About Me

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Massachusetts, United States
I am a painter in search of an audience! Here are words to catch search engine hits: painting artist RISD New England Longmeadow Amherst Boston...more as I think of them. Check out my portfolio on a seperate website. The link is on the top of the righthand column

Monday, January 31, 2011

Still Life in Hell

Picasso and Warhol

Mark Warren " Nature Morte (Pablo & Andy)" 36" X 44" oil on linen

To my mind Picasso and Warhol came close to killing modern art. "But Mark", you might say, " I know you hate Andy but I thought you revered Picasso?" Yes but I feel the size of Picasso's achievement has left so little room to work in that "Modernism" was ripe for it's execution by the likes of Warhol. The only thing left was to suck any spiritual or expressive dimension out of painting and to complete modernism's self-fulfilling fantasy of it's own death. I f you think this view is reactionary you would be wrong. I accept Modernism's demise and it's lost principles of progress but remember Post-modernism is the new academy.

Dr. Alesha Sivartha

The Book of Life








"Alesha Sivartha was a medical doctor, artist, lecturer and a deeply spiritual man. His writings and drawings speak clearly of his conviction in the oneness of Body and Mind, in the oneness of our Physical and Spiritual Constitutions.

The twelve chapters in The Book of Life correspond with Sivartha's twelve aspects of a well rounded human being. Almost all of his theories and mind maps boil down to the number Twelve (12). If his mind maps make your brain spin, refer back to this Table of Contents for clarification on his twelve fundamental themes. It was Dr. Sivartha's hope that all people of all ages would integrate one hour of our daily activities with the learning and practice of each of these twelve subjects."

The Book of Life is at once Scientific and Biblical: Evolutionist, Creationist, Messianic, and Spiritualist. All woven together to create a fascinating mixture of ancient and modern points of view. His father was a Hindu, his mother a Unitarian, and Sivartha believed that Science could finally answer the Deepest Mysteries to prove Religion. The Book of Life is Dr. Alesha Sivartha's record of such Discoveries from 1859 to 1878. Some might call it Biblical Humanism with a Judaic twist; others call it Theosophy. Click here for more on Dr. Alesha Sivartha

Charlie Louvin R.I.P.

Humiliation Series

Mark Warren "The Heart of a Saint" etching w/aquatint plate size 9" X 12"



Mark Warren "Cavalcade of Humiliation" title page etching plate size 9" X 12"



This is a new series of prints I have begun; it is an imaginary Saint/ Martyr's book chronicling his mostly self-imposed pain and his various life debacles. Though he views these tortures that befall him as coming from the world around him, many others may not. Though he moans about his plight he actually relishes the attention his actions and acting get him. Some people do respond favorably and thus he continues on in his martyrdom though I doubt heaven is truly in his future. There are definitely Saints in our world but they don't advertise. Perhaps Saint is the wrong term because our guy doesn't view himself as a do-gooder but rather a beleaguered martyr  who has a profound need to have his pain recognized, even admired, with an almost religious zeal to find more.

Palettes for Doctor Dan

Palette of Edgar Degas

Palette of Vincent van Gogh


Palette of Gustave Moreau

Palette of Mark Warren

My Podiatrist seemed surprised when he found out that I use a table as a palette. I suppose many people picture an artist holding the traditional oval with a thumb hole. I imagine a certain kind of painter still uses them but personally I find it a little embarrassing, kind of like the beret i often wear in my self-portraits. I guess if I painted landscapes outdoors it would be handy.



Saturday, January 29, 2011

Etching

Mark Warren "The Artist as God" etching w/ aquatint plate size 9" X 12"


New Painting


Mark Warren "Crimes of the Artist" 48" X 58" oil on linen

Underappreciated Artist #4

Albert Bickle

"Mr. Spindler" 1921



"Portrait of an Actor" 1923



"The Crucifixion" 1921


Science is Beautiful #20

Signs

Mark Warren "Signs" 38" X 50" charcoal on paper

Thursday, January 27, 2011

When Science was Art

The Father of Modern Geology



There was a time when being a scientist meant a complete engagement with the world, renaissance men who juggled countless interests and were often times compelled more by the joy of speculation and adventure then the dry technocratic specialization of today. They were often amatuer naturalists who stumbled on the mysterious underlayers of the known enviorment with an amatuer passion that I wish I could harness today. At one time science was an Art! So much science now is too complicated for the average person to really understand and so we must take it on faith what we are told. The scientist of the past was overturning the religious order while the scientist today is really a priest. Sometimes I want to get a telescope, go into the backyard, and sketch the moons of Saturn as if I were the first to see them.

James Hutton (d 1797) was a Scottish doctor, a chemist, a naturalist, an experimental farmer and most famously a geologist. He figured out the rudiments of rock formation, the forces of plate movement and theories of "deep time" He was completely changing our understanding of our world and ultimately our place in the universe. This was as much about philosophy as about science. His basic tools were his imagination and his eyes.

 "Hutton hit on a variety of ideas to explain the rock formations he saw around him, but according to Playfair he "was in no haste to publish his theory; for he was one of those who are much more delighted with the contemplation of truth, than with the praise of having discovered it”. After some 25 years of work, his Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe was read to meetings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in two parts, the first by his friend Joseph Black on 7 March 1785, and the second by himself on 4 April 1785. Hutton subsequently read an abstract of his dissertation Concerning the System of the Earth, its Duration and Stability at the Society meeting on 4 July 1785,  which he had printed and circulated privately. In it, he outlined his theory as follows:

The solid parts of the present land appear in general, to have been composed of the productions of the sea, and of other materials similar to those now found upon the shores. Hence we find reason to conclude:
1st, That the land on which we rest is not simple and original, but that it is a composition, and had been formed by the operation of second causes.
2nd, That before the present land was made, there had subsisted a world composed of sea and land, in which were tides and currents, with such operations at the bottom of the sea as now take place. And,
Lastly, That while the present land was forming at the bottom of the ocean, the former land maintained plants and animals; at least the sea was than inhabited by animals, in a similar manner as it is at present.
Hence we are led to conclude, that the greater part of our land, if not the whole had been produced by operations natural to this globe; but that in order to make this land a permanent body, resisting the operations of the waters, two things had been required;
1st, The consolidation of masses formed by collections of loose or incoherent materials;
2ndly, The elevation of those consolidated masses from the bottom of the sea, the place where they were collected, to the stations in which they now remain above the level of the ocean
More on James Hutton here on Wikipedia.
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Fiction I am Reading #1

Hell by Henri Barbusse (1908)

Poor Andy Warhol


Mark Warren "Dead Andy" 38" X 50" charcoal on paper



Picasso's Mistress

Mark Warren "Me and Francoise Gilot" 38" X 50" charcoal on paper



Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Beckmannesque?

Mark Warren "For Max" 38" X 50" charcoal on paper

Another Drawing

Mark Warren 38" X 50" charcoal on paper

Great Graphics #4

A New Edition Of Kafka Books



Read about their design here.

Franz Marc in 3 Dimensions

Drawing

Mark Warren "Thoreau" 38" X 50" charcoal on paper

Drawing

Mark Warren "Vincent and Marie-Therese" 38" X 50" charcoal on paper

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

New Website

I have just added a stand alone website that shows just my work. I plan on showing new work (and some old) here before moving it to my portfolio site. I am still in the construction phase so be kind. The link is in the right column at the top.

A Guilty Pleasure

Maxfield Parrish

Freudian Slip







It is very rare that I come across a Lucian Freud work that is not extremely compelling. As a believer in the souls of animals, I find that Freud has really missed the mark when it comes to investing these creatures with the same psychological complexity that he finds in humans. I am not convinced these horses are alive.




A-Heads

Are these guys happy, angry, or both?






All the heads are 14" X 18" oil on linen.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Artists I Wished I Looked Like #10

Michelangelo


Many believe this to be Michelangelo's self-portrait displaying himself as St Bartholomew's flayed skin on the Last Judgement fresco in the Vatican.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

What Keeps Me Awake #9

The Earth could find itself with a 'second sun' for a period of weeks later this year when one of the night sky's most luminous stars explodes! More here.

Random Anonymous Photo #14


Prophetic?

Ernst Kirchner "Artillerymen" 1915
Mark Warren "Study for The Prelate" 12" X 16" oil on linen



Mark Warren "Yellow Head" 12" X 16" oil on linen


Science is Beautiful #19

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Another Head

Mark Warren "Self-portrait (green)" 14" X 18" oil on linen


My Books #4

Bookcase #1


These are the bottom two shelves closing out our look at bookcase #1. Many more to come. Click on the photo for a larger view. See all the previous shelves by clicking on "My Books" in the right hand column.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Great Photography #7

Frederick Sommer (American, born Italy, 1905 – 1999)
‘The Anatomy of a Chicken’
1939