Wednesday, June 5, 2013

"a Quarter Plus"

Here is the link to my upcoming one-person show at YorkArts (running from June 6 through August 3, 2013)
FRED HAAG “a Quarter Plus”
The work ranges from a figure painting from 1987 (Black Dress)
to a newer figure painting from spring 2013, to a figure painting from this past April (Garland, Jess II).
Black Dress 1987
Garland, Jess II 2013
The exhibit will also include oil paintings of my studio from the early 1990's to a few years ago and a number of "text" pieces
I and Thou (you bastard)
Religious Girl

Friday, May 17, 2013

Garland, Jess II

Garland, Jess II  48" x 36" oil on canvas painting.
I am trying to complete this before my one-person show at YorkArts which opens on June 6 (D-Day).  


The pieces in this show will cover a span of over twenty-five years and encompass my major subject areas:  the figure, the studio-interior, chairs, and the still-life. Since my sensibility is autobiographical, these pieces tend reflect my surroundings and experiences. I usually work from direct observation, but I also use memories and conversation as departure points for both paintings and drawings. I have noticed that, over time, this body of work often references itself through specific aspects of subject, color, composition, and even particularities such as patterns and brushwork. I like duality in both form and content: ambiguity and clarity; color and draftsmanship; manufactured and natural. I am currently working on a series of figure paintings and interiors.

It is progressing very slow and steady.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Painting likes to move around.

This started as a still-life for an upcoming show.  After seven hours or so it was starting to shape up.

but something wasn't right and I covered it with black paint and decided I would work on it today (Thursday).  Little did I know that a sick cat would take me to the vet, home, and that I would be digging a very good-size hole - I like to dig.

Jess and still-life, oil on canvas  40" x 48"
Anyway, by the time that my model got to the studio, I pushed the table to the right and made it a lot smaller, and added the figure on the left (rather than a chair).  It is a long way from looking the way I imagine it, but it is something to work with.
Jess and still-life, oil on canvas  40" x 48" (after some re-working the angle of the head)

After a bit more work this week.




Thursday, January 24, 2013

Winter 2012 - 13

Tin Cup and Funnel, oil on canvas (11" x 14")I remembered how the texture of paint and the smell of linseed oil and turpentine evokes memories of doing and making.  All sorts of nostalgia came flooding back as I started to work on the little painting behind the cup - it was a present to my Grandmother that I painted for her birthday over thirty years ago.

Winter Skulls and Pumpkins, oil on canvas (18" x 24")  Trying to articulate the space gets complicated - finding that marriage of paint and object, color and space, line and shape.

Punk'n Bunny, oil on canvas (18" x 24")  I would never have thought that this stuffed rabbit would provide so much painting material.  I have a lot of other plans but making time to paint between semesters ending and beginning is a challenge.