art delivery : 10.27.22
These mixed media (yeah, there’s glitter in there!) paintings are the jaw-dropping work of New York based artist Arcmanoro Niles. I’ve pulled a few excerpts to give a little insight:
“Niles offers a window into seemingly mundane moments of daily life, with subjects drawn from photographs of friends and relatives and from memories of his past … In 2015 the artist began to create paintings with highly vivid color as a response to his frustration at not being able to achieve the depth of tonality he saw in the skin tones of his family and friends … Niles also began to incorporate what he calls “seekers” into his work. These seekers take the form of small, gestural characters and more fleshy, gremlin-like figures that represent our most basic human impulses and desires … while the human subjects are more vulnerable and open with their feelings.”
Beautiful, on every level. Find Arcmanoro’s available work through Lehmann Maupin Gallery, and follow him on Instagram at @arcmanoro.
Another Thursday, another really great question from one of you…
“Dear Arty, How do you find your way into creating work that is meaningful for you? I love colour and flowers, have played with a number of years with abstraction, and work away at pieces until they feel finished, but pretty is not enough. I have some basic drawing skills, but I have no idea where to direct myself. I also have some serious writer’s block. For years I wrote nothing because I was trapped in the myth I had nothing worth saying. I would love to hear how people find their directions!” ~ Shelly
Oof, good one, Shelly. Okay everyone, please jump in with your thoughts and advice! Just click the comment bubble at the bottom of the email and it will take you to the full site. Thanks! ~ Danielle
Lots of good answers here. Here's one that I heard for writers that I think applies to visual artists. Confess. Make work that is totally embarrassing, with the understanding that you won't show it for a while, until you're ready, if you ever are... Confess the weird stuff about you, the strange thing you think is intriguing even though it may be taboo or even worse, boring for others. Don't get cosmic or cool...get super personal. What questions keep you up at night? What freaky thing do you think is gorgeous? What weird dream did you have that you would never share at the breakfast table. Draw it, paint it, go deeper...confess to yourself. Tell the truth even though it scares you! Confess.
Dear Shelly—this was a big one for me. I painted in oil, then did lots of collage, then painted portraits. And it was all fine and well but I yearned more and more to do something with *meaning*. For me it ended up happening because my mother was diagnosed with Lewy Body dementia and I spent four harrowing years helping her through the medical system and putting her in a care home, et cetera. I certainly wasn't thinking about creating artwork about it at the time, but one year after she died I started painting her portrait, and it grew from there to become an exhibit and the largest and most impactful artwork I'd ever done. All to say that, you can't order up meaning like you order a coffee. It came to me as I hit 60 years old and had been through a lot of shit. Not to say that it has to be the same for you, haha. I think the best thing you can do is just keep DOING. Keep making art, whether you feel it has "meaning" or not—it's in the doing that there's movement and growth and evolution. And keep writing "shitty first drafts"—if you haven't already, read Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird (about writing). Just keep at it—things will change and evolve!