Our twenty-seventh post of the series, Artists in the Time of Coronavirus includes Sean Thomas Boyt, Linda Lee Alter, Andrew Chalfen, Scot Wittman, and Andrew Conti! Thank you for all who submitted! And if you want to participate, send your statement (250 words max) and 2 photos to support@theartblog.org. More details here. Stay safe and stay positive, and come back in the days to come for more “Artists in the Time of Coronavirus.” We have a wonderful community and are so proud of being able to share everyone’s art.
[Note: We have gotten almost 300 submissions, so if you haven’t seen yours yet, don’t worry- it is coming, and we can’t wait to post it!]
Sean Thomas Boyt
The dance communities locally and internationally have shifted practices – rehearsals and livestreams are popping up online alongside classes and improvisations in video-format. My performances for the next few months have been canceled or postponed indefinitely, so I have begun turning inward and focus on enriching other facets of my making and doing. Never has there been a better time to type up newsletters and dance scores!
Website: STBDancing.com
Instagram: @_Seanieboy
Linda Lee Alter
Hello Everyone.
Several years ago, during an intense period of self-discovery, I created this painting of myself as a duck among other ducks. An acknowledgment of myself as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
During this time of the Coronavirus Pandemic, when we are all isolated from one another in our homes, I offer my Ducks painting as a way to convey a more encompassing message – that although we are physically separated from one another – We are All One in our efforts to find ways to help each other, and we are all united in wanting to foster a sense of community.
Sending Love and Well Wishes,
Lee
Andrew Chalfen
The two photos attached (both taken by me) are of my just-completed painting “Screaming Windows (Tiled City III)”; the first a front view and the second an easel-view of two of the painting’s edges in my studio. I started work on it a little over three weeks ago at the very beginning of the pandemic hunkering-down and have been burning nervous energy on it 10 or more hours a day, partly as a way to deal. Not sure it would be healthy or possible continue to keep up that kind of pace.
My initial intention with this painting was to return to and further explore some grid-based themes from a few years ago, namely employing a few geometric elements and setting them in motion with a combination of generative (pseudo-fractal) process, intentionality and intuition, and my quirky rules of color juxtaposition. The final result was both expected and unexpected. It has the “it-has-no-focal-point” of many of my pieces, the spilling off the edges of the canvas, the you-can-hang-it-any-way-you-want possibilities. No rulers or tape employed; I wanted the mark of a human hand.
But it seems to radiate with the current personal/societal freakout. All these little window shapes crammed together yet isolated, claustrophobic, caught in a maze. Maybe the shapes are singing from the balconies of their apartments? Maybe it’s like the fire hose of news – overwhelming, conflicting, unintelligible bits of digital mayhem everywhere.
Rather than build a frame, I opted to paint the sides. Many canvases have these big edges now, so why not treat them like additional canvas? I needed a way for the main design to continue and yet resolve on the edges. Thus the agitated points, or rooftops, or shark teeth. Grrr.
Also attached is a low-res time-lapse video I made showing my process.
Hang in there!
Website: www.andrewchalfen.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i.think.like.midnight/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewChalfenArtwork/
Music: https://ithinklikemidnight.bandcamp.com/
I can be contacted here: http://www.andrewchalfen.com/contact
Scot Wittman
I am thankful I have collaborated with artists at the year’s beginning; I am optimistic I will meet with gallery goers at multiple Openings by year’s end. Five years in the making, Duencia(.com) is an event comprising photographs, VR, ceramics and live dance performance. I had just met with dancers once for a brainstorming session before my choreographer went to LA. I am happy she is safely back, but all rehearsals, and every single other thing, of course are on hold. With so much planning in place, the framework is there, it is just a matter of meeting and moving forward. This work has been molded around the shape of current events; it is a reflection-of and is forcing me to react-to in terms of the [changing] world we live in. The arts can offer release, relief, reflection, inspection, hope, and happiness. I believe this work, initially conceived to speak of human connection, can be quite powerful. That is my sincere hope.
Direct contact:
scot@mapographer.com
Feature website:
Mapographer.com
Gallery Instagram:
@OpusFlight
Project Website:
Duencia.com
Project Instagram:
@duencia
Andrew Conti
At the end of last year I began a series of small paintings I call Talismans. These works are built on motifs I use a lot, like stelae, mounds, and monuments. I envision these paintings as little objects of protection for friends and family. Throughout these works I wanted to focus on the anxieties of the present – both small and large. When I started I was thinking of issues of the everyday, politics, environment, and society.
Of course, with the arrival of Covid-19 and the new realities of social distancing and isolation, these paintings have shifted and become responses to what I see and feel happening within our family, our friends, and the larger world. One might be a reminder to watch less news, and another a tiny monument to washing hands.
In a perverse way, I think social isolation is somewhat comfortable for me, and perhaps many creators. My studio is always a place I isolate in, and seek the energy of creating. It’s fun to be out and about, but there is so much to be said for staying in and producing things of value. And on some level, despite the fear, the unknown, and the massive changes happening to humanity, there is a sense that this makes many things possible that might not have been even a few weeks ago.
Andrew Conti
Instagram: @andrewconti
Website: www.andrewconti.net
