1984 Surfaces

RETROSPECTRE

The Early Work of Robert Pasternak

1980 - 1984

 Sunset - acrylic on masonite - 10 x 12 in -  Dec 1984

It was 36 years ago this month in 1978 that I decided that I wanted to be  an artist. I was about to turn 15 years old. This web log has chronicled most all the art that I produced from then, up to this point of 30 YEARS AGO.

I got behind in my web postings for 1984, so this post contains all the work of 1984 with various omissions.

This will be my final posting within this particular blog. Please take the time to view my earlier work up to this point. Also please check out my new work, NEWS and other work in my other blogs or websites. Thanx for being here. . . or there.
                                                                                     r  o  b  e  r  t

 Christ - acrylic on illustration board - 20 x 3 in -  Dec 1984

 What You See - acrylic on canvas - 30 x 34 in - Dec 1984

 Daredevil - acrylic on canvas - 18 x 24 in - Dec 1984

 Roberto Doran - acrylic on canvas - 18 x 24 in -  Dec 1984

 Batman  - acrylic on canvas - 24 x 34 in - Nov 1984

 If Your Surface Stays Unbroken - acrylic on canvas - 36 x 48 in - Nov 1984

 Surfaces No.6 - pencil crayon, ink, pencil on paper - 11 x 14 in - Aug 1984

 Surfaces No.5 - pencil crayon on paper - 16 x 20 in - Aug 1984

 Surfaces No.4 - acrylic on illustration board - 10 x 40 in - Aug 1984

 Church on River - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 26 in - Aug 1984

 Surfaces No.3 - pencil crayon on paper - 17 x 17 in - Aug 1984

 Fence Corner - acrylic on illustration board - 16 x 28 in - Aug 1984

 They Were Friends Of Mine - pencil crayon on paper - 13.5 x 19.5 in - Aug 1984

 Target On The Different - acrylic, pencil crayon, ink on paper - 20 x 26 in - Aug 1984

 Hand In The Sky - acrylic on canvas paper - 18 x 24 in - July 1984

Fence Corner With Ships - acrylic on canvas paper - 18 x 24 in - July 1984

 Ghost House - acrylic on canvas paper - 18 x 24 in - July 1984

 Under The White Paint - acrylic on canvas paper - 18 x 24 in - July 1984

 Batman - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 - June 1984

 ...and in this son was goodness - acrylic on illustration board - 18.25 x 11.5 in - June 1984

 AGES - acrylic on canvas - 48 x 86 in - May 1984

 Follow Me Home - acrylic on illustration board - 13 x 20 in - May 1984

 Harlequin cover - acrylic on canvas - 34 x 36 in - May 1984

 Confusion In The Wind - pencil, ink, pencil crayon, felt on paper - 9 x 12 - Apr 1984

 The Spirit - pencil crayon on paper - 12 x 15.25 - Apr 1984

 King & Queen - acrylic on canvas - 24 x 36 - Apr 1984

 Kick Axe-B - pencil crayon on paper - 18.5 x 18.5 - Mar 1984

 Kick Axe-A - pencil crayon on paper - 18 x 18 - Mar 1984

 Particles Chase - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 26 in - Feb 1984

Help Me Up - pastel on paper - 7 x 13 in - Jan 1984

See Your Self

 The Hand Sees - December 1983 - pencil crayon on paper - 22 x 28 inches

I was about to turn 20 years old when I drew this self portrait. It was a Christmas gift for my girlfriend at the time. Then some years later, last year as a matter of fact, that I received a phone call from a second hand store I frequently shop at called Antiques and Funk. They said that they had purchased a picture of mine from someone and continued to describe it to me. I was in a bit of a shock actually but then found it really interesting. What was the story? I wondered. Had my old girlfriend finally decided that she did not need to be reminded of me or had she in fact gotten rid of it years ago and it has seen other owners?

I went to the shop to view the picture. It was in immaculate condition. I was thankful of that. This same girlfriend has a couple of other early paintings of mine that I hope are ok and kept safe. If they were not still loved, given the opportunity I would buy them from whoever had them. These other two paintings can be viewed in an earlier post here. They are called Hope For One and From Jungle To Jungle.

 Through Time Altered Minds - December 1983 - acrylic on canvas - 34 x 40 inches

Here is another self portrait that goes beyond the usual facial recognition and speaks also of body language and mental states of altered reality.

One day while sitting and stoned, I became self aware of a certain body position that I felt I was often in. I had not seen it reflected before nor did I ever consciously think of this position but there it was and it was my body remembering that I do this more so than my mind remembering this. It was a contemplative position because I was high and staring off into space.

The background for this painting comes about from my interest in wood grain and also of wood molding trim in houses and the different styles associated with different eras of houses. Compare this wood molding with the wood molding in the picture The Rose Still Grows that I have in an earlier post. Anyways, I did most of this painting at a friends house where I copied the molding and squared off the general composition from what was there. The two poles running vertically were water heater pipes running through the floor. The figure (me) was not part of this painting until later. Even though the idea was there to add me I contemplated it for a long time (yes, more sitting, staring...) because it was a cool painting before I arrived, with it being a bit more abstract and perhaps a bit more marketable (?) I like how all the surface areas have an angular or curvilinear movement of line or grain through it. I've never had hair like that, so I'm not sure what that is all about, even though there are other renditions of me in other works with the same hair.

Through the years many people have thought that I did my paintings with an airbrush, but that is not the case. I use ordinary animal hair brushes for all my painting.

To Stop A Passing Eye - October 1983 - oil pastel on paper - 20 x 20 inches

The Assignment

Exit - February 1983 - acrylic on canvas - 34 x 40 inches

This is one of my favorite all-time paintings. I thinks it's because of the feeling that I still get from it. I get a buzz from it. As If I can get stoned just by looking at it. I remember when I had the idea for this one. I was at a friends place putting a puzzle together and I was assigned the sky. I was just about to put in the final piece when I thought, that once I place this piece in, the sky will all get fused together and nothing will be able to come in from the other side, as all the openings will be closed. So this was the moment of their last chance. I remember even hesitating before placing this last piece, perhaps only because I did not want to be finished my assignment.

Man In A Maze - January 1983 - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 26 inches

Out In Space

 The Apartment - 1982 - 14 x 20 inches - pencil crayon on paper

The Apartment is one of my most well known works. It's widely known as Space For Rent, which is what the sign said as I walked by it. One of those surreal twisted moments in taking the the workd space so literally. But even to this day I have an incredibly hard time not seeing SPACE when ever I hear the word.

These next few pieces are variations on.........on what?......a feeling?.....a dynamic? An abstract notion of distance and scale and movement? These are such simple shapes. The first one did not hold my attention as a whole work or a finished work a couple years later when I filled in the whole paper with color. The second one gives me the feeling of floating amongst these two particles. And the third is a more spaceship-ish rendition of the first in a new medium. 

  Particles Chase I - 1982 - 26 x 20 inches - pencil crayon on paper

   Particles Chase II - 1982 - 20 x 26 inches - pencil crayon on paper

   Particles Chase III - 1982 - 15 x 20 inches - enamel on illustration board

 Let Alone - 1982 - 20 x 26 inches - pencil crayon on paper

Okay then. What is happening here? OMGoodness. This was a drawing I did for a friend of mine at the time. This is a terrible photograph and a somewhat poor choice of materials. I really should have used a white sheet of paper instead of black so that the loose leaf sheet pictured here could have been white. I am sure I was influenced here by MCEscher. The part here that I really enjoy is seeing Christ pulling himself off the cross. I have always wanted to do a large painting of that but, it's a bit silly.

I Am Squared

Ride - Sept1982 - acrylic on canvas - 34 x 38 in.

Ride is an early take I had on the idea of self portraiture. One's identity is not only in the face, but in body language, the clothing and the environment they are placed in. Ride is also about vehicles and with this picture, there is a ride, within a ride, within a ride. Here we have the car (vehicle 1) carrying the body, There is the actual ride taking place in a back seat of a car (vehicle 1), then there is the body (vehicle 2) carrying the mind and soul, and finally the cigarette or roach-carrying substance (vehicle 3). We have a vehicle within a vehicle within a vehicle. The body is going for a ride in the car while the mind is going for a ride in the body. 

   

After Supper - Sept1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 14 x 21 in.

As the potatoe you just ate is churning and divesting, feeding, transforming the particles of your being, you sit there, body as couch and mind as TV.


Go figure, the movie Tron came out in 1982. I loved the simple graphical vision it showed inside a computer game, then voila, we have here an inspired artwork here below. Ah, but look at the mystical vision infused at this intersection and ponder it's deeper significance. How did I get there? Think of numbers, sides, blocks and spaces.

At The Corner Of Seventh And Trinity - Sept1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 7 x 12 in.

Deathly Beginning

In my previous post I had assumed that I started my 30 years ago blog with my first 'original' artwork, (the drawing shown below), but in fact the blog was started with my first painting in 1980. So since I made reference to this drawing, here it is now.

Even though I had been drawing occasionally for years previous to this drawing, I call this my first original work only because now I was consciously creating work as an 'artist'. I was also a lot more serious about my creations as well by way of doing preliminary drawings, having my friend sam pose for me as well as starting the drawing for a second time after a botched inking attempt. The interests I had at the time were Marvel comic books and the art of Jim Steranko and Rick Buckler's Deathlok character, along with perhaps some Dali and my own inner cosmic visions. It is most certainly interesting that the beginning of my career starts with Death

 

Death - August 1979 - pencil on paper - 20 x 26 in.

Also, If you want to see the drawing that solidified my soul (is that actually possible?.....I hope it's not the same as having a heart of stone) to being an artist - not the type of artist mind you, just the ideal - you can visit this blog post I made back then.

Renascence

Renascence - May 1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 26 inches

This picture started within the point of the light at the finger tip. There was no hand or idea of a hand yet. It was a doodle that kept changing in the multitude of directions it sparked at every moment. I could not reign in my ideas. Much later in the night I decided on the hand as holding that infinite spark of power of imagination. Then later on after I had gone to bed and when I awoke, I found that my brother Gary was inspired by my image and added more power with his own spark of Christian insight.    

Under The Influence

Humynx - March 1982 - pencil crayon on matt board - 22 x 28 inches

Green Flyes - March 1982 - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 inches

When I started to create my own work I was under the influence of so many other artists. I liked so many! Hence the divergent paths that were yet to come. Since the beginning there was Roger Dean, Frank Frazetta and Michael Whelan in the Fantasy vein of things. I think Whelan comes out the most in these two works. I would really like to redo the sky in Green Flyes. Also I would like to point out that the image you see here is a scan of the original 8x10 worn out photograph I've been carrying in my binder all these years.

 

Man Without Wings

Man Without Wings - Dec 1981 - 20 x 22 inches - pencil crayon, ink on paper

     I think I would have to say at this point, that he actually does have wings! I am speculating now, that at the time of this picture, the artist didn't quite realize this fact. The hand is obviously the hand of God, a God of the universe, whom happens to be holding, perhaps lifting up and certainly not clutching or grasping, so why the tears?

      If I am to wager a guess now as to the meaning of the picture as it relates to the creator of this work, I would have to say that it is of an angel of God stuck in, not wanting to be in, a material body, and hence the sorrow and tears. I personally did feel at odds in this world, or perhaps just in this time. As if I did not belong, and could not understand it's workings and questioned what everything was and what it meant. 30 years later I am still trying to figure it out, as I suppose most of us are, but I do feel that I am getting closer.

     

     At the time of this work I was about to turn 18 years old. I had graduated high school that previous June and was now employed as a graphic production artist at a cresting manufacturer.