re-visons

November late field II



This field painting is revised.  It is a re-vision of my last post's image, a tweek.  The goldenrod-like passages are a bit stiffer/drier than before.  (They were just a bit "damp" or merged with the other in the previous painting, I decided.)  Words are difficult explainers when the tweeks are so slight.  Can you see the difference?  Please excuse me this revision; I did think the painting was finished when I posted it here.

Jack Levine talked about his troubles finishing paintings.  His gallery would send a truck to pick up a painting, and the truck would go back, empty, time and time again.  Also, this "trouble" of his:  I remember a truly wonderful large painting of Susanna as a child that hung in their living room whenever I was there (first, when I was studying with Ruth and then, when visiting); Jack would ocassionally gaze upon it and remark that maybe it would be finished soon.  When I first heard this comment, Susanna was a young married woman.!

We re-do, don't we, all of us, even if we are not painters.  Something about respect for the subject there, isn't there?

commemorations

a painting by Nathan Oliveira



Nathan Oliveira died this week.  His paintings are good; I recommend you see them whenever you can.  They move and yet they also are paintings, still.

Jack Levine died November 8th.  His paintings are good, even great.  I know of no one who has better drawing and painting skill or storytelling range:  paintings of Jack's can be large, breathing big, pulsing--and glittering with light--even if the canvas surface is not so very large.  Look for his paintings.  You will see them in many museums, with the Goyas, the Rembrandts, the masters.  (Images of them are untransferable to a website.)  I commemorate his work with this recommendation for you to go look.

I knew Jack, a slim man, wry, and big in curiosity and knowledge of history, and culture and popular culture.  His paintings and drawings and prints have thrilled me, they thrill me still. 

Happy Birthday Jack Levine

January 9th is Jack Levine's 95th birthday.  Jack is a great painter.  I've followed his work and visited him infrequently ever since, years ago, I apprenticed with Ruth, a terrific painter, Jack's wife, Susanna's mother.

An exhibition of Jack's paintings will open at DC Moore Gallery in New York City:  this Saturday, January 9, is the opening reception and celebration of his birthday.  Let us honor him and (re)view his awesome works, in museums of many of the cities of the world or, for now:  dcmooregallery.com/levine.htm.  Cheers, Jack!