Prospect Expressway, Morning

 Pencil, watercolor, gouache, 2020.

9/18/19

subway drawing, 9/18/19, pencil on paper, 6x6inches

Dutch Boy, Big City

Click image to enlarge.

Since my last post, my hand has been recovering, which has kept me from drawing as much as I'd like, but I'm back at it, and you can get a fuller idea of what I've been up to on my instagram, link to the right.

One of the big things I've been up to, though, was teaching an advanced honors elective at LIU Brooklyn, in the Honors College, this past spring semester.

It was a course that I conceived and designed, and I'm very proud of it. The students were excellent. They were not art majors, in fact most of them are in the sciences, so they had to stretch a bit to get comfortable looking at, and talking about, and writing about, art. And they stretched themselves admirably. It was a blast to teach. I'd love to figure out a way to do more of this kind of thing.

This was my basic pitch for the course, as written in the image I designed, above:

  There are only about thirty-five paintings currently attributed to the beloved 17^th century Dutch artist Jan Vermeer -- and New York City is home to nine of them, far more than any other city in the world. In this class, we will use a focused study of the New York Vermeers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection to learn about his enigmatic life and intimate work,  and the extraordinary Dutch Golden Age of the seventeenth century, a dynamic period marked by remarkable achievement in arts and sciences, and by political, economic, and religious forces which still reverberate today.

In order to help demystify the practices of the European tradition of oil painting, we will have hands-on considerations of the studio practices of Vermeer and his contemporaries, examining how paintings are constructed, both on canvas and on panel, how paint is made, and how it is used. We will analyze composition, materials, subject matter, technique, and iconography, and we will investigate the theories that Vermeer used optical aids in his work.

Then, to find out how our fine city came to be so flush with Vermeers, we will examine the provenance of the paintings and the rediscovery and meteoric rise in estimation of his work in the 18^th century. An examination of how the Met and the Frick acquired so many paintings by Vermeer will also help us understand both the benefits and costs of American ambitions at the time. Also, in a true crime twist of the plot, we will look at the more sordid history of forgery, theft, and fakery connected to his work.

There is no shortage of historical and critical lenses through which we can view Vermeer’s work, but during the course of the semester, we will always place the premium on the sheer visual and intellectual pleasure that his paintings bring, and how they continue to hold a magnetic place in both specialized and public imaginations. 

I want to reflect a bit more on the course, and teaching in general, so I hope to write more about the experience in this space. I learned a lot about Vermeer, painting, teaching, history, humanity, storytelling, young people, and myself.

Subway Drawings available on Artsy and 1stdibs

In case you weren't able to make the show, many of the works are available to browse and purchase on Ground Floor Gallery's Artsy site.

The gallery also has some works available at 1st dibs.

The Spaces In-Between: Subway Drawings 2016-18 at Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn

July 26 - August 12, 2018

Opening Reception on Thursday, July 26, 6 - 8 pm.

Ground Floor Gallery

343 5th Street (off 5th Avenue)
Brooklyn, New York City 11215
F, R or G train to 4 Ave – 9th Street
Contact: info@groundfloorbk.com – 646.801.3338

 HOURS:Thursday: 3 – 8pm
Friday: 3 – 8pm
Saturday: 12pm – 6pm
Sunday: 1pm – 6pm
 And by appointment: info@groundfloorbk.com

The Spaces In-Between: Subway Drawings by Patrick Jewell, 2016-18 at Ground Floor Gallery in Brooklyn

July 26 - August 12, 2018

Opening Reception on Thursday, July 26, 6 - 8 pm.

Ground Floor Gallery

343 5th Street (off 5th Avenue)
Brooklyn, New York City 11215
F, R or G train to 4 Ave – 9th Street
Contact: info@groundfloorbk.com – 646.801.3338

 HOURS:Thursday: 3 – 8pm
Friday: 3 – 8pm
Saturday: 12pm – 6pm
Sunday: 1pm – 6pm
 And by appointment: info@groundfloorbk.com

Red Pants, 2017, watercolor, crayon, ink, graphite, 5.5 x 6 in. 

Black Skirt, 2018, watercolor and graphite, 7.5 x 5.5 in. 

My work is the fourth act in Ground Floor Gallery's five-part anniversary series of exhibitions called "...in 5Acts." I am proud to show my work as part of this series curated by Krista Saunders Scenna, and honored to be part of such a fine collection of artists: Peter Gynd, Ryan Sarah Murphy, Erika Ranee, and Mie Yim. 

Subway Drawings at Ground Floor Gallery this summer -- DATE CHANGE: it opens and there will be a reception on 7/26

I’m proud to be showing a broad selection of subway drawings this summer as a part of Ground Floor Gallery’s fifth anniversary program of exhibitions, “…in five acts.” The gallery has selected five artists who’ve shown in their group exhibitions, and we’re each having a solo show. My work will be up July 19-August 12, July 26-August 12, or Act IV of the set, so if you’re in or around Brooklyn during those weeks, I hope you’ll be able to stop and look. It’s fun and rewarding to share my stuff on Instagram, but I do believe the work is best seen in person, so I am very excited. The program has begun this month with Peter Gynd, who will be followed by Ryan Sarah Murphy in early June, Erika Ranee in late June and early July, my work, and then the final act is Mie Yim’s work, opening August 16. I’m looking forward to getting to know these artists’ work, and from what I can see already, I’m honored to have my work exhibited in a program with theirs.#groundfloorbk #groundfloorgallery#subwaydrawings #subway #art#upcomingshow @groundfloorbk#drawing #painting #nyc #brooklyn#infiveacts More info/reflection to come as we get closer

2017 Sketchbooks

Last year's sketchbooks, full of mostly subway drawings, in pen, wash, watercolor, crayon, pencil

Ho Ho Ha Ha

two color linocut holiday card, 2016

Train, oil on aluminum, 4x6in. 2015

Halloween

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Quasimodo (Halloween 1975) Gel pen, watercolor, crayon on paper. 2017. 6x6in.

Ray Gun

This painting is for sale at Saatchi. 

Sketchbooks

This is a pile of sketchbooks. I filled these in the past year with about 900 drawings, more or less. The vast majority were made on or around the NYC subway, quickly, sometimes furtively with a soft pencil or litho crayon (Stones) or gel pen (pilot G2 07). Often I worked back into them at home, using memory and improvisation, and often adding color with caran d'ache neocolor crayons or schminke pan watercolors. Other subjects in the books -- baseball, NYC parks, cityscapes, landscapes (several from Ohio), a few movie pieces, and the political stuff. What began as a way to reconnect casually with observational drawing became a vein of satisfying work unto itself, and the subway rider drawings in particular took on added resonance of diversity and inclusiveness for me in the heated campaign year. Working this way was a necessity, as certain circumstances (good, personal ones) kept me away from the studio more than I'd like this year. I'm not sure I'll be able to sustain this pace, but I'll see what happens.

Marked Urgent

These three drawings, based on drawings from my subway sketchbooks, will be in a group show at Ground Floor Gallery this weekend, with portions of all sales going to help a journalist organization. More info here 

http://groundfloorbk.com/ 

Group show

These two will be in "Noir: Defining the Melodrama," a group show as part of the Bronx Council on the Arts' Longwood Arts Project. 2/5-5/3. They are both oils and part of my B movie series. Top is 18x20in on linen, and the bottom is 20x28in on canvas. #painting #bmoviepaintings #oilpainting #limitedpalette #noir