When I found Gerhard Richter‘s work I felt validated. Here’s a successful artist who works in photography and painting has elements of reality and non-reality. He isn’t working in one narrow genre. I like that.
Richter’s “Forty Years of Painting” show appeared in 2002 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I didn’t know about him till someone who loved his work pointed it out to me a few years ago and I saw Richter’s work in SFMOMA’s 2010 Fisher Collection.
I love Richter’s visual vocabulary. Photography, painting, realism, abstraction. Vibrant colors. Streaking green lines the color of Granny Smith Apples next to raspberry red made by Richter’s huge squeegees moving chunks of paint on canvases you can jump into, stretching seven or ten feet wide.
I have a secret about a scrumptious view of San Francisco. It’s at an exquisitely light-filled space and its staff has for 54 years had the generosity to host an annual art show! The Potrero Hill 54th Annual Artists Exhibition runs through June 1st.
The current show features the work of sixty artists ranging from sculpture and ceramics to painting and photography.
If you’re looking for an off-the-beaten-path place to see San Francisco, check out this awesome space, especially the six seats on the other side of the magazine showcase on the second floor.
This is the same neighborhood where painter Wayne Thiebaud moved to in 1973. For more about Thiebaud and the Potrero neighborhood see Philip’s Garden Blog’s observations of the streets of Potrero Hill and Thiebaud’s depictions of them.
My piece in the show is a digitally manipulated scanogram titled “Seeds of Joy.” I produced it by placing objects on my scanner, and then pushed it further using Photoshop.
The scanner offers a stable surface for placing objects and the photo mechanism is securely mounted. What a treat for composing elements.
Michele Cassou, photo by Suzanne Christine I left my letterpress class early to meet a rock star in the world of creative exploration using intuitive painting (also known as “process” painting, and in this case “Point Zero Painting“). This is an area I’ve been exploring, since intuitive painting puts to words the method of painting I enjoy the most. It is more about the experience of painting rather than the product of painting.
Now I had a chance to see and meet the pioneer of Point Zero Painting. She was giving a presentation at John F. Kennedy University’s Art & Consciousness Talks. Her introduction included what some people I admire have said about her:
“Michele Cassou is a catalytic visionary: a fuse lighter who sends people rocketing into their creativity,” said The Artist’s Way author, Julia Cameron.
“Michele Cassou offers a wise and profoundly creative inspiration for the liberation of the human spirit. Just the way lively music makes you want to get up and dance, this book makes you really want to get up and paint the fullness of your life,” said leading Buddhist teacher, Jack Kornfield.
Cassou has been praised by the American mythologist Joseph Campbell and the French painter and sculptor Jean Dubuffet.
Michele Cassou at JFK University
Needless to say, the introduction made me even more eager to hear what she had to say. She stood with a large projection screen above her and spoke passionately about her journey to and through what is known as “process painting.”
I took notes throughout her talk since just about every sentence resonated with me.
Cassou was born in Marseille, France. She started making art as a kid. She had formal art training but had given up studying art because her last art teacher said “Do something else, painting is not for you!” (from p. xxi of “Life, Paint and Passion). A series of events put her in touch with the Free Expression Studio in Paris. There she had a profound ah ha moment watching the uninhibited children make art. “Sheltered from judgment, criticism, and competition, the children were giving themselves to the natural process of expression, to the pulse of creation.” (p. xxiii of “Life, Paint and Passion). It was there she found her true calling.
She spent three years painting with the children and learned to listen and explore freedom of creative expression. From there she started teaching small groups in her home. Now, several decades and thousands of paintings later, she continues her unteaching.
Point Zero Painting is based on the Point Zero Method. The method involves a self-questioning method that leads to that place of no judgment or limits within. It emphasizes painting for the process or experience of painting and enjoying it’s meditative qualities. It’s not about the end product. It is not about what you “should do.” It’s about becoming conscious and present.
Another characteristic about Point Zero Painting is there is a completion point to each painting. Only the painter knows when it’s finished.
Here’s my 10 favorite quotes from Cassou’s talk:
1) “When we listen to intuition there’s a connection we don’t know we have. Learn to unblock the places resisting freedom. It’s like going down the river, you’ll follow the current and the stream.”
2) “To be creative is to be completely without habits.”
3) “Creativity is a present energy passing through you. Give yourself a lot of space to be yourself.”
4) “Painting is meditation. You are left with no point of reference. You don’t have to copy anybody’s way. No comparison with anything. It is a very courageous thing to do.”
5) “If you follow your intuition, there’s always a next step. It’s always SAFE.”
Mary Gow's Intuitive Drawing Using "Harmonious" iPhone App6) “The energy of the Universe is constantly wanting to pass through us!”
7) “Every time you create something there is a cycle . . . but you trust. We don’t paint what we are not ready to handle. There is a benevolent aspect of creation.”
8) “Whatever calls you, take it. Don’t feel like you have to cover the white paper. Every dot is precious.”
9) “It’s what has happened inside of you that is important. Not the product. Often it’s about changing our eyes. Your eyes change. You get more of a sense of what’s real. What is compromised.”
10) “Creativity works the same in every medium. It’s not the painting, it’s the process of creativity.”
“>Point Zero: Creativity Without Limits,