March 31st. 2012
MINING THE COLLECTION
New Work by Buck Hastings
from the Reanimation Library, Carpenter Street Branch.
186 Carpenter St. Providence, Rhode Island
A picture, like a person, has a vibe, an aura, and a spirit. A picture is a prompt for empathy and imagination.
“The image starts in some way to commune, which is to do with fascination. A state of unconsciousness. A sort of trance. I am interested in the way that images create trances, how they entrance and how one is seduced into them. And where one is taken if one follows.” - John Stezaker (on collage)
The Reanimation Library is a prompt, a catalyst for the imagination. While each book contains its own power to transport the reader, this library’s life and character is defined by the particular group of books contained within. From one book to the next, the reader will form his/her own feelings and associations. The diverse grouping of books creates an abstract narrative in the consciousness of the reader.
My process mining the collection has consisted of collecting images for their color, density, pattern, or emotive qualities. For example the super-warm and flat colors in photography from the 1960’s and 70’s has a great appeal to me as a painter. In a photo from a Time-Life nature book, a wolf is camouflaged among sage brush at dusk in a dense pattern of sandy tan tones. The pattern is broken only by the eyes and ears, which are frozen in this instant, confronted with the camera. This image provokes a plethora of emotional and physical sensation. Another example came from an early manual for orthodontics. I found here heartbreaking images of children. They are not sad because of their dental issues, but because of something uncanny. Something is transmitted through the eyes of the photographed. I think that this emotional transmission results from a combination of the highly attuned human ability to read feeling in facial expression, and the phenomenon of emotional projection that portraiture allows. With these images and more, I have attempted various combinations, with the hope that each viewer will be prompted to his/her own sensation.
I’m inspired by the most romantic notions of life and death on earth. This plays an important role in the selection of images, and the conception of new ones. I’m arrested by the sublime fact of nature, and enamored by the power of images of nature. I speak of nature, existence, with no separation made between the natural world and the man-made world. I am continually interested in representation in art. The traditions of portraiture and landscape in painting and photography, for instance, give us an opportunity to view the world through a human lens. Through representation, we are given an angle, different from our own, from which to view and feel the ecstasies and agonies of life.
“I open my eyes! Everything is optical!” -Julian Stanczak (in response to the term “Op-Art” used to categorize his work)
In recent exploration of abstract painting, I am looking to create a visual experience that is rich, dense, and vivid. I see and feel rhythm throughout nature. Visual patterns have much to do heartbeats, the growth of plants and animals. I am interested in the mystery and the magic of our visual sense, and in particular, how combinations of color take on very particular character. Through our vision, we cognitively engage all of the senses. Tactility has become increasingly important, as I’ve employed various surfaces and paints in combination. This happens as I realize that the physical aspect of painting is essential and that viewing painting in-person is crucial to the medium. The whole process is rich with bodily analogies, but more importantly, while we look at painted pictures, we also feel them (even without touching), tactilely and psychically. I see painting now, not as a method of dictating an idea, but as a point in space, where through visual language, my heart, mind, and spirit communes with yours.