milk mold

30cm x30cm

oil on canvas

goldpants

9"x11"

collage on paper

bodies

oil on canvas

20x20cm

 French roses

oil on fabric

20x20cm

 

leather shoes

oil on canvas

20x20cm

 untitled

collage on paper

20x30cm

玻璃

oil on canvas

40x30cm

untitled

oil and acrylic on canvas

20x30cm

 crystals

oil and glitter on canvas

20x20cm

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I've been working on a new group of paintings for the last few months.  Using fashion magazines, collage references and pattern studies, I'm working my way out of my earlier work into a kind of 2D work that is more like small visual projects.  I feel some of my earlier paintings "fit" within this group, such as wedding and this collage, along with a reworked version of leather shoes, which is pictured above.

I'm happy with the way this is heading.  And feedback would be lovely, although the quality of the above photographs is lacking.

untitled

oil on paper

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(click for larger picture)

I haven't been posting my recent paintings, but I have a few in the works.  This one is a quick, small oil sketch over an advertisment for wedding services.

ATTENTION TO THE HEALTH ADVOCATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ESTABLISH HARMONIOUS HUMANITYS GARDEN
collage on paper
30x20cm
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(This is a collage using stickers on a found booklet from China Oil. The phrase comes from a poorly translated motto outside of a large office building.)

ALSO: I've updated my painting site.

untitled

20x20cm
oil on canvas
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I made this before leaving to America. The image is from a small plastic mirror I've had for a while now. The naiveity and odd sadness of it appealed to me.

奥赢

(Olympic win)
Oil on canvas
60x50 cm
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This is a recently completed painting based on a package of cabbage seeds found in a village outside of Beijing. The title comes from the brand name of the seeds themselves. Although hard to tell looking at a monitor, the painting is far more fleshy and thick than I usually paint, and the size is far larger than previous work. The girl is, self consciously and awkwardly, breaking past her boundary. Anyway, I'm quite happy with it. Thoughts?

8.3
oil and acrylic on wood
45x30cm

This is another painting in a similar vein to "0.35," which was posted earlier. This is also from a supermarket ad. I painted the wood with a silver acrylic paint and overlayed it with oil. Also, I taped off the edge to create a border of unfinished wood.

These "8.3" and "0.35" paintings are related in that they feature incomplete information (numbers without a clear indication of meaning) and lack the Chinese text that was present in the actual ad, thus eliminating a narrative. This is the closest I've been getting to a more obvious, exploratory series.

0.35
oil on canvas
40x40 cm

I've been drawing more than painting lately, but here is a recently completed painting that I'm quite happy with. It's from a grocery store advertisement for a sale on onions, garlic, carrots and cabbage.

~~ Some of my recent drawings from figure drawing class ~~

~Some drawings from the last two figure drawing classes...~

人体模特课
Figure drawing class
－－－

Responding to the raised prices and lifeless models of our previous school's classes, we've set up a weekly figure drawing class on our 2nd floor with rotating models. I put up an ad on Chinese and expat sites and received a number of possible models, enough to cover the next few weeks, or at least starting again after Spring Festival. These are the drawings from the first class.

Class went well with eight students in attendance and an initially nervous, but quickly comfortable model.

你好中国朋友门！如果您住在北京想这样人体模特的工作，发我个email。因为是裸体的姿势所以不要害羞吧！ 一次是三个小时／一共150块钱一次。男人女人都可以，没有经验的话也没问题。[rosscharris@gmail.com]

屠宰 (slaughter)
24 x 18 1/2 cm


屠宰 (slaughter)
50 x 40 cm

grouped together

`~#~`

These are two paintings I've recently completed. They're based on photos I posted earlier last month of a lamb being killed outside my house. I actually like the paintings now more than the pictures of the event, and they are more loose than I've been allowing myself to paint lately.

shopping cart
oil on canvas
4x6 inches


--*--

Chad bought a few things last February at Lucky's Oriental Market the day before I flew back out to Beijing. I remember the day being bittersweet. Forgive the glare.

The Bell Project
oil on canvas
4x6 inches

--*--

For those of you who were there, mom hosted a bell music project that created a complete cacophony while we were all sitting on a pretty carpet. It was one of the highlights of visiting home last February. (note: The light on the upper right hand corner is a error on my part from the lamp I was using.) I'm really liking the small paintings again and have a third coming up soon.

I love it here, but I miss everyone, especially a certain tall someone with big ears and fuzzy hair. I'm writing a short story about waiting out my Chinese visa here in Siem Reap, which I'll post in the future.

In unrelated news, I'm excited about dinner. There is this small Thai place I just found where I can get a delicious fried snake head fish topped with green mango salad for $2.50. Simple pleasures.

Dad in art school

Chad and Catalina

Silvia

___~\*0*/~___

(Again, forgive the quality problems if they exist. The middle painting might have a high contrast issue due to the poor quality of the monitor I'm working with.)

The first is a picture of my father in an art school ID photograph. The second is a highly embellished copy of a photo booth picture. I've been into this idea of decoration and patterning, and so I added some to the background of Silvia's image, which I think improves it immeasurably. There is something vital and fun about it now, more explosive.

I'm working a lot on repainting the portrait of Ariel in a more stoic, expressionless kind of face study way. It reminds me of a folky painting of an American GI in Japan during the occupation that I once had hanging in my room in Miami. Here are the results so far.

detail of Ariel

~~~

I painted the background in a deep, hunter green, which is nearly impossible to tell on this monitor display since it appears both too contrasty and dark. (I need a calibrated monitor or a mac!) I enjoy trying completely new ways of painting, even at the risk that I won't have a specifically signature style. I'm thinking of adding a tight, patterned background to this one as well, but I'm going to shelf it for a little while.

Let me know what you all think.

discovery

Isa buys me a drink

blood oranges

Some paintings I've finished over the past few days. I'm going to do a few portraits since I have a few new passport and ID photos to work from. Also I can flesh them out more satisfyingly and less aggravatingly.

The middle one may need work. It's, by far, the most worked of the three. My limbs are jaundiced, but I need to let this painting sit for a while. The "flash" effect is in the painting itself and not a result of my digital camera.

Silvia, Ariel, Ross/ 12"x15"/ oil on wood.
*The color is off in the photos; it's displaying much too blue on this computer. Note that the background should be bright white.

I had only these three passport pictures hidden away in my navy Japanese wallet that Cat gave me. If you'd like a portrait, scan and e-mail me a passport photo to paint from. I'm going to work on different subjects for a few days and will return to the portraits if I recieve jpegs.

~*~More paintings to come.

painting...

I'm working on a painting website, also on blogger. It's at this address. I also bought rossharris.org, and will link this to the blogspot address.

Right now it's very basic, and eventually I'd like a "real" site rather than a blog. Blogger is frequently blocked in China, so I need a site name that won't be shut out.

Also, I don't think I should even list the shows I've been in or any resume since I haven't had a show in years. (Looks off, no? Maybe "resume by request?" Eh...) I'm still thinking about what I should say about myself so what's there now will change. I'd like Chinese text of my "about me" statement below my own.

Although I have older paintings I really like, I've only included my favorite paintings of this last year. I'm working on a few new ones that I'll post if I end up really liking them.

I'm ready to start showing these new paintings somewhere. I've been sitting on it for a while and I feel like I need feedback and to see my paintings under fresh light. I'll be e-mailing and visiting galleries soon. (I met a gallery owner in 798 months ago... what was his name?)

I could have got dates/show information wrong, so let me know about that. Feedback is appreciated!

黑鸡, "black chicken"
oil on linen, 8"x8"

The Chinese have been eating a chicken whose natural skin color is purple-black for a very long time. This "black chicken" is considered healthier and it common in hot pots and stews.

I, for some reason, really enjoy painting dead chickens. I have also come to discover that the more you look at a chicken's face the more it looks like a dinosaur.

I attempted this painting on unprimed linen although there are bits of discoloration and pencil marks that I couldn't completely get rid of. (any ideas?)

Memorization

12x12, oil and acrylic on canvas

Learning a language from scratch is like being a child looking in picture books at monkeys and elephants. Especially with learning nouns in Chinese, you start a whole new way of matching actual images with the character representation of the image. It's hardcore memorization all over again.