the final selection of works for my solo show at genesis gallery /  by Philip Tarlow

in my studio this morning with some of the final selection of oils

2:31 PM: i didn’t get any painting done today. instead i was focused on sorting out and documenting the 23 paintings selected by the director of genesis gallery in athens, for my exhibition opening march 16th.

it was very interesting to remove all the other paintings from my studio walls, where they’ve been for months, and leave only the 23 paintings selected by yiorgos, director of the gallery.

it’s not really fully possible to evaluate what the show will look like until the oils are stretched and the works on paper placed under glass and framed.

i must say, it’s somewhat of a relief not to have so many paintings crowded onto my studio walls. this selection allows me to experience each of the 23 pieces with a fresh eye. you can view them if you click on the genesis show page of this site.

the two square-ish oils, 38x35”/89x97cm.

the smaller works on paper/collages

the mid-size & larger oils on linen: 37 1/3 x 19” / 37 1/x 15 1/2” (95x48 and 95x39 and 89x97 cm.)

further work on "sea kinesis III" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:04 PM: now that i’ve got some of the more pressing logistics addressed for my show next month, i feel the freedom to do more work on the sea kinesis series of 3 paintings, inspired by ancient roman mosaics.

so today i did more work on sea kinesis III.

i had put a multicolored border around it, which didn’t work at all. so i painted over it with while oils & waited for it to dry enouch tha i could paint over it, which i did today. now, this one pops more than the other two, since i used a mix of black, prussian blue and grey to fill in the areas that are pretty dark in the original mosaics. but, since they’re mosaics composed of tiny stones, when you look at them they’r enot a flat black; they have spects of off-white, which is the light reflecting of the small jagged edges of the stone pieces comprising the mosaic. i dipped the tip of an old watercolor brush in off white oil paint and scumbled over the black, creating that same effect of reflected whites.

candidates for my solo exhibition at genesis gallery, athens, opening march 16 / returning to sea kinesis LLL /  by Philip Tarlow

sea kinesis III with some collage taped on, as it looked at the end of my painting day today

3:28 PM: i didn’t think i’d be able to paint today because of all the logistics for the exhibition, but after i got the genesis page put up on my site, with all the candidates for the exhibition, i felt ok returning to sea kinesis III, which i worked on till just a few minutes ago. it was getting a bit crowded, so i introduced some collaged elements, but for now they’re just taped on, & we’ll see how i feel in the morning.

1:11 PM: i just created a new page on my site: https://www.philiptarlow.com/genesis-show

if you copy the link & click, you will see a total of 47 pieces; larger oils; smaller oils and works on paper. in the coming week, a final selection will be made and the total number of paintings will go down signifincantly.

just to give you a taste, BELOW is a screenshot of the top of that page.

sea kinesis III, day 3 /  by Philip Tarlow

sea kinesis III as it looked following last minute end of day changes.

5:58 PM: as i was about to leave the studio, at 4:30 pm, i took a look at the changes i made to sea kinesis III today. i didn’t feel good about the rectangular frame i painted surrounding it. so i wiped most of it out, as well as scraping over the entire painting. so here’s how it looks now.

sea kinesis III as it looked moments ago, at the end of my painting day today

2:43 PM: i wasn’t planning on doing more work today on sea kinesis III; i thought it was resolved when i left the studio yesterday. but when i came in this morning, it asked for more….begged for more! not one to deny yhe wishes if sea kinesis, i dove back in. yeah, yeah, pardon the pun.

i had noticed that some of the ancient roman mosaics i’d been looking at for inspiration contained an interesting, even compelling border around the entire composition. so i thought i’d play around with that visual concept. it’s definitely a very different look than the other two. the fish & octopii are no longer swimming in a seemingly boundless ocean; they are contained within a rectangular border. in this particular composition, moreso than the other two, it’s going to make a big difference once the white canvas surrounding the painting, which is where the stretching pliars will be applied to attach it to the stretcher bars, it will have a very differnet look. but i did crop that white out in photoshop, so what you see here is what visitors to the athens gallery will observe.

time to do some work on gathering the images of paintings in our final selection, putting them on a drive and giving them to mikela, who will make a PDF, which we can send to blurb so that the catalogue can be made. i’m thinking it may be better to create it here tan try going back & forth with the athens printer. but i’m still missing the text by the athens art critic who promised to write it…trying to touch base with him but he’s a very busy guy!

revisiting a 2012 (?) motion painting, 16x78” / starting “sea kinesis LLL” /  by Philip Tarlow

sea kinesis III as it looked at the end of my painting day today

4:03 PM: this afternoon i did something i’ve never done before: i took part in a zoom meeting of our local firewise committee while working on this new painting: sea kinesis III. more about this later this afternoon; right now i have to get back to the house to make rice, as part of the prep for our dinner tonight.

sea kinesis I, II & III

2012 motion, 16x18” oil & collaged paper on canvas

9:44 AM: i’ll have to do a little research on this on, but my guess is that it was painted in about 2012 and is one of a series of abstractions i did during that period, riffing off the plein air creek paintings i was making at the time. i just hung it yesterday on the NE wall of our house, opposite the couches, where it works beautifully! i would rate this one a 10 in this genre.

starting "sea kinesis II" 43x53 cm /  by Philip Tarlow

sea kinesis II at the end of my painting day today

2:55 PM: i thought it would be a good idea to create a companion piece to sea kinesis I, so with that in mind, this morning i started work on sea kineses II, 43 x 53 cm. in oil on portrait linen. both paintings are inspired by ancient roman mosaics of sea life. i’m having more fun than i expected making this painting. i love riffing. so for example, the shift in the background color from dark grey to blue to green happened in much the same way as i imagine thelonous monk’s unpredictable transitions took place, unusally leaving the musicians he was playing with at a loss. which is why he settled on a select number of musicians to play with, who got his vibe & were able to keep up.

this second in the series of two proves that LES-IZ-MOR, allowing the viewers mind & eye to fill in the blanks. we’ll see where it goes tomorrow; right now i’m feeling very tired & can’t do any more. but maybe in the morning, i’ll realize i don’t need to!

BELOW: sea kinesis I on the left was painted in 2022. comparing the two is a great way to track my development over that short period of time. my experience of space has overtaken my attachment to content.

day 2 of "tokyo olympics 19" tarlification /  by Philip Tarlow

2:48 PM: this morning i dove into tokyo olympics 19, the painting i started yesterday. what i’m calling tarlification took place. what i mean by that is that i lay the painting down on a work table and repeatedly went over it with a wash of greys and ochres, followed by vigerous scrapping, until i got it to a point where it was ready for me to draw & paint into it.. i returned to the image i’ve been using in an number of this series, namely the jumping skateboarder with his grey cap, viiolet socks, pink shirt & brown patterned trousers. what i’m half jokingly tarlification refers to my ever developing porcess of removing a lot of what i know and replacing it with what i don’t know.

tokyo olympics 19 as it looked at the end of my painting day

BELOW: tokyo olympics 19 as it looked yesterday (left) and moments ago

starting "tokyo olympics 19" /  by Philip Tarlow

3:18 PM: this morning, i started tokyo olympics 19. it’s at an early stage, and may take on some greys tomorrow; we’ll see.

this afternoon, mikela came over to help make an initial selection of paintings that will be shown in athens next month. she was, as always, very helpful in weeding out the so-so ones. so i’ll show you tomorrow where we’re at, since they keepers have more brething space on the wall & you can get a sense of what the final selection might look like.

continued work on "tokyo olympics 18" /  by Philip Tarlow

earlier today, surrounded by some of the paintings in my tokyo olympics series

12:32 PM: i got a relatively early start today, with the awareness that i’ll have to stop earlier than usual in order to attend the first firewise committee meeting from 2 to 4. appropriately enough, a team spent all day yesterday clearing the lower branches of trees and anything they determined might increase the danger of a potential fire spreading and damaging the house & studio.

i introduced a couple of new figures into the lower portion of the tokyo olympics 18 composition. the most prominent of which is a dramatic dancer/skater, arms and hair flailing, epitomizing the absolute joy of being alive in a body. you could say that pretty much sums up the feeling and tenor of this entire series, which started with my response to the video we saw of the celebrations following the 2020 tokyo olympics. following that magical ah-ha moment, these paintings unexpectedly began pouring out of me. having a focus and a deadline: my solo exhibition opening march 16 in athens, definitely helped the process along.

i had imagined, when the exhibition was confirmed, that i’d be making paintings with greek themes. but what i ended up doing is actually more deeply greek than anything else i might have done. the olympics, after all, started in greece centuries ago, and are deeply rooted in the greek psyche. and the joy of being alive in a body is perhaps the clearest reflection of my 15 years living and painting in greece. the indominable greek spirit, as i experienced it, was there to see in the movement and energy of the impromptu rembetika dancers in the little clubs we used to frequent in athens and piraeus.

tokyo olympics 18 15 1/2 x 37 1/4” at the end of my painting day today

day 1 of "tokyo olympics 18" /  by Philip Tarlow

2:50 PM: i started a new one today, which has the same dimensions as the last 3 or so: 15 1/2 x 37 1/4” (which comes out to even numbers in centimeters, which is what genesis gallery in athens will use to order the stretcher bars.

once again, this one contains elements of previous paintings in this ever growing series but, as you’ll see, has a flavor, thus far, all it’s own. before going to sleep every night, i’m reading a biography of thelonious monk. increasingly, i feel his music and piano playing; his moods, entering the picture space. if you’re familiar with his music, you may get what i’m saying. unexpected, unlikely combinations of rhythms, notes & pauses play a bigger and bigger ole in this series of paintings. so, when i make the 10 minute drive into town to go food shopping, which i’m about to do, i play monk and enter his dream space.

i’ll pick up where i left off tomorrow morning. gotta stop early tomorrow to attend a meeting of a group i just joined which is devoted to protect our greenbelts and assure that any fire mitigation done in these areas takes into account ecological and recreational values.

seeya tomorrow!