Steve Gray
A Painter and Photographer, Steve brings literal yet abstract images to this exhibition. Working on a theme of Harm in all its forms, Steve’s paintings will take on the environment from a personal level, challenging the basis by which we look at our ecology and explore it visually and with text.
Steve’s Website: www.stevegray.com.au
An online interview with Steve.
Exhibition Log.
August 3rd
More happening, I have done a couple of new works on paper, harm without text… more purely abstract themed, I wonder if people will make the connection to the harm works if they were on their own?
I took this photo just to show the variance in texture and gloss across the paper.
You can see the off white cream colour, it’s very hard to balance from applying the paint and then not getting too much of one colour on the paper… the great thing about working on paper is the ability to have a number of them ready to go without major prep of canvas or linen surfaces for example.
A second one in the series… Aiming for brevity of line and a very subtle soft approach, very much in line with harm as an overall approach or theme… I watched an interview with Quentin Tarantino on TV this morning… he said one of the great things about being a director in films is having the ability to play with people’s emotions, laughing one minute then shocking them the next. I am no Tarantino (yet) but I like the fact people could get a shock while being seduced by subtlety… BAMM right between the eyes… he he… oooh.
August 1st - 2nd
I have been through the mill and back on this latest piece, thankfully I can say I’m back… I have applied various layers of paint, impasto, and an off white cream which is doing what I want. Hiding some of the text and distorting other areas of it.
July 31st
In a flash of “ooh yeah I have to do that…” or an “A hah” moment a series of fresh ideas happened in my head during a long sleepless night, It’s okay though, nights like this I awake in the morning fully refreshed and happening. I wanted to get up and jot down the ideas, but I knew these would be floating about long into the night, words, with images floating over the top, or perhaps words and text just together on a blank background… A number of options flipped about in my head.
The morning came and the ideas did not seem as complete when I started to flesh them out on paper… hmm not good. But aspects were of reasonable note. I went about check emails, twittered a bit and found a link to a regular blogger whose style and approach I highly admire. I took the link and wandered about on the page… a few ideas flipped about differently yeah great, I grabbed the thought and ran with it. Here’s the start.
I started with a great line of text and got in the flow and kept going, a bit dark in places but I feel it’s solidly relevant to my harm theme and approach. I was going to put chunks of paper over the top but have instead decided to use tracing paper “harm tags”, so the viewer can read some parts and maybe not others.
Not really sure if this will be in the exhibition. I want to see how far the paper buckles when I lay on the “Harm Tags” and start laying on transparent/translucent paint. Perhaps some wax (always did like the waxy golden honey look.) A bit of a return to some VERY older works I did as a student.
Here’s one view of the “tag” I am using and the rest laid out.
Here are the tags in place.
I like the way the bottom line is free of text, looks like a sort of map colour coded key of some kind. or printers”Pantone” colour swatches used by printers to know what colours to print where. note the tracing paper does distort the text a little, this I hope will add to the mystery, the effect I wanted.
July 16th
Have been working on a little side project to the main theme… (apart from the images to go underneath the main images.)
You can see the harm text I have printed on the page I will then draw over it so I have a great starting point to work from. This idea came about while driving around town, contemplating a range of possibilities, I had thought of a lino cut, too messy for what I wanted… or perhaps? no no… I want a framed image… but… no no… (drive past a framing shop) Pull over and park. go in for a look, come out with five 5 x 7 pre cut mats and backing, great price too… Ok ya, now I’m on a roll. The ideas were now coming thick and fast.
July 15th
Here is a “Sneak Preview” of one of the images to go under the main painted images, these will be pinned in place so the viewers can flip the pages up and read some of the text. It will be interesting to see if people will actually do that. Do I need a sign which says this is a “Kid free zone”?
Base sheet
The overlay pages, two per image.
Full overlay
The effect is to present two “stories” and give people a sense of more than one thing going on at one time (a chunk of the real world here…)
July 14th
Here are the five main “Harm” works, very hard to photograph because of the subtle tonal differences but here goes. In the gallery they will be presented in a horizontal row with other small images below. On my screen they show up as a little “pink” while in fact there is no pink used at all.
Harm 1
Harm 2
Harm 3
Harm 4
Harm 5
June 12th
Details for the works is going well, I have been toying since the start about adding images to go under these five and include text overlaid on tracing paper. since the last entry I have fought with the text, do I go bold and hard or soft and muted, still clearly harm related but not full on terror, subtle, personal, dire, malevolent… Yep I’ve made up my mind.
In the gallery I realise now I have room to put something on the side walls, do I or don’t I… Solve one challenge and face another. In my last exhibition I created an art book with mainly text, might have to put my mind to something, but will it add or take away? Hard to say at this stage….
May 27th
This is one of the works mid to late stage, part of me says the works are nearly finished, then I will go back to the support images which I am aiming to present with each painting. The HARM text at the bottom is different on each work, some subtle others clearer, the hope is, with them presented as a group the concept, the whole will be greater than the individual parts yet each should stand on it’s own both visually and conceptually.
Have done some more work on the small drawings I want to do some mid sized drawings as well, perhaps a few works of acrylic on paper, there is a lot more to explore here.
May 23 - 26th
Have done more work with clear matte medium and a few more sections of tonal work, the works are busier now, more vibrant (although very lightly tonal) I guess the statement more active is better than vibrant.
Here are a few detailed images, oh and forget the colour balance it was so hard to get the images this good! They are more creams and whites mainly.
May 22nd
Have gone over a few areas today to tweak them up a bit, the overall feel is great a few bits needed to be pushed back. The layering effect has worked okay, I am please the areas with a thin clear matte wash have worked and I have added some heavier matte medium to add depth.
Tackled a few very small drawings, (pencil and ink)
May 21st
Checked out yesterdays work first thing, mainly good, grabbed the brush and applied some more paint to areas I wanted to tweak, it’s amazing how the light effects things, and how it’s different dry to wet… a few changes to a few bits where my initial work showed through… Came back a while later and had another look, all sorts of ideas are coming to mind about ways to move on with these, mainly happy with the result. Will see what’s next after lunch perhaps.
May 20th
The water colour efforts took hold, a few came up as Ok but in the main rather passé it’s one of those things I guess… Tried a few with a wash of colour rather than solid colour.
Tackled the canvases after dinner, got into a frame of mind that said, it’s time, I have postured and stalled for an infinite time. Decide to try layering the paint in a minimal way, will see what happens. worst case is a redo but I am aiming for a sense of essence, of ease, of brevity, an open line, a soft shape. not sure if if caught it just yet have to let the paint dry and see the results in a different light.
I did the five canvases in one hit moving one to the other a quick sketch a few sparse lines to work from. Then applied paint, limited palette but enough definition (for me) the darker hues I figure may be knocked back with an overlay of lighter or transparent colours/s.
Just ducked out to take a look and rotate the paintings to avoid runs in the paint. not sure about the darker colours just yet. As mentioned overlays of lighter hues may well be the answer.
Mid May 09
Am experimenting with water colour paper (small) and trying out a few ideas as if they are prep sketches, these will help to form the basis of the whites marks of paint I want to apply. I need to carefully work the colour layers to not make things too busy or muddy.
Have gone over the text initial painting a few times, to teak the end result, part Jasper Johns, part loose brush strokes, looking suitable so far. I tweak it a bit here and there then back some more, as a group the result should work well. Some of the wording is hard to read, not phased the whole group concept will be clear.
I start the painting of the text on the canvases, the lady at the copy shop where I had the initial image enlarged looked at me a little odd at first, she tilted her head “art huh?” yep… I gave her the size and a few minutes later it was done. Transfer was done via attaching the sheet to the back with tape and then a strong light from behind, tricky the tape kept letting go. I got it in the end.
Have mixed colours in tubs some a bit dark for what I want but form a great base hue.
April 09
Have set up five canvases 48″ x 60″ ready to paint, applied gesso etc and in the process of exploring ways to put the text I want on the bottom of the image area. I have a range of colours in mind all subtle off whites, the theme is HARM so I want to state it subtly and vaguely, I want the viewer to sus out the word in parts not so much as a literal whole on each canvas. I am envisioning the canvases in a row together (if room permits.) With smaller images of text below the paintings.
Have made more headway with the laser cut image idea, just chatted to the design guy who can assist with the tech details they require. More ideas flood in as I progress further with this.
March 09
Planning for the exhibition going well, systems in place to check things off. Hope I have remembered everything! So Far So Good.
Idea s for the text component have been squeaked a bit further, some of the stories were too strong and needed to be altered to suit the vague and subtle notion of HARM I want to present.
An idea has arisen for an add on art piece, a limited edition “chunk of commodity”. Exploring options to produce business card sized laser cut HARM pieces with signature and edition details. have been to see the laser cutting people a few technical details to sort out.
Early March 09
The ideas are coming thick and fast for the canvases. I want to add more depth by using a series of smaller images (A4) below the bigger canvases, this will draw the viewer in to see the details on the A4 sheets, layers of text on the concept of HARM, more to do with stories and notions than an out and out description of the term.
Have organised the frames for the canvases. Done some prep sketches, a previous work based on the black saturday fires proving to be a core influencer. It’s as if the whole thing has played into my hands as the concepts tick over.
The A4 ideas have been translated into some text, I want to layer tracing paper over a dark image, attached “raw” to the wall with a few pins a touch of fragility. These will help to form a “whole” concept but would be separate, perhaps a short video could help to pull the concept together.