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| Ruby Slippers |
He honors me here today with his essay and more of his work.
William Gass in Fiction and the Figures of Life, a fabulous book on art and life, says ...[A]rt enlarges consciousness like space in a cathedral, ribboned with light, and though a new work of art may consume our souls completely for a while, almost as a jingle might, if consumption were all that mattered, we are never, afterward, the same; we cannot consciously go on in the old way; there is, as in Rilke’s poem ‘Torso of an Archaic Apollo,’ no place that does not see us, and we must change our life.
Nick gives credence to William Gass’s words.
Nick Winkworth
It was inevitable, I suppose, that someone born into a family
of painters and sculptors would find an outlet for artistic expression one way or
another.
Born and brought up in
England, I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, for over 20
years, brought here by a career in high technology which could hardly be
further from the world of paint and clay in which I grew up.
At times I imagined the vehicle for
my artistic output might have been music (I play bass and guitar), but photography
has always been my first love, as well as a more constant and reliable
companion.
From the moment I first picked up my
first camera as a child, my choice of subject matter has been a cause for comment,
but I simply reflect the world as I see it – the subtle interplay of
composition, color and form is often more interesting to me than what the
subject may be. That doesn’t mean my photographs are sterile exercises in
geometry, however. My goal with every image is to achieve a balance between
aesthetic appeal and that elusive emotional quality which hints at a mystery, an
untold story, or a forgotten memory.
After many years of sharing my work
only with family and friends, my photography has now become a serious artistic
endeavor. An initial online
presence led to a solo show, which was followed by selection into a number of
juried exhibitions and events. Encouraged and inspired by participation in
recent portfolio reviews, I now have a long list of projects which will allow
me to continue to grow as a photographer and artist …and keep me busy in the
coming months!
I am also a regular participant in the
web project “SPARK”, which pairs visual artists with writers, encouraging each to
create new work inspired by the other. (getsparked.org)
Crying over Colors – Emotion in the Abstract
By Nick Winkworth
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld famously described his hit TV series as “a show about nothing.”
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| White on White |
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| Jurassic Shore |
So if “nothing” can be the subject of a successful TV sitcom, can it also be the basis for other art forms?
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| LoveLoveLove |
My introduction to this idea took place at an early age. Growing up in a family of painters and sculptors, I was reluctantly dragged around what seemed like every art gallery in London as a small child. I naturally became a big fan of the surrealists with their funny juxtapositions and brilliant ideas (“Ceci n'est pas une pipe”), but I was also strongly drawn to the work of abstract expressionists like De Kooning, Malevich, Pollock -- and especially Mark Rothko. I’m not sure I could have told you why at the time, but those fields of pure color and indefinable shapes that call to something just below the conscious were not simply compelling and attractive - they wormed their way into my brain in a way that would not become
apparent for many years.
apparent for many years.
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| We Never Close |
The painters of that movement would have had a very clear explanation for my reaction, of course. They would no doubt have claimed that their work was a direct emotional connection between the painter and the viewer, without the intermediation of subject. “A painting about nothing” perhaps, but one which has a lot to say, and which is ecumenical in its appeal. This direct connection to emotion has been interpreted by some as “spiritual” and indeed one of the finest examples of Mark Rothko’s work is the Rothko “Chapel,” just outside Houston, Texas. This small octagonal building houses fourteen enormous, dark, almost monochromatic, panels and is a place for non-denominational and philosophical contemplation.
The power of the work is reputed to move some visitors to tears.
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| Bus Stop |
After my early exposure to painting, my life followed a path away from art - to science, technology and a career which eventually deposited me in my current location in Silicon Valley, California. I nevertheless always maintained a personal creative and artistic output, primarily through the medium of photography, and this is where the threads of my story converge. Photographs – as any photographer will tell you – are not made with a camera, but with an eye and a brain. My photographic subjects have always been what some may call unorthodox. Many have called them painterly. However it was only recently that I made the connection.
The fact is, abstract art is everywhere we look. It is there in the “nothing” that we pass by every day on our way to work. It is there in the “blank” wall and the “empty” space. In reality, of course, it’s in our brains, or rather, since I can only speak for myself, in my brain. Once I realized that my photography was unconsciously drawing on those early memories of abstract paintings I decided to create the body of work I later titled “Off the Wall”.
Sharing one's personal vision may go with the territory in art, but I was nevertheless relieved to discover that I am not alone: One of my images was recently selected (from over 1,400 submissions) for an exhibition of abstract photography showing now until June 9th at the PhotoPlace gallery in Middlebury, Vermont called “Abstract Expressions” (details at absoluteblog.net). My contribution, “Dividing Line”, is at once an abstract composition of shapes, colors and textures, and also a simple boarded-up window that you might drive past every day. All the exhibition images are available online for those who can't, or won't, make it to Vermont.
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| Dividing Line |
By coincidence, a few weeks before I heard about my inclusion in this exhibition I attended a photographic event in Houston and so naturally made a pilgrimage to the Rothko Chapel. It turned out to be a fairly unassuming building surrounded by a nice little park in a residential part of town. Having passed through the lobby, filled with books from every faith, I entered the main space. Huge purple-black canvases encircle the dim, high ceilinged room and imbue the place with an atmosphere I have only experienced before in a cathedral or remote redwood grove. A few people sat quietly on benches, or on the floor. Some with eyes closed.
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| Mark Rothko Four Darks in Red © Tate / 1998 by Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko source The Guardian |
Having taken a while to absorb the ambiance, I approached one of the panels, reminiscent perhaps of a cave man approaching the black monolith in “2001, A Space Odyssey” (Rothko encouraged viewers to get very close - as close as 18 inches) and as I did so, the painting seemed to reach out and pull me inside itself. The surface texture and brush strokes are visible at this distance but they seem to just add to the sense of depth, and in a moment I was both deep under the ocean and staring at the stars at the same time. The subtle variations in color and shifting light drew my attention from one place to the next, but in every direction all there was, was the painting.
After a while it became so overwhelming in its intensity that I could no longer continue to look, and I turned my head away.
