Paintings Exhibitions Artist's Statement Exhibition Video Slideshow Sculpture Drawings
Robert Putnam
putnamrug@aol.com
http://www.rputnamart.com
Painting: I work with color, form and texture, sometimes from nature, sometimes from memory and sometimes from imagination, following process, until I discover something that is exciting, something that resonates in the human psyche, that speaks to a vision buried deep in the unconscious. I believe that the mystery of the world is in the visible. For focus, I look to aerial views of fields, archeological excavations, burnt buildings, buried cities, to the light filtered through cathedral stained glass, color patches floating in infinite space, reflected light. I create from images in the imagination, perhaps archetypical, and from observation of nature filtered through emotion and feeling, layering color until I achieve the vision that inspired the painting.
Sculpture: My sculpture work is abstract. I consider my work to be in the modernist tradition, perhaps moving beyond post modernism to a neo modernism. I am a student of Julio Gonzalez, David Smith, Jose De Rivera and Eve Hesse, among others. I work with form and surface, a surface weathered, pitted, and abused to birth a new thing. Something that, with luck, has secrets no looking may uncover. My sculpture is created mainly from found, discarded materials, such as small pieces of rusted, corroded, abused sheet metal, steel or aluminum plate; rusted tin; metal fragments; or wire. Weathered wood, stone, glass, leather, bamboo, rolled paper, string, rope fibers are also used. These various elements are assembled together to create a sculptural piece which, once the elements are roughly in place, can be further worked on, bending, reshaping, abusing, and polishing as appropriate. My pieces are small, suitable for home display. Some more simple pieces are configured as maquettes so that they could be fabricated for larger outdoor display.
Drawing: I draw lines with either ink or pencil. Color may be added to highlight key areas. My drawings create whimsical, surreal worlds far removed from everyday reality. They are playful, fanciful, and sometimes idyllic and bucolic. I also sometimes work with prehistoric and Neolithic images, signs, and symbols of the mysteries of divinity, animals, nature, and ritual; touching the mystery of birth and death.
Art Training: I have had college courses in engineering drafting, geometrical construction, drawing and sketching, acrylic painting, and oil painting. I have had some 30 years experience in developing and finishing technical illustration for textbooks, training manuals, and operational manuals. I managed the editorial and art departments for a major technical publisher. Education: BA
Professional Experience: Worked in technical publishing, technical writing and editing, and training development. As Vice President of American Technical Publishing ran the editorial and art departments. As a freelance consultant have written and illustrated hundreds of training and operational manuals for heavy industry (papermaking), manufacturing, railroad bridge maintenance, rigging, electrical power grids, site maintenance, and safety. Have written nine textbooks in the areas of building technology, carpentry, bricklaying, welding, and blueprint reading.
Memberships:
Permanent Museum Collection:
Norris Cultural Arts Center,
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