Blending Time ...

 

Blending Time
aluminum, wood, paint
36"H x 48"W
2020

CODA ...

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 ... ]

diving ...

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 ...

macro + micro + real ...

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.