By way of experimentation I applied way too much gesso to this canvas with the idea to let it dry facing down. Predictably, it yielded a surface that isn’t smooth, the antithesis of the typical painter’s preferred starting point. Once dried, and me seeing the effect, I wondered what I could do next. I thought of all the painters that would least likely start with an uneven canvas, and On Kawara came to mind, the Japanese conceptual artist who lived in NYC from 1965 til his death in 2014. The typographic precision of his date paintings from his Today Series would be negatively impacted by any imperfections in the canvas. And so I decided to paint an homage of sorts to him by painting his initials in his font on an orange plain, orange being one of the few colors he used. I offset the plain against the canvas square to amplify that I’m not On, and the painting isn’t his. It being late November 2022, I thought of adding November 8 as the date, the day of the midterm elections. However bumpy, the elections had turned out better than I feared.
The piece was selected to be included in the 19th Annual Small Works Exhibit at Gallery 440 in Brooklyn from November 30-January 5, 2024.
You’re invited.