WRQ #2

WRQ #2

Part 1


Goya "Third of May 1808"











Part 2

Edward Hopper "Early Sunday Morning"















Part 3

Egyptian Canon of Proportions

New Site!!!

SO I moved all my blogs and websites to a one stop shop. Check out www.loushieldsart.com for all of my stuff!!

Vamps and Femme Fatals; revisited

This is a group of work completed in 2009, began in mid 2008. The 12 painting series is based on a theme that I visited in 1999 and now have gone back and looked into, 10 years later. My interests have changed over the years but I always seem to go back to things and try to understand them as I did then and now. It is fun to compare and contrast your work from two different periods in life. I would like to dig up the work I did in 1999 and maybe post a few of those as well.





I continued using the same format (12" x 24") as with the last two series of works using the Reverse Scratch Technique (c). The scale of the figures increased and I limited the subject to females. I decided to use colors that I had not before and learned to extract more detail from the layers of paint below the surface.







The background was left simple until the last work in the series (not pictured). This work in partiular continues to the next and beyond. If you scroll to the next post below, you will see that the green image has many similar characteristics to the three seen here. This work was done during the end of that particular series. You can always see the transition in my work. Fun!!



The figures in this series all have direct confrontation with the viewer. I wanted a strong gaze into the viewer and even through them. The strength exemplified through a strong gaze can sometimes negate speech. The hands/fingers are extremely elongated and seem to be enchanted. There is a specific power in everyone only it is not always seen on the surface. With each of these women the position/implied movement of the hands may evoke that power.

Soulyard: Between Midnight and Day

So I did this group of work between late 2007 and late 2008. I exhibited these works at one of the last shows held in EXPgallery and in local venues around Chicago. They were the first in a new technique for me. I call it the Reverse Scratch Technique. It is a bit more than just scratchboard... The technique involves drawing, painting, and relief carving/scratching.





The content has been a slow development. I am still unlocking it as you read this here. It is largely about social ineptness and uncomfortable situations. I was thinking that this work was a return to a past theme known as "Soulyard". Soulyard comes from my musical interests that come from many sources, specificaly early Jazz and Blues as well as 80s Punk and more. The actual title of the group is "Between Midnight and Day".




It took me a few months to realize the imagery took place at night. The absence of light is an aesthetic choice but also symbolic. It has a lot to do with the current condition of the Human race in 21st century America. The addiction to technology and as a result from nature. There is also a sense of lonelyness which is intentional. I often would think about the archaic way of describing a "dark age" in a culture. Where the light of creativity was assumed to go dim.

Intro:

My name is Lou Shields and I am a Chicago based artist. This is my art blog! I have two others; EXPskate! and EXPramp!

I have been working in the area for years, I teach art at Community College in the South Suburbs of Chicago. I first was hired there full time in the spring of 2004 and then went through the tenure process. In that time, my art died a little. I underwent several stylistic changes and found many ways of dealing with the pressures of teaching.

I opened a gallery for 2 years known as EXPgallery. This was not an attempt to make money, it was more of an exhibition space for artists that I knew. It was a great experience once I figured that part out. I made many friends and was able to house great art. That project is over now and I have been working in my studio for a little over a year. The idea was to concentrate more on my art for a while.

So here it is...