Pots: An explanation

Every once in a while, I'll get an email from someone, inquiring about one of my works. Often, they'll want to use one of my images, or will ask for more information about the inspiration for a specific work.

With Summer ramping up--visitors coming soon, and prepartation for the Abiquiu Studio Tour well under way, I've decided to use this time to answer questions and/or reflect on the processes (both intellectual and physical) that have inspired some of my pieces.

As always, your comments and questions are warmly welcomed!

Pots, 2003, Oil on canvas

Pots is a still life--a collection of my handbuilt pots from the "Mouth of the Pot" series. Doing this painting was another means for me to explore my ideas about the mouth of a pot, and to take something traditional (a still life) and breathe new life into it. It almost becomes an "inside joke" for me, because one needs to know something about my art in order to understand this painting. At the same time, I'm inviting the viewer to seek more information: Why is the painting called Pots? Is it a painting of actual pots, or is it just something made up from the artists' imagination? I could have titled it The Mouths of Pots, and perhaps that would have been more appropriate, but it also would have been too easy. That would had led the viewer to say to him/herself, "Oh, okay. I get it," and then move on. For me, personally, this is what pots should look like--complete with mouths. Hence, the simpler (if more cryptic!) title.

When I first heard the phrase, "the mouth of the pot," this is the image that instantly popped into my mind. This happens me a lot, in fact. A phrase that is quite common and easily understood by many is metamorphosed in my mind into a very visual, graphic image. Often, the only way I can lose this image from my mind is to turn the image into a 2-D or 3-D representation.

Doing Pots, using only black & white, allowed me to explore the shapes with more intensity. Removing the color, and paring the painting down to its most basic, brought the sculptural qualities of the pots back to me. This method also put each of the pots on the same plane--none was more important than the other. They're merely a collection of pots, like the many faces in a crowd--each is unique in its own right, but also one of many. Each has its own expression--different, but equal.

Finally, to address Pots from the still life point of view: Every artist does, or has done still life paintings. With some artists, that's all they do, and they're very good at it. Though I wouldn't say this to those particular artists, I'll tell you that the typical still life usually puts me to sleep. I'd almost rather roll over and die than do a still life. But it also represents a very important aspect of art in general, and is prominent throughout Art History. And so this is my version of a still life--my contribution to that very important role of art in the history of humankind.