Begin Begin Begin pt.1

The past two quarters I participated in senior seminar class at Cal State Bakersfield. I created four new paintings for this exhibit. They were four foot by five foot each, the largest I have ever painted. Working from concept to completion took a lot of gesso, many late nights, nearly all my paint for about five months.

History painting series:

This body of work is history paintings, just as many artists have made. History is being made every day. The chalkboard represents an ever-changing history. The media takes information about people and events and filters into a perverse scandalized story that time goes on. As history is being written, all of these issues can be gets added to the chalkboard. Things get erased or added as revised, or even erased, based on who is telling the story.

The first piece in this series is called Brain.The mind is where all knowledge is stored and ideas are made. Thoughts are processed and decisions are made whether to do or say something, and in which way.  The mind is the place where behaviors are created. Imagination can make many things without letting them free. Mostly nice things like "Happiness is never decreased by being shared," get written on the chalkboard.

About the exhibit:

This year 29 students displayed art in the senior seminar art exhibit Magsimula Ibda Comience (Begin Begin Begin). Bakersfield is a place where race, culture and language collide and co-mingle. The cultural history of each student, is quite often reflected in their work and it is a privilege and a pleasure to be privy to such an exotic panoply. The aim of CSUB's BA degree majoring in Art is to help the individual student develop their own language within the parameters of contemporary art and the ever-expanding global culture. 

For Further Reading:

Todd Madigan Gallery

Begin Begin Begin

Rembrandt History Paintings