Art, Nature & Soul #85

A lot of times, the best, most important & relevant art speaks to the times in which we & it was created, in some way, shape or form. Over the past decade or so I've noticed both the emergence of newer artists, plus a resurgence of some old being reintroduced into the current mainstream culture addressing theses things, politics, climate change, COVID/vaccines, gender identity, sexuality & more.

We're involved in the art scene so we attend a fair amount of related events & happenings. One that stands out is the Lumineers concert several years ago when they and the 2 other opening bands performed Leonards Cohen's DEMOCRACY together on stage. As our country has been significantly under siege since  2015, it was relevant, poignant & a moving call to action, as in vote, plus some. Since then I've been more observant & aware. We saw Muse, Will of the People Tour, Arcade Fire, WE concert, TearsFor Fears, TURNING POINT & The Decemberists ARISE FROM THE BUNKERS, all which were speaking to the issues at hand directly. Others were just going about their business incorporating the messages more subtely into their setlist, Sam Smith Gloria, Pet Shop Boys HOTSPOT, Iggy Pop EVERY LOSER & New Order’s 13 tract variations of BE A REBEL, concerts & cd's to name a few. Within theater, White Plague & 1776, seemed to be trying to reach out and send a new message to the audiences The Joffrey ballet's FRANKENSTEIN, and opera, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ALAN TURNING and most recently Sufjan Stevans ILLINOISE seem to be changing things up to be inclusive and show some deeper thoughts on being human. Exhibits at the Art Institute Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art as well as some special exhibit venues that also were geared to show the possibilities of human life on planet earth. One such was Warhol at College of DuPage, Illinois, another THE FIRST HOMOSEXUALS at Wrightwood 659, that has a follow up in 2025. And many others, but these were some memorable highlights.

Toward the very end of 2023 we saw Patti Smith at the Salt Shed, Chicago. Ever the consummate rebel & activist, her encore was PEOPLE HAVE the POWER and the crowd was feeling it. I had taken several photos of the outside & inside of the venue, with her and the people in attendance. For this piece I wanted to show the outside of the venue and the hoodied crowd waiting to get in. There was a couple standing directly in front of us, inside, that reminded me of Don and myslf when we were in our 20’s, fearless, but practical. Similiar biulds, I had long wavy blonde hair & Don had shorter brown, then,as well. The 2 guys in their mid 20’s, holding hands, with their arms around each other who would occasionally kiss, so I put them front & center in the composition then added Patti Smith performing, People Have the Power. The hooded people representing those hidden, who feel they need to hide, inpart ( because of their color, religion, sexuality, gender identity, etc.) waiting to get into a safe space to just be who they are, without fear of reprisals and the 2 guys representing the fearlessness of some while Patti encourages our right to be free, to be who we are and whatever we want, echoeing that we have the power to make it so. The bilding itself I added some symbolic graffitti too. Yes, this was the message I want to bring out and I've conveyed it in one my more contemporary compositions in mixed media. 

Earlier this year, 2024, I spoke to another peer artist about putting an exhibit together addressing the current political climate and issures at hand. I messaged him stating we could have a call for entries and have the artists interpret the theme "Democracy" and then elaborated on some details of the when & where. Guess we’ll see if enough people have the courage to motivate and show their power before it’s to late. Make your voice heard, make your vote known, be the change you want to see in the world, its that simply.

As always your comments & questions are welcome,

Richard

PEOPLE Have the Power 24”x36” mixed media

Art, Nature & Soul #56

These days I spend most of my time painting, but there was a time when I used to spend my days drawing every chance I got. Painting and drawing are very different disciplines for me, one being about edge the other about line, although I sometimes merge both into a single concept in paint, scribbling & sgraffito.

Growing up, my fascination was people, trying to capture, not only their physical attributes, but their personalities, I loved to draw them & find those unique features that made them… them. Especially faces and noses, it seemed that noses were really those defining features for me. I guess you’d say I have a bit of a nose fetish…haha, but for reals. Whether they were drawn in charcoal, lead or ink, most of the time I’d challenge myself to either not erase or not lift up my drawing implement from the paper. It was a bit of a self-challenge to force myself to see form & shapes correctly. Though, I still tend toward exaggerations of a sort, from the slightest, to more caricature and cartoon.

There are hundreds and hundreds of sketches and drawings throughout my home & studio, books full of figures and ideas. I recently picked up a new drawing pad in an ongoing effort to force myself to make time to draw. I used to do lots of cross hatch & cross contour in ink. For years I’d do a 5-10 minute quick sketch, mostly more single line drawn cartoon and gestures. It’s so infrequent , less than 5% of my time, that I paint or draw figures anymore that I’ve got in the habit of drawing them out on the canvas first before painting them, just to be sure I have the proportions down the way I want them. That said, in the past year or two I set to do a self portrait in oil and was half way complete before I saw I had forgot to do my preliminary under drawing first. With the direction of my current work over the past decade or so has led me to do more scribbling, sgraffito & scratching. Here’s a recent scribbled figure I did earlier this year. I think I’ll have to do much more scribbling. I love the organic, free flowing & natural feel of it.

As always, your questions & comments are welcome~

Richard

Broke out my ebony pencil and did some scribbling.
‘Angelo’ 12”x12” pencil

Art, Nature & Soul #45

*For me, the best thing about Facebook, has been connecting with friends and family, meeting new people from all over the country and even more so, the world. Early November last year 2019, one of my Facebook friends, an artist in France, posted that her grandson had passed on. I was moved, even more so feeling compelled by an overwhelming sense of compassion to create a memoriam, a tribute, a painted 'Homage to Francis' , her grandson, a person I did not know, for a person I know only through Facebook. I gathered from her posts the information needed, hoping to honor his life, in some small way, from the brief glimpse I was allowed to share in. My greatest desire was to convey that when a young person is taken so soon, when they pass on, that you are not alone, for the whole world mourns with you and for them. To create a visual assertion that sometimes what may look like the sun setting, is really the sun rising. To say, we are one, of one world, one love, and in this oneness that we are not separate, but completely, utterly and powerfully connected...always.

After gathering images & info to work from, I choose a 36” square stretched canvas and did a tonal drip & splatter in prism violet as a base color in which to do my preliminary figure sketch & wash upon. Using my oils blocking in the shapes, the figure began to emerge. I tend to work wet in wet, however in this piece some dry brush enhancement and details were added over time. Next, using ebony pencil & 18k gold marker, a bit of graffiti was added in both word and symbols. Each symbol & word, were meaningful additions to the memoriam. Some were direct pieces of information & images from his life. A few like a victor Hugo quote, important dates, his name FRANCIS, were all carefully added, as were the symbolic imagery, such as my trademark figure 8 or mobius strip, representing eternity. Also the signature addition of 18k gold leaf was added toward it’s completion. In this case, depicting the soul as an angel. A multitude of others exist within the composition if one takes the the time to look for them and ponder their meaning, as does the expression on his face suggest. As usual I tried not to over think my approach, but let my emotions & more intuitive instincts prevail.

"I say that on the tomb , which on the dead closes - Open the firmament . - And what here below we take for the end - Is the beginning ." ~Victor Hugo

Upon completion, I contacted & messaged my Facebook friend showing & telling her what I had done and affirming that it was painted with the utmost respect & love, asking permission to post it. She responded~

“Many thanks dear Richard for your paint , I like very much your hommage of Francis , je vais partager”

J.R.-R.

The response was a success & overwhelming, the ‘Homage to Francis’ seemed to speak to and reach the hearts of those I had hoped to.

Art should speak volumes to the time in which its created, to the thoughts, the people, & places of those fleeting moments we call life. My sincerest hope is that this piece does.

As always your comments are welcome.

~Richard

'Homage to Francis' 36"x36" mixed media on canvas

Homage to Francis’

Detail

Art, Nature & Soul #43

Mini-Me’s~Are a more raw & direct approach to my painting. Most certainly completed in one sitting, they assert & express, my more intuitive & free associative natures. These are the pieces I most experiment with, pushing the color combos, textures & general approach, with a matter-of-fact intent …Alla-Prima.

Playing in the paint, immersed in the color, & bathing in the light, my tools are ready to translate the world around me. I had in the past been working on various size canvas/panels for these smaller artworks, but this year I’ve decided to stick to the 12'“ square panel format, as I had a great carrier created for traveling with them. Initially intended for my Plein air works, it also works as a perfect drying rack. Working mostly from my own photo references, life, imagination & plein air work, over this past year, as the pandemic has limited my abiltity to travel and get new references. Recently, I have on occassion also incorperated, when inspired, Facebook friends & family, photos, as references for these studies. Usually a big no-no for me, as I have always worked from & used my own experiences & references in previous years. Now, though, inspiration is sweet inspiration, besides I’m not a literal interpreter of the more realistic.

My aresenol of supplies & tools, are an expanded palette, of color, color & more color. Having learned the limited palette of Rembrandt near 3 decades ago and knowing how to expand the color variety within that limit of, Titanium White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre & Venetian Red, I now challenge myself to create, blend, layer & mix new colors, to push the palette to a sublte extreme. As stated I’m using panel, ‘Richeson 12”x12” gessoed hardboard to paint on, for the most part. Then a variety of brushes, palette knives, scratching tools, sculpting tools, make-up applicators, kleenex, my fingers, medium & finishing varnish.

These artworks can be framed or placed on an easel, as they are. They are small, so they are easy and inexpensive to ship. Whether a collector, or new to the scene, they’re a great way to expand or start an art collection.

As always, feel free to comment or contact me if interested in acquiring a ‘SPERRY’ original.

Thank you

Richard Sperry

Art, Nature & Soul #33

More important than trying to copy the world around us, is how we see, then how its expressed and conveyed in our non rep and representational forms in our artwork.

Earlier this past fall 2019, out walking one morning, I noticed the first light hitting just the top of this Maple Tree, some 15+ years ago, I noticed that this is where the color changes first happen on the leaves. It was at the point where the leaves where glowing that yellow, orange, red, punch color…or a glowing Ranier Cherry one. It occured to me to paint one version as an abstract and another as a representational interpretation. How we build up the details, or take them away will determine the translation between more design orientated and realistic paintings.

For as long as I can remember I’ve drawn as well as painted both abstract and more realistic images, seperately, then have merged them into mixed singular concept. A great many, dare I say, most people like more representational art. It’s easy to relate to, identify with and put your self into it. I get that, that said, many, many peope ask me about abstract artwork, because they don’t get it. Over the years I’ve found the most simple way to explain it and show it. For the most part, abstract work is about breaking down the design elements of what we see and the more realistic is building up those elements & the details to various degrees. Then I’ll show them, by creating a square or rectangle window, using it as a viewfinder and placing it over a section of a representational artwork. In picking a more interesting area of a painting, showing that all the same design elements apply, thus creating an abstract.

In these studies, these paintings, I specifically set forth or average the amount of detail in both, approximating them at a similar level. Neither is to broken down or built up, in detail too much, as to mis the point. Sometimes I paint on location, other times from photos, still others from my imagination. In this case all 3 apply. I began with a toned canvas, decided on a more high key lit color and went to work. Here’s the results. For the abstract translation, I painted just the upper section of the tree against the sky and for the more representaional one, the whole tree, & treeline against the sky, keeping both on the subtle line of impressionism. Here are the results.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions.

~Richard

Fall Maple Translation 1 & 2, 18”x18” each oil on canvas

Art, Nature & Soul #32

Abstract Realism

Abstract realism is difficult to explain because of the infusion of two distinct styles of art: abstract and realistic. Abstract Realism is the infusion of the elements of design with the depiction of real life in visual art. Realistic imagery is still there, it is sometimes distorted and given fantastically invented abstract forms. . Abstract art is art that doesn't have a definable focus. It is art that exists through patterns, colors, texture and line without the need for an external motivation. Realistic art consists of art that aims to replicate nature. When these two elements combine to create an abstract impression of real life, you get abstract realism.

Being more of expressionist inclined this battle of fusions and ideas, can be found in my lifetime of artwork. Initially seperate concepts for me, I’ve worked diligently to combine them. The concept can be combined in varying degrees of abstract and realism. Rembrandt, most may think of as realism except for, when you get up close to the work, rather than line, we see edges. Edges where blobs of paint create patterns & the design elements abstractly, to which the representational subjects mass is defined and conveyed more realistically.

For me it becomes a spiritual admission. Where as my thoughts on the vary essence of life & meaning is conceptualized in paint. All life is connected atoms, not lines that sepearate entities, but edges blurring one into the other, stardust energy, if you will. Fractals, Chaos & Universiality combining the physical and concious worlds. In my paintings, a more thoughful & emotional gesture is intended, using symbols and mythology.

His name is Gray~He was a hunter of sorts who loved everything beautiful. Narcissus was proud, in that he disdained those who loved him, wanting them to prove their devotion to his striking beauty. Narcissist is one who has a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance or public perception. Once, during the summer, he was getting thirsty after hunting, and he was lured to a pool where he leaned upon the water and saw himself in the bloom of youth. Narcissus did not realize it was merely his own reflection and fell deeply in love with it, as if it were somebody else. Unable to leave the allure of his image, he eventually realized that his love could not be reciprocated and he melted away from the fire of passion burning inside him, eventually turning into a gold and white flower.

‘Gray, Shades of Narcissist, 30”x30” mixed media on canvas (acrylic & oil paint, 18k gold leaf and paint pen, & ebony pencil)

Your comments & questions are welcome

~Richard

Art, Nature & Soul #15

Intuitive and stream of conscious, so were the the artworks done in this time frame. Sunrise and sunset, the day begins and ends,  many of my color sketches, studies and completed works, involve these times of day, as it's when I'm out there, usually walking, inspired.

During this time I was writing and editing a novel, 'Libertalia, Seize the Day for Remember We All Must Die' under the pen name DrahCir. It is a steampunk pirate fiction with historical elements. A fun romp through time & space, drawing on my life and long list of literary influences.

Keeping it direct, raw,  & spontaneous, with all the things in my thoughts influencing the outcome, I set out this morning, with acrylic paints, linen canvas, palette knives,  and brushes to paint a piece for a digital colorplate illustration for the novel (1of24 included). The sun peeking out the sky, the ocean, and a tallship in silhouette. Look carefully and you can add your story to the scene.

'Dusk' (Black Sails) 16"x10" acrylic on linen. (yr. 2011)

It became p'178 for the novel, thus acquired and in a private collection.

Art, Nature & Soul #14

I have raised a variety of critters most of my life. As a child we had dogs, birds, fish & turtles, as an adult cats, dogs, birds, fish, tortoises and even hermit crabs have been companion critters. I've always felt it was important for children to raise a pet of some sort, to teach them a healthy respect for, and understanding of, other animal life. If you haven't raised a critter or two you probably did not know they also have an emotional life.

At one point we raised a family of Shiba Inus. A father, mother, daughter, & son, this is a  mother/daughter piece I painted the year they both passed being the last surviving members of that pack. Sunny nearly 17(on right) and Snowy 15 1/2(on left) had a tamaltuous and sometimes competitive relationship, most of their lives. In their final years, while always protective, they became very nurturing,  tender and loving  of each other. There were a great many moments caught on camera & film and this one in paint of one of thoose fleeting moments of endearment.

Me, not generally being of a realistic or literal visual interpretive nature, but more of an emotive one, went to work painting them.  I tend to like a more alla prima, direct, & intuitive approach, to capture and transmit my emotional visual energies to canvas, in an attempt to avoid a contrived, overthought or static relief. With a combination of oil paint, brush, and palette knife, I intended to carve a matter-of-fact rendition of the two that captures both their likeness's, as well as the emotions of this tender moment shared by them, mother and daughter and was most happy with the results.  

As always feel free to coment.

'Still Moments' 20"x16" oil on canvas (2012, NFS)    

Art, Nature & Soul #12

Inspiration comes in many forms and from many avenues. I grew up in a little one bedroom yellow house, until age 7, in a nearby suburb of Chicago. The house was set back further from the road, as compared to others in the neighborhood. Me, my mother, father, sisters, & on occassion, extended family members lived there,  when they needed a place to stay temporarily.  

Memories flood back from days gone by. An early memory being  one of the great mystery of snow. Around age 5, I had scooped up some snow and saved it in a metal & lidded minnow bucket, to save for the spring, only to find when spring had come, the snow had melted. I suppose we all have these kind of experiences, but for me, it became a realization of a few things. One being, the awe of beauty, another of the inevitability of loss and still another of emmense possibilites of learning.

This piece was painted in 2011, at the plateau in my drip & splatter fusions of abtract and representational subject matters. I'm using acrylic and interference paints here. Swirling loaded brushes of color on a substrate, allowing them to drip, then  splattering them with h2o to encourage the process, followed by carving and directing the flow with a palette knife to create the subject and story, the painting is then completed with more splattering.   

Van Gogh & Gauguin have there yellow house experience and I had mine, a duality and juxtaposition of turbulence and joy.

'Yellow House' 19.5"x15.5" acrylic on board 

Your comments and questions are welcome.  

Art, Nature & Soul #8

A decade or so ago, I was creating primarily in acrylics, using a drip, splash, splatter and palette knife approach, with subjects being both abstract and representational in an attempt to merge the two concepts into a unified idea.

I love walking and nature and spend lots of time outside doing so, observing it and trying to take it all in. I'm fascinated with the idea of fractals and overcome with the idea that those patterns echoe and ripple, no matter how large or small, on and on into infinity and back. They whisper to me, that all life regardless of its differences, is connected to each other in a symbiotic relationship. 

There are paths to choose, decisions to make, and no matter which ones you do, to most there is a way re-route, if only  you keep moving forward, being true to yourself. Some of us take a more direct route to get to a destination as quick as possible. Others of us prefer the more circuitous routes and  scenic by-ways. I've been more of the latter, wanting for the thing that eludes us most, the abilty to put our whole selves in the moment and breath it all in.

This piece is inpired by a forest preserve by my home and one of the paths I've walked over a great many years. What began with a blank canvas, was stretched over strainer bars, primed, then slowly color glazes were applied, again and again, until, with a palette knife the path was clear and subtle details were added to journey's end.   

'Sky's the Limit' 24"x30" acrylic on canvas~SOLD     

Art, Nature & Soul #7

One of my favorite authors/thinkers once quipped, that the problem with abstract art is that it doesn't have a horizon line. Kurt Vonnegut also said and I quote, "I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center."

As more of an outsider artist, which is to say, an artist with very little formal training and making their way through the conformitities of the day, I'm more experimental in approach. As a boy of 12, I remember wanting for that eureeka moment and thinking that true art must be created in a vacuum. I doodled and drew often, mostly the people around me. Da Vinci, Dali, Van Gogh, Carravagio, & Pollock, were and are my primary artists of interest, as a child and young adult. 

From caricatures to realism, to the more surreal and impressionism, and on to post-impressionism and expressionism, I've created in pencil, pen & ink, soft pastel, clay, oil, acrylic, and a multitude of various fusions of mediums, exploring the possibilities.  Always with the idea in mind that I too could fuse ideas together into a single approach.

With this idea in mind, over a decade ago I began to blend my representational and abstract ideas together. This piece is one of the results of the process of bringing these ideas together. It is done in acrylics in a drip and splatter approach that is layered in a multitude of glazes. It is, I believe, one of my successful works of abstract with a horizon line.

Please feel free to comment.

'The Edge' 60"x48" acrylic on canvas by Richard Sperry

Art, Nature & Soul #4

What began simply, as a series of more cathartic writing, drawing and painting exercises, took on a life of its own, evolving into a project that lasted about seven years. The result is this novel,  'Libertalia: Seize the Day For Remember We All Must Die'. Those who know me will see all my passions gathered together to tell the story and others will learn a bit about me in this tale.

DrahCir is the pen name for Richard R. Sperry born in 1964 in the western suburbs of Chicago, an artist and writer, with this being his first novel. As a child of 11 he went on a family trip out east to Boston where he found his passion for history and pirates. Some highlights were the Freedom Trail, U.S.S. Constitution, Salem Witch Village and the Pirate Trek and Trail in Lynn Massachusetts. He has spent the last decade exploring colonial history along the east coast, has read over 250 non-fiction/fiction books on the subject of piracy and drawn inspiration from his own life to spin this yarn of piracy on the high seas and beyond.

The novel ‘Libertalia: Seize the Day for Remember We All Must Die’ is a steampunk pirate fantasy fiction with historical elements. An extensive, in-depth study of PYRACY shows the quintessential nature of being human and reveals at its core a well faceted, most fluent, all encompassing, un-compromised view of world history, as untainted by any one cultural belief, value, dogma, and design as none other. All pirate myths, legends and folklore, romantic or realistic lead but one direction, in a search for freedom and equality. The pirate’s code of a democratic-socialist utopia based on egalitarian, collectivist, agrarian ideals are more than a place, but a mind set on a quest for Libertalia.

Steampunk Pirates & a Tall Ship~ The 'Leviathan' is a modified Dutch Fluyt galley. Which is to say, beyond having oars, it's suspended by a derigible. At some point, during a severe storm it passes by way an anomaly that renders its ability to travel in time and space. Here you will meet Captain Kidd, Captain Morgan, Black Bart, Blackbeard, William Dampier, Woodes Rogers, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack, Mary Reed, Dr. Dee and a cast of others, along with Black Captain Randy and the rest of the crew. Join Black Captain Randy and crew on ship Leviathan as they set out in search of El Dorado, find Atlantis, drink from the Fountain of Youth and create their own pirate utopia, Libertalia.

There are two editions available, one is 8.5”x11”, 282 pages and includes 24 color plate images and another in epub form at Lulu.com, Apple Ibook, Barnes & Noble Nook, Amazon Kindle, Kubo & everything else digital now or shortly. . For further information www.sperryfineart.com and www.Lulu.com 

Go to www.Lulu.com, enter 'Libertalia: Seize the Day For Remember We All Must Die' in the search engine to order your copy and thank you in advance for your support.

'Upon Her Arrival, The Whale and The Squid' 48"x36" oil on canvas is one of twenty-four of the images you will find included in the pages of this novel.