A Seat at the Table: The Chair as Aesthetic and Social Construct in Spartanburg

My last painting for our upcoming group exhibition in Spartanburg was finished shortly before the beginning of our holiday break. As with most of my work, the painting evolved and changed over time. The painting is somewhat larger than how I generally work, so it took a few weeks to complete, with plenty of opportunities to change my mind and add or subtract to the composition.

I had originally conceived the painting, Abandoned Porch with Chair, as a contrast between a black and white interior with a view of a world of vibrant color - much like the way Dorothy, in the film The Wizard of Oz, opens the door of her tonal world to reveal a colorful Oz. It seemed a fitting end to the old year with sanguine hopes for the new. To this end I made an underpainting in black and white and used colorful oil glazes of pure mineral pigments for the scene beyond the abandoned porch. After reading about the film, The Wizard of Oz, however, I found that the bucolic home scenes of Kansas were not filmed in black and white but in sepia tones, like an old photograph. This influenced the colors that I began to lay in over the black and white underpainting - introducing browns and ochres. The background I left with bright, almost garish colors, to impart a sense of a strong afternoon light. To keep the scene vibrant I changed the original black doorway to one of golden yellow.

The chair was painted several times. It was originally an abandoned rocking chair, but I changed it into something more sturdy. During several repaints, the chair acquired new upholstery based upon the African Kuba cloth designs that I had viewed earlier at the Stanback Museum here in Orangeburg.

In the original scene, there were various and sundry pieces of debris scattered along the surface of the dilapidated porch. I converted these into all my sketches of chairs that never made their way into paintings or finished drawings. It somehow felt cathartic to liberally sprinkle these emblems of unfinished work into my last painting of the year. The large drawings of chairs are in the works for certain, but will have to wait until March to be shown. I will post on their progress in January!

The exhibition, A Seat at the Table: The Chair as Aesthetic and Social Construct, will open on January 6 at the Artists Collective on 578 West Main Street in Spartanburg, South Carolina 29301. For more information call 864 706-2474. Visit their website at www.westmainartists.org 
Links to articles:
https://www.goupstate.com/lifestyle/20191222/artists-collective-to-show-chair-themed-artwork