K. B. Dixon - A Painter's Life

Portland writer K. B. Dixon's new novel, A Painter's Life, is unwieldy but precise. It reads as if it's a journal kept by the (fictional) painter Christopher Freeze, but unlike a journal, this sack of asides, hopes, press clippings, musings on friendships, work, other artists, critics, dealers, paint and the point of paint adds up to a life.

What's more, it's a life in Portland.  We in Seattle imagine Portland artists constantly having dinner. Even a resolute outsider such as Freeze would have plenty of friends in Portland, more than his narrative can keep track of. His friendships are the cushion he leans on to keep his solitary occupation in motion.

When Seattle artists look up from their work and realize they haven't talked to anybody in a month, Portland's collective comfort zone looks good.

Below, a few quotes from the book for its flavor, with images of paintings from a few of Portland's nonfictional finest.

David Andres was saying if he could just get the right people to object to something of his, to insist that it be removed from wherever it had been placed, it would be the making of him. It would mean a reputation, which is money in the bank. It would mean a better bottle of wine with dinner, a car with more horsepower, a house with more square feet, a girlfriend with fewer cats.

James Lavadour, Blue Back
jameslavadourblbck.jpgI like my pictures to look crowded - sort of stuffed into the fame. The canvas should be full like your plate when you sit down to dinner - suggestive of emotional and/or metaphysical abundance.

Judy Cooke, Ice Melt

judycookeicemelt.jpgI don't want to be part of the perpetual revolution, the chasing after novelty. The freedom to go where you want is one thing, but the obligation to move on, move on - that is the demand made by a policeman. You are never saying anything; you are trying to say it. You never get to finish or to amplify a thought.

Anna Fidler, Correspondences

annafidlercorresp.jpgI hate watching people look at my pictures. I never like anything about the way they do it.

Adam Sorensen, Squall

adamsorensensquall.jpgMy father claimed he could smell electricity, and my mother was always telling us how many hours it had been (plus or minus a quarter) since this or that person had bathed or showered. I myself am similarly sensitive. The stench of the studio is one of the things I like best about being  a painter.

Storm Tharp, Approaching Thunderhead

stormtharpcouple.jpgI don't think of my pictures as small - I think of them as efficient. 
Michael Brophy, Kitchen Painting #28
michaelbrophykitchen.jpg
November 2, 2009 1:23 AM | | Comments (1) |

1 Comments

By Well fed on November 2, 2009 9:20 PM

The alienated thing of which you speak is the old Seattle. The new Seattle art community is all about community. Keep up.

Leave a comment

About

Another Bouncing Ball
This blog continues Art To Go, which I wrote as the art critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, beginning at the end of 2007 and continuing through March 15, 2009. ABB is an exploration of art in Seattle that extends outward, both geographically and by topic, touching on art, politics, literature, dance and whatever it is that the cat drags in. Its title comes from a poem by Delmore Schwartz, The Ballad of the Children of the Czar, specifically, "The ground on which the ball bounces/ Is another bouncing ball."
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Regina Hackett ... is the former art critic for the former Seattle P-I. I loved that job every day, but it's gone and I've moved on. As they say in the movies, to infinity and beyond.
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At the Frye: The Old, Weird America: Folk Themes in Contemporary Art. Through Jan. 3.

Old, Weird America reviews on this blog: Godforsaken Curios; Margaret Kilgallen owns Main Street; Sam Durant gives thanks, and If Northwest artists had been in The Old, Weird America, it would have been a stronger show.


SEATTLE (AND REGIONAL) ART BLOGS


· Art and Politics Now

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REGIONAL ART SPACES


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· Wright Exhibition Space (No Web Site)

· Columbia City


SEATTLE (AND REGIONAL) ART MUSEUMS


· Bellevue Arts Museum

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· Museum of Northwest Art

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· Tacoma Art Museum

· Vancouver Art Gallery

· Whatcom Museum of History and Art


SEATTLE (AND REGIONAL) ARTIST WEBSITES

 · Juan Alonso

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EVERYWHERE ELSE BLOG (And Beyond Blog) LINKS


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· Tomorrow Museum

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· unBLOGGED

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· Urban Honking

. View On Canadian Art

· VVORK

· Vroom Journal

. WeArePhotography

· James Wagner

. Web Street

· We Make Money Not Art

· Edward_Winkleman

· Wooster Collective

. Wrong Distance



About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Another Bouncing Ball published on November 2, 2009 1:23 AM.

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