"A Shift is Coming..." (Painting Trilogy)

Boy.....time flies when you are having fun LOL. Or at least for me, time evaporates the more I spend in the studio, and that is a GOOD thing y'all. So happy to announce that I have completed my first trilogy of new paintings that represent new ideas about application and subject matter. To arrive at such a creative output is one that started with me realizing I didn't want to paint the same style again. This doesn't mean I don't like my older paintings, but I knew I needed to change, to move forward as an artist. And change is hard for me. Just ask my mom LOL. But seriously, I knew something was needed to begin painting again. And after a huge creative output for the Emerging Artist Grant that I completed in June, for the South Carolina Arts Commission, it was time to refresh.

So to move forward, I had to get back to my roots. What made me believe that art was my future. My love of drawing. For two months, I spent each day (and continue this practice today) of drawing something, anything on paper. The intent with this practice was to reconnect to why I love art so much. To express myself. I purchased a Basquiat book and each time I drew, I studied this painter I love so much. What quickly materialized for me was that text and icons where important to me as an artist. So why were they not showing up in my paintings? Fear? Maybe. Lack of confidence...definitely. I decided not to overthink the drawings and just allow them to happen naturally. This was important.

And after two months, I started a painting and didn't stop until the three paintings above where completed. I will admit, it was hard. Sometimes very difficult to understand why I was doing this, but today, November 9th, I see that it all makes sense. These three paintings not only speak to my current abstract practice but help me identify subject matter I grew up drawing. Characters. Text. Icons. And I love all three!

Sense completing the three paintings, I have started a large painting in response to these three paintings, and hope to exhibit them all in February 2024, at Park Circle. I feel the momentum pushing me to see where these paintings land. I love that my studio is filled with paintings from this year that really show a transition that I had not expected. Add to the studio experience of making clothes as well as painting and it is a unique way to express myself. And I am at peace with this.

Rolf