Bantering Mian

Where the Rome #4
30x30"
mm/wood

I finished this painting yesterday and it is my favorite so far. The second photo is how it looked the day before. I wanted to show you how it progressed. I continued rubbing & buffing until the underneath seemed to trade places with the upper layers & it took out some of the pods or whatever that is roaming. You can see where they disappeared - there appears to have been a struggle of some sort. That rocks my boat for some reason. To me, this painting is painful in a bitter sweet painting kind of way. There are hurts and struggles, growths and setbacks, but the blush of nurture prevails and even sends out pods to roam.

Mi is flying in today and we are driving our paintings to a possibly interested gallery in Dallas. I have been thinking a lot about his paintings and found myself trying to think in Mian. In his paintings he seems to be using a half-paint/ half-word language. That kid has always amazed me since he sneaked a carton of eggs into the living room and leaving them all in the carton, poked each one with his finger until it broke. When asked why, he said he liked to "pock" eggs. He was always fascinated with the Humpty Dumpty egg breaking. He always liked seeds and pods, well I do too... things that carry the miracle of life inside a protective shell. When the shell begins to crack open, life happens.

So I realized I have been working on a series which I decided to call "Learning Mian". I guess now that I posted it, it is official or something. It's not like a neon sign appeared over my head in the studio announcing to the world that "Suzy Ally is officially working on the Learning Mian series". I tend to envision it happening that way for the "Big Guys" in artland.

Which reminds me, I wanted to tell you I think artists statements are usually a bunch of BS. Well OK not always, but when you are expected to explain your work as if you planned to do it that way all along, BS I say. Or if you say something like "Well I wanted to deal with negative space." BS. I HOPE it is BS anyway. You just wanted to play with paint and brush, I hope. The negative space thing happened as you painted. That is my snort for the day about that!

Anyway, the learning Mian thing. Mi did several paintings with titles like "Where the Bigheads Roam", "Where the Lunartiks Roam", etc. and I decided to dialogue with him or maybe banter using my own painting titles. Thus, "Where the Roam" is me trying to out Mian him. Let's see what he banters in reply. Or maybe he will ignore me and fleogan beyond. Kids usually do that.

xo