Timelessness is one of those art terms that, if you frequent artsy circles, you will regularly hear thrown around. You will most often hear it used in a context of either praise or derision; it’s one of those art terms. Andrew Wyeth is known to have said that he liked painting nudes because of the timeless quality of the picture; I think maybe depicting a nude in front of some sort of amorphous background is the only way a figurative painting might be considered timeless (in the sense of the art term, at least), and even then, hair styles may be a giveaway to the time period.

Because we only have the personal experience of our own time, I think it is much easier to see images from the past as having a timeless quality. What we’re really seeing is unfamiliarity, out-of-our-own-timeness, not timelessness. Old stuff – frilly clothing, long bygone hair styles, antique personal accouterments, horses, ragged wooden shacks – always has a way of seeming classical, timeless. Maybe in a few generations, a mullet, a gold stud earring, battered work boots, and a Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt will be classical too; we just can’t see it right now. Personally, I don’t really care, it’s a beautifully expressive painting.

Maybe the real questions are: Does it matter? Are we getting the point?

I don’t think timelessness really matters.

First, pure timelessness is very rare.

Second, our enjoyment and understanding of a painting shouldn’t be swayed by critical art-world terminology.

Third, art is better understood when taken in the context of the artist’s time period and personality, and the Wyeths are no exception to this. Andrew and Jamie are known for distilling the essence of their experiences, surroundings, and imaginations in their paintings. It is this very observation and recording of their intimate universe coupled with a willingness to externalize their hearts and minds that makes their art so great – so full of meaning and emotion. When we begin to engage with all the possible stories behind their images, when we begin to understand and have a feeling for the artist’s intent, they only become deeper.

Twilight in the Wood, 2010, painting by David Jay Spyker,acrylics on canvas, 14"x18"

Twilight in the Wood, painting by David Jay Spykeron display at Lowell Area Arts Council, MI

The show runs through April 10, 2010, and is worth the trip to go see it.

Lowell Area Arts Council

Armin Mersmann

"Vessels", 2008, by David Jay Spyker, Acrylics on Canvas, 30" x 42"

It’s that time of year again, and each year I express my fondness for the Carnegie Center for the Arts and the annual regional art competition held there.

This year I am pleased to show three paintings at the competition, and I do hope you will visit the exhibition.

The opening reception is always well attended by the artists and by a very supportive regional community of art lovers.

"The Journey", 2009, by David Jay Spyker, Acrylics on Canvas, 24" x 36"

Both of my larger paintings, “Vessels” and “The Journey”, should be fairly easy to spot right away.

You can read more about “Vessels” in a previous article.

“The Journey” was also exhibited last Autumn at the Art Center of Battle Creek’s 28th Michigan Artist’s Competition.

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My third piece on display will be the small painting “Water Study”, which was done in 2008.

"Water Study", 2008, by David Jay Spyker, Acrylics on Canvas, 5" x 7"

The 2010 Regional Art Competition runs from January 17  through February 20; the opening reception and awards ceremony takes place on Sunday, January 17 from 2-4 pm. You’ll find the museum in Three Rivers, Michigan. Please visit their website for directions and additonal information.

Should you wish to attend, the group exhibition opens with a reception on October 4 from 2-4 p.m., and remains open to the public through October 24.

For directions and contact information, please visit the Art Center’s website here: www.artcenterofbattlecreek.org

"Vessels", 2008, Acrylics on Canvas, 30" x 42", by David Jay Spyker

I have been entranced with waterfall images lately – by “lately” I mean the last few years – and the idea of this space surrounded by an impossibly long and meandering wall of plummeting, rushing water was something I couldn’t get out of my mind. The myriad boats swirling and bobbing about in the swelling waters of this basin symbolize us – humanity as individuals, and as a whole. Each of us is in our own boat (we are the boats), and we all drift about together in the same dangerous and beautiful flow of life.

Wave Study, 2008, 5" x 7", Acrylics on Canvas by David Jay Spyker

The Carnegie Center for the Arts/W.R. Monroe Museum utilizes all available exhibition space for a generous showing each year. It also happens that the Carnegie is where I had my first full solo show – at the time, Tom Lowry was the director – so it definitely holds a special spot in my personal artistic history.

The 2009 Regional Juried Arts Show runs January 18  – February 22, and the opening reception and awards ceremony is on Sunday, January 18 from 2-4 pm.

The Tree, Graphite on Paper, by David Jay Spyker

I finally put some drawings in the drawings section on my website; it’s only a handful, but it’s better than nothing.

I’ve also been playing with a new, clean color scheme, and updating some links. I wanted something more simple so I used whites and very pale greys for the background, and shades of grey for all text and borders. There is still a complete remake of the site in the works one day, which will include some things to make it easier to update, and a clean-up of some other issues that still exist. It will be some time yet before that happens, and maybe someday I will also get around to adding some more paintings.

My other project has been setting up this blog at its new sub-domain. Writings have been transferred over from my original blog, from the news section of davidjayspyker.com (that section no longer exists), and from notebooks and various loose sheets of paper covered in my chicken-scratchings.

The drawings are here.

Addendum: My main website went through a major overhaul in May, 2010, and all drawings have moved to their new listings at www.davidjayspyker.com

In The Sea by Arnold Bocklin (detail)

I say it was an interesting experience because, from my perspective, I knew I would be viewing these pieces through eyes which have been changed by personal study, and through experience as a painter over the past few years. My hope was to see new things, new techniques, and expanded artistic languages and expressions within the layers of paint that hang upon those walls. I was not disappointed.

It is amazing how much a painter can learn about another artist and his techniques by studying his work up close. As I learn more, I come to see more information twinkling in a masterpiece, and the more I see, the more I learn. I find myself wondering what I will see and understand after another decade or two of study and painting.

On this visit, I was paying particular attention to the various representations of water in the American landscapes, and in the more classical realistic works. There was something I sought, and I think that perhaps I found it, but only time at the easel will reveal what fruits will be borne of the experience. I am hoping for a rich harvest.

Remember to visit often the things you love, lest your soul starve, and your heart wither.

~David Jay Spyker

Originally written February 3, 2002 at 4:12 a.m.:

I am in the studio working and listening to “Queen’s Greatest Hits II”; music has always been tremendously important to me, and I grew up listening to Queen. I remember the day that Freddie Mercury left us (what has it been, something like ten? eleven years?), and the profound sense of loss that I felt upon hearing the news. A lasting knot visited my stomach on that day. Of course I never knew the man personally, but he, along with his fellow musicians, laid their hearts bare for all to experience through the intimate nature of their words and music; when an artist takes that kind of risk, we all are given the opportunity to come to know that person on a close level. If we take that opportunity, then they become part of us, we are enriched.

The day Freddie passed, we all knew that there would be no more Queen, that the clarion song of that voice would no longer grace our ears, and that the world had lost some truth and magic; but we also knew that he had left us with something of himself that would endure even well beyond our passing. I listen to the music, and he is alive in a corner of my soul. It is something I will always carry with me. It is hope.

My thoughts inevitably drift from Freddie Mercury to Martin Maddox. Martin, that clenched knot returned to my gut when I learned of your death. You left your soul raw upon your canvasses, bleeding your heart dry with every stroke of the brush. I am glad to have known you; your work is as much a part of me as is my own – thank you.

To Freddie, Martin, and all those deep and daring souls who have gone all too soon (is it ever not too soon): your souls are “painted like the wings of butterflies” – fly. We will carry on with the show.