Abstract: Falling Down

[scottb]

Hi gang - this is my first post in a while. Actually, this is the first time I've been able to put brush to canvas in many months.

This is an 18x24, oil on canvas - impasto - entitled "Falling Down".

This is an abstract piece - in fact, my last few pieces have drifted to abstract, from the landscape. I wonder if that's normal? I think its because I simply don't have the time, which leads to lack of patience.

At any rate, there is a story here - can you find it?

No critiques necessary - just wanted to post my latest effort ...

Cheers.
Scott

[rsmak]

all I can see is colour and colour..I like it...try to think what it express.
rosanna

[scottb]

Yes, it is colorful, but there is a story ...

[Fagan]

What I am getting is different pedestrian and road signs. The yellow, red and green for a stop light for example. I think it means you fell down at a street crossing because you did not see the curb and the light had changed and you were not supposed to be walking. right? *SMILE*

[JeanineJ]

Glad you are painting again! The joy of your reunion with paint and canvas is evident, as is your need for rapid abstraction... In classical composition, we are taught to find the abstraction in patterns of light and dark before adding any detail... So jumping ahead to color abstraction IS, I believe, a natural progression experienced by the likes of Picasso, Klimpt, and so many abstract painters who let color rip once they could "see" their subject in the abstract... Attention to detail need not be sacrificed in the end... I saw the same street scene as Fagan! Plus a microphone in upper right announcing this event? Are you OK??? lol... Now that you're back in production, I'd like to hear your own critique of this work which may be just right as is or deserving of a little more time???

[scottb]

All, thanks for the comments. It wasn't intended to be a street scene, but I can see where one would arrive at that conclusion based on the shapes and colors used. :-)

I will refrain from posting my intent and personal interpretation a bit longer. Still hoping someone out there can decipher it.

I have to admit, although this piece strays quite a ways from my original path as an artist, I enjoyed creating it, especially given the personal meaning. I'm finding this aspect of abstracts to be satisfying - I don't feel that way about my landscapes - they are more "executed" to me ...

Cheers.
Scott

[LarrySeiler]

I'll take a stab Scott...hee hee hee.....

Well, let the ole' art teacher here look at this now.

Hhhmmm...I see the basic geometric shapes of art and design here, triangle, rectangle, circle...and coinciding with that, I see the basic colors of the color wheel represented. You've even put blue's complementary (orange) as blue's adjacent color.

Being our founder whom no doubt at times finds discouragement at the way creatives can go at each other's throats, I imagine all these things are symbolic of rules and principles that instead bring unity to a work of art, bring disunity and disharmony among artists!

Everything is attempting to balance....but is apparent its all going to tumble. After all...trying to balance on a circle is not the safest bet.

Now the top object in the upper right....could be a projectile of some sort, and about to test the theories. Oh, not test them as if they were viable, but as to whether or not they really matter as much as we make them to be. Seems to me, this artist is making a statement. Calling for more flexibility in creative systems, in why one might create to begin with. That it is redundant to confine creativity with our definitions of creativity. Such definition given goes against the aesthetic freedom that exists.

What I'm trying to imagine is if these objects are solids, or upon hitting the bottom, will all splash and mix into one.....hhmm??? We could then read into that as well!

Larry

[ZOTMA]

A story of love denied? Mixed messages (all those different signals), feeling blue and pushing away. Balanced and off balance. What I see seems personal so I'm probably wrong.

[scottb]

Wow, Larry - very close indeed!

Everything is attempting to balance, yes. And yes, the platform isn't the most stable.

You are also correct that the top object is not a microphone, but a projectile.

The question is, what/who is balancing, and what is happening around the periphery? ....

Cheers.
Scott

[Roan]

Hrm, interesting. I had come to almost the same conclusions as Larry...

now, the balancing act --

to me, there's the Family Man, The Artist and the Web Programming Guru -- all stacked up trying to balance. One ball is you. The other three balls on the bottom -- three people dependant on you? Family?

In the middle FALL, hrm, that has to be the Artist, which is suffering right now.

The square has to be the Guru, cause everyone knows logic is square

The projectile is aimed at the logic guy -- work taking up all your time?

Hrm, hrm, that's all I can get right now.

Do I get a cookie?

[Studio224]

I see someone (blue rectangle) that looks rather sad and in a fragile equilibrium. This person is about to be attacked by the green ball on the top right. I am wondering though about the violet triangle and the word fall (from falling or from autumn?)

The yellow arrow coming from the bottom maybe something trying to protect the entity...

Even though I may be reading the story in a wrong way, the general feeling here is of sadness. However I like very much the interplay between shapes and colors. It's clear that all this is symbolic.

Anne-Claire

[jerryW]

there is a certain humour of the inevitable about the sad blue door with arrows indicating a path from all directions.
a great deal of labour and still the predicted disappointment.
the pieces of the painting are all very sharply differentiated, so this is a kind of diagram as opposed to a painterlywork. the diagram permits the self to objectify the aspects of a problem to muse over it.

by separating out the pieces you can see how funny it really is. Joining them all into a oneness could also provide a friendly humour, and ddetachment and encourage healing.
The funniest thing about inevitable disappointment, is that we can deny it with impunity, and go right back and repeat.
Even funnier is that it may not be inevitable.

There I've gone on much too long about it. As a painting, however, I thik that the Blue Door is done very well, I don't like to see lettering or arrows clearly in the painting, in favour of letting those gestures evolve as the color is applied. It has potential.

[Robert]

Money's got something to do with it? Or maybe that's my own projection - I see the threat of the fall coming both from the ground the structure was built on and an outside power over which the personage in the structure has no control. Is he blue and near tears over it?

It's an anxious painting - but there's a strong, underlying confidence in it as well. There is the threat of a fall - but there is protection, too.

Bob

[Danny]

Whatever It Is I See A Great Sence Of Depth.Far And Near. Each Object Stands On Its Own.Almost Floating Some Moveing Like The Projectile At The Top!Which Has A Real Since Of Motion.Or The Yellow Guy With The Hat .Great JobHaven't Figured Out The # Symbol Yet Or The Part It Plays! Ok I'm Back After Looking More Includeing From Across The Room And Heres WhaT I Now See. The Yellow Isnt A Man With A Chinise Hat On LOL That Blu Object Is The Man Very Ballanced.But Theres Things Comming At Him From Several Directions To Throw Him Off Balance And Out Of Harmony!The Object At The Top Could Represent The World The # Means Numbers Which Could Represent Money Or A Gamble' So In Conclusion To Me It Means We Are Balanced But Theres Things That Can Throw Us Off. Even The World Or Worldly Things From The Really Important Things. And All In All Life Is After all A Gamble! The Balls At The Bottom Does Represent Family. If You Fall They Suffer Too As A Result Because Everything Will Fall On Them Too!The Reason For The Fall And The Object Attached To It Is There Is Those Who Tell Us We Won't Make It And May Even Put Objects In Our Way To Try And Keep Us From Makeing It.

[scottb]

Roan, Danny, Robert - very close!

Here we go:

The figure balancing on top of the green triangle is me. Roan, you are correct in your assumptions about that figure.

The balls (god I hate saying that), um, the spheres (!) at the bottom represent my foundation in life - family, friends, etc.

The arrow coming from the right, as well as the projectile at the top of the canvas, represent external influences - the "curveballs" of life being hurled at me. You can see from the upper right of the blue figure (me), that I've already been hit by a few things. :-(

The # does represent a gamble, money, etc. A financial side attraction in this piece.

The proverbial balancing act ....

Cheers.
Scott