A New Painting for EARTH DAY

Today is Earth Day! It is an extraordinary international event where about a billion people will take action in service to our planet. Concerns about air and water pollution, toxic exposure, oil reliance, deforestation, coral reef destruction, and ocean acidification, among others, will be topics of discussion in schools, and will give purpose to the actions of those recognizing this day.

Over the weekend, I went camping near Santa Barbara in the Los Padres National Forest. The abundance of animal life was inspiring -- among several appearances by squirrels, crows, bats, quail, soaring vultures, and the hooting of an owl in the night, I came upon a fox, a 4-5 foot gopher snake, a skink catching a roach, deer, and a flock of wild turkeys. And on a hike beyond a water hole, my friend caught a glimpse of a mountain lion high on a ridge across the canyon. I was looking in the opposite direction at that exact second. Can't believe I missed it.

Some of the turkeys:

The gopher snake:

Next weekend I plan to camp at Joshua Tree National Park. 

Many of my posts in the past have centered around environmental issues. I am glad to have completed this painting just in time to add to that theme. 

Man With Dogs, 44" x 32", oil on acrylic sheeting, 2013.

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)

The Tormented Artist Cliche - Part Two

The recent March edition of ArtForum magazine features an article by art historian and critic, Tom Holert, on the responsibilities of contemporary art. It is a rational analysis with logical conclusions, but I felt more like a lawyer reading it than an artist. It's entitled Burden of Proof. 

The ethical integrity of art remains a topic of discussion for those who discuss art. Some believe that contemporary art must have an association with political and social struggles, and the artist has a social obligation to act responsibly; otherwise, the artist and art become obsolete.

Creating art to have a positive impact on political and social struggles can be a good thing. Many artists successfully do it. I've tried. But to create expectations about art and impose them as rules against artists only creates a false institution in which to converse. It forces artists to replicate an end result, to fabricate a creation to measure up against what others expect in the end. Instead, the creation should begin from within and grow into what it is meant to be -- whether political, social, or something entirely different. An artist who is experienced, knowledgeable and skilled will act responsibly when it comes to taste in art.

We live in a society of political and social structures, but I think good art is the product of individual struggle, isolation, passion, and torment within that society. That is the spark that sets the fire. Love, hate, peace, war, and the grays in between. The torment is somewhere in there, and when it comes to art, maybe the torment is a beautiful thing.  

Art may be ignored by literal, linear, unimaginative types. But for creative people, art will never be obsolete, unless so too is seeing, feeling, eating, breathing, or sex. Art is the individual's attempt to make sense of the inexplicable.

Battle of the Shaman, 45" x 36", oil on canvas, 2013:

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)

Doodle of the Day - Short Story Illustration

This is an illustration I made for a short story written by a friend. The story is about a little girl who finds herself in dark places. 

Postwar Prewar and the Depths Veiled

The ides of March. Postwar. The responsibility of the artist; the infamies and atrocities of the antichrist. There was a moocow coming down along the road. Prewar. Pompous intellectualism and complicity of the esoteric. Drivel. Meaning. This, that. Fuck me. Fuck you. Veil the depths, as it seems as though I belong to another species. 

Postwar Prewar, 35" x 29", oil on canvas, 2013.

The Depths Veiled, 24" x 48", oil on plastic sheeting, 2013.

The Waterfall And The Fountainhead

Waterfall, 24" x 18", oil on plastic sheeting, 2013.

An excerpt from The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: "The few whose names had lived were really imposters, expropriating the glory of the people as others expropriated its wealth. When we gaze at the magnificence of an ancient monument and ascribe its achievement to one man, we are guilty of spiritual embezzlement. We forget the army of craftsmen, unknown and unsung, who preceded him in the darkness of the ages, who toiled humbly -- all heroism is humble -- each contributing his small share to the common treasure of time. A great building is not the private invention of some genius or other. It is merely a condensation of the spirit of a people."

Maybe this principle applies to art and painting. It seems that art evolves with society and the great number of artists among us. We like to applaud names like Michelangelo, Van Gogh, and Picasso. These are the outliers, the few who found themselves at a moment of circumstances, chosen to sit upon the beacons in our timeline of artistic achievements. They did not work like hermits in a cave; they needed the people. 

As an ant colony moves nests, it marches as one, with each individual carrying a load. If one ant dies along the way, it matters not, as the mass as a whole still gets to where it's going, like a cloud in the sky.

You can't stop the clouds from moving.

Or maybe there were indeed geniuses nonetheless.

Doodle of the Day - a real doodle this time

Ok, if you've seen some of my past posts, you will see that I like to draw cartoons. I don't know why I call them doodles. Maybe it's because they're usually just about a slice of life.

But I also do "real" doodles, and the above picture is an example. It is graphite on paper and took about five to ten minutes.

For a long time, maybe since junior high or elementary school, I've doodled pictures which are largely abstract. It is a process of simply letting the mind go, putting a drawing instrument to a page, moving the hand to create different shapes, shades, lines, and textures, and watching what grows. Sometimes the doodle will be completely abstract, but sometimes it will subconsciously incorporate representational forms.

It helps with compositions.

Two New Works and a Statement About Art

It's tempting and easy to come home after a long day of work, sit on the couch, watch tv, and veg out until it is time to wake up and repeat. But this is what they want; this is how the system and their messages are reinforced. Create 9-5 jobs (or in some cases 8-8 jobs), wages enough to stay afloat but not to own property. Bombarded with advertisements and consumerist culture, keep the masses hard at work, content, but afraid. Don't ask questions and don't create dissonance. Don't stray. Follow the herd, shut up, and keep up. 

Be the honest hardworking man. Such a noble and honorable-sounding idea. Yet, behind the scenes, corruption and contamination of power, degrees of power at all levels. The honorable hardworking man is too busy silently following the path to his grave. He fits the mold. The arts are neglected, and the artist is rejected.

I think of myself as an honorable hardworking man, and as an attorney in California, it is my duty to understand society, social policy, and the powers that be. But as an artist in Los Angeles, it is my duty to break the surface-cover, and explore the depths behind the masks. We as individuals are not sheep; we are more than the things we buy - we are layers upon layers with similarities, subtle differences, and striking contrasts.

    

Dimension, 30" x 28", oil on acrylic sheet, 2013:

Organism, 28" x 30", oil on acrylic sheet, 2013:

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)