Michael Marcon Art
Website Journal & Updates
January 29, 2012
2011 GALLERY COMPLETE!
Just finished adding most of the work I did from 2011. Overall I think my journey into more abstract imagery was a success. Although the Navigation series was supposed to have 10 phases & not just 5. But in 2012 I will continue to explore more abstract imagery, technigues & expressions with my Departure series. This time I will no longer limit myself to strictly acrylic & latex paint therefor I plan on incorporating more collage, pastel & possibly other materials into my abstract work. The Departure series may also include some "objective" imagery like patterns or leaves but it will still mainly be for abstraction! Pretty much all of the 2011 originals are still available for purchase, to view some of the prices just go to the 2011 Originals section. For a complete price list contact me.
Anyway listed below is some links to my favorite works of 2011. Most of them are abstracts of course.
January 8, 2012
ORIGINALS LISTED AT FINE ART AMERICA
The Marcon Art Page over at FineArtAmerica.com is now updated with about 120 available originals. The paintings are also listed here but there they are divided up by category rather than year. Links to the individual galleries are listed below. Of course if there is any discrepancy between the listed prices there & here the lowest price will be honored.
December 17, 2011
ORIGINAL PAINTINGS
As of this month I no longer post my originals on ArtID.com. I've decided to close that account and just posted recent available originals at Fine Art America.
My new page can be viewed here. I just started uploading originals this week. Of course I won't be posting EVERY available original from now on. For a complete list with prices please contact me directly.
December 11, 2011
COMPLETE POSTER PRINTS UPDATED
Added some more prints to the 2010 section. The 2 new sets are "African Expression I & II" & "Ashanti Motifs I & II. They are very different & unique images so I'm glad Sun Dance finally published them. Although they did alter them a little but no big deal, sometimes I like when they remix my images. I especially like what they did with the Ashanti set. Significantly different from the original.
Anyway I've decided to no longer create individual galleries of my open edition prints. Its just been too time consuming to add ALL of my available poster prints to marcongallery.com. Especially now when lately they have released over 75 new images a year. So I've decided to just add a link to my complete catalog over at Sun Dance Graphics. Plus its simply too difficult to keep my print galleries organized properly when Sun Dance often remixes older prints to make new ones. Very hard to keep track of every single image with their catalog #, year, etc. Anyway my complete available prints (which is currently around 550 images) can be viewed here.
October 2, 2011
AUTUMN INFINITE
Well autumn is here again. Always euphoric, reflective, inspiring but with a touch of melancholy. And of course this season always reminds me that change is inevitable. Anyway I'm going to take some time to be a little nostalgic and reflect on old autumn paintings from back in the day. Every day in October I will post on the Marcon Art facebook wall various autumn or autumn like paintings from the old albums. Mainly ones from back in 2001 & 2002 when my main focus was landscapes and I created a lot of works inspired by the season. Can't believe some of this stuff is 10 years old now.
July 17, 2011
NEW 2011 PRINTS ADDED
I've added some new published works to the 2011 print gallery. Its nice to see some of my new abstracts being put into print. Right now my favorite set is "Siberia Panel 1 & II" which are slightly altered from a set titled "Transsiberia" , which was vaguely inspired by the Transsiberian railway.
June 5, 2011
2010 COMPLETE PRINTS
Most of my published works for 2010 should be added to the print Catalog VI. This year more than any year a lot of the imagery was changed by Sun Dance. For the most part they replaced my warmer palette for cooler colors, as well as some compositional changes and even a few entirely new images that were made from my imagery. The results are usually mixed in my opinion but overall if it ends up strengthening the work in the market then I'm fine with it.
Below is my favorite prints that either were not changed from the originals or only changed a little bit:
Below is my favorite prints that were either changed a lot from the originals or are entirely new "remixes" of my existing imagery:
May 12, 2011
NAVIGATING
My 2011 works are underway and I've added everthing so far to the 2011 gallery.
The reason why I'm calling this gallery "Navigation" is because I feel like I've started a new chapter in my artistic career and I'm at a point where I need to plan a new course and move towards new expressions! One of these new directions is my exploration into abstract. In these beginning stages I'm simply trying to explore simple shapes & gestures which will be part of a continuing development of a personal visual vocabulary. In other words the formal elements that I will explore will contain & express personal feelings and ideas, many of which will be very simple themselves but the juxtaposition of these ideas and feelings hopefully will allow me to create exciting imagery that is meaningful, concrete, sophisticated & expressive!
While I'm experimenting with new forms and techniques I will still return to previous imagery and themes, including landscapes. But hopefully all of the work that I create will contain a new level of sophistication as a result of my formal & technical explorations. Anyway the "Navigation" series will include individual sets of works that explore specific formal elements, then each sequential set will expand on a given element while adding and/or subtracting different elements. For an example Phase 1 explored vertical geometrical lines juxtaposed with very fluid "natural" lines. Phase 2 incorporated circlular elements into this pattern. Phase 3 is dealing with horizontal lines & textures, some of which incorporated the circles and others the fluid lines, or both. Phase 4 which isn't underway yet will probably include all diagonal lines along with some of these previous elements. Anyway I'm really exciting to be on this journey. Its helping me feel more confident with color, form, expression & painting in general!
April 17, 2011
MODEL TRAINS
I finally took pictures of my father's entire new trainset layout. I haven't made a photo gallery on this site yet but I have one on my facebook page. To view the photos just click here. Classic Toy Trains magazine finally publish their article of his previous layout last year. The NEW layout is better designed with all new track and of course new buildings and new sets that he's worked on since he rebuilt it about 3 years ago. I also have a little N gauge layout that we've been working on for about 2 years. One of these days I will post photos of that as well.
Apr. 10, 2011
NEW THUMBNAILS
I don't really know why I'm going to do this, because its gonna take me forever, but I decided to reformat the thumbnails in all the galleries. It just would look better having them more consistant instead of having them all be different sizes. So from now on all the thumbnails will be square. I started with the Voyager gallery which is all finished.
Feb. 12, 2011
2010 GALLERY FINISHED
Just finished adding most of the work that I did last year to the 2010 Voyager Gallery.
As with most years I have mixed feelings when I look back on all the work that I did during the year. Most of the time I'm never 100% satisfied with the work overall. But of course thats probably the way it should be. Never being fully content with ones art output is probably one of the main motivators in making more! Anyway below is some links to my favorite ones:
Jan. 17, 2011
MARCON ART FACEBOOK PAGE FINISHED
Finally have finished adding selected works to my Marcon Art Facebook Page, going all the way back to 1996. As of right now its the only place online where selected works from 1996 - 2002 are available to view. Basically works from college and my "pre-landscape" years.
Selected Artwork Photos 1996 - 2010 - A selection of 444 works going back to 1996. Easy to navigate through.
The "NeuroLab" years - 1996 - 2002 - Includes more of the darker themed work along with the mixed media stuff I did in college which includes my "surrealist" autobiographical series titled "Alchemy in a Burning Brain". This section also includes my "Mechanisms" & "Anima" series which is very similar to the new art that I'm exploring.
Various works - 1996 - 2002 - Consists more of the illustrative art that I did back in the day. Some of this work is from my original portfolio to get into college. Other ones were either class assignments or post "Alchemy" works where I briefly returned to speculative & fantasy painting.
Dec. 17, 2010
ONE OF MY PRINTS ON TV
My girlfriend was watching House Hunters International the other day on the Home & Garden Channel & she was able to catch one of my prints on the wall in one of the houses being shown to a buyer. I believe it was located in Canada.
Anyway the print was "October Changes II" from 2006. Its always a nice feeling seeing one of my images on TV or in the commercial world!
Dec. 15, 2010
THE COLLEGE DAYS ARCHIVE ADDED TO FACEBOOK
I've taken down my college website, but I was able to re-scan about 100 of my best works from 1996-2002 and add them to the Marcon Art Facebook page. For right now this is the only place where these works are available to view.
Here is the links:
The "NeuroLab" years - 1996 - 2002 - Includes more of the darker themed work along with the mixed media stuff I did in college which includes my "surrealist" autobiographical series titled "Alchemy in a Burning Brain". This section also includes my "Mechanisms" & "Anima" series which is very similar to the new art that I'm exploring.
Various works - 1996 - 2002 - Consists more of the illustrative art that I did back in the day. Some of this work is from my original portfolio to get into college. Other ones were either class assignments or post "Alchemy" works where I briefly returned to speculative & fantasy painting.
Nov. 17, 2010
THE COLLEGE DAYS ARCHIVE COMING TO A CLOSE
After 9 years I've decided to shut down my college website which features a lot of the artwork that I did from 1996 - 2002. The archive can be visited at The College Days. It was a nice experience putting that site together since it was my first website and I was just learning how to do the basics. Unfortuantely most of the images were of poor quality because of improper documentation or poor formating for the web. I recently have re-scanned many of the works again which for now will be viewable at my Marcon Art Facebook page. I will have fond memories of putting the college days website together. In a way it was the first time I was able to really see & reflect on the experiemental years and to see all of my artwork together at that time. Of course I will still keep all of the files so in the future I can still revisit it myself.
As far as the domain for michaelmarcon.com I've decided to use that for a new series of works that are in the planning stages. The work will be different from what I do now and in many ways it will be me returning to some old ideas and images as well as new ones. This new work will be completely "art for art sake". In other words it will not be considered for reproduction or publishing, & it will be kept separate from the types of work that I do for "my career".
Oct. 23, 2010
2010 PRINT GALLERY UNDER WAY
The 2010 print section has some new prints added. So far Sun Dance has published some works that I've submitted earlier in the year, most of which were digital works. Most of these images have been altered substantially, most notably cooler colors have replaced my usual warm, earthy palette. Overall I don't mind when my images are altered & "remixed" like this. It expands my overall range of imagery when it comes to published art. Its also exciting to see some of my compositions altered in ways that I never thought of, this in return gives me some new ideas & new ways of thinking about formal issues. Plus it gives my publisher an edge when it comes to selling my prints overall, because they have more of a pulse on the market than I do, because its impossible for me to be completely objective about my work. In the end I just have to accept that when my art leaves my studio and it becomes someone elses "product" it ceases to be 100% my "vision". Thats just the reality of being more of a "commercial" & graphic artist.
Below is some examples of work that my publisher has altered. The first link is the original work submitted & the 2nd link is the published print. Sometimes I enjoy what they have done better than the original image, other times I prefer my original concept.
Winter Branch II Winter Leaf II
November Textures I November Textures I
November Textures II November Textures II
Magenta Leaf I & II Blue Leaf I & II
Oct. 21, 2010
AUTUMN EUPHORIA
I've always loved the autumn season, the colors, the light & the warm hues are so inspiring for the landscape painter. But as euphoric as it is I can't help to also feel a little mournful, besides signaling the end of another year it also creates a sense of loss, the loss of past visual memories. Often those visual memories are very fragmented, and/or intertwined with fantasy, so it feels like a loss of imagination as well. Sometimes all it takes to make these visual sensations surface is a certain breeze through the leaves, or the stark late afternoon sunlight glimmering through the leaves. And of course the way the light falls on the ground. I wish I had more time to express these visual sensations and create new ones with painting. But the moments are fleeting and there is never enough time!
THE MARCON ART FACEBOOK PAGE
Well I finally gave in and got around to creating a facebook page for my artwork. Not sure how much time I will spend on it but I'm definitely adding photo galleries of selected works for every year going back to 2001. I suppose its a convenient way to view most of my work very easily, as well as sharing my art in general with others.
Sept. 1, 2010
MARCON ART FACEBOOK PAGE
Wow, September already. Where did the summer go? It went fast but I loved all the rain storms we had here in Wisconsin. But I don't enjoy this way above normal heat we've been having. Oh well.
Anyway I finally started a Facebook page for Marcon Art. It probably will be used mainly for new works and new print releases. I'll post it here once I get going on it.
July 27, 2010
A NICE QUOTE THAT PERTAINS TO WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN ARTIST:
"Seeing consists of seeing what everyone else has seen but thinking what no one else has thought."
June 14, 2010
2009 POSTER PRINT GALLERY FINISHED (FOR THE MOST PART)
Finally I've been able to add all of my published prints to the 2009 print gallery. Sun Dance has been creating a lot of "alternative" versions & sizes so there might still be some variation prints added in the future. As always I want to take a moment to reflect on my favorite published works of the year, just for the fun of it.
Here they are in no particular order:
Distant Light & Distant Season
Fall Stems in the Warmth & Fall Stems in the Light
April 30, 2010
ARTID GALLERIES RE-ORGANIZED
I've been working on my ArtID page this morning. I re-organized all of the works into fewer sections. Hopefully this will make it easier to navigate through my online galleries there. The address is: http://artid.com/members/MarconArt/
April 25, 2010
NEW PRINTS ADDED FROM 2009
Just spent a few hours adding more available prints to the 2009 Gallery.
April 24, 2010
JOHN MARCON'S TRAIN LAYOUT IN CLASSIC TOY TRAINS MAGAZINE
Finally after 4 years my father's trainset was featured in the May 2010 issue of classic toy trains! I'm not able to post the article here on my website, but maybe someday it will be online where I can include a link to it. Just click here to view my photos of the trainset that was featured in the article. In spring 2008 my father tore down that layout and he rebuilt it with a new table, track, etc. Hopefully someday we will be able to have his new layout in a train magazine. When I have time I will put photos of the new one here on my website.
February 16, 2010
ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES:
"The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light." - Stanley Kubrick
January 22, 2010
NEW WORKS ADDED TO THE 2010 GALLERY
So far for 2010 I have two new digital sets finished that I'm very proud of. They both have a very African feel to them, hence the names "Ashanti Motifs" & "African Expressions" . I think this year I plan on creating many mixed media/digital works. I find through digital art that I'm able to explore themes and visual ideas that would be harder through traditional media. This will allow me to focus on a more "painterly" approach when I return to my acylic works.