MBTW

My goal for some compositions is to reduce or eliminate a distinction between “object” and “background.”  In those compositions I try to give black, gray, and white near-equal precedence, so that one does not appear to be painted “over” the other. 

Before working on the canvas, I sketch each composition – roughly at first, to develop the balance of forms and values that I want, and then in exact scale and value.  Each painting is thoroughly planned.  However, there is a “discovery” stage, when I study the finished painting in each of the four orientations afforded by the square canvas.  I select the final orientation based on its psychological and interpretive impact. 

I want to maximize the impact of each painting, but I don’t want to determine the nature of that impact.  That’s why I’ve given each painting a simple numerical title.  You’re welcome to develop your own, personal subtitle for each painting – I have!

Power to the viewer!

As a painter, I want to give you the power to see whatever images, symbols, or interactions you need to see in my compositions. 

This is why I decided to paint a set of 36” square canvases with a palette limited to black, white, and grays mixed from them.  Thus, the variables at play were value, shape, and the combination of shapes to form a composition.  From the beginning, I decided to limit my shapes to basic geometric forms:  square, rectangle, line (well, not true one-dimensional lines, which would be quite invisible), and circle.  This decision resulted from my 2020 reading and writing on Russian Suprematism as championed by Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935). 

But if we take away the color?

Despite my obvious love of color, I’ve started a new series of paintings that eschew color and representation, to focus on composition and implied meaning.  The MBTW series https://www.jwharrington.com/mbtw currently comprises thirteen 36”x 36” canvases painted using only Mars Black and Titanium White pigments.  By eliminating the associations of colors and their juxtapositions, I can emphasize the non-objective nature of the compositions.   Associations abound nonetheless, derived from the interweaving of positive and negative spaces.  Some have a range of shades from black to white, some are only black and white, some are dominated by dark shades, some by light or white.  I absolutely don’t have a favorite among these twelve, but here’s an example of what can happen despite such a limited palette:

Remembering others, and moving forward

With their holidays, May and June bring us in the U.S. to remember the mothers, grandmothers, soldiers, sailors, flyers, fathers, and grandfathers who have protected us, the enslaved people who helped build this country, and the sexual minorities who’ve suffered for who they are. These holidays draw strong emotions from many of us. 

I’ve had the temerity to paint remembrances of my own father and mother (The Impossibility of Knowing (13) and (14))

and of my childhood home (The Impossibility of Knowing (12)), https://www.jwharrington.com/the-impossibility-of-knowing.

In the Northern Hemisphere, May and June also call forth the beginning of summer daylight and warmth.  Thus, this season leads us to recall our origins, to remember those who’ve passed on, and to look ahead toward the light.

I’ve had the joy of painting an impression of a favorite summer scene (Summer Seascape: Iceberg Point). https://www.jwharrington.com/figurativ-paintings.

Now, at least as much as ever, we need the light!