Painting with a difference

Forums: Art, Painting, Spices, Art Materials, Wade Hoefer
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Mmmmm, tasty morsels:

These paintings apparently have appeal past the visual -

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/08/LV6E1MBVHC.DTL

Clip:
During the past four decades, Healdsburg artist Wade Hoefer has received numerous accolades for his flowing, meditative oil-on-canvas studies of Northern California landscapes.

Yet when a visitor paused recently in front of a painting at Hoefer's current show, "Concerto Spaziale" (Concert in Space), the casual critic offered unparalleled praise.

"I want to lick these," said John Keker, who was taking a break from his work as a San Francisco trial lawyer to stop in at Hotel Healdsburg on a November weekend, and had been drawn to the gallery display in the hotel's Carriage Room. He stuck out his tongue and feinted a taste.

Hoefer was delighted. His new medium is completely different from anything he has ever used before, and the result is a striking departure for the generally more traditional painter who favors gossamer-edged vineyards and valleys.

These days, he's painting with spices, encouraging most viewers to lean in, smelling the lingering fragrances of turmeric, cayenne and curry. Nearly everyone also feels compelled to touch the paintings - canvases depicting abstract shapes on a base of sea salt, swirled with ingredients from basic black pepper to exotic paprika.
End/clip
See article for more about the paintings and a slide show.

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2011/12/30/lv-hoefer08_PH3_SFC0105824906.jpg

A piece from Wade Hoefer's spice collection.
Photo: Stephen Lam / Special to The Chronicle

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2011/12/30/lv-hoefer08_PH1_SFC0105824920.jpg

Photo: Stephen Lam / Special to The Chronicle

Comments?
These paintings seem like fun to me, fun to make, fun to see, but also with abstract art value.

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@ossobuco,

It is one thing to create beauty by copying it from nature (i.e., to copy "God's" beautiful objects and scenes) and another thing to invent forms (i.e., to bring into the world by invention and sometimes by accident) ) abstract forms or images that are inherently beautiful.

I had to find a place just now to record this phrase. It's my most central notion (or mantra) regarding the making of images on canvas and paper.
Sorry for intruding on your space here. I havn't been reading what you folks have been saying. But I have enough confidence with you to do so.

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@JLNobody,

True, that.

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@ossobuco,

I don't want to ignore the fact, however, that even representational works can and should have powerful abstract characteristics.

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@ossobuco,

I don't want to ignore the fact, however, that even representational works can and should have powerful abstract characteristics.

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@JLNobody,

I get, I think, abstract images that are inherently beautiful and I get chasing them and the way images can interact.

I think I understand your take on representational art as easy in some way, even if very hard to do re the task parts for many over time (Carpaccio!), that it would be a kind of tangent re the nature of painting - I get that.
You will correct me if I am wrong on that.

I'd admit my own interests are more toward the human or other nature depictions, done by me with mediocre or occasionally interesting results, usually those few in fast painting.

I'll post my Woman with Flaming Bicycle - not that you should like it, but that was a whirlwind from myself, and I still like it. Colors palid in repo.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v722/ossobuco/NudewithBicycle.jpg

Oh, and besides, Photobucket made a bunch of my photos tiny. What's up with that?

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@JLNobody,

Quote:

even representational works can and should have powerful abstract characteristics.

and visee versa?

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@JLNobody,

You are being snotty here, or aren't you? (I know you are never snotty as a mode.) Some works that refer to what we see every day have immense power because they have to do with human efforts or despair. Do those paintings work as a whole - I'm speaking of the layout of the paint on canvas - or if they don't, does doesn't matter?

Seems clear enough to me to see areas of exploration.

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@farmerman,

Good question, Farmer, but one I cannot answer confidently. My abstracts sometime intend to be suggestive--at least my titles suggest that--but I prefer works that are "pre-reflective", that stand for themselves such as music does. But if viewers manage to see images in them, that's to their creative credit.
BTW, Osso I love that abstract of yours. I wisk I could see it larger. But it is VERY suggestive to me. It gives me "dirty" feelings. Thank you.

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@farmerman,

Good question, Farmer, but one I cannot answer confidently. My abstracts sometime intend to be suggestive--at least my titles suggest that--but I prefer works that are "pre-reflective", that stand for themselves such as music does. But if viewers manage to see images in them, that's to their creative credit.
BTW, Osso I love that abstract of yours. I wish I could see it larger. But it is VERY suggestive to me. It gives me "dirty" feelings. It certainly seems to be a Woman with a flaming something. Thank you.

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Painting with a difference

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