BeHogan : Brian Hogan

May 15

Two new under paintings, approx. 3 1/2x 3’. Using a new substrate of very dense industrial cardboard which has zero absorption. It’s much like painting on laminate but softer.
These 2 pieces continue my previous isolated island landscape paintings which are compositionally based on female genitalia.
…I’ll have to go into explaining that more in depth in future posts, for now enjoy the process.

Apr 18

Drawing for a new painting…hills valleys and distant mountains

Mar 17

Some progress shots of one of the new wood stain paintings on paper

Apr 3

Bass Harbor “Cabin View: Harbor” 2011
Wood Stains, Gold Ink, India Ink on graph paper.
Study for a larger painting

Dec 30

This is an older set of images but I find it’s relation to what I am currently working on relevant.

With these two most recent post you get to see the history for which my newer work is built. This is of particular interest to me, to see where an artist is coming from and how their ideas evolved. That and I never really stop working on a project once I start, so I go back and forth. This is a way of constantly building and breaking off into new directions.

With these paintings it is where I started to work with the human form. Where is my last post I was focusing my attention on nature and landscapes.

The first three are paintings on top of magazines so they are about 8.5 x 11”; the last is on textured board around 6x12”. All in enamels

Oct 25

Enamel and wood stain on Masonite with various clear coats. From the detail you can see the differences of finish and lines cut into the surface.

This is a large version of the study I was talking about earlier, the woman observed walking up the subway stairs and the view she presented of her underwear clad crotch.

On the larger scale that sense of land forms starts to take hold. It becomes this image that engulfs you as you stand in front. Mountains, a crevasse between the sides sloping upward, looking from a distance over a ledge. Similarly to the way you might observe the subject. The subtlety and forms are what draws the content together; and the scale that pulls the viewer into that space.

The more I thought and looked into upskirts I found a lot of media images, especially paparazzi and all levels of celebrity. Particularly though the lower level celebrity or reality “celebrity”. Are these accidents? I don’t know. Does this influence our culture as a whole? Most likely.

These paintings are of Nicole Scherzinger. Wood stain and enamel on cardboard with gold frames, 60 x 35”. I feel the materials fit the subject matter.

As get into the project I am pulling from multiple sources that all have there own angle but intersect.

Mainly I want the images I draw from to work into building and flowing land forms that create places you can move through in side the paintings.

This new work is mainly focused on thinking about the evolution of our culture and the beautiful relations to nature that flow just below the surface. Connecting our environment with our thinking with industrial materials.

This is an installation view of 3 studies. The two on the left are enamel on Masonite. The upskirt content was based on observation from being in the NYC subway. When I say observation I don’t mean creepy guy taking photos or mirrored shoes and such, not at all. Usually it’s accidental and a result of a of the subject’s decisions on what to wear out that day and their actions.They are only the subject because they offered themselves as one. The top left image was drawn from a woman walking up the stairs in front of me, literally it was just as I drew it. Though I waited to get upstairs and some distance form the subject.

After seeing this more and more over the past couple years I started thinking about what people are thinking when they choose what to wear out. I’m not judging good or bad but something has changed in our culture to either make something like this more acceptable or not as taboo. Being a product of many years of Catholic school where girls wore skirts and super protective of ever showing what I’ve seen it’s made me wonder.

The third painting on the right is drawn from another source which I discovered as I was doing research. There is a community out there on the internet of women not much younger then myself that regularly post pictures like this of themselves in there underwear. Again this got me thinking about culture and how it evolves and changes.

Here are a couple photos taken in my new studio space out in Patchogue, LI. The painting is 80 x 85 ” on Masonite, floating about 3.5” off the wall.

For those unfamiliar with my recent projects, the content is taken from upskirt images found on the internet or observed. With that information I build and layer the forms to represent landscapes which are very much about that process as well as the content. I am drawing connections between our cultural landscape, the natural environment and the built environment we inhabit.

BeHogan : Brian Hogan

Art through the eyes and ears of Brian J Hogan (behogan.org)

Art through the eyes and ears of Brian J Hogan
(behogan.org)