REVISED artist statement

"Photographic evidence is universally accepted as empirical proof in the face of doubt. A painting, on the other hand, is by nature a fiction. While a camera has many uses, there is no practical use for a painting. As to truth, a painting can be an impression or an expression. It can be abstraction or representation. Painting has always been a form of lying, since Zeuxis and Parrhasius. To paint a photograph is the most unreasonable act in the world, but the precedent has been set with Photorealism. With every painting, I try to retain the honesty of the image without depending on realism, or exaggerating to the point of surrealism. The goal is to stimulate skepticism about visual evidence of factual events; creating a shaky and uncertain relationship between viewer and painting. Doubting the information and not the eyes effects a cognitive journey, or a Digression, with no judgment and no point. A fractal cognition where there is no core to its infinite sphere. My paintings are a deviation from reason and aesthetics - any actualization from which is entirely incidental." (c) Richard Legendre 2013

Installation views of "Paintings" 2013 at the Bywater Art Lofts

"The images in this series have all been taken from photographic documentation. Some are video stills from police “dashboard” cameras that have been released to the press, while others were taken by me at the scenes of a traffic stop and fire alarm. The important thing to realize is that these events actually happened. Photographic evidence is universally accepted as empirical proof in the face of doubt. A painting, on the other hand, is by nature a fiction. While a camera has many uses, there is no practical use for a painting. When it comes to truth, a painting can be an impression or an expression. It can be abstraction or representation. Painting has always been a form of lying, since Zeuxis and Parrhasius. To paint a photograph is the most unreasonable act in the world, but the precedent has been set with Photorealism. The crimes in these images are true events, but I have not set out to be a documentarian. I am attempting to strip away bias and propaganda in order to contemplate the bullheaded friction which occurs between human desperation and those direct enforcers of Modern idealism, the police. The effect is a cognitive journey, or a Digression, with no judgment and no point. A fractal cognition where there is no core to its infinite sphere. These paintings are as unreasonable as the crimes they portray. They are a deviation from reason and aesthetics - any actualization from which is entirely incidental." (c) Richard Legendre 2013

New Paintings

I haven't posted any new work for a long time, and I apologize for that. But it doesn't mean I haven't been working. I decided to take a step back from the work I had previously been doing, change mediums, and start fresh thinking about basic things like color, light, and form. The result is I am planning a new series of night scenes where light sources play key roles in the composition. These four are the result of practice with layering oil paint and glazing techniques. Maybe I'll do a series of posts about the process leading up to the finished product. Stay tuned.

SHOW AT THE BYWATER ART LOFTS

Good Show, Old Man

1100 people stopped by the CAC last Saturday. It turned out to be a great show.

Nola Now Database

http://nolanow.cacno.org/

The Contemporary Arts Center has started an online database of local artists. Check it out to see what I and other New Orleans artists are up to.

NOLA NOW Part II

Exciting news! The tentatively untitled painting, endearingly addressed as "For our sins, we . . .", will be on the walls of the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans February 25 through March. There will be an opening reception on February 25 at 6pm, which is also the launch date for the CAC's NOLANOW database. Come see some local artists.

Brion Gysin says:

"Language is an abominable misunderstanding which makes up a part of matter. The painters and the physicists have treated matter pretty well. The poets have hardly touched it. In March 1958, when I was living at the Beat Hotel, I proposed to Burroughs to at least make available to literature the means that painters have been using for fifty years. Cut words into pieces and scramble them. You'll hear someone draw a bow-string. Who runs may read, To read better, practice your running. Speed is entirely up to us, since machines have delivered us from the horse. Henceforth the question is to deliver us from that other so-called superior animal, man. It's not worth it to chase out the merchants: their temple is dedicated to the unsuitable lie of the value of the Unique. The crime of separation gave birth to the idea of the Unique which would not be separate. In painting, matter has seen everything: from sand to stuffed goats. Disfigured more and more, the image has been geometrically multiplied to a dizzying degree. A snow of advertising could fall from the sky, and only collector babies and the chimpanzees who make abstract paintings would bother to pick one up."

- Brion Gysin 'Cut-Ups: A Project for Disastrous Success'

Untitled (For our sins we. . . )

Untitled (For our sins we...)2011, mixed media on paper

Single Family Home/Cry Havoc

Single Family Home/Cry Havoc, 2011, mixed media on paper

Gorilla Gorilla/NOLALALA

Gorilla Gorilla/NOLALALA, 2010, mixed media on paper

Shirt of a Dead Man

Shirt of a Dead Man, 2009, cotton shirt and spray paint

Ai

Ai, 2011, Graphite on Travertine Tiles with Wooden Base, and Acrylic Magnifier

MS Paint doodles

A collection of little doodles and sketches. MS Paint is so underrated.
(All image copyright of Richard Legendre.)

sketches

Very very very sorry about the picture quality on these. I figured I might as well post some sketches considering how long it has been since I've posted anything.

More ink . . .

A number of other ink drawings I did recently. There's more. Seriously, I did a lot of them.

drawings

New ink drawings done in the past few months.