Untitled
Enamel and latex on paper on fiberboard
8 x 10 feet
Although this site is about our beloved J.R.R.Tolkien, and his merry band of characters: Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn, the cheerful Sauron, and gentle Balrog, I felt it was now time, as John Cleese used to say, for something completely different. I confess I have no rational for this, other than that I have moved into another direction in my art. I’ll talk more about my new focus later, but just to give you an idea, I was thinking about calling the above painting “Micheljackson”. It’s just a tad bigger than my 9 x 12 inch etchings, measuring 8 x 10 feet.
This piece is still in progress. I’ve been photographing it at different points to help me work on it since, as Pollock did, I’m working on the floor. So here are the first two states.
Though this web site is devoted to an ongoing series of etchings inspired by the writing of J.R.R.Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, I thought some visitors might be interested in some of the other types of art I have created over the years.
Overall dimensions of installation: 28′x13′x9′
Though styrofoam is certainly not a traditional sculptural material, it allows for possibilities that most other mediums do not. The above photo, from my 2004 installation at The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, illustrates one of these very well. This sculpture is approximately 12 feet long, and is suspended only by it’s attachment to a wall. (In case you are wondering, there is a 1 1/4″x 5′ dow-rod inside this piece at the bottom-most bend, where there is maximum stress.) I find the possibilities of this medium very exciting and perhaps will someday again work in it.
Perhaps it is my curse, but along with sculpture and etching, there are at least half a dozen other art forms I would also love to devote years of time to. Alas that life is so short.
Five of these pieces are still available. To purchase, or for more information, please see my contact information under To Purchase.
This self-portrait was made at the same time I first conceived of doing a series of etchings based on the writing of J.R.R.Tolkien, author of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, to which this web site is dedicated. I was a junior in college, and since I liked making etchings so much, I was much taking advanced printmaking for double credit. It was 1972, and I had just finished reading The Lord of the Rings for the fifth time. I really like this old piece, it is very spontaneous, with all that wild hair. Also I find all the false-bite, especially that around the hair to add a raw, lively quality to the piece. I used to take plates, already prepared with a ground, home with me. It was late at night, my roommates were asleep. As I walked past the bathroom, I saw my reflection with this strange shadow on my face, and immediately drew it. Considering the difficulties I had early in life, it now seems very appropriate.
The Balrog has always been to me the most powerful creation of J.R.R.Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, and his introduction, (in a tie with Eowyn battling the Lord of the Nazgul), the most powerful scene. I have, through the years, made many sketches of how I envisioned him. Above are a few of these. The bottom one drawing is the one I eventually made the final etching off. It is drawn in reverse, with the sword in his left hand, and the whip in his right. This is because an etching prints the reverse of how it was drawn on to the plate, so the sketches must be backwards to come out the right way in the print.
It took three tries, before I got the etching the way I wanted it. This image is the second.
I must say that, although I like Peter Jackson’s movie — it is excellent in many ways, his Balrog, though powerful, bothers me in two respects. One of the most dominant elements in Tolkien’s description, fire coming from his nostrils, is completely absent. And, second, the fact that the sort of African buffalo horns, which are purely his own (through his artist’s) invention, are unquestionably the dominant element. I mean no offense, but I’m much more interested in Tolkien’s Balrog, than Jackson’s. And, though, of course there can be a great range of interpretation within the description, it is a matter of emphasis. Does one emphasize ones own additions to a description, or the element’s Tolkien emphasized.
And, certainly, I am not saying my version is definitive.
Overall dimensions: 28′ x 13′ x 9′
The notion of having sculptures flow seamlessly from large paintings several feet into space is very exciting to me, and the use of styrofoam in my second installation at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (2004) Allowed me to realized this. I was also somewhat inspired by Matise’s “Joie De Vivre”, and the floor sculpture of my work derives fairly directly from one of the figures in this painting. The human figure was what first inspired me to make art and is still a great passion. In school I discovered the wonderful abstraction of Arp, Brancusi and others, and have been interested in the idea of creating sculptures that very fluidly fuse the realistic human figure with abstract forms ever since.
Five of these pieces are still available. To purchase, or for more information, please see my contact information under To Purchase.
8′10″ x 2′ x 2′
Though almost nine feet high, these sculptures from my first exhibition at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in 2000, were hung from the ceiling on thin mono-filament, and moved with the air currents. The answer to the riddle this presents is that they were carved from single blocks of styrofoam. Eight pieces in all, each depicted a different model, and were presented in a room painted a deep blue. The installation was titled, “Anti-caryatidean”, (a word I made up), and dealt with the issue of women breaking free from support roles in many male controlled societies, past and present.
Five of these pieces are still available. To purchase, or for more information, please see my contact information under To Purchase.
8′10″ x 2′ x 2′
Though almost nine feet high, these sculptures from my first exhibition at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in 2000, were hung from the ceiling on thin mono-filament, and moved with the air currents. The answer to the riddle this presents is that they were carved from single blocks of styrofoam. Eight pieces in all, each depicted a different model, and were presented in a room painted a deep blue. The installation was titled, “Anti-caryatidean”, (a word I made up), and dealt with the issue of women breaking free from support roles in many male controlled societies, past and present.
Five of these pieces are still available. To purchase, or for more information, please see my contact information under To Purchase.
5′x2′x2′
The sculpture, “Prometheus Unbound”, is one of my earlier pieces in styrofoam. When I first began working in this medium I knew wanted to hang the sculptures on very thin nylon line, and thought they would have to be much lighter than they actually did. So when I finished this piece, I cut it into sections, and hollowed it out. The result is that this sculpture weighs probably less than one pound, and I can be lift it with my pinkie finger.
10 1/4″ x 7 3/4″
“A Knife in the Dark”, is the only etching on this site depicting a scene from one of Tolkien’s books, that was not not created specifically for my current series. It actually dates from my college years, and involves Frodo being attacked on Wheathertop, by the Witch King of Angmar; another of those very powerful Tolkien scenes. Looking back at this piece I have a variety of feelings about it. On the one hand, I really enjoy it’s spontaneity: both Frodo and the especially the Nazgul have a sense of dynamic movement. On the other hand, the background figures look like stiff statues. And, though the lower part of the Nazgul’s robe is poorly drawn, the part that is rippling across his chest is some of the best etching I’ve done. Being simultaneously spontaneous, and in control of ones medium is a goal much to be desired.
8 5/8″ x 11 1/4″
Though this etching, “Beowulf and Grendel”, also dating from the mid 197s, is obviously not part of my current series based on the writing of J.R.R.Tolkien, it is strongly related. Beowulf’s long hall filled with his warriors, though it is more primitive, put me in mind of Meduseld. I can remember, looking at it now, that I was thinking of this connection when I was drawing it, especially with regard to the tapestries on the walls. And in general, of course, there is the mythological relationship. Tolkien being a student of, and creating his own mythology, and Beowulf being one of the most famous ancient tales in existence.