Calaj Contemporary Art

Two Forms

Differing from the previous series where each took a side and worked out our own composition using an unrestricted number of forms, we now worked together as a single artist, both seeing the two connected canvases as one open field.

 Further investigating the relevance of integration, we reduced the number of marks to two, one each, with the intention of creating wholeness, not just union. This simplification deepened our awareness of the moment and our understanding of the forms as a moment caught on record. Our focus now is being the vehicle and releasing unconscious chaotic energy, transformed to the canvas, working with nature’s forces to decide the final placement and integration.

As our new skills and knowledge developed, our work became more and more compatible.  Once again we decided to paint together. Taking two canvases of the same size and attaching them, not aligned but offset or jogged, as in a T, our object was to integrate, each one taking a side but together seen as a whole. This jog represents and is an obstacle, creating the opportunity for harmony and wholeness.

Each sketching out a completed work for one of the two canvases, with locations, destinations and arrangement of forms, became part of a new collaborative ritual.  We discussed these sketches at length, turning them until a complimentary orientation was achieved which reflected the geometric positioning of the connected canvases, blueprinting our plan for the painting. The paint is then specially prepared to best express the impetuous nature of the human spirit and the organic destination of the medium.

Although the ritual had  begun independently, when it was brought into the new realm of the collaboration, painting together, it ceased to be a casual event and became a strict practice with each watching over the other and together watching over the painting.

The strengthening of the ritual created a clear method for suppressing thought by engaging observation.  We called this method “the workmanlike way”. Purposely assigning our attention to the steps of the ritual diminishes the power of the ego.  With the ego breeched, chaotic energy is released and separated from the stories that created it, transformed to a vital source used to fuel our intention.

"River God" Oil on Canvas 18"x34"

The Lottery

At this point, still working independently, we began to bring our paintings together for criticism.  Seeing the strong similarities, we discovered the possibility of joining the canvases together as a dypticht, creating a random whole.  Carrying the idea of random into the next phase, we created a lottery loosely based on our common interest in the I Ching, the ancient Book of Changes and it’s paradigm of creative transformation.  This lottery technique left to chance, the pairing and orientation of the paintings opening a creative dialog with the unknown.

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The Steps

We continued our artistic relationship working independently yet in a similar style and on the same size canvas’, 32”x32”. Producing many paintings lead to inspired conversations and recognition of a shared philosophy. Giving and receiving each other’s thoughts and ideas freely, raised our awareness through that act of humility.  Using new knowledge gained through this awakening, we were able to decipher the essential steps of our painting process. We realized we could use these tasks or steps, even the mundane, as a means to open consciousness.  We created a ritual around these steps, a predetermined path, freeing us from judgment, allowing our feelings to be directed and directly related to what we’re doing. With each step we become more present with our feelings. The feelings are then transformed into a physical expression, fueling the impulsive act of the technique.

 The Walkaway

Not addressing judgment insures that our painting experience is authentic, unrelated to the effects of the act.  This final step of the process, “the walkaway” comes after the last paint stroke is executed. The energy, extending beyond the perimeters, leads to the “walkaway”.   The “walkaway”, turning away without judgment, entrusts the material outcome to the spiritual process. 

Beginning

Meeting on Monday nights to work together on the same canvas we began a collaboration.   With no rules, each taking a turn applying their mark, we started. Alternating between two large paintings we soon discovered that we were having trouble coming to a resolution.  There seemed to be no way either one could feel satisfaction or completion unless having made the last mark. At this point, we allowed the paintings to go unfinished with their many layers from our many attempts.  

After many years of working together, we renewed our interest in these first paintings which with fresh eyes, we came to understand as not only finished, but also well integrated and exciting work.

Coming Together

Coming together through a recognition of a strong similarity in our painting techniques, we shared a love of process and the physically energetic Abstract Expressionist style. This process, a high energy, impulsive expression of the unconscious involved freely extracting and adding until we felt the painting “worked”.  

 As kindred spirits, we wanted to paint together. 

 An idea of collaboration came to Matt when he first arrived in Chicago from the backwoods of New Hampshire.  Seeing a particular graffiti strewn wall on an old brick building, he noted how each mark made in earnest, angst and disregard, juxtaposed to the faded commercial signage, created an unrestricted explosion of energy.  There were many forms from many sources but placed on this wall, they came together as a mysterious communion of wholeness, harmony and radiance. 

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• From Process to Ritual - Beginning
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