Kong Kup

Kong

Porcelain press-molded, multiple glazes 

10cm high, signed and dated 2013

Sculpted this during my stay at Ullevaal in Oslo this summer. The mold is a two piece, with ears cast separately and applied. Porcelain is a tough, inflexible clay to work, but it has nice properties when scrubbed during the glaze staining.

The Rail Not Taken

Last spring during a visit to NY I overshot my stop on a subway train in Queens. Since it was only one stop I decided not to bother with taking another train in the opposite direction, but rather just exit the station and walk back to my destination above ground. Before I left the platform, accidentally arrived at, I glimpsed this interesting view of intersecting rails, glinting under lightbulbs receding into the distance of the large, Manhattan-bound tunnel.

Small mistakes, such as not getting off the train in time, give new opportunities if you remain open to them.

Dog Hill

Another nostalgic painting inspired by a photo of my father and grandfather, c. 1980. At that time we liked to camp at a place called "Dog Hill", which the family named unofficially. These names stuck naturally, probably getting sealed by a simple conversation, when grandpa, trying to clarify a spot he was discussing "You know, where we camped a few weeks ago with the dog."

The other great place to camp was "Rabbit Ridge", again named unofficially.  That would have been named very long ago, but probably due to a similar exchange-- "You know, that ridge where the rabbit hunting is so good..." This area of the Wyoming high desert is so sparsely populated, even names are rare, requiring unofficial names to describe vast areas.

The trailer in the painting was my immediate family's, used very much during the 1970s. It was a 1950s Shasta, a classic. The interior woodwork of these trailers endears them to fans. The pickup camper on the left still exists, my uncle having used it as a hut when he built a cabin near Medicine Bow about 10 years ago. The last time I saw it one of the windows had blown out--shucks! The elements take their toll out there.

Backyard

Recently I have taken a nostalgic turn, portraying two old Volkswagens somewhere in the heartland. 

The cars were seen in West Laramie, Wyoming a few years back.

NY Paintings displayed at Asker IS

Canal Edges

 Canal Street was once a canal, filled in centuries ago. For a long time it has been a busy street of industrial shops and honking trucks, every inch of asphalt and grimy facade worn by no-nonse commerce. I soften the brooding street of dark edges with soft steam and a damp atmosphere.

Manhattan Project

The foreground is still, hardly a sign of life, the layup rail yard nearly empty of trains. Is it early in the morning, or late in the afternoon?  The view is from the Pulaski Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Queens. The immense energy lies across the river, where the vanishing point of perspective points to midtown Manhattan. Yet more energy hovers above in the background, the heady clouds ready to congeal into a humid summer storm.

Strand

This, my most recent painting, shows a view of Broadway outside the Strand Bookstore. The Empire State Building looms above the angling, one way street.

Gray's Papaya

8th Ave is awash in winter slush and the glaring light of Gray's Papaya, a shop known for its cheap, standing-room-only hotdogs. It's harder to find such places these days, real estate prices favoring corporate chains.

Beware of Dog

This fence, based on my old neighborhood in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, would probably not hold a determined guard dog.

Apollo

The lights of Harlem's Apollo Theater warm 125th Street. Up here the sky is larger, and crisper, as Autumn sets in.

Cafe Roma

Christmas lights adorn Little Italy, a famous, but very small neighborhood.

Coney Island Projection

If you see this from an angle you will see a portrait of a sideshow personality.

Light Cluster

A bright patchwork of signage  downtown.

Pioneer

A wild west mural festoons the side of a trash collection truck on its runs in the garment district. It is interesting to contrast the myth of the west, with its wide open space, with the closed-in urban windows in the background.

Seven

The Seven Line, an elevated train, runs out to Flushing, Queens. It's a very long ride, passing through dozens of countries, each stop marking a different ethnic neighborhood.

New York in Asker, Norway

Yesterday I set up a group of New York paintings at the new Asker International School, which will be opening 25. May.  The twelve paintings will displayed in the school's library.

Sculptures in progress and recovered

Radiator, a cup in a rough stage. I made a press mold of an individual segment, then press cast multiples, cementing them together in leatherhard stage.
It started as a work about the relationship between the circle and square, but has morphed into thoughts about radiating heat. It's a heck of a lot of work so far, and figuring out how to cast it (after it is smoothed out a lot) will prove a challenge.

 Tor has recovered.
He has gone through three firings and one glazing. I'll put him through the rigors of the furnace one more time, I think, to glaze his eyes. His skin color glaze proved successful enough.

Last week he, Borgnine, and the Brain suffered a mishap regarding an expanding foam casting experiment. The whole thing was a disaster. The foam did not separate from the glassy surface, even though I sprayed with "Pam", the special grease product that I remember from childhood commercials, which I bought in Sweden in the "American Section."

Ceramics, or at least casting, involves moments of panic, followed by detachment and patience.

I spent quite a bit of time scraping off the foam from Bognine, to get him ready for the exhibition. The other two, I just put aside, thinking maybe I would just burn the foam off in a kiln firing.  Then I got the answer: I just put them in the wood stove! noxious plastic foam carbonized in a few hours, burning away. I let them cool down within the stove, and no harm was done.

Round Moon, bisque

Cuneiform cup, original ripped from cast.

 Together cup, a plaster draft. I wanted to make a Frankenstein Monster-type of cup, patched together with every means: twine, rubber, tape, staples and tacks.

 The finished Borgnine Toothpick holder. The skin colored glaze recipe:
1 half transparent earthenware glaze to one half colored glazes, made with an equal blend of red, bordeaux, and metal brown. Eyebrows: sort metal. Used the same glaze on Tor.