Tonight, Vapes of Wrath, which is an e-cigarette store located on the Carson side of North Viking Way, is hosting an opening reception for The Pen, The Palette Knife (and The Spray) Art Show. Curated by Sherwood Souzankari, and featuring the ink work of British-born Ben Fellowes, the abstract paintings of Sean Robertson, and work by guest artist Michael JUNE22 Ziobrowski.
Robertson has been exploring various forms of creative expression for many years, but came to painting rather recently. Without any formal training, and with minimal trial and error, he developed a technique that is both bold and expressive.
“My work is somewhat in the vein of an abstract to minimalist style,” Robertson said. “I like to free paint rapidly and let the work dictate its intent to me. Painting is a new thing to me. I just started this year, actually, but have been an artist for years. I’ve worked largely in music, video making and editing. I have done a little curating, conceptual live performances.”
Robertson has been a long time and avid fan of visual art, going to lots of gallery shows and museums over the last few years. It was on a recent trip to New York City that the inspiration hit him, and he decided to start painting in 2013.
“A couple of months ago the day came. It was time to paint. I went to the art store and bought a couple things and came home and touched paint to canvas for the first time ever, on Febuary 19th.
“One of the things I’m enjoying most about the process is the lack of the ability to automatically and instantaneously do a redo or an undo at any given moment. It has more of a finality to it which allows you to approach the whole process from a different perspective, one where restraint, courage and discipline come more into play, especially when dealing in abstract minimalist type stuff.”
I couldn’t help but mention that, in the live performances of experimental improvisational music I do, restraint, courage, and discipline are prerequisites.
“The live music I have done in the last several years is primarily loop-based, so it had/has to be somewhat structured, and followed to the letter, if I want any sort of song that lasts less than 7 minutes! [laughs] The super-long song is a pet peeve of mine.”
Robertson began his first painting with an attempt to copy a digital image he’d created on his computer, simply to familiarize himself with the medium.
“I found that extremely boring and time consuming, albeit still rewarding, so I put down the brush, picked up the palette knife, and immediately realized that this was the way for me to go. I could work extremely fast, which is how I like to create: Zero rehearsal or preliminary idea of an intended result. i like to ‘do,’ and analyze it after. I work best that way – in all of my other media as well. Some of the paintings in this series took, from start to finish, less than 4 minutes. Some less than 60 seconds.
“I find it very rewarding to work fast, uninhibited by my own bullshit. I am in that moment, capturing that moment live, without intent. It is an immediate looking back to the past, as it just happened a second ago, type thing.
I’m looking at a blank canvas with zero intent. I slap some paint here, slap some paint there, and then just move it around, deliberately but never knowing whats gonna happen until you see it move. That informs the next move, and so on. All on the fly, and done quickly. It is kind of like the piece itself is using me to bring itself to life. The piece needs me. Almost like the universe: Stars need to die to bring the carbon which makes carbon based life forms, in order to have carbon based animals that can eventually contemplate the universe. So, with the art, it informs me how to bring it to life so I can then contemplate it, and discover things from it, that arose without intent.”
The exhibition will include 15 of 24 works that were created by Robertson in the last two months.
“It was pretty great to see them hung. The space is beautiful, and it’s got a great classic gallery-type feel, more so than the typical storefront. So, for my first show to be in such a beautiful and minimalist type setting is really great. As far as the being a new painter, I was even quite shocked, myself, as how good the collection looked. [laughs]”
Vapes of Wrath is located at 4103 N Viking Way Ste D, just west of Bellflower Boulevard, and just North of Carson. If you happen to be a guitarist, make sure to check out Dawn of the Shred, which is in the back. You can also check out the event on Facebook.
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