Strolling Along


I thought I would share the drawing I have of one
  • Mr. Steven La Rose
    • . He had a show a few years ago just around the corner from where I currently live. I was going thru one of those periods where I wasn't keeping up on any art shows, or what my artist friends were showing, or when they were having shows, etc. I was in a fallow phase, I knew it, and to me, no big deal. So I was strolling along Pine and was suddenly in the presence of my friend Steve, who just happen to be having a show, and was as well holding down the fort at the space that his show was at[normally it's a tax preparation locale]. I walked in, and fell for the piece you now see above. No question I had to have it. I needed something, and often do, that resonates an innocence of mood, of something I would be able to look at and feel lightened by, this one was it. Steve informed me he was going to be a father soon, and I think that the work in the show reflected that, well again for me, one always carries their own baggage into a show, much to an artists chagrin. I miss seeing you around town, it always seemed as though we would walk into one another like that, exchange a few valuable thoughts, well for me, and part, picking up where we left off each time we passed again. I'm glad to have run into you via
  • Dennis Hollingsworth
    • via
  • Chris Jagers
    • blog which had a link to your blog Steve. It was just like walking down the street in my own neighborhood again and discovering a gem.

    Comments

    Steven LaRose said…
    Oh yeeeahhh. . . I forgot about that one. It gave me a punch to see it again. A smile filled punch. It is really a rush to re-visit older pieces. Have you ever gone over to someone's house for a beer and forgotten that they had one of your paintings on the wall? Pow! You can't take your eyes off of it the whole night. Its like running into an ex-lover at a party. That drawing cracks me up. I recently learned that those damn Prisma-color pens have a real shitty color life. Keep that out of the sun! I am also thinking of the bigger picture from which that drawing came. It was a really great project with Mona Lang. We picked titles, and each drew our version of the titles. Then we would riff off of each other's ideas. It was the closest that one gets to "jamming" in the painting world. I was hoping that blogging might open up some similar opportunities. Can the blogs make the studio practice more like jamming? Thanks for postin' the pic and the kind words.
    12:54 PM
    harold hollingsworth said…
    I've been jamming since I discovered this all just last week, I'm such a pup, but I'm riffing right here with you all!
    12:58 PM
    Honolulu Dogfight said…
    I remember that show as well, and some dirty anarchist punk kid asked Steve what the point of all his work was, and that it just looked messy and Steve said it was like music for your eyes ( i am liberally paraphrasing). The kid was properly schooled, humbled and then left.
    7:18 PM
    Steven LaRose said…
    Its funny how the memory mechanism works. I walked away from that DIY exhibition with several life lessons. One of them was: "Don't judge an art buyer by their looks". What is missing from George's observation is that one of those "dirty anarchist punk kid's" came back one evening and handed me two grand cash for this painting.

    Did you know that Honolulu Dogfight was one of the few boys at my wedding? Did you know that I went to Grad School with Dennis Hollingsworth? Did you know that I can get mis-tints for free? Make sure you have a vehicle with room the next time you pass through Ashland. I will set you up. I swear by the mis-tint manifesto (ecologically, aesthetically, and financially).
    8:14 PM
    harold hollingsworth said…
    was Dennis such a go getter in those days as well, cause the man seems to have the career path going like a strong running V8!
    12:26 AM
    Steven LaRose said…
    For years I found Dennis's career agenda rather unseemly. His calculated bid for artistic success made me uncomfortable. There was no denying his intelligence. His early paintings were not always so viscerally beautiful but they were conceptually tight.

    In hindsight it is easy to see that I was coming from a scene where most of my peers were musicians who scorned "professionalism". (read Sub-Pop). Today, however, I hold Dennis's artistic identity creation with the same high regard that I hold any well branded art form, from Chihuly to Jack White.

    I can now watch the V8 run with joy.
    7:34 AM
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