Light & Snow

It's been chilly but bright here in Berlin with daytime temperatures around 15-20 F and snowfall that acts as a giant reflecting board to the sun. The bitter cold is a relief of a kind, and means I get to walk around in my giant down sleeping bag of-a-jacket. I hope you are warm, wherever you are!

This latest post features images of some new work, recent adventures, and a little writing. Enjoy, and comments are welcome!

 

This painting is in progress, and I'm working directly from Elsheimer's Flight into Egypt.  I'm exploring this composition in oil on linen before starting on a version on copper plate, the type of surface used most by AE. 

The two on the right are a couple more new paintings, oil on linen.

 I made this painting earlier this week. Oil on panel. I'm not sure if this will be the title yet, but I was thinking Mind's Eye, Mid-blink.

After AE, Generations 4 & 5, 2012, oil on linen and panel (diptych), 20" x 16"

On the left Fade to Blue; on the right Fade to Violet.  Both are watercolor and gouache on paper.

For the holidays I invested in a pen and some nibs, and recently made a few postcard-sized ink & watercolors:

 

Some are loosely influenced by German patterning I've observed on architecture in the area.

I've also been reading The Future of the Image by Rancière. I have been a bit obsessed with this topic, and have been doing a lot of thinking and writing to further shape and define my own priorities as an image-maker. I have enjoyed certain concepts presented very much, but the tone is sometimes too pompous for my taste.  After reading the amazing philosophy and writing of Barthes, this leaves a lot to be desired in terms of eloquence, style, and caring. I have plans with fellow Fulbrighter Kathryn Sederberg in the coming week to attend a lecture at the ICI in Berlin by James Elkins titled What is an Image? I hope this will provide new perspectives and more food for thought. The theory and criticism department at the Art Institute of Chicago seems to be fertile ground for this topic, and I'm interested to compare the focus of this presentation with that of the W.J.T. Mitchell lecture that was given at C/O Berlin late last year.

My brother and Emily left early in January, but I thought I would include this image from dinner at our favorite local restaurant Schnitzelei:

While they were visiting, we went out to Teufelsberg (Devil's Mountain), the site of the former NSA Field Station. Here are some images from this man-made mountain in the Grunewald:

Tyson, Obergeschoss 1

 

Recently we went to the opening for a group show featuring the work of Leo Babsky, another artist at Glogau.  It was at the club Tape Modern, and was a well-curated show providing a fun venue to see some art and to hang with Kristyna who just arrived from Brooklyn, and Fulbright friends Joe, Imran and Stephen who had just returned from holiday trips.

At some point, there was a performance...

Last month we visited Martin at his place in Mitte, and ate together at this great French restaurant down the street called Nord-Sud. A three-course meal for 7,50 €!

And then on to Frankfurt where we recently traveled to view several works on view at the recently re-opened Städel Museum.

 

View from our window at the Five Elements Hostel.

 

On our way to the pedestrian bridge.

The renovated, re-hung Städel collection.

The following are some paintings and painting details. To view more images as well as label information, visit my flickr account: LINK

Hans Baldung, Two Witches, 1523

Adam Elsheimer, The Frankfurt Altarpiece of the Exaltation of the True Cross, 1605-1609

The following are altarpiece details:

 

Also on view were a few other Elsheimer's:

The Conversion of St. Paul, 1598

Jacob's Dream, 1597-98

Mercury and Battus

The Deluge, 1599-1600

Pan and Syrinx

The following are more paintings and details from the collection in Frankfurt:

Vermeer detail

Aert van der Neer, 1645-50

 

Aert van der Neer, 1660-70

Crazy Rembrandt painting detail

Love attention to detail and the paintings of paintings in perspective

 

Oil on marble. The white areas are where the stone is showing through the paint.

Ernst Deger, 1835

I like how my reflection in the glass becomes part of the image: viewer recognition and affirmation of role as voyeur to women representing painting

One of Courbet's waves...

 

The painting on the left: Auguste Chabaud, Hotelfur, um 1907-08

On the banks of the Main

On our way to the Schirn Art Center to see the terrific Kienholz exhibition

Keinholz (Nancy & Ed), 76 JCs led the big charade, 1993-94

Photography: Norbert Miguletz

Kienholz, The Ozymandias Parade, 1985

Along the Spree back in Berlin. (Click image to play video).

I will end this blog with a poem that I wrote shortly after the New Year.

XO Caetlynn

--

A frothy ocean, up to the sills,
halfway up in frills of foaming,
sudding wash water

Half-washed, half sky,
a water world of watching,
from inside looking out

The aquatic sub-divisions,
devising spaces to channel liquids and thought,
and the intense Cerulean
beating down from above

The treetops tickling
the bellies of the clouds—
techno beats aerate and ventilate
an invented room for breathing.