoping ...
the joy of discovery and accomplishment often offset
by disappointments of translation;
not having been ‘got’,
missing ‘it’ -
coupled with the danger of peer-bound affections ...

the world needs shelter, medicine, fuel, electricity, and food - even stories and music ...
but what once fed the soul seems to be in short demand ...
and maybe it was always that way ...
the peasants didn’t need their church ceilings painted -
but it added to reverence and illustrated a point,
cavemen ‘marked’ their territory and planned their hunt,
the ancients’ homage to deities and glorification of man [or whatever ‘ideals’ suited the plan],
the moderns to illustrate the ineffable or the scope and speed of information [maybe futility and greed - or not] ...

and maybe today, in this short history of art making, its’ about the singularity of purpose under whatever - nothing and everything - the full spectrum of speculation - survival, sustaining, what ...
that ‘unbearable lightness of being’
that thin skin of separation between life as we know it
and what we’ve come to believe ...

maybe art has always been a power tool;
to control, to illustrate, to emulate,
to impress, address, bemuse, or amuse the masses ...
maybe how ‘it’ is used is less important
than finding a use for ‘it’ ...
finding function among stuff;
grease for gears,
fuel for fires -
conscience or meaning ...

i paint or draw everyday -
it defines me ...
it’s never without challenges,
difficulties, technical issues, etc.,
but always unwavering in satisfaction -
such a gift;
one that i could only liken to woodworking, pottery,
and music - a zen experience [chan, quietude] -
perhaps more ...

lately i find myself
between things,
wanting and waiving -
questioning and knowing -
gratitude and despair ...
self indulgence,
to self denial ...

just thinking ...

2007-10-23T11:04:00.000-04:00

lists keep getting longer. time seems to be getting shorter - though i am much more aware of the present lately - with every move i make - from shoulders, to ankles, to hips, and knees - the pain of every movement makes the present so much less of a gift [or painfully aware of it] - 'til i lose myself in books and reading, in writing and painting, in planning and working, in prayer, meditation, meetings, people, nature, ...
when my mind isn’t engaged, my body revolts ...
funny thing about time - simultaneously accurate and vague, but we are all held accountable - aren’t we?

5;30 am - predawn wake up in early october to the sound of darkness, rain, and falling leaves. everything reverberates a little thinner with more distance as the backdrop of foliage recedes with the light. only a month or so ago i was awakened half an hour earlier by forest activity that mimicked times square on a saturday night [minus the horns, sirens, and rudeness - with the exception of a couple of crow]. it’s difficult to be excited without the excitement.
so those of us without ample sun and warmth become task oriented and ‘responsible’ to fulfill or fortify whatever cause that defines us.
the ‘yin’ of year depends upon self generated motivation.

the ending summer sunlight
struggles through my room
blushing trees
with autumn’s breeze
that opens winters’ tomb ...
[circa 1963, minersville,pa]

since my heritage is baltic, i’m probably hardwired to respond so emotionally to the onset of winter. what was it like for my plebeian ancestors - what did they endure - and choose to continue to endure on a daily basis [obviously, or i wouldn’t be here]?

to return ...

she silently hovers ...
with confidence,
like no others ...

floating above me ...
velvet and star light,
luminous highlights ...

larger than thought ...
breath of wonder
perfect in form,
pausing in silence ...
vanished,
to return ...

maybe i lured her ...
my beacons of light -
from forest and darkness,
under cover of night ...

through oceans of space ...
eternity amplified,
in pulsating cries ...

the prowl made her come ...
risking exposure,
with cautious abandon ...

to return ...
insatiably perplexed,
knowing her presence
may form regret.

[july,2003 - raubsville,pa]

4:30 a.m. today - take another hour away - yesterday didn’t seem long enough - so add another hour of consciousness and a little less sleep. sleep for what? to heal, to rest, to dream, to forget, to remember, to refresh, to rehearse, ...
if you take away all the things you think you need, what’s left?
if the things you think you need are taken away, what do you do?
the will to survive, the ability to adapt, ...
basic instincts in the 21st century?
aspiration or assimilation?
to hold or to reach, to endure or to hope, to need or to want,
to be or to dream, ...

thoughts meander through a serpentine of bumper realities keeping me caught between dreams and diminishing schemes as i lean into the fall season clung upon a base belief for relief from what i feel might be a heart breaking beginning of tumultuous ends without means or meanings or will to pretend what gives hope in surrender and loss of defense to a life spent for nothing but art and repents.

pervasive - the need - to apply paint and color, color upon color, to blend, shift, and move paint, to create and eliminate everything but the experience for edification; the essentials - line, color, fields, zones, context, and perhaps meaning, perhaps nothing more than the experience of time or life with paint and painting; abstracted beyond fundamental surroundings or reality and somewhat superficial as its surface reflects only portions of passion of what is known of life and loss today ... scattered scraps in an arena where the most respected survived ... and why ...

some truth is - what lies - behind a painting
for the moment - without defense or offense - just to see, to experience the moment with paint, in paint; the alchemists’ ritual of discovery attached to something ‘otherly’ ...
experience that ...
and what if ? if i obliterate what i’ve worked so hard to accomplish - to paint over - with the hope and blind faith that i could create something more; perhaps better, different, relevant ...who else, but a painter, alchemist, or lunatic would go beyond asking ...
only what dreamers begin to do ...
‘a terrible wound’ ... six syllables spoken like a sneeze with shock and relief ...a mantra of profound distress ... a breath and release ... gone to forever ...
the ‘thing’ and where it is ...
places and things ...

think about the changes - adapt to the ‘new world order’ - bring the art[studio] to the people if they don’t come to the art[studio] - since my work is seasonal, i can reduce my expenses by bringing the studio to climates and locations that provide inspiration, venues, and potential clients.

why zone - why the need to categorize, bracket, and isolate ...
to define the entity(ies) for their intrinsic value, purpose, or use ...
why judge - why not simplify: elements in a field of neutrality - why the elements in the first place - other than to compare their relationships under different circumstances/conditions - a leaf on a tree - in a forest, is an element in context - rather than a leaf on a road, or in the water, etc. - the other contexts have their own defining characteristics - what about an expressionistic mark upon a surface [the leaf] - definitely an urge to respond to something (environment, ideas, mental/physical condition) or communicate to someone or your ‘self’ - why isn’t the mark and the surface enough [as in the case of kline, dekooning, moses, et al] - or is it the assemblage of multiple marks: their difference, sameness, and survival of the ‘edit’ that makes them more appealing, provocative, relational... - in different contexts and degrees of editing - a picture of surviving parts - parts with their own evolutionary cycle -

so much of everything - what difference does anything make - a friend with a new cd explained all its virtue - what if i got it - how would i listen to it - would i have time to really hear it - would i be prejudiced by my own taste, experience, or conditions of exposure - would it matter - or would it be just another dilettantes’ fetish ...

walt whitman said, ‘be sure you dream large enough so you don’t lose sight while chasing them’.

the business world today ...
heard something last evening; with everything changing as fast as it does today, everything becomes a ‘crisis’. the speed of information - entropy - five year plans becoming five day plans - adaptability, merging, and blending into the grand scheme of things - and who knows what the scheme is beyond survival ...

changing views ...

2007-09-18T15:59:00.000-04:00

views from and of my drafting room/office - usually the last things i see at night and the first things in the morning: works in progress, color swatches, lists, and an abundance of nature. no wonder the work has become so 'informed' - even the moving light and shadow are corralled in this recent series. the summer has yielded a good crop of large-scale paintings and numerous ideas for works on paper and smaller studies.

an inside job ...

2007-09-17T08:37:00.000-04:00

i've been flirting with a bunch of paper work for the past six months, but have been distracted by the beautiful weather and working outside. with temps dipping to around 40 last night it's time to begin to rekindle that relationship. it always works out for the best because of the advances made with the large-scale paintings. to sweeten the project i just received a new shipment of 'golden' materials. in the immediate future (on the table) are a series of 'four eyes' and another four based on twombly's 'seasons'.

bridges ...

2007-09-16T10:23:00.000-04:00

left to right:
#1 - g. tiepolo, 'chariots of the sun'.
#2 - high contrast of 'chariots of the sun'.
#3 - 'chariots of the sun', 2006, harryn.
acrylic paiont on paper.

macro + micro + real ...

2007-09-15T14:09:00.000-04:00

top left: a nasa view of los angeles (the pacific at bottom).
top right: close up of detail from 'river' © 2007.
lower left: microscopic view of dust.
lower right: close up detail of 'body electric', © 2007.