detail from 'Sarcina: Baptism'
Sarcina
Oil Paintings from 2004-2006
Artist Statement
Messiaen, the French composer went in into the forest and took down the bird sounds he heard by musical notation. Pieces such as The Symphony for the End of Time carrying cosmic themes were carved out of these simple renderings of bird songs. (see a biography at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Messiaen)
Instead of bird songs, I start onto the white canvas with slow blind contour drawings with pencil. My eye follows edges of the bonsai trees in the studio, the growing beans in the garden outside the window, the grape vines, new blossoms, rags on the studio floor, corners of a wrinkled paper bag, or the mud lines in the drywall above my head. Gradually, I continue with new blind contours in oil paint with different sized brushes and a variety of colors found in the environment. I do look at the canvas occasionally to reposition the brush or pencil into untouched areas of the canvas to give an overall chaos of organic, responsive, and human lines. I am shooting for a well developed organic-chaos ground, which still breathes. When I am satisfied with the balance I stop.
The next step in the process is what I imagine to be entering into my own unconscious, which is now projected before my eyes. The organic chaos mirrors and corresponds with the part of my inner world which has yet to be made conscious. It is something like the old ink blot test. One naturally sees what is inside themselves, projected into the ink blot and reveal themes from their inner worlds. By proceeding in this way there is a natural way to incorporate many layers of reality as I experience it into an integrated whole. When all the elements of the painting seem to relate to the whole I am finished.
My hope is that these paintings are an authentic wrestling with my own layers of present experience, the residues of this swirling, moving, breathing, unpredictable and wonderful existence, as well as both past unconscious and conscious material, as well as present hope for future fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on earth. I pray for the miracle of these painted visions to transcend the personal and touch cords buried deep in all of us.
Painting is an intimate meeting, unbound by time, between persons. More than an intellectual formulation, aesthetic information, or kitsch to salve the tastes of the masses, it somehow participates in the movement and mystery of human life. The burden or responsibility, ‘sarcina’, of the artist is to dive into this mysterious ocean, survive, and surface with some fish to share with the world.
~Joel Klepac~
Lent 2006
Oil Paintings from 2004-2006
Artist Statement
Messiaen, the French composer went in into the forest and took down the bird sounds he heard by musical notation. Pieces such as The Symphony for the End of Time carrying cosmic themes were carved out of these simple renderings of bird songs. (see a biography at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Messiaen)
Instead of bird songs, I start onto the white canvas with slow blind contour drawings with pencil. My eye follows edges of the bonsai trees in the studio, the growing beans in the garden outside the window, the grape vines, new blossoms, rags on the studio floor, corners of a wrinkled paper bag, or the mud lines in the drywall above my head. Gradually, I continue with new blind contours in oil paint with different sized brushes and a variety of colors found in the environment. I do look at the canvas occasionally to reposition the brush or pencil into untouched areas of the canvas to give an overall chaos of organic, responsive, and human lines. I am shooting for a well developed organic-chaos ground, which still breathes. When I am satisfied with the balance I stop.
The next step in the process is what I imagine to be entering into my own unconscious, which is now projected before my eyes. The organic chaos mirrors and corresponds with the part of my inner world which has yet to be made conscious. It is something like the old ink blot test. One naturally sees what is inside themselves, projected into the ink blot and reveal themes from their inner worlds. By proceeding in this way there is a natural way to incorporate many layers of reality as I experience it into an integrated whole. When all the elements of the painting seem to relate to the whole I am finished.
My hope is that these paintings are an authentic wrestling with my own layers of present experience, the residues of this swirling, moving, breathing, unpredictable and wonderful existence, as well as both past unconscious and conscious material, as well as present hope for future fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on earth. I pray for the miracle of these painted visions to transcend the personal and touch cords buried deep in all of us.
Painting is an intimate meeting, unbound by time, between persons. More than an intellectual formulation, aesthetic information, or kitsch to salve the tastes of the masses, it somehow participates in the movement and mystery of human life. The burden or responsibility, ‘sarcina’, of the artist is to dive into this mysterious ocean, survive, and surface with some fish to share with the world.
~Joel Klepac~
Lent 2006
posted by Joel at 10:21 AM
1 Comments:
Dear Joel.
Thanks for your art. I'm very impressed by your paintings. I feel we share many ideas. I would like to come to contact with you.
peace and love
Czech painter Jan Karpisek
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