Year's end work

    High Storm

    Acrylic, ink and pastel on panel

    20" X 48" w/ Aluminum bar frame

    $1440 - Origional

    $750 - Full size limited edition print

    $400 - Full size open edition print

    This piece was a fun adventure. The image was an idea, then took on a life of it's own - 

    dictating the direction and elements it needed. One needs to be led now and then

Isaiah 5:20-24 - Darkness for Light

New Work - Christmas Eve

Based on Isaiah 5:20-24 

 20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

 21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

 22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

 23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

 24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

This is probably the most abstract of my metaphors on Isaiah - and will probably become a trend. There are many graphic elements; lines, curves, color elements that have little to do with the metaphors contained in the painting.

The metaphors include the three pairs of color patches that represent verse 20 i.e. the red and white representing Evil and Good. Verse 22 is abstractly shown with the dark wine color running from the top outside corners down through the middle of the grey/black crossing bars. Verse 24 is indicated with the fire and "flowers" with rotting roots.

Isaiah here is speaking to the house of Judah at Jerusalem (actually all occupants of the city). They are wicked enough to be spoken of as the chaff and stubble with roots of rottenness and the blossoms as dust. 

Many of my earlier Isaiah works had no written mention of the scriptural metaphors, others started to have notes. Here I have written a portion of the scripture to help viewers understand both the written and visual metaphors.

Our children are being killed... are we allowing it?

I would have posted this next April 20th as my daughter Tami was a survivor of the Columbine High School shootings on that day.

This week, it has become time for this posting........

Lloyd

COLUMBINE STUDENT'S FATHER 12 YEARS LATER !!

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national l

eaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers. 

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart. 

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent 

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs, Your words are empty air. You've stripped away our heritage, You've outlawed simple prayer. Now gunshots fill our classrooms, And precious children die. You seek for answers everywhere, And ask the question "Why?" You regulate restrictive laws, Through legislative creed. And yet you fail to understand, That God is what we need! 

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. 

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone! My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!" - Darrell Scott

Back to Basics

My wife has often expressed, when she looks at my work that her favorite works of mine are those that include geometric patterns. Take note: you should always listen to your wife!

Trying to be objective I have to admit that she is right. As an architect, that is how I have been trained. I love expressionist art's freedom and dynamics; yet whenever I try to express myself this way I'm often unhappy with the results. Yes, things have been trashed!. The problem is that I'm just not comfortable with being spontaneous - I tend to the tedious; I have a pile of sketches waiting to be worked on; when I get to a certain point in a work I usually photograph it and in PhotoShop go through the pains of "what if you tried this... or that". "Sentience" started out as a very loose, large piece. It was on the easel for quite some time, being glared at. It finally was painted over and became a work of geometric expressionism.

I've been working on a series of smaller pieces (12"x16") as a lesson in self limitation. The series still has more to come; but it will be interupted now by a work based on Isaiah 5:20-24 - and will probably be the most non-representational work in the Isaiah series. Attached are the three small pieces completed: "Que"; "Looming Darkness" and "Moon Rising at Giza".

More later....

Exhibits

Exhibit, exhibit, exhibit

Yes, as an artist that's the name of the game.... mind you, sales and commissions don't hurt either - but to get those you just have to be seen. Therefore, some good news:

Lloyd Knowles

Lark Studio
7:26pm (about a minute ago)
Good news: "Isaiah 40A - The Grass Withereth" was accepted at the Springville Museum of fine arts 27th Annual Spiritual and Religious Art of Utah Exhibition. Also accepted were two works by my friend J. Kirk Richards. I was sorry to not see the names of a couple of other friends that I was looking for.

List of Accepted Works

Lloyd Ray Knowles
The Grass Withereth - Isaiah 40A: 6-8

But that' not all and, unfortunately I haven't been posting here as often as I ought!

The Logan (UT) Fine Art Gallery is showing "Isaiah 3 - I Shall Give Children to be Their Princes"

The Utah County Art Gallery is showing "Ethereal Gates" and "Walking on Water" (prize winner)

The County Art Board needed to fill the month of December as the scheduled exhibit backed out and decided to show the work of board members - I'll have to decide what to hang.

I've been asked to provide a solo exhibit at a new gallery opening about a block away from the new Convention Center in Provo, UT during January.

I need to get to work. I am planning a new series of small works for the January show. When the first is done, I'll post it here.

Art devastation in NYC

We all worry about the people who's lives were affected by the storm. This story shouldn't detract from those feelings - but many things, historical and cultural were also lost:

11/1/12 at 6:11 PM

 

71Comments

Saltz’s Devastating Tour Through Chelsea’s Ruined Art Galleries

• By Jerry Saltz

   

Workers mop out the Gagosian Gallery as a Henry Moore sculpture stands in a puddle behind them.

I live downtown, in the part of Manhattan without power. Like many, my nights have been long, dark, cold, and unnervingly quiet. With no Internet access, cell phone, or news I was antsy, and felt the urge to wander. On day two, wondering how the galleries in Chelsea had weathered the storm, I seized the opportunity to leave my apartment and head west. And when I got there, my art-heart sunk.

Widespread devastation was in painful evidence in scores and scores of ground floor galleries between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. Almost every ground floor gallery had been inundated with four or more feet of water. All of the many basement storage facilities were flooded. Computers and desk equipment were wiped out. Reams and reams of irretrievable historical material stored in notebooks and gallery files were washed away, destroyed. Sculptures, crates, furniture, and paintings floated inside water-filled galleries, ramming walls and other works of art. Whole shows were destroyed. Desks floated free. Glass doors had shattered from the pressure of the water inside the galleries. Walls already reeked of mildew or had rotted through.

Damage to art has been far-reaching. I had to turn away when I saw Belgium painter Luc Tuymans going into David Zwirner to inspect a waterlogged painting of his. I watched outside Printed Matter as box after box of their own printed editions and titles were brought up from the basement and thrown into dumpsters. All lost. Outside, on almost all sidewalks, there were massive piles of cardboard, plastic, and crates. Inside each of these containers had been artworks that had been soaked. I saw stunned gallerists un-framing works on paper, setting them out to dry on any available surface. Other dealers in work boots pushed crates out of spaces, onto the sidewalks, straight into dumpsters. One woman drove in 50 five-gallon containers of gas from upstate to fill the many pumping generators. Volunteer restoration experts went from gallery to gallery to inspect works, separate the salvageable from the lost. It was an art MASH unit. I saw paintings being carried from Friedrich Petzel's flooded 22nd Street space to dry storage in his new space on 18th Street. From the outside it looked as though a bomb had gone off inside 303 Gallery. Ditto many other galleries. I saw torrents of water rushing out of Gagosian's cavernous 21st Street space. When I ducked under the door I saw a large lone Henry Moore sculpture standing in inches of water. A sub-ground level space on West 19th Street, filled as if it were a swimming pool, had paintings floating in more than fifteen feet of water. 

I asked dealers if they had insurance. Most have it for the work. Some have it for flood damage. Most don't have any insurance other than on the art. This could spell the end of many galleries small and large.

Many ridicule Chelsea galleries as flesh-eating pariahs. I think they're part of our life blood, the collective organism that in many ways makes New York one of the most thriving centers for art on earth. These ridiculed and reviled galleries are places you can go for free, run by strange people with visions who want to help artists by showing and selling their work. It's become an international pastime to attack these galleries simply for being what they are: large and commercial. I love them. All. More than ever.

Walk through Chelsea in the next couple of weeks as clean-up and repair continues. Notice that some spaces look so wrecked that it'll be extraordinarily hard for them to get back on their feet. Many galleries will somehow have to try and rebuild while getting through the next couple of months of not being open or being able to show or sell art, all while still paying rent and bills. Even the most cold-hearted gallery bashers should wish the best for all these galleries. Every one. Palaces of art and mom-and-pop shows. Right now, along with much of our beautiful city, Chelsea galleries are going through hell. A huge part of the New York art world has suffered a colossal blow. Thinking about New York without its density of galleries is like not being able to think about New York at all. Grim.