Latest Pigment and Resin Works

This is a new direction for the Pigment in resin works on leafing on canvas.  Using a background of gold or silver leaf and paint a graphic floral background over the leafing.  In this case the use of gold leaf.  The leafing primer has been applied and the gold leafing application is next.  I’m not sure what I’m going to title this one yet.

A letter to Mr. Hockney

Dear Mr. Hockney,

I find myself compelled to write you.  I have always been an admirer of your work since I was in college in the late 70's and early 80's and marveled at your Polaroid photo collages.  Recently, I had the opportunity to view your photo collages and self--portraits at the Getty Center and to even attend the lecture there where you spoke as part of a panel this past year.  I felt so inspired listening to you speak that I started reading more about you and your career including watching films about you and this has created, for me, a kind of artistic kinship. As I learned more about you, I began to understand more about myself and my own journey as an artist.  Realizing how similar this evolution is for most artists regardless. As I've traveled through different styles and mediums waiting to one day be struck with my unique style or voice,  I have come to the realization that I have loved ever period and phase I have gone through, only moving on when I no longer felt inspired or invigorate by it.  For me, to stick with one style or thing creates stagnation for me and only when I keep changing and moving forward in other directions do I feel inspiration.  It is what keeps my work interesting and alive. 

It's wonderful to see how you move from one period to the next and move from one medium to another and back even integrating them.  I have done this my entire life and have always felt this meant I didn't have a clear voice as an artist when, in actuality, I was expressing my voice all along.  Thank you for helping me see this in myself.  I am very much looking forward to your portrait exhibition at LACMA.  This years project for me are large portraits of my friends and family. I’ve just started the first one of at least 12 on 48” x 84” canvas. I haven’t worked in oil in many years but if feels right and I’m enjoying getting to know it all over again. If you are ever inclined when you’re in LA It would be really great to meet you one day and just chat about art and life.  

All my best to you,

Scott Lindner

Artists & Galleries

I've been thinking a lot about representation and fine art galleries.  I think that there are a lot of galleries and/or people out there that represent artists that don't really understand Art or artists. They will try to make you conform to what they think "you" should be producing as an artist and that is not the mindset of anyone that truly understands or loves art and artists.
Art is something that comes from the artist and is a manifestation of them. (The artist). It's not something that can be controlled or made to conform to anyone's preconceived notion.  It is an organic thing.  Art is an evolving process and is the personal expression of the artist.  To try and make the artist conform is to kill, or at least, stifle this wonderful thing. 

If the artist allows this to happen, then in time, they will lose that spark and creative thing that made them an artist in the first place.  An artist must be allow to experiment and to move in any direction that organically manifest as in any path there is a natural progression.  For an artist to stop moving forward and to become complacent in what is being produced will result in the soul being sucked out of the artist and their work will become stagnant. The joy, for the artist, will be lost.  

People, that truly understand the world of art and artists, know that you must allow the artist to produce without limits.  This is the only way an artist can flourish and grow.  Only then can the artwork come alive and real artistic genius be realized.  Otherwise, the work, although beautifully executed, will become mechanical and ultimately lifeless once the artist.  There must always be come change and experimentation to keep the work fresh and alive.
There are many artist that could be great and are technically proficient but allow themselves to get stuck which in turn stifles their growth and the freshness of their work.  This happens because they have to make a living and once they find a style that seems to be selling they continue to produce works in that style in order to sell and be able to sustain themselves.  Galleries encourage this because they are in the business of making money.  Galleries that understand the artist are excited by new work and directions by their artists and know this creates more interest and excitement than when an artist is made to produce the same thing time and time again.  It's the artist's fault.  They have to be able to earn money to live and to produce.  Few artists are afforded the opportunity to continue to grow and evolve.

One example of an artist that has been fortunate enough to as he says, and I paraphrase, "I paint what I want, where I want and when I want".  That would be David Hockney.  He is a living example of an artist with a long and successful career.  You can look through his dry prolific body of work over the years and see how the artistic process naturally progresses when the artist has had the support of the art world and the people in it, as well as, the, all important, financial support that comes with it.  It's really quite remarkable.

Artist must be allowed to produce Art without restriction in order to fully mature and contribute to the advancement of Art.

Here is a fun little blast from the past.  Talk about never knowing where the inspiration is going to come from here are some fun pieces that are made from junk mail.  That's right!  Junk mail!  I always felt badly about how many trees had to die for all that useless junk mail I would get.  Then one day the old innovation bulb went off and I decided to make art out of it.  

I would pulverize the mail down in the blender until it was a fine pulpy sludge.  It was a great molding material.  Great for sculpting relief artwork and in this case frames for some pastel paintings.    I built a frame and included a sheet of glass and then mold it on screen so the water would drain out. Once it was dry I would gesso the raw piece and then paint them with acrylic paint.  The frame actually became a part of the artwork.  That junk mail is not so useless anymore!!!!

What caused your innovation bulb to go off today!!!!

Be Innovative!!!

So excited!!!! This painting just sold to a wonderful couple that saw it at the Malibu Arts Festival.  This one has been almost sold a couple of times.  People just love the whimsy and playfulness of this painting.  It's one of my cookie cutter paintings.  There I go again mixing elements to create something new and original.  LOL.  I added the quote about innovation to it because I thought it was perfect to put on one of these paintings.

It all started when I was playing around with abstract painting and I thought it would be fun to introduce very graphic elements into the painting as a contrast.  This thought was pin balling around in my head when I was at the amazing cooking store, "Sur La Table", and I spotted the cookie cutters (light bulb!).  I knew at that moment I had to incorporate them into my paintings.  Not only did I get the contract between the organic abstract painting but I also got dimension.  The paintings have a wonderful relief quality to them.  It was a marriage made in heaven.

Since this innovation I have sold many of these composition.  People love them.  I just started adding quotes to my artwork in Photoshop to post on Facebook and other social media sites.  I have to say that this has been one of my all time favorite unexpected mashup of elements.  To see more of these innovative works of art please go to my website:  http://www.scottlindnerart.com and click on albums.

You never know where inspiration will come from and where it will hit you!

Well, I am finally ready to start blogging about art and myself as an artist.  "Innovation" is what I stand for as an artist.  It's taken me a while to really figure out what inspires me as an artist and motivates me to keep creating art.  You may think it's easy to sit down and discover what motivates and inspires you to create.  I sat down, more times than I could count, over the years to pinpoint what that "thing" is about me that motivates and inspires me.  What materialized was all these preconceived ideas of what I thought or what other people thought or what I had convinced myself to be the reason I do and what I do.  There was something that was relentlessly pushing and pulling me but what the hell was it!

It was not until yesterday, when I was watching a video on youtube by Evan Carmichael did "it" hit me.  Thank you Evan!  I don't know if it was the way he presented it or if it was just the right time and place but it all made sense.  I always say that you never know where or when inspiration will come.  I realized, at that moment, what I stand for (innovation) and what motivates me (boredom).  I get bored very quickly as I think many artist do.  That is my motivation!  Boredom leads to, "Innovation" for me.

I naturally resist having to do something more than once.   I almost never draw detailed sketches of paintings because once I have done it in the sketch book I don't feel the need to create the painting. My brain wants to move on at that point so you won't fine detailed sketches of but one or two paintings.  You will only find very quick sketches, if anything.  This is how my mind works.

I'm not the kind of artist that can sit around and mimic exactly what I see for the rest of my life.  That was amazing the first couple of times I did it and it made me realize I had a natural artistic ability.  Now that I know I can do this, I'm bored!  Been there and done that!  It actually becomes tedious and painful for me.  That is not to say that every once in a while I get the urge to go back to the basics.  I always find that something new after a hiatus.  I find my approach has been fine tuned or has changed due to other avenues I have been exploring.

I constantly experiment to keep myself motivated and interested.  This is how I came up with my own painting medium that I call Xpaint.  I became infatuated with pure mineral pigments and their use in my artwork.  I started off by actually applying the powder directly to an acrylic polymer applied to a canvas.  The pigment would adhere to the acrylic polymer and the canvas.  The results were beautiful and organic but the powder got into everything!

I discovered epoxy resin at about the same time and was learning how to use and master it.  If you haven't used it, it is very temperamental.  It is very sensitive to temperature.  One day when I was frustrated with being covered in pigment powder I had the idea to combine the two items.  That is taking resin, that is not thought of as a traditional painting medium, and traditional powdered mineral pigment and mixing them together to create a new medium.  The results have been amazing!  There is a natural organic effect that takes place during the painting and setting process producing a truly unique end result.  This stimulates and motivates me as an artist.

This is my "Ah, ha", moment.  The bulb finally went off.  I have been doing this all my life.  Combining different elements together out of boredom.  Innovation is what I am all about.
I look forward to continuing my artistic journey of innovation and sharing my finding with you.
Scott