Penumbra: Between Shadow and Light

"Penumbra," 2005 | Oil on Canvas | 72" x 120"
Artist: ƒ Michael Wells | http://www.rawpaint.com
Status: Private collection, San Francisco, California

The artist, ƒ Michael Wells, came upon the word "penumbra" (the gradient boundary between shadow and light) while looking at photographs of sun spots on-line. In that context, the term is used to designate the immense walls of plasma that surround the darker and 'cooler' "umbra" that appear as openings in the solar face. The idea for a large painting of undulating, glowing red was already in the works and the word was adopted as an appropriate title for the work.

This video was shot in the summer of 2005 in the work's final phases. Wells calls this type of painting a "Light Modulator." The paintings are built up in translucent layers of color over a period of months. The final layer of paint is applied thickly with a pallet knife and then evenly distributed across the surface with thousands of cross-hatching strokes of a house painters brush. When the surface has been smoothed, the wet paint is textured to final effect.

Wells uses a variety of instruments for this phase. In this instance an 8 foot long industrial strip brush made with nylon bristles hand shaped by removing bristle sections at regular intervals. As is shown, the Light Modulators go through several "revisions" during the open time of the paint -- usually a matter of hours. The paint is textured in one continuous motion and then the artist steps down from the working platform to look at the result. Often the form isn't 'quite right' or perhaps a bristle has worked loose and needs to be removed. This process is repeated numerous times until a desired effect is achieved. Between each texturing sequence the previous movement is "canceled" by texturing the paint vertically usually with a house painter's brush.

Wells' oeuvre is not limited to one particular type of painting. However, he has been painting Light Modulators since 1988. Light Modulators -- a sort of post-minimalism -- use incident light reflecting off the textured surface to create the illusion of
three dimensions in space. As Wells states, "I'm trying to achieve as much as possible with as little as possible. I want the impact of these paintings to be direct, immediate and visceral." The layers of underlying color often also shows through the textured layer adding an additional element of depth. When viewed in real life with bifocal vision this "3D" effect is almost startling. Viewers often site down the planar surface of the canvas, wood or aluminum upon which Wells works just to reassure themselves that the surface is, in fact, flat. Moreover, there is an element of perceived movement as the viewer walks past the work and changes position in relation to the light source.

Wells is represented by Limn and Big Pagoda in San Franciso, and DIVA in Seattle.

For more information, he can be reached through his web site http://www.rawpaint.com

More work can be seen here:
http://www.localbizblogs.com/offrampstudios

Video Production by Symmetric Media
http://www.localbizblogs.com/symmetry

Category:

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Tags:

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• paint
• abstract
• light
• art
• artist
• oakland
• california

[Bu3Bu3King]

would it work on wall's ??

[symmetricmedia]

@Bu3Bu3King It could work on the center of a wall, but not on the edges and corners. You need extra vertical space in order to make the type of patterns the artist is creating.

Notice how the artist built a surface out of insulation on all edges of the painting. It is there to create a continuous surface for the brush and prevents the brush from scraping paint from the edges.

[hitdog2388]

I am plan on making one of these paintngs for a friend's birthday. I notice on the video, you start with a base color. Do you allow that to dry before applying the other color on top of it?

[symmetricmedia]

@hitdog2388 The artist started with a canvas that was prepared weeks earlier with a bottom coat of paint. The paint applied in this video was not allowed to dry until the completion of the painting.

[HeyRuka]

So beautiful.

[42578chris]

Michael , How amazing is this!? Ive did this on a small scale considering I'm stag teen minded 33 yr old. My whole take was well I cant say now that it could be a trade secret .. very impressive work

[bluehippie27]

1 word..AMAZING!

[geniemist]

Tonight's the night. It's going to happen again and again. Has to happen. Nice night. Miami is a great town. I love the Cuban food and pork sandwhiches, my favorite. But I'm hungry for something different, now.

[symmetricmedia]

@KENO1950 I accidentally deleted your comment. The artist used an industrial brush to paint this painting.

[symmetricmedia]

@KENO1950 It could work on the center of a wall, but not on the edges and corners. You need extra vertical space in order to make the type of patterns the artist is creating.

Notice how the artist built a surface out of insulation on all edges of the painting. It is there to create a continuous surface for the brush and prevents the brush from scraping paint from the edges.