- RED RABBIT 7 -

The view from Piso 2

Buenos días,
Midna, my wife and I crash-landed in a beautiful foreign world two weeks ago,
all thrusters burnt out, jettisoned all the couches, cupboards, tools, tables,
dinnerware and other useless items so our wings may spread unhindered. The
world is wonderfully upside down, the second floor is actually the eighth and
eight seventy pound suitcases while waging a war of stamina against my second
rodeo with covid may possibly equate to about 2% of what it feels like to give
birth.. or die.. and so reborn in a new neighborhood named, ironically, Born.
Been at the Barcelona Academy of Art a few days every week now and its
refreshing to be back amongst a throbbing tribe of artists young and old
who’ve discovered that dedicating their lives to art is the life which sings in
harmony with their soul.

Discussing and absorbing rhetorics of structure vs. expression and which

should be learned when, or applied how. Watching the daily grind of the
students as they draw for accuracy and life from live models all day, everyday,
as the days of the artist are never with partitions, but all one flowing
experience. Even a walk in the park is part of the artists’ job, only a clear mind
can tap into the depths required to pull from within something yet unseen. I
think what we artists glean from that sort of reflection should be case enough
for all industries and companies to require a paid hour’s walk for their
employees. Time to reflect in our lives is being pushed out by the screens we
place in our faces.
We discussed the use of materials, when, how, why should we use such
materials to cover a surface? The answer is the that we shouldn’t wonder how
to cover a surface, but why to move pigments in the first place: to create in
reality and object that appears and speaks the dream in the mind. And so the
answer to what materials to use becomes not a brand, shape, or bar code.. but
anything which most succinctly transmits the dream in the mind to the form
in reality which the artist is trying to express themselves with. Hence how the
true masters of our humanity can be as diverse as spittled red ochre on cave
walls, Whistler’s Brush across linen canvases, an upside down toilet seat, or
the elephant ivory keys of a recumbent harp.
But to speak soliloquies as adults we had to drool our ABC’s as children. To
express great thoughts as the likes of Whitman, Emerson, Shakespeare or
Marcus Aurelius we only needed to spend time experiencing how to use more
and more words. No baby speaks great monologues, and so too must every
artist spend the arduous time necessary to learn the ability to depict what
they can observe directly in reality, so as to speak with a poetry on canvas,
and not a 4th grader’s book report.

There is no excuse for not mastering a simple technique. All artists are simply
great amalgamations of fully understood simple techniques. What that gives
them is the ability to know precisely what sound they will be making when
they strike any key on the keyboard, how it will flow or punch based on the
directness of their finger’s caress which may seem to come instinctually, but
instinct again is just a buildup of well known experiences. It shortens the time
a thought spends getting lost between the artists mind and their creation,
thereby increasing the understanding between the viewer and the artist.
It is training and practice alone which clears the limitations of an artists worst
enemy, the disconnect between their inner soul and the reality of it which
they are attempting to create. I picture an apple in my mind, but am limited
in my ability to show others how I see it myself. Remove that limitation and
revolutions can be started, masterpieces made, and humanity one step closer
to connectedness.

The student removes the limitations through daily practice. The true artist is
practicing being a student through their entire life. Beyond the practice of
skills lies the study of your inner self. Knowing the “what are you trying to
say” is as important as knowing how to say it. The multitude of answers to
figuring out that dilemma lie in the moments of silence outside of our
societies distractions. It lies in the absorption of multiple different life
experiences so that we may more easily understand our own place in this
world, and how to better guide ourselves. The more an artist experiences, the
more refined their understanding of themselves.. and that is how one can
answer the “what am I, or should I, say?!” with one’s art.
An artist cannot simply be told how to do something and fully understand
great intricacies. There are no shortcuts, and in as much, the gatherer of
 experience becomes the master.

“Every mind must know the whole lesson for itself - must go over the whole
ground. What it does not see, what it does not live, it will not know.”
R.W.Emerson
As I sit here in a temporary studio while we procure our future refuge in the
forests, working within the constrains of a traveler's supplies and the fading
light of my body on a huge rotating sphere hovering in space preventing me
from seeing the art I draw, I am forced with the kind encouraging open palm
of nature to wander out upon the balcony and revel in the night sky hanging
still above a bustling city where other horn playing artists below are belting
out their memories of loss with such beauty it leaves you stunned and silent.
Life. And choosing to hunt for the rewards of openminded curiosity will
enrichen a soul to its fullest in this brief span of time we are here borrowing
the clothes we shuffle around in until they are buried in the ground with the
rest of our trash. No acceptance of that stubborn love of comfort for too long
lest we grow antiquated. Choose to change at the times when we are most
settled, the comfort lies in our ability to live, the ability to handle any
experience life brings our way for we’ve chosen to try them all, not in the
objects with which we surround ourselves with.

“No man can antedate his experience, or guess what faculty or feeling a new
object shall unlock, any more than he can draw today the face of a person
whom he shall see tomorrow for the first time.” R.W.E.
Meanwhile, despite the brief grunts and groans from students and teachers
alike, skills must be built. Why such big guns without any ammo? And as Ivan
Loginov said beautifully, “You must have a good basement.” :D Translations
make for the most beautiful of poetry! I love it, a beautiful term for
foundations. The grunts are brief though, for any artist who despises their
basement foundations will have a collapsing career, the true artist knows
practice and learning bring the daily vitamins necessary for a healthy soul to
express itself. Vitamins from the fruit and roots, not from false manufactured
and quick cures.

Ivan was a joy to meet, a master of likeness and technique with a heart of
gold, wit, sincerity and a humble wisdom, a night shared by all multitudes of
different students within the safety of the art world.. sheltered, underground,
and everlasting. Amidst a world torn apart we find art binds the hearts of
humans together without prejudice. The desire to share our emotional
experiences with others who too feel there is a deeper meaning to life than
our society tricks us into believing. It seems difficult for me to find another
example in the world where Europeans, Indians, Muslims, Asians, Russians,
Ukrainians, Americans, Africans and more stand under the same roof with
the same ideals flowing through the cores of their souls. The art world shows
us that we are all connected more deeply than the labels our society places
upon us, tries to separate us, to divide and to conquer us. While the sick and
narrowminded folks of the social media lifestyle slandered the school with all
kinds of defamatory and senseless remarks, the rest of us here shared
moments it seems even the leaders of great countries can’t comprehend.
Perhaps why artists are renown for their revolutionary ways, they see clearly
the path to take that is best for humanity as a whole and accept no
bureaucracy or bribe to impede them. Here we are driven by the desire to
know how to best express ourselves clearly, so that we can more easily
communicate with, and therefore understand each other’s experience in this
condition we all share.. the condition of being human in sea of humans
amidst the vastness of the universe. A whirlpool of individuals incapable of
understanding each other, for we lack the courage to introduce ourselves in a
language the other can understand. Daily I ask for a coffee in the worst
Spanish muttered in Spain followed by a great awkward grin, as art has
taught me the importance of humbling the ego to dissipate all
miscommunication and welcome in understanding. I’ve met more warm
hearted responses this way than many tourists I see barking unintelligibly
over counters and tables. In Art we learn the vocabulary which speaks to the
soul so the miscommunication of our bodies is alleviated, so the disease of
our day, indifference and ignorance, can be sanitized.
We take a train across the low hills to the Museum of Granollers where my
friend Barnat hosts a packed exhibition of recent works. The skinniest of our
party of eight embarking on a new year’s adventure to paint in the knee deep
Pyrenees snows of Andorra. The hardest part of plein air painting in the snow
is knowing when the love of painting becomes dangerous to your core
temperature! But there is no better way to paint the snow, than knee deep in
its fluff. Can’t wait to paint again with these guys, the acceptance and
differences amongst styles and visions encourages such great results!

Meanwhile I reluctantly joined the long drawing evening workshops at the

Academy. Reluctantly only because long poses bore me!! I had so many in my
life and I’m too excited by change to devote time to my proportions and
likenesses again, especially when my traveler’s setup isn’t conducive to good
results. Then again, its not the studio which makes the artist.. but a
personalized setup is like a properly tuned guitar.. tuned to the artist, not to
the standards. I deal with what I can and try to remind myself to “try harder
stupid!” (not with more focus, but with more openness…) But it’ll be good to
get back to some of that long pose drawing in the new studio to reiterate the
importance of dedicated observation, always invigorating to revisit old skills,
I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the observations learned in a
long pose session.
So I started with the guy on the top right, but when he took a break to stretch
I did the 10 second torso’s below and reminded myself to draw how I desire,
conditioning myself within the environment, and not allowing the
environment to dictate me. Thoroughly enjoyed myself and invigorated
amongst all the dedicated students, can’t wait to confuse them all!
A few other short sketches to pass the time.. Drawing a subject once is a good
way to learn and drawing them from multiple angles multiplies that
knowledge tenfold. Despite how exhausted one might feel after the first
attempt, the exaltation of surpassing the struggle is also rewarded with equal
multitudes.

And finally… finally I have been able to experience the exhibition I’ve been
waiting for over 3 years to witness. My friend Jordi Diaz Alamà’s Exhibition
of Dante’s Devine Comedy with the collaboration of sculptor Gregorz Gwiazda
- it was even more than I could have imagined, and only half of the body of
works were present. The exhibition began in the MEAM in Barcelona last
year, now in the Museum of Granollers, the artists home town, then on to
Poland and more cities to come. I will be wandering in front of this show for
as many opportunities as I can, and if any artist were to ask me of a good
pilgrimage to take now, I wouldn’t mention any institution of art to visit
except wherever this show is exhibiting. While the Prado, the Tretyakov, the
Orsay and all the other institutions have great works to marvel at for years,
this exhibition is of the same quality but with a living artist of our era. Its
great to oggle a Valasquez and let your mind be tricked into thinking such
great mastery is a magic of the past, but to stand before such works at the
Divine Comedy invokes a connection more direct, and ignites the inspiration
that in our days we can experience what will become an institutional
masterpiece should our humanity survive the next 100 years. Even better
reason to drop everything and make the effort to see it now, you really have
no idea how much longer you, or the things you depend on, will last! :)
If you could only envision the sounds.. the smell of frankincense and myrrh,
the wisdom of Dante’s deeper eye into the matters of our humanity… it all
swelled with energy in the spaces between these walls.

Layers of waxes, varnishes, oil paints, rips, tears, scratches, stains, the
wisdom of a classical education and the freedom of an unleashed and
unlimited artist oozes out of absolutely every square centimeter of this
gigantic room.
His work, his life rather, is a living and physical representation of what many
of my most admired and true artists alive or dead (mostly dead) have always
upheld, and that my new pal Emerson so sweetly explained:

“By a deeper apprehension, and not primarily by painful acquisition of

many manual skills, the artist attains the power of awakening other souls to
a given activity.”
The closer the eye gets, the strength of the work does not diminish, and yet
still hover somewhere around the intellect and the emotional. Such true
painting maintains its quality from 1 centimeter to 10 meters away,
remarkable expression at every level. THIS is the more which comes after
many years of ardent study, observation, and practice unleashed upon a
canvas with experience and worldly wisdom. I myself now realize how
fledgling and weak my own art has been, and yearn to express again on
canvases the freedom I’m only now learning to grasp!
A three year project of 30 large paintings which left behind a trail of studies
and smaller vignettes worthy of exhibition themselves. Although I cringe at
the suggestion, I know many who understand the difference, may not be able
to make the journey to see it in person. The catalogues which have been made
for the works are themselves pieces of art to be desired, and as a lover of art
books myself, I’ve collected all of them already.. I highly recommend you do
the same should you have any interest in painting and the fantastic work of
Dante as well. The only way I know of getting these books is to visit the
Barcelona Academy of Art itself, but perhaps you can contact them to
purchase directly. The best kept secrets take effort to unlock!
The sculptures of Gregorz Gwiazda will twist your mind and invade your
space.. they sit silently beside you radiating with emotions you will find hard
to describe, and equally hard to pull yourself away from. I met him once on a
Spanish rooftop in the night, a brilliant and wonderful soul with a vision so
true to himself its compelling. Looking forward to seeing him when this show
travels to Poland and you too should find tickets now! Train, bike, plane, or
hike.. make the most of your feet’s abilities to take you on new adventures.
Jordi and Nadezda spin endless tales of art…
Though a record on repeat, the repetition of naturally binding ideals
reiterates the many points I’ve belted out repeatedly to the seemingly insolent
walls of greed, marketing, and consumerism… “I didn’t make it to be sold, I
made it to be experienced.” and that is one strong corner of the basement to
build an art life on. We could even debate endlessly of which is more
paramount, for it to be experienced by others, or for himself to gain the
experience. To create to sell is to sell out your own soul. I do not say this
because it is easy, I repeat it because it is difficult to maintain, but must be
done at against all odds. It is what separates works of art from from
commercialism, and our society magnetizes young art minds away from the
creation of true art. Even the supreme court concedes that art is not created
with a sale in mind. Character building is the dry and finished basement of an
art education.

Greed turns us all into monsters. It turns friends into enemies as I have
experienced many times in my life, and currently with strange accusations
and demands from lost friends I once created with. It directs a soul towards
the material, toward the lavish, away from the natural and necessary. It twists
want into need and fogs the forest to lose the path at your own feet, following
only the twinkle of shinny objects. Sell cheap! I say to the young artists at the
Academy holiday party last night. For when you let go of your overvaluation
of the object you yourself have once created, value the path you are on instead
of the prints you leave behind, your voice will travel farther in the hands of
others than in your overpriced vault, and you will benefit more from the hard
work of pursuing the art life than you will from a few extra euros. We
purchased four wonderful works of art to add to our own collection, and
frankly passed by those who clearly were too concerned with money, the
quality of the artwork directly reflected the humility of the artist. That itself
should be a guide to any student wise enough to see ahead.

I was able to get back to this photoshoot with a wonderful friend and model I
created with again before leaving the states. Itching to get building the new
darkroom with all these boiling ideas for new homemade cameras and
paintings.
An artist can create something to express an idea in their mind using reality
as a reference to influence the result of their medium. I’m finding the slim
zone between simple duplication of reality and the expression of a
subconcious idea in photography to be a delicate arrow to aim.
Yet, its still just a different form of manipulating both the thing you see and
the thing you wish to create to make them both vibrate harmoniously.
Only now after 10 years of exploring my own path in photography am I
beginning to get the results I believe I was looking for 10 years ago. Only with
more devotion, time and appreciation will we arrive at truly loving the things
we love. Making that time possible is one of our biggest dilemmas, yes, but
 that doesn’t change the answer or make it any easier to attain, it just opens
the floor for excuses, the pitfall.

Looking ahead ourselves, if you haven’t already heard, there is an opportunity to

partake in just a weeks indulgence of full-on quarantine from our worldly
distractions. On a distant island in the Mediterranean, in the sprawling complex
of an 18th century isolation hospital, Nadezda, Nicolas Uribe, Emiljio Villalba,
Vincent Desiderio, Henrik Uldalen and I will be spending all hours of the day
and night sharing, instructing, guiding, discussing, and educating those who join
us in the continued exploration of creating art as individuals amongst a world of
masses. No phones, disconnected, peaceful, focused, undistracted, free… just a
taste to remind our souls of the possibilities of a dedicated and passionate life in
the hopes of making it easier to carry on bolding with that virtue.

QUARANTINE
A true place for discussion, in realty, with real people.. face to face and away
from the noise.
No phones, none of those societal SOMA pills distracting your heart from the
fantastic reality in which you exist.

And a multitude of Grants are available, from the Quarantine group, the
Museu Europeu d’Art Modern and the Island of Menorca itself! The
opportunity is there for those who truly want it. Click above for all the info
you can get.
And on that note, the FIGURATIVAS, a juried exhibition of some of the
finest figurative artworks of our age, with a painting grand prize of
20,000 Euros, 10,000 Euros for sculpture, and multiple smaller awards
for many of the quality pieces which will make it into the show.
Thousands of applicants, 80 spots open. With previous and current
jury members which include artists Antonio López García, Odd
Nerdrum, Lita Cabellut, Soledad Fernández, Luisa Granero, Jeremy
Mann, Richard Estes, Gottfried Helnwein, Nicola Samorì, Daniel
Graves, Jacob Collins, Alex Kanevsky, Konstantinos Kyrtis, Julio Lopez,
Franciso Lopez and Eduardo Naranjo.

An honor to be included in this years jury again with a fantastic group

of artists and curators of men, woman, old, and young alike spanning a
wonderfully unbiased panel..

Click above for more info and don’t be afraid to submit to any art
competition! The results are not important, Whistler himself was
denied acceptance to many Academy Awards and his resilience to
sacrifice his own values made him a master. You never know who’s eyes
will fall upon your artwork and you have to accept the possibility of
being unaccepted by others to remain an artist in this world… well, to
be human in fact!

That is all for now for updates upon this adventure. I hope you find the
energy and clarity in your days to look above the distractions and the
stress and see that you are alive, a creature that can choose, and a
unique one amongst the billions at that.

And as always…

Calvin said it best.. “Let’s go exploring!”

Scratches from the kitchen table.. a reference technique inspired by my
endlessly creative wife, a favorite pastime which comes when fully at
peace and undistracted.. a place I find mostly alone with her and our
cat, and soon in our future home in isolated forests.

HUGS,

JEREMY

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Solo Exhibition - November 2022 - The Principle Gallery, VA, USA

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