Smiling Faces on Mobile Street | ©Paul McCall | Original painting used for the 4th Annual Mobile Street Renaissance Festival

I went in a different direction yet again.  For the past year or so, I’ve been exploring painting using what I call a synthetic cubist style, which draws on the use of swatches of color to emphasize contours and lined areas to provide contrast.  I’m really excited about this work & feel like it was a breakthrough piece for me.

As it turns out, all of the paintings that I’ve produced for the Mobile Street Festivals have been acquired and will be included in the permanent collection of the new African American Art museum that they are building in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

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Dream Dancing | ©Paul McCall | Original painting for the Third Annual Mobile Street Festival

For the 2008 Third Annual Mobile Street Renaissance Festival poster, I decided to go a different route and use a more naieve style of painting to express the old-tyme quality that Hattiesburg & the Mobile Street are steeped in.

The title of this painting is called “Dream Dancers”.  Although the final poster looks very different from my original design, I think it does a good job of capturing the feeling that I wanted to express in this particular painting. ______________________________________________________________

Hattiesburg Mobile Street Renaissance Festival - Poster 2

I just finished the design for the 2007 Second Annual Mobile Street Rennaissance Festival in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

In keeping with last years theme of area blues musicians I’ve chosen to paint Memphis Minnie, a blues singer & guitarist during the 1920’s through the 1950’s. She is known for her flamboyant attitude and

wonderful electric urban blues style that paved the way for many other famous blues musicians.
Her 1929 song, “When the Levee Breaks” was covered in the 1970’s by Led Zeppelin.

She is known for recording over 200 albums during her lengthy career! In 1980, Memphis Minnie was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame.

I also included a train to represent the transportation heritage of Hattiesburg, the hub city!

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I have just completed my first commission of the year (2006)  for the First Annual Historic Mobile Street Renaissance Festival in Hattiesburg, MS. It was a collaboration with another local artist, Spence Townsend. He painted the picture you see on the left. When he couldn’t be reached to make the changes the client requested, I was called in to complete the work. Normally I do not like altering another artist’s painting however, since he was unable to make the changes, I’m glad I could assist in making the client happy! The changes I’ve made can be seen in the painting on the right.

To find out more about the Mobiles Street Renaissance Festival visit their website here.

Hattiesburg Mobile Street Renaissance Festival - Poster 1 Before

Hattiesburg Mobile Street Renaissance Festival - Poster 1 After

                        

After many a long night attempting to load the backup of this very blog, a very frustrated wife said “tell me why we’re doing this again?” and I had to ask myself the same question.  After living on the same server for approximately 7 years, at a reasonable price, with an OK admin interface, what possessed me?  And then I remembered the good old days, when, in the rare instance I had a problem, I could call up tech support and speak to an ACTUAL LIVE PERSON!   I started having problems with my website during X-mas with intermittent downtime occurring.  I checked my hosting company’s website for information about downtime (of which hadn’t been updated since 2007), then checked and rechecked my personal connection (been having trouble with that too lately) before realizing it was a server problem.  So I waited until Monday to contact the company, but when I went to their website to find their support number there was none available!  So I sent in a “support ticket” a bit upset but still in need of info only to have my “support ticket” bounced back to me because the addy did not exist!  Oh heck no!  So I sent another….bounced back again…..then I tried finding a number on the parent company  site… no luck!  So I said boo on them and switched!

So now it’s a new interface to learn, new databases to be setup, but they have an actual person (probably several in fact) who are ready and waiting to assist me (and Dominique) when needed.

                        

For SoQ ‘the arts’ is defined broadly, and they include the traditional arts, painting, sculpture, music, and dance, as well as popular culture. They also publish studies of Southern culture from such disciplines as folklore, anthropology, and history. For SoQ, “The South” is defined as the region from the Mason Dixon Line to Central America.

I am truly thrilled and honored for my artwork to represent not just one, but four of the journals, including the issue, Richard Wright, Citizen of the World: A Centenary Celebration, one of my favorite writers and social commentators.  The issues are located below in the order of publication.  Enjoy!

Excessism - Ochre Arch with Flame | Number: 9 | ©Paul McCall | 5"x7" | Acrylic on canvas panel | Jan. 10, 2003

Artwork: Marie | Volume 46, Number 1. | Fall 2008 | General Issue

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Artwork: Excessism with Red Slash | Volume 46, Number 2. | Winter 2009 | Richard Wright, Citizen of the World

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Artwork: Acquiesence | Volume 46, Number 3. | Spring 2009 | The South in a Global Context

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Artwork: Primary Triad, All Colors Come From These | Volume 46, Number 4. | Summer 2009 | General Issue

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Now that the year is drawing to an end, I’ve been finishing up the last of the paintings of 2009, taking inventory of the paintings I still have in my possession (including some watercolors from as early as 1983!), and deciding on which paintings will be traveling to Fountainhead gallery for the next show in 2010, which will accompany me to Costa Rica, and which will be stored in the States. It’s been exciting going through my work and rediscovering some of the paintings that I had forgotten about.  They were patiently waiting for me to liberate them from the corners and closets of my studio.  With liberation in mind, I ran across a big box of the first hundred or so Excessism paintings that I began roughly in 2002 after teaching some classes at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle and seeing how much paint actually goes to waste during the painting process.

You see, I have defined Excessism (a term I coined BTW) as”A style of artwork that is instinctively and spontaneously produced by the superabundance of paint from another artwork”.  The series derives from my reaction to the customary ending place for waste (particularly wasted paint).  Instead of discarding perfectly good paint and another opportunity to be creative, the excess from my planned works give birth to Excessism triplets and quadruplets!

I felt really good about “saving” this paint and often sat and admired the little gems that I created out of something that was once considered valueless.   In the midst of my warm and fuzzy feeling though, I guess I failed to let any (save one that was featured on the cover of the Southern Quarterly journal) out into the world……

And so now here I sit, with the first box of never-been-seen paintings that I have horded away at the same time creating more and more in my studio nearly every day….An Excess of Excessism!

So I’ve decided to send them out into the world!  They need homes where they will be loved for what they are and displayed where people can see them, flirt and make witty banter in front of them.  So each day I have decide to post one of these paintings (most are 5″ x 7″ on canvas panel) on this blog and via email so they can make their own way in the world.

Here’s how it works:  We will share in the liberation of each work.  I will post a couple of pictures of one of the Excessism paintings each day until they have dwindled to a manageable number that I can realistically take with me (say 50).  I will give all the details of the piece including the title, dimensions, and compose a short story about how the piece came to be and from which painting it originated.  You will then have the opportunity to purchase the featured painting for $50.00.  That’s right, $50.00! No hidden fees, no shipping costs, no nonsense.  For $50.00 you get an original, signed painting by me, Paul McCall, a handwritten story (in my own chicken scratch) about the painting, a typed version of the story (just in case you can’t read my chicken scratch), and free shipping to your door.

Now why, you ask, would Paul McCall, an established artist with artwork selling for thousands of dollars in well-respected galleries sell his work for only $50.00?  Three reasons.  First, I believe in making art accessible to folks regardless of their means, second, artwork does nobody any good if it is stored away where it can’t be admired, and third, I need to make room in my life for new creations.

So here’s your first opportunity to help liberate a painting….

Title: Excessism – Seattle
Number: 5
Dimensions: 5″ x 7″
Date: Nov. 13, 2003

Excessism - Seattle | Texture Detail | Original Painting by Paul McCall

                        

Image Copyright John T. Unger

Image Copyright John T. Unger

Hurray for John T. Unger who has had the courage to fight in the defence of not only his original artwork but for all artists who have spent years creating artwork to support themselves, their families, and to ultimately be the truth keepers and revealers in this world.

Right now John T. Unger is fighting in court to protect his original artwork & designs from a man who has been stealing his work, reproducing it in mass quantities, and profiting from the original designs of a man who has been working at his craft for the past twenty years!  Shame on this guy!

I’ve also had the unfortunate experience of having my artwork stolen.  The first time by corporate yahoos who decided they wanted to use my piece to promote a statewide event and placed corporate logos all over my work (to the tune of $50,000 per insertion for each company!)  I sued & won, but ultimately my work had already been distributed statewide to over 500,000 people & organizations making my work seem like a lackey for big business.  (You can see I’m still upset by it.)  Most of the time when it’s stolen these days it is by some no count hack wannabe artist who can usually be convinced to stop their offensive acts with  a mix of public shaming and a well written letter or two from an attorney.

Unfortunately for John T. Unger the guy stealing his work has no shame and apparently no respect for artists or the acts and ideas that are so central to making art.

If you want to read more about John T. Ungers story visit his website http://www.johntunger.com/legal-defense-fund.html and support him by donating a peice, cash and helping to spread the word.  As John says “My reputation for original thought, authorship and integrity are at stake, which is the core of my [and every artists]  artistic practice”.  Join the fight!