Schliefke Bolm Studio

On Friday i went and visted Schliefke's studio , a nice large place, View image One of the things i noticed by this guy way back is , i think he is the first guy i have ever seen , meaning about my age, actually commited to the old masteres's modern classical. Something i cherish back in school but nobody did, i mean nobody understood this. Alot of Schliefke's work is sorta spun around the classic, there is something real nerdy about it too, cause, i was or am in the zone alot, all the stuff i made out in Floyd was made from a Tintoreto book i brought with me, mainly sketchs it was a starting point , but there is this determined analitical nerd side to dwelve deep in to classic theames like a fundalmentalist to a bible, a painter who produces like a machine, , Ahhh, as for the contempory. Infidal trash! , i can understand that,
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One of the things i noticed right off the bat was the Lavine/Beckman influance, something i liked in my own work, cause i like these artists, and so does he. which means he aspires to the "idea", and in the old masters way its how its painted, but with lucided mordern teaching it falls more into capturing a impression of paint.
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If i had to compair explaining the varyable "looks" rember its really a discriptive quality not ment to incriminate the orginality of any of his pieces, as much as mine, Art is additude and we borrow visual catch phrazes or buzz quets in paintings,. i like Schliefke work alot cause he is the only one besides me thats problay hardheaded enough to make it alone on painting and fueled by the ye'ol' myths and sentiments of the ol masters or perfected modernist (lavine-Beckman-Benton-clasic Picasso-)

One of the Beckman angles is this like post Cezane primative characters put into a flowing landscapes, sorta metaphoric, , but visualy hard, not like a Lavine he is about atmossphere, the old masters what they could be if anything is creating a spectacular atmostphere, sorta twilight and sorta on the abstract. seen as Abstract, i would bet me and Schliefke know as much about the metphores in the ol masters as a Chinaman looking at MTV, its all in the flash and flare of thumbing though old masters books thats remebered But i would not underscore the lavine principal, what is this? , Lavine played alot with dramic light but used it like an impressionist, but had the setting as a classicist.

like this painting, which Schliefke liked alot, its really about the light, on the beach and the shadows, this is what seen. Now the metaphores, his theames are his opinions, fat people on a beach eating, View image

One day I would like to have Schliefke as a studiomate, the computition would be fierce, cause were are singing the same toon which means the songs would have gotten louder, faster and more insain, "like dualing banjos" . but i would say less mystical more mechnical,, One of the things i heard P. Trussell talk about that evening when we hade vietnames food, View image
was the letting go and letting the painting guild itself, i would agree, but i have also heard this montras from N-Wilson all the time , (they went to school together ,UT late sixtys,) i guess there is this language thats problaby contectualised by the time your raised, especially about art, about how one makes art, (egoless-zenlike- etc). i would say as a word of advise from my upbring's we're pragmaitcs, i bet Schliefke is too, cause i can see he is more about thought out action with randomness and all, than achieving an enlighten painting there is a whole schema to that, that has a tendicy to neglect the detials, but i would say the devil is in the details! Me and Niel would argue this point, alot. i would say you have to know how to slip them in , the details, and not let it over right the over all picture,.

From what i gathered Schliefke came from the east coat and set up camp here in Austin a while back just making it alone on the sales of paintings, no local gallery reps, just shows alone, ( which is the way i would do it) there are plenty of spaces to show in Austin, odd local joints and he has a good website!.
so i bravo his efforts and look forward to seein what he comes up with, and maybe we can have a show down some where in the twilight zone..
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One note, N,Wilson-P,Trussell when they grew up in UT, there fathers were the Texas Regionals Spruce, Lester, etc, i suppose back in the sixtys they were trying to achieve some sorta spirtual speriorirty over the past, which means you gotta demonise it, i like to contectualize it, but post 70's and the death of painting, and the simply put therpyzation of it ,robbed the craft of it, which bascily Trussell and Wilson were forced to respect back when they was younge'ns, good painting that is. but painting seemed to be ego driven? and it was demolised in the seventys as crimanly comercial . So 20 plus years have came and gone. its come full circle back to craft . And there is this new idea, expose' of mental hoaxs(post moderen sarcasm). but none the less revived by the faithful (good painting , "like the songs grandma and grandpaw used to play"). which is why these guys like us,.
Oh, by the way Schliefke, your in Texas, holyness/Modernism haven't been completely dispelled, Its still ferminting in the back ally and lonely studios, embraced by the evanglist, and delivered by the fananitcs . much like when Trussell and Wilson were, when the were kids .,
they heard the enlighted speues of Umlauf , and believed, but couldn't deal with the heady egoness of it all,. and they did something differnt, so to speek,. but now being a bit older, they still love what it was that helped create them. (what was it?) is it all gone, I don't know what the hell happen in the sixty , in Texas , in an art studio, all thats gone, except the creeping whispers of old men saying "damn the infadel ! God's wrath to the infadel! for every gain of salt you will become for every word of the unholy chatter you speek!"

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Schliefke studio 2005 Austin Texas

Posted by chickengeorge at February 9, 2005 9:04 AM