The Epic 300th Post of Ed Tajchman's Art Journal: Modern Art Quotes

I have been writing in this space for about the last 7 years of my life, and this is the 300th post of Modern Art Quotes; my art journal. It started as me, sharing my casual observations about the creative process using art history and quotes from artists as inspiration. It then evolved into an examination of my own thoughts about my approaches to my creative process. It became a place where I could stop and think about what I was trying to say with my art, and why.  It is now a place where I share my prose and recent artwork.

In the last 7 years it is clear to me, especially when seen through the lens of this blog, how far I have come in how I express myself in my art and in my writings. For example the artwork shared here of mine in the last 30 posts or so is by far some of if not the best artwork I have done in my life. The me who started this blog 7 years ago would not have known how to do some of the paintings that I am doing now, he would of been inspired at seeing the work.

There have been a few key triggers involved in the growth of my style and themes. Traveling abroad to 2 different continents, meeting and working with many artists from around the world, challenging myself to do things that seem daunting. And more recently a decision to go back to school, starting with studying mythology, which has already helped shape how I want to tell stories. Hopefully in another 7 years I can look back at the current me and think the same thing, that I have gotten so much better. The more important thing for me especially is how much work I am doing now. It is a lot, at least compared to the earlier me. My goal is to continue to increase my rate of production.

I like the fact that I have this written record to accompany my work. Part of the reason one of my favorite painters is famous today, Vincent Van Gogh, is because he had about 700 letters he had written (many to his brother Theo) that talked about his life, his work, and his thoughts. Paired with the paintings it is quite a magnificent body of work, especially given the fact that he did it all in about the span of 10 years.

So, . . .  in the tradition of the earliest posts of this blog I will share part of one of my favorite letters of his. Words I have heard over and over again in my head since first reading it about 20 years ago when I was 16 years old.

"What a pity painting costs so much! This week I had fewer worries than other weeks, so I let myself go. I shall have spent the 100-fr. note in a single week, but at the end of this week I'll have my four pictures, and even if I add the cost of all the paint I have used, the week will not have been sheer waste. I have got up very early every day, I have had a good dinner and supper, and so I have been able to work hard and long without feeling myself weaken. But there, we live in days when there is no demand for what we are making, not only does it not sell, but as you see in Gauguin's case, when you want to borrow on the pictures, you can't get anything, even if it is a trifling sum and the work, important. And that is why we are the prey of every happening. And I am afraid that it will hardly change in our lifetime. But if we are preparing richer lives for the painters who will follow in our footsteps, it will be something.

 But life is short, and shorter still, the number of years you feel bold enough to face everything.

And in the end it is to be feared that as soon as the new painting is appreciated, the painters will go soft."

                                       -letter from Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo, August 1888

The 2nd to last stanza has always been my favorite, (But life is short, . . .) It sometimes runs often through my head, especially when I force myself to go into my workspace and paint when I do not want to. I have to remind myself how precious the time to paint is. I have to remember how short life is, and how much there is that I still want to say. I constantly feel like I have just begun to make art. I wrote earlier of how continual growth is part of the goal of my art, or well in my life in general. The more time every day I can spend making my art the better, and the more I can fill in the puzzle of this mosaic I am building. My entry into the grand scheme of life in this crazy universe.

Speaking of entries in my mosaic, here is my most recently completed acrylic painting: Octopus Man in a Sea of Sound. It is on canvas and is in the size of 26 x 38 inches (66 x 96cm). As stated in my last blog entry a lot of my paintings from the past couple years are slowly telling a larger story. This guy is one of the characters in that story. You can see a keyhole on his throat, which may indicate he needs a certain condition to be met before he can reveal the information he has been receiving. There are sound waves with symbols all around him. His lungs are like the branches of a tree and his legs are the roots or octopus legs. There is either a sound-wave running through his middle or he is in the ocean.

Octopus Man in a Sea of Sound  by Ed Tajchman. © all rights reserved.

 I will end this epic 300th post with one of my own recent works of prose. I have been writing prolifically recently, which has been very cathartic for me. 

Between This Head and Yours

Imagined expectations only reveal facets of the conceiver. Work hard to put on others a direct observation. Grabbing pens unconsciously wherever you go because magic is possible to emerge from them. Becoming a guardian of magic's emergence, he didn't sign up anywhere, just showed up every day alone.

Between The black ink shining as it dries, and the pink morning light fading from your eyes, between the dried root finally cracked and broken, and the hoots from the owl awoken. Between the dried paint on my fingers, and the feint whispers echoing in my soul that linger.

Jumping through hoops, not getting caught in loops, walking and eying others watching you a bit too long. Hide your eyes and hum a song, want to get where you are going no one else can come along. Twist and dodge the blows that life that throws. Just keep going and push it through, who cares if you forget how to be true. How to trust who when the chips fall, cookies crumbling. Cannot feel the thirst when the cold overwhelms.

-Ed Tajchman

Modern Art Quotes 100th Post: Van Gogh on the Language of Reality

I thought it fitting that for Modern Art Quotes' 100th post that it be a quote from one of my favorite painters of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. If anyone had feeling for nature and reality it was Vincent.

"It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures."

-Vincent Van Gogh

What he is saying is thus: perception is more important than style; the reason why the artist chooses the subject matter, or the feeling he has for it is more important than painting it with academic acceptability. That is one of the recurring themes that occurs in a lot of the quotes I choose to write about here; that passion trumps tradition and repetition.

Artists are at the forefront of the evolution of human expression, and should be free to create even if the work offends some or is controversial. In my opinion that is what good art does, it stirs controversy up, starts conversations and debates, etc. It gets the mind thinking and the heart pumping. I've had a lot of fun writing this blog and hope to keep it going for a long, long time. Thanks for reading!

Van Gogh, Olive Grove, 1889.

Paul Gauguin On Van Gogh

For me, the relationship between Van Gogh and Gauguin is a pivotal moment in modern art history. Gauguin as we know, lived with Vincent for a short time before moving on, eventually to more tropical surroundings. Let's look at a quote from Gauguin on Van Gogh:

"But I owe something to Vincent, and that is, in the consciousness of having been useful to him, the confirmation of my own original ideas about painting. And also, at difficult moments, the remembrance that one finds others unhappier than oneself."

-Paul Gauguin

Both artist's play a major role in the development of modern art, and had a huge influence on each other. It's the relationship between artists and the sharing of ideas, that breeds cultural growth. Both were passionate artists prone to bouts of depression who found solace in their work, with of course Vincent eventually falling more heavily into illness. Both artists changed the world of painting forever.

Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers, Paul Gauguin, 1888.

Commercial Success Can Help an Artist, but is Not Necessary

As much has commercial success can obviously help an artist, it can also be an entrapment. A lot of artists would even prefer not to sell their work if they didn't need to. The true joy of the creative process has nothing to do with selling your work, only in sharing it, take this quote from Van Gogh:

"I repeat, supposing that like the bulb trade at the end of the last century, so the art trade, along with other branches of speculation at the end of this century, will disappear as they came, namely rather quickly. The bulb trade may disappear - the flower-growing remains. And I for myself am contented, for better or for worse, to be a small gardener, who loves his plants."

-Vincent Van Gogh

Ideally I would give all my work away to people who would enjoy it and take care of it. The reality is that if an artist is serious about creating full-time, there comes a point when you have to find a way to sell your art and earn a living.

A Blazing Soul but Still Lonely

The life of an artist although filled with insight and discovery, can also be very lonely. Knowing adamantly that you are right about certain things, especially with your own work, but not finding an appreciative audience is very frustrating. Who better could express this idea than Van Gogh with this quote:

"One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way."

-Vincent Van Gogh

The older I get the more wise I seem to become. This might be a grand illusion but that's honestly the way I feel. My art, my painting, this blog, are all ways in which I invite people into my place by the fire; my vision. I can only hope that I learn how to share my vision more fully, in the future.

Van Gogh On His Portraits

This quote from Van Gogh is more than a hundred years old, so now we can say that his wish came true:

"I would like to make portraits that people a hundred years on will see as apparitions."

(-Vincent Van Gogh, quoted in; p.183, Van Gogh by Pierre Cabanne.)

His subjects do seem like ghosts staring at you through the depths of time. He captured a vibrancy not only in nature, but in the people he painted also. Especially in his self-portraits, he captured that sense of viewing apparitions as he says. (I am not sure that's what he meant in the preceding quote, but it's true.)