Atlas Dei Trailer and Reviews

My latest film, Atlas Dei, made with Composer Robert Rich has been getting good reviews. The trailer is up on youTube

Here are some links to very pleasing reviews we've gotten

by Brian Romer for Electroambient Space

plus a very thoughtful positive peice by  Geoff Wakefield which really seems to capture the spirit of the film.

and the extensive "by far the best Electronic Music DVD I have ever seen" synthmusic direct review

Symmetrical Wonders

New Digital Gallery added.

 

 

Wind tree Symmetry, Inkjet print, 2007

 

I don't know what it is about adding symmetry that galvanizes an image so. It must have to do with adding order to chaos. In some way adding the reverse mirror version of an image to itself gives a structure to images and tickles our sense of interest. At least it does mine anyway--as evidenced by the amount of symmetrical imagery in the new gallery. In some cases I'll do a double symmetry and flip the image both vertically and horizontally. This generates a kaleidoscopic effect. check out the new images and  and tell me your favorite.

On Vacation

I leave you with a pleasant image that will sit on my blog for a week while I head north to Canada for some much needed family vacation.

 

This image was inspired by Odilon Redon, one of my favorite painters. He lives on that strange transition zone from classical to modern, not quite impressionist, certainly not academy, but something in between.  I grew up with a reproduction of this Redon image on the walls of my childhood home. Little did I know then how to parse it, but now I find this painter's work completely compelling.  Use Google images to see a host of his work.  See you in a week.

-dan 

Season of the Sun

Even before I got minor heat stroke playing Ultimate at high noon on the hottest day of the summer so far, I had suns in my artist's mind's eye. Now I'm cleaning out the garage, which caused me to unearth this half finished monster from two summer ago.

 

It's around 48" x 85" on heavy plywood panel. Sometimes I stop with a piece when I really like where it's going. Which sounds odd. But actually makes sense. You see if something is not working then there is motivation to make it better and keep going. But if you get to the "half way point" and suddenly really like what you've done, even though its not really where you thought you were going, then you suddenly feel like, 'Hey, do I finish what I started out to do, or do I go with this new energy.' If the right path does not present itself I can find my self in paralysis about how to proceed. This is usually why something gets set aside for while. I'm not saying this is the best way to work, but its an honest assessment of how I sometimes do work. Look for a follow up before the end  of the summer to see where this went.

Jump in the pool

It's supposed to get hot here this week ( admittedly 'hot' is relative, but if your acclimated to Northwest coastal areas, anything over 90 must be called hot.) So while I clean out the garage, I'll be dreaming of cool pools like this one taken in Yosimite Park.

 

This is  Vernal falls, which normally has about a hundred times as much water crashing down, but sometimes in October, in a dry summer, the waterfalls of Yosimite change character and shrink way back, exposing large expanses of carved and polished granite. In a sense, you get a whole new crop of waterfalls to visit. So where ever you are, make a mental jump into the cool cool waters and enjoy.

Face Flaw

I painted this sumi portrait some years ago. Like most of my figurative work, its a portrait of imaginary friends. I don't paint from models and rarely from photos, but rather memory and imagination. Sometimes this can create little problems if your not thinking it all through––for instance there's a subtle ( or not so subtle if you see it) flaw in this face. If you think you know what it is, tell me with a  comment below. 

 

This is a detail. Look in the sumi gallery to see the full image. 

Bucephalus Dreams

I know dogs dream, cats too. So its a safe bet that horses dream as well.

 

I was just throwing paint around on this one and then I saw a horse in a splotch. I encouraged it a little bit and thought If I was a horse I'd be proud to have a dream like this. I would be a really exciting horse. If you were Alexander's Horse, fighting your way across Asia, you might have dreams like this. Do horses get PTSD? I can't answer that.

One reason I'm positing this painting is that what's going on in the details of the paint is similar to what I like about glass, its capability for chaos.