Spurgeon East II • 2004, oil on panel, 12 x 8 inches
This small 2004 painting is included in the Recent Acquisitions Exhibition at The University of Arizona Museum of Art. On view from March 28th through August 16th 2015.
Afternoon Sun I, Carbon Canyon • Joe Forkan 2015 10 x 10 inches
Here are a few park paintings I’ve done over the last couple of months. These are really an excuse to look at color and engage the shifting winter light, which moves very quickly, and has a greater subtlety than summer light. I can’t always get out for a longer, more remote painting trip, and regional parks afford an opportunity to get in a days painting without a lot of planning.
Afternoon Sun II, Carbon Canyon • Joe Forkan 2015 10 x 10 inches
I’m in the early stages of a new body of work, and even brief sessions in the landscape seem to sharpen my sensitivity to color and help me maintain a certain aggressiveness to my paint handling in the studio.
Winter Tree Study • Joe Forkan 2015 12 x 12 inches
Victory Dance • Joe Forkan 1999 • 48 x 24
I recently participated in the Facebook Art challenge (artists on Facebook posting 3 images each day for 5 days). I put up some work I hadn’t posted before, and decided to post it to the blog as well. Here are some early pieces from the late 90’s. These are from a series that I did thinking about the mutability of memory. I painted these using old, vernacular photos – mostly thrift stores finds, as a starting point, and also used a few photos from some very old family photo albums.
The Bridge • Joe Forkan 1998 48 x 60
These paintings were initially blocked in with spray paint on wood panels with about a dozen coats of gesso on them. The images were then worked with a power sander, sanding blocks, clay tools, sculpture chisels, thick oil glazes and impasto.
The Dance • Joe Forkan 1997 24 x 32
The process got repeated until the surfaces were pretty tortured. Most of them were then screwed into massive, welded, rusted angle iron frames. The big ones must’ve weighed more than 60 lbs. Really stress tested the gallery walls…
Relics of Misremembrance I • Joe Forkan 1998 35 x 16
Relics of Misremembrance II • Joe Forkan 1998 41 x 14
Reunion • Joe Forkan 1997 32 x 24
Masks of Time • Joe Forkan 1998 24 x 38
Ballinglen • Joe Forkan 2014 Oil on Linen 22 x 28
Here is another painting from the Grid Work series. This one is based on an observational painting I did while in residence at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ireland in 2010.
Spurgeon Tower Rooftops • Joe Forkan 2013 Oil on Linen 48? x 28?
This painting from 2013 is included in the Laguna Art Museum’s upcoming Art Auction 2015, set for Feb. 7th. The week-long Art Auction 2015 preview exhibition is now on view to the public.
Another addition to the Grid Work series, I used a completed observational painting as a starting point. This one is studio view in Santa Ana.
More information about the piece and the series is here.