The Voice...

2008, April 18

The Voice of God…?

I was awoken early this morning by a chiming sound that was not my alarm. As I lay in bed I realized that a little metal effigy on the bedroom altar was making the sound. I got up to still the object thinking it odd that a truck or faraway train rumble could be causing the vibration. When I let go of the vibration continued. “Odd”, I thought, “maybe it’s an earthquake?” not really believing it was one. Turns out I was right the first time. The news is saying we got a 5.4 quake. Not something we’re accustomed to in the Midwest.

Work in the studio continues at a slow pace. I’ve been drawing in the composition on the new canvas. It’s a big one, 85 x 65”, and a bit unruly to work with. I’ll have to set up some system to be able to reach all the areas comfortably. It’s been a while since I worked on this scale. One other 72 x 42” canvas is stretched and ready to go, another stretcher of the same size has yet to be built.

I have a couple of concerns about the work needed for the WI exhibit. The first is the amount of work I will need to fill the gallery(about 2400 sq. feet). If I use some older works with newer works I will have plenty to make a good presentation. Naturally, I would prefer to have as much new work as possible. One thing I have to remember is that most people will have never seen any of the work so how old it is doesn’t really matter in that respect.

The second concern is whether the span of work will work as a cohesive unit. How do my older works relate, compare or contrast the newer works? There has definitely been a shift in my focus in the last decade of so. The water paintings, the black and white wood relief prints to the family paintings and the color prints. A bridge between these areas of emphasis is required if I intend the entire exhibit to hold together and not look like some schizoid man has created it.

Start/stop/start again...

2008, April 10

Installation at my day job hasn’t permitted me to keep up with this blah-g thing so now I’m doing a little catch up.

I’m looking forward to my trip to Zapopan in Jalisco, Mexico in a couple of weeks. I leave the day before my birthday and come back 5 days later. I’ll be in curator mode but will be carrying along my iPod filled with samples of my work to show around as well. I’d love to have a show in Mexico someday.

The show in Milwaukee, WI at Latino Arts Inc. is set for a December 2008 opening. That really isn’t too far away. I hope to have a mix of older and newer works in the show. In particular, I’m looking to include a few new paintings along with the new color wood block prints.

Though things have been moving slowly at the studio I have gotten some things done. I carved and printed two new 3 x 4” color wood block relief prints. I really love the way they’ve turned out and hope to gets some shots up here soon. The canvas that presented an image to me (see my Jan. 22 post) has been started. The image has already morphed into something different but I really like what it can become. The image will be a play on my print “Herencia”. I’ve attempted to paint that image a few times now and I think I finally have the right models and composition/setting.

New inks, paper and a large bolt of canvas are on their way from WA. If everything arrives soon I can stretch and gesso some canvases this weekend.

Things on the horizon: I’ll be self-publishing a book of my images in the somewhat near future. Any suggestions on which images you’d like to see reproduced?

Book Illustration News

News:
An illustration I donated has been published in a new book.


THE HARDEST PART OF LOVE
A Stephen Schwartz song illustrated


March 13, 2008 – This new book, an adaptation of Stephen Schwartz’s eloquent and affecting song, “The Hardest Part of Love” from the widely popular staged musical CHILDREN OF EDEN and his RELUCTANT PILGRIM CD, will pull at the heartstrings of all parents and elate Stephen Schwartz fans with its beautiful, sophisticated pictures and enclosed CD featuring the songwriter himself.

Ms. Angela Pletcher Stillson from Nappanee, Indiana, conceptualized the project having become familiar with Schwartz’s work when THE BAKER’S WIFE was produced at Amish Acres Round Barn Theatre in 1997 and guest-directed by his son, Scott Schwartz. She describes, “I set out to entwine music, art, and literature in a unique and provoking fashion that is both contemporary and enduring.” In appreciation of the arts, she recruited 18 creative souls from Alaska to Hong Kong (including Schwartz’s daughter) to illustrate the 32 glossy pages. They achieved a one-of-a-kind medley of stylized pictures leading to a hard cover collector’s volume to treasure and reflect upon.

Mr. Schwartz’s (www.stephenschwartz.com) most recent musical, WICKED, opened in the fall of 2003 and is currently running on Broadway breaking its own record for the highest grossing week in history. Winner of fifteen major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, productions of WICKED have also broken records in London’s West End, Chicago, and Toronto. He is also known for his songs for the musicals GODSPELL, PIPPIN, THE MAGIC SHOW, THE BAKER’S WIFE, WORKING (which he also adapted and directed), CHILDREN OF EDEN, and for the Disney animated features POCAHONTAS and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME(in collaboration with Alan Menken), and the DreamWorks animated feature THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. For children, he has written a one-act musical, CAPTAIN LOUIE, a picture book, THE PERFECT PEACH, GEPPETTO & SON and most recently the Disney movie ENCHANTED. He has released two CDs entitled UNCHARTED TERRITORY and RELUCTANT PILGRIM, which includes his version of “The Hardest Part of Love.” Mr. Schwartz is the recipient of three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, and four Drama Desk Awards.

The included artists’ biographies highlight: Karen Beitar, Dee Birkey, Jessica Flores, Hannah Graber, Tim Hooker, Ann Lynn, Birdie Rossow McElroy, James McNeill Mesple, Nicole Moore, Shirley Natoli, Ramiro Rodriguez, Jessica Schwartz (Mr. Schwartz’s daughter), Doug Smith, Jeff Stillson, Laura Ury, Todd Volkmer, Rachelle Lee Witter, and Laura Zato-Clemons.

Support for this project comes from The Fetzer Institute (www.fetzer.org) whose mission is to foster awareness of the power of love and forgiveness in the emerging global community.”

A gift for special occasions including graduations, weddings, births, baptisms, and all holidays, the book is available through Mr. Schwartz’s website www.stephenschwartz.com, Amish Acres Round Barn Theatre, The Nappanee Center, specialty shops including Art & Soul (Winona Lake, IN), Pages & Ivy (Nappanee, IN), and by contacting angiestillson@mchsi.com or (574) 773-3722.

"Touch Down" for Caduceus.org

“Touch Down”
2007, chiaroscuro wood block relief print
4” x 3”
limited edition of 5 prints
5 variable colors

My friend Maynard James Keenan has chosen to use the image of my print “Touch Down” as a t-shirt design for his vineyard, Caduceus. The shirts are available at his Puscifer.com web-store (look under “Drones Limited Run”). The prints from which the image is taken are available for sale from my website: RamiroRodriguez.com.

The image is from one of those oddball doodles created during some staff meeting. The image didn’t seem to have a place in any series until I decided to do the small color relief prints just for those types to get a home. It’s a pretty simple idea, playing on a mishmash of two mythic Greek characters Hermes and Achilles. You can see where my head is really at during a staff meeting when my idea of a joke is: A god coming in for a landing on earth and pricking himself on a tack.

"Fire" part II

In 1995 I ended up framing a bunch of my new prints as gifts for my family’s Christmas. That year my good friend, MJK, stopped in for his yearly visit and dose of my Mom’s homemade tamales. He happened to select “Fire” as the print he liked best and went home with it. A short time later I got a call from him asking if I could re-do the image as a tondo for use as a Tool t-shirt image.

I worked the new image out using photocopies of the original print as a base to build out from. No sense in reinventing the wheel. Once I had the main image filled out to a circular composition it still needed something to contain it. The solution was a ouroboros in the style of the Olmec earth dragon. I inked out a copy and was ready to send it along when the call came from M to add a logo in the same black and white style for the front of the shirt as well. I ended up using an overhead view of the boat as a mandorla or vesica piscis shape to contain the TOOL lettering. The “Os” are formed by ripples in the water.

I believe the images ended up being printed on green and dark brown t’s and sweatshirts. I don’t think they’re produced anymore. I still see one every now and then at Tool shows and it makes me smile.

As with a few of my other images, “Fire” was later reinterpreted into the painting “Bloom (Isis)”. But that’s another story…

The Bright Eye of God

Walked into work this morning (yes, I can walk in). My vehicle decided that electricity was just not something it was going to handle anymore so it is at the shop being coaxed into compliance. I can be pissed or see it as an opportunity... I can use the exercise anyway.

I was privileged to watch a most glorious sunrise while enjoying some tunes on my headphones and the occasional caw of my crow buddies. The morning was very warm and I hoped I wouldn't get caught in the rain that was forecast (I wasn't). During the walk I suddenly became aware of how much gravity was pulling on my body. I don't know if it was the backpack I was wearing or something else. I felt like a deep sea diver with lead boots. I thought of that Laurie Anderson bit where she says when we walk we are really falling and catching ourselves with each step.

Funny, but the last time I had to walk into work I was reading a lot of Jim Harrison and my thoughts became more poetic with every step. Recently I have taken to rereading some of JH's books that I own along with his newest collection of poems. JH is probably my favorite fiction writer. He writes a lot about walking in the wilderness, among other things, but his stories have a very zen-ny feel to them. I'll take the coincidence as a sign to get out more.

Spent the weekend finishing up printing some of the little prints' editions. I still have that big canvas staring me down. Soon.

Thanks to Teresa for being a great patron. Your recent print purchase will help put the serpentine belt back on my vehicle among other things.

#3 of Top Ten: "Fire" (part I)

“Fire” 1994
Woodblock relief print
7 3/4 x 10 1/4”
Edition of 25

In telling about the print, “Fire”, I first have to give some background on the “Earthdiver” images that I’ve completed. “Fire” is part of what became an unintentional trio of prints that includes “Earthdiver” and “Inspiration”. I say unintentional because when I finished the “Earthdiver” print I felt the story of the figure in the bottom of the boat begged to be expanded upon. “Fire is the second image produced for the trio.

In 1993 I painted the first incarnation of the image influenced by the Earthdiver myth. That particular painting sold right out of my studio before the paint could dry (the only time that’s ever happened!) The sale was so sudden that I felt I still needed to work the image out. A few months later I created the “Earthdiver” print which eventually led to “Fire”.

The story of the Earthdiver is an ancient Native American creation/flood myth. After the inundation some surviving animals floating on a raft take turns diving to the bottom of the ocean. At the urging of one of their number (usually a bird) they attempt to retrieve some earth in order to create land. Many try and many fail until one creature, usually a small mammal, comes back half dead with a tiny bit of mud under it’s claws. This is sufficient material to create the landmass for them to recreate their world. My intention in the painting and later in the print was to anthropomorphize the creatures in the flood myth.

At the time I was thinking of the Earthdiver tale as a metaphor for the creative process. The struggle to dive the depths of the unconscious, scrape the subconscious and bring back some rich silt to grow one’s ideas on can be a difficult, tiring and sometimes fatal process. (Suddenly, I’m reminded of John Goodman running down a burning hallway yelling “I’ll show you the life of the MIND!) There are many ways the myth can be interpreted.

The figure at the bottom of the boat in “Earthdiver” represents the tired or dead creature that has failed in the first attempts to bring back the prima materia. In “Fire” there is, once again, a figure in the bottom of a leaky boat. We stare down his/her legs as if they were our own while a male figure crouches on the seat board manipulating a stick in an attempt to start a fire. The tunnel through which the boat travels is decorated in glyphs from various ages of Meso-American history. Each level is meant to represent one of the three worlds: celestial, earth and watery underworld.

As in most of my work, there are more questions posed than answers given in this image. That’s the way I like it. I like the viewer to fill in the blanks with his/her own experience and impressions. Where are we? Is the boat coming or going? Is the figure in the bottom of the boat dead or alive? What is the purpose of the fire? Are we witnessing a healing, a funeral rite or a quickening ceremony?
(to be continued)