Not Real, and a clean sweep.

Friday I worked in the studio and has a series of understandings and discoveries in my painting. I even figured out what I wanted to paint next.

That night I went to Good Citizen Gallery to check out Eric Troffkin's show Not Real. Eric was one of my graduate instructors and I think of him as a sort of parent figure. He was a great teacher; the kind that got invested in who you were as an artist and tried to give you advice in align with your goals. He was also very honest about the art world and lack of jobs post grad school. I knew that he was an excellent technician and that he had extensive model building skills, he even worked for James Turrell.

When I walked in the room I first noticed on the left wall several crystal like shapes in pastel colors hanging from the ceiling and slightly grouped together. On the right wall I saw a series of light boxes that appeared to be close ups of these installations although with different lighting situations. As I moved through the crowd, I saw that the floor was covered with piles of hexagonal shapes in a variety of pastel colors. They were stacked in a manner that made me think of; people that balanced plates, honeycomb, and candy. The color of many items in the room was reminiscent of candy and in that tradition the gallery served Spree and Jellybeans in addition to the regular cheese/cracker/wine spread. Gotta love a space with a sense of humor.

There were three hanging installations. Direct lights forced strong shadows to appear on the back wall, shadows that were larger than the original piece so that they became an additional form. (Sort of like Tim Noble and Sue Webster only not figurative or representational)


Initially I had a lot of questions: What were these forms made of? Did he dye them himself? Were they related to platonic solids? What was this idea of the lense flare?

An ever-teacher Eric answered all these questions for me. They were made of cast foam and he mixed the different colors. They were not platonic solids because there is no six sided platonic solid.

Lense flare is a visual that appears in photos but is not a real occurence. Typically it appears as starbursts, rings, or circles on a photograph or in a film. This odd effect happens when light scatters in a lens system because of reflection, strong bright lights, or an irregularity on the lens. It's shape is determined by the six parts of the aperture.

Did you know? A lens flare is used to suggest drama. It was an effect in early computer graphics. Think Easy Rider and Star Trek.



The color scheme was inspired by the color of his young daughter's toys. Each installation is created in a new way as it is shown in a different venue. The shadow of the object is as important (possible more so?) than the hanging objects as it is another illusion, a shadow that is not real. This is a really terrific and visually playful show by a serious sculptor.

Saturday I returned to my studio, this time I had the intention to clean. I had to re-sort and organize materials and space post project. Five hours later I began to paint. Well mid painting I got tired, which kind of sucked because I had hoped to solve a little more. I ran out of patience and focused energy. For awhile I was depressed; that the painting had not been solved, that I'd used most of my day to clean. I wanted the Eureka! feelings of Friday to continue. In the end I decided to go on an adventure with Emily H. At 11pm we went out for a drink and then ended up at a dance party. The change of scenery, infectious music, and hilarity of being one of the "old people" at a party was enough to lighten my spirits.

Today the cleaning spree continued at my house. My bf is a total neat freak so when we started cleaning it was like a chain reaction the next thing you know he had cleaned the whole house. After preparing for my teaching classes, I went to Jill A's house. She bought a painting from me. (Painting on right) She has quite a collection of St. Louis art. She is a wine sommelier. Which makes me think Kudos to her for also being a young art collector. I think that is something that could be further explored in St. Louis, encouraging young people to collect art. I really enjoyed sharing a glass of wine with her and swapping travel stories. We had been acquaintances for a several years and it was connecting to see who she was as a person. Plus she has a cool dog.

This week if you are looking to do something fun on Thursday night the White sisters are playing records at Royale. Promises to be fun dancing.