CRUNCHY GOODNESS!

The $2 Art Contest is getting to be like pulling teeth.  And, I can’t afford to loose my teeth.  While I love silky bisques and hollandaise, a blogger cannot live by hollandaise alone.  What good is the hollandaise when you’re dreaming of corn nuts and have pulled all your teeth?  I think this month’s entries  for the $2 Art Contest were extraordinarily tasty.

The entries I receive each month for the $2 Art Contest are incredibly varied.  I see work from every imaginable media, from artists at every level of their careers–some polished and PR savvy, some more vulnerable, but honest.  Because it isn’t a level playing field, it isn’t really just about choosing the best art.  I love having the honor of reviewing all the work, but I am made anxious by the necessity of choosing.

The Featured Artist chosen from September entries is T.S. McFadden.  McFadden’s work hits so many of the right notes for me–multiple media, over-the-top devotion to the creative process, and a love for found objects and recycled materials. 

FEATURED ARTIST:
T.S. McFadden

T.S. McFadden is an intuitive artist whose prolific body of work explores process, internal dialoques and facilitation.  He was born in a small town in Ohio and raised in the country.   He is now based in New York.

McFadden has sculpted and painted since he was a child and is self-taught but for a handful of private lessons.  He studied in the fine arts, graduated from Kent State University and has spent time in Europe studying other artists.

While I am in love with the Elephant Graveyard series on which McFadden is currently working, I chose to focus this feature on McFadden’s Mother Series of paintings.  As I have shouted from the mountain tops many times, my artistic skill does not lie in painting media.  But, I find my inadequacy in this area makes me appreciate the talent in others even more.

The Mother Series is what the artist calls an abstract expression of logic.  That will serve as a huge contradiction for some.  The next contradiction will come from the idea that these paintings are a sort of recycled assemblage.

“This series was created using remnants from my palattes, which were scraped and pulled and meant for the garbage.  Too haunting and too beautiful to be discarded, they were stacked and saved for years.  The kinetic energy found in the palatte is art in its purest form–it is the unintentional genesis of intention.” 

There’s that logic for you.

I always send a quiz to my Featured Artist picks to gain a little insight and help me feel inspired to write.  Some of the questions are food related, some are art related, some try to unveil the inspiration behind it all.  What have a learned from the quizzes as a whole? 

Artists don’t often like
to give direct answers, ha. 

McFadden’s answers did not disappoint.  When asked about his favorite foods, he reinforced the notion of contradictions.  How do you claim corn nuts and sashimi among your favorites?  I suspect those choices just reinforce how the pull of opposites can produce a cohesive balance. 

What do you think?

When asked about his favorite media, McFadden decided upon Experimentation.  Perfect. 

And what school of art does feel
his work fits?  Intuition.
Even more perfect. 

 Energy, emotion and circumstance direct him.  He uses layers of color to examine, define and mask an inner world.  Organic and graphic elements invade the space, push the calm and subdue the conflict.

McFadden considers his creativity intrinsic and his pronouncement of it solely environmental. 

He is a painter and a sculptor, a published author, a writer of poetry and music, a furniture designer and whatever else the moment he is living in requires him to be. 

Thank you, T.S. McFadden, for the Mother Series…and for reminding us of the old school definition of “artistic.”  I, for one, can’t wait to see the Elephant Graveyard series!

Learn more about T.S. McFadden online!

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Check out the $2 Art Contest!