Skip to main content

What's in a name?

A woman I dated a number of years ago - a ceramic artist - suggested to me once that my paintings had uninteresting names... names like, "Two Figures and a Yellow Book, Old Man, Lonely Old Man, etc." So I started giving my art more fantastic names. Overall the reaction has been great, and I am glad I did it.

The name of a work is part of the work, just as a person's name is part of who he is, and even helps define that person. A more unusual name also alters the way a person views a work of art. "Gray Buildings" vs. "The Last Memento from a Torrid Love Affair" evoke radically different thoughts when looking at the work itself. In my experience the unusual name helps the viewer engage with the art more. So I think a lot of thought go into a name - it shouldn't be chosen off the cuff.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Tale of Two Cathedrals

My wife and I just returned from vacation. While away, we got to visit the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, which had recently undergone a huge renovation. The last time I was there was to see the famous "Timla Relic" a few years ago. Unlike some horrific church renovations that have gone on in recent years that were supposedly meant to "update" the church, this restoration was meant to "return" the interior of the building to its original Federal-period design. And I must say that it a very tasteful renovation. They did a really good job. It looks almost like an old early Episcopal church - white washed interior, minimal designs, etc. The interior is now very bright because they removed the stained glass (dark blue Willet windows), and uncovered the original skylights in the dome. They kept all of the good stuff (the high altar, altar rails, etc.), and brought some cool old stuff back (e.g. the nation's first RC epi...
8 comments
Read more

Upcoming Show and a Transition

Please come out to the Liriodendron in Bel Air, Maryland July 12th - August 9th to see my art. I'll be showing religious works consisting of icons and oil paintings. Most of the oil paintings will be quite large. The icons will vary in size, the largest being about 2' x 2' the smallest being just a couple of inches. Ten years ago I had a show at the Liriodendron and it was a big success. At the time a nice article about me was written in the Baltimore Sun... specifically about my iconography, which I had just started doing. The main difference between the last show and the upcoming one is that the former had cityscapes in it, while this new one will not. Once this show is over I will likely be taking a break from painting religious works in oil. I'd like to delve into landscape painting and still life, which I haven't done for years. Not only do I find that subject matter interesting, I also would like to market my work to companies, and quite frankly most comp...
2 comments
Read more