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Art Story for Vincent Van Gogh's Super Starry Night. |
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Vincent Van Gogh's Super Starry Night was supposed to be my very first painting. It would be the creation that announced to the world, “Nothing else matters but ART!” Like so many aspirations, the accomplishment of that project (Dali's Persistence of Memory) evolved and re-evolved countless times. The result still is not properly displayed, folded up in it's Europe Bag, stacked in the attic. The original idea had Mike, Carrie, Jay and me completing it on 1 canvas of 30 some odd sheets sewn together and laid out on The Olde English tennis courts with buckets of paint and mops in a single night. And we really believed we could do it! The painting that took it's place was much smaller and took 6 months of work, a six month hiatus, and another 6 hectic months to finish. Lots of life changing events occurred during it's gestation that has become part of the masterpiece. If anything can be explained about a piece of ART is that it's intentions are never realized and it's meaning never remains the same. |
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7 years later with a much better understanding of what I wanted to do as an Artists, I began VVG's SSN again for the first time. My experience with Art Inside the Park, working Christo and Jean-Claude's The Gates, and my first solo show taught me the importance of following through with unrealized ART. Some things nag and itch until one figures out a way to bring them into existence. The argument for ART is not a debate I believe in engaging. Creating Superart, however, is something that can only be achieved through constant effort, undying love of process and the will to actualize one's talents and resources.
The historic influences of my work can be proven from the manner in which it was accomplished. Dada and Pop, Nihilism and the Absurd permeniate VVG's SSN's creation. I used Carrie's grandma's twin box spring mattress, stripped to the wood for a frame that was larger than needed. I stretched sheets bought from second hand stores which were queen or king, light colored, some with prints. Taking 2” from each side to square it off, I measured the 138.2 x 110.6 centimeter rectangle and gridded it into 16ths with a sharpie. I then gessoed only the dimensions with a watered down mixture 5 times until one could barely still see the lines. Since I was painting 64 panels without a space to put them together, I decided to do them in random order. I wrote the numbers 1 through 64 in my notebook and cut them into little squares, wadded them up and dumped in a glass chicken. Carrie chose one out every time I started another and I taped what got completed back in the notebook in order of completion. I estimated it would require about a year, after I really got going I pumped one out about every 5 days. The 2006 World Cup interrupted for a month and Dali's Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory got created. |
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My Working Proposal is a very accurate representation of the project. MOMA was the obvious choice for the Wall of Completion and should be its ultimate place of exhibition. Not only is it a great space, Van Gogh's original is there along with the Dali, too. That museum, or perhaps a Guggenheim, is the preeminent venue to validate the importance of this work.
The Van Gogh Obsession runs through all of my art. His legand shapes what I believe an artists to be. Part of the myth contends a painting a day over several years. No matter how good or bad, genius or trash, inspired or copied, the sheer quantity of work should be the aspiration of human activity and the sublime.
To date, I believe this ART is the greatest accomplishment of my 15 years of visual creations. Art everyday is not only a tenent of my life, but may be the most important realization of existence. VVG's SSN is the epitome of beauty and a celebration of what it means to be The Artist. |
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