This The October Paintings suite painting is underpainted twice, scraped, rubbed. then ad admixture of white paint was added to the surface, after the final underpainting layer was dry after having had its several coats of paint scraped into with palette knives. It reminds me of a creamy popsicle, but with many scarred, scraped and otherwise amended outer layers.

This is the second painting in this suite that is finished with a white paint layer and wash. There were 2 applications with scraping by painting knife and then a sharper blade. The painting is one of the most aggressively worked surfaces in the collection.

The October Paintings,

These 4×4 foot paintings are my continued experiment in the medium of painting. I intend for each work of art to be unique in its making. Different paint, mediums, brushes, rags – wet with paint, dry with paint, wet with mediums, dry rags and my own hands are used to create the works. Each of the fully completed works is allowed to dry for several weeks before it is then compared to the others in the suite to decide if more work needs to be done to the picture to my satisfaction. Paint is layered and overlaid and allowed to dry, sometimes later scraped away and repainted with or without medium. There are also several small-scale works under production that are sometimes employed as test devices for the larger works. The project is a follow-up to my Cosmos Suite of paintings, which are also still underway. Each so far is 30×40 inches or 20×24 inches. You can search for the Cosmos Suite on my blog to see the works.

This is the first painting in The October Paintings suite to employ layers of titanium zinc white as an overlay to the potent colors beneath. The work has performs as a collision of forms and colors recede and thrust forward to the painting surface.

This particular post is done in light of the incredible excitement happening in the LA artworld in this year of 2014. Several major announcements have been made of world-class international and major galleries expanding to Los Angeles, including Spruth Magers, Hauser & Wirth, Maccarone, Tanya Bonadkar, Gavlak. Other LA galleries are expanding into warehouse sized spaces including Kordansky, Various Small Fires and LA Louvre. The Mistake Room is a major new kunsthalle in Los Angeles that will focus on art not from the West. There is new gallery activity in Leimert Park, with the opening of Papillion and soon an exhibition space by Mark Bradford. Recently FIAC announced plans to expand to LA in 2015. There has never been a year in LA’s art history where so many major new venues were announced or soon forthcoming, including the Marciano Foundation for Contemporary Art and the Broad museum in downtown Los Angeles. What is happening today is light years away from the hole-in-the-wall and apartment gallery scene of the 1990’s LA artworld. I cannot lie and say that this new energy has not helped to push my practice of painting even further along that it was even 2 years ago. It is something that I am determined to be successful at – which is to produce a vast body of paintings in which my reputation as an artist will be made.

thanks

Vincent Galen Johnson

Los Angeles