Two Views Of One Subject by Martha and Dave Putnam

The painting on the left is titled "Bolt At 4 Months copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam." My wife has captured our American Bulldog puppy's pugnacious attitude with bold strokes in an impressionistic style. Below I tackle the same subject matter of our 4 month old puppy by trying to depict his raw exuberance with glaring colors arranged in an aggressive pattern. The title is "Exuberance copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam." My piece is at our gallery in Santa Fe. Email: akhadoure@aol.com

Red Brindle copyright 2010 by Martha Putnam

My wife Martha is also a painter. In this piece Martha portrays our 13-year old American Bulldog, Brindle, on duty as a perimeter guard dog. Even though Brindle is the equivalent age of a 90-year old human and weary to the bone, she is nevertheless ready to spring into action and engage any bad guy who might intrude into her turf. The town we live in has a very low crime rate so there really aren't any bad guys to chomp. A human security guard would get lazy and sloppy under these circumstances. Brindle however is cut from a different bolt of cloth. She sleeps with one eye open and every waking moment is spent patrolling. It is fair to say that she has a perfect work ethic, proof that humans aren't necessarily the most evolved species on the planet.

Autumn copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

The other day I blogged about a painting entitled "Ice" and said that it was only for advanced collectors because staring at it in the dead of winter could actually cause physical injury to the viewer, such as frostbite. Today's painting, on the other hand, is suitable for advanced or beginning collectors because staring at it will evoke feelings associated with the fall. There is no downside to these feelings. Autumn is when the holiday season and the NFL season start. The weather is crisp and bracing, not life threatening. So if you are the sort of person who enjoys happy, non-life threatening emotions email akhadoure@aol.com; this is the gallery in Santa Fe where many of my life threatening and non-life threatening paintings are on display.

Octopus' Garden copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam 36'' by 48''

This painting tries to capture the essence of an octopus and the way his mind interacts with the undersea environ. Squids and octopus are among the most intelligent animals on Earth. In some ways they are more intelligent than humans as witnessed by one octopus in the Monterrey Bay Aquarium who would escape from his tank at night, steal fish from other tanks, and return before morning with his snack. I try to depict this huge intellect with a complex interplay of colors.

The Gulf oil spill highlights the fact that humans share the planet with other creatures and we need to be good stewards of this common property, just as an octopus takes care of his own little backyard. If you are the kind of person who likes art with an eco-theme, email akhadoure@aol.com

Purple Clouds copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

For thousands of years astrologists gazed into the night, studying the position of stars, attempting to divine the future. For hundreds of years astronomers stared at these same stars to ferret out the secrets of the cosmos. All this stargazing was a lot of work. But when clouds scudded across the sky and entered into a dance with moonlight that obscured the constellations, the stargazers would stop working and simply revel in the beauty of the night sky.

This painting attempts to capture the interplay of night clouds and moonlight that gave ancient stargazers a little break from their arduous tasks. Are you the sort of person that should take a break every now and then but sometimes doesn't? This painting will remind you to slow down and take five. If so, then email akhadoure@aol.com

Identical Twins I & II copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

These two paintings are based on the conception, gestation, and post birth growth of my twin niece and nephew, Katie and Joe. Fifteen years ago the twins' parents decided to get pregnant with the express goal of having twins, specifically identical twins. Amazingly, the parents were somehow able to convince the budding life force within the mother's womb to develop into twins. However, the tiny twin life forces resisted the parents' psychic pressure to become identical. After they were born the rebellious twins became more and more different, thwarting the parents' original hopes and dreams. Joe became extremely masculine. He started shaving at age 10. Katie became extremely feminine. Her favorite TV show is How To Be A Supermodel. While making these paintings I went through the same process that the twins' parents went through in making them: I tried to make the paintings identical but as I progressed they became more and more different. The life lesson here is don't try to force a round peg into a square hole.

In The Clouds copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam 54'' by 54''

This painting represents thoughts forming inside a human mind.

A person with his head in the clouds, day-dreaming away, suddenly has a brainstorm, and the idea is so brilliant it changes human history. This is what happened to Isac Newton one day as he sat idly under an apple tree pondering the significance of gravity. But what are authority figures always telling us? Stop daydreaming and get to work. If Newton had lisitened to that advice modern physics would not exist.

Maybe you're an authority figure. Maybe you're always barking at your genius IQ kids, trying to stop them from daydreaming. Maybe your behavior is preventing a breakthrough in quantum physics that will allow for the creation of safe fusion reactors and end mankind's dependence on oil. If so, this painting will help curb your destructive behavior. If you suspect this might be the case email akhadoure@aol.com

Ice copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam 30'' by 40''

This painting forces viewers to think of a glacier, an Arctic sky, a winter day, and many other things that are very cold. Glancing at it in the morning on a hot day will lower your core body temperature by a half degree for the remainder of that day. Hanging it in the largest room of your house will help you cut electric bills associated with running your air conditioner by 10% throughout the summer.
Here again we see the practical nature of abstract expressionism, not to mention its ability to provide eco-friendly solutions to everyday problems.
Admittedly there is a downside to Ice: In the winter it will cause you to crank up your thermostat. An experienced collector will know to take this painting down at certain times of year and replace it with one like Volcano, which I will feature in a later blog. If your are that savvy and experienced, then email akhadoure@aol.com. However, begining collectors should probably start with an easier painting.

Luck of the Irish copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

This painting is inspired by my niece, Megan, who is 75% Irish but has the luck of several full blooded Irishmen. When a monster storm has 699 airplanes grounded from the East Coast and one gets through, Megan's flight will be that one. How many times does an average person find a ten dollar bill on the sidewalk, once or twice in his or her life? Stray breezes blow ten dollar bills at Megan with boring regularity. I could go on and on but suffice it to say that this young woman has freakishly powerful good luck.

Green symbolizes Ireland. The yellowish gold is (of course) the pot of gold under a rainbow that all Irishmen seek. Red symbolizes good luck in Chinese culture. Megan is not part Chinese; however, I included red because Megan's towering good luck transcends her Irish heritage and needs another dimension to truly describe its vastness. The practical lesson that we can take away from someone as lucky as this is that while we may not ourselves possess such powerful mojo, there is nothing stopping ordinary mortals like you and me from hanging out with the anointed few. Their good luck can and will rub off on us. At family functions I always hang with Megan. The next day I will often find a quarter in a parking lot.

Rainforest copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam

The resolution isn't good enough with a home computer to see it, but this painting has an almost microscopic fractal regression where images similar to the overall big image are repeated within the tear drop shaped bubbles, which in turn contain even smaller bubbles with still smaller images, and so forth past the capability of the human eye. You have to see it in person to really get the affect although if you look at the one really big bubble starting in the upper left hand corner you get the idea. Go see it live at Adieb Khadoure Fine Art, 613 Canyon Rd. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Also, the image is sideways here, sorry. So turn your head to look at it. The idea I'm trying to portray is the nearly infinite complexity of life within a rainforest, a sort of tree-hugger manifesto.

Ocean Tempest copyright Dave Putnam 2010 36'' by 36''

An oceanic storm system gathers strength, expanding outward in an Archimedean spiral. The ocean could be saltwater, or a galactic nebulae, or even a financial market traded in New York. Any cyclical or circular natural system that is expanding traces an Archimedean spiral and this includes the stock market. Technical stock market analysts use the Fibonacci number series to chart this dynamic. The fact that the stock market grows in the same pattern as a spiral galaxy, an ocean storm, or a pine cone implies that human civilization is part of nature and subject to the same broad forces that govern the universe.

To make this painting I used the Fibonacci number series just as a stock market technical analyst might use it to study the price action of equities. There is an interconnection between the hard nosed world of investing and the supposedly ivory tower world of art. Once again the principle of yin and yang apply. For a balanced life we must seek both.

Heart of Darkness copyright Dave Putnam 36'' by 48''

This painting reflects recent events in the Afghan war, specifically: NATO's top general McChrystal recently said that the looming Battle of Kandahar will be delayed for a long time. Probably because the Taliban is increasingly finding success attacking NATO's long and tenous supply lines. Most supplies come through NATO's huge Air Base in Kyrgyzstan. Over the weekend that country's low level civil war exploded into something much bigger, further threatening NATO supply lines, delaying the offensive even longer, and maybe even spreading the war into a new country. What all this means is that the Afghan war is going to last much longer than the American public expects, certainly for years probably for decades. The center of the violence currently is Afghanistan's Helmand province. US Marines call this region the heart of darkness. The painting Heart of Darkness tries to capture the crushing despair and depression of a seemingly endless war. Abstract expressionism should capture both positive and negative emotions, yin and yang, good and evil.

The Big One copyright Dave Putnam 72'' by 48''

What we now call midcentury modernism became the western world's dominant art form in the 1960s. That decade was the "big one" for modern artists. In this painting I try to capture the tension and upheaval of the 60s by using colors and shapes that are seemingly at war with each other and by using techniques pioneered by Jackson Pollack. Chaos and structure coexist on the same canvas, clawing at the viewers subconscious and transporting him back to the pivotal decade as surely as a time machine.

Whatever happened to midcentury modernism or more simply modern art? The art world has moved on to post modernism. Broad movements used to last for centuries. Then they lasted for decades. And now movements are so fleeting there is barely any continuity at all. Einstein once said that he was a midget standing on the shoulders of giants. This is how genuine progress is made, building on the past not trying to reinvent the future every two seconds.

Sands of Time copyright Dave Putnam 2010 48'' by 36''

Sands of Time attempts to capture in paint the passage of eons. It employs Cubism where objects that would normally be viewed from different angles are put on the same plain. Here stars, sand dunes, the sun and the twilight sky are all scrolled together, playing off each other in a way that our minds comprehend even if they are actually seperated in nature.

Sand dunes in a great desert exist in an almost unchanging state for millions of years. Stars burn in the sky for billions of years. Contemplating this timeless existence reminds us how fleeting our lives are, but also that we are part of a majestic continuum that stretches back in time forever and probably into the future forever. Infinity and forever are concepts that the human mind cannot grasp. We can grasp the age of ancient geological formation like deserts. So this is the best way to expand our mental horizons.

Coffee Break copyright Dave Putnam 2010 36'' by 48''

The center of this painting has the colors of coffee, caramel and cream exploding outward, pushing a band of blue out into infinity. The brown, caramel and cream colors represent a delectable latte and the blue color represents the depression and funk we all feel early in the morning before we've had our daily dose of java.

If this painting were hanging at your breakfast table and you were to glance at it while sipping your morning coffee, then your daily ritual would be enhanced, the effect of the coffee magnified. This is exactly what abstract expressionism is supposed to do: increase a certain emotion or sensation which in turn puts you closer in touch with the inner workings of your brain. And all of this occurs without subjecting yourself to the ongoing expense and inconvience of seeing a shrink on a weekly basis. In fact if more people owned abstract expressionist paintings the profession of pyschiatry would fade away.

Superhero Arises, copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam 48'' by 36''

I started this painting two weeks after Bolt the Bulldog puppy had his eye surgery. The surgeon said Bolt was recovering at twice the pace of a normal dog, so it is fair to say that he is a super dog, a canine superhero.

There is some representional elements in this largely abstract painting. In the center you will see what looks like an eye. On the edges there appears to be kryptonite flying violently away from the center.

Stare at the central "eye" and you can feel the gathering power of the superhero as he returns to full strength.

Once Bolt was fully recovered he confronted the tomcat that had laid him low. Restrained by a leash, he calmly stared at the big cat. In the intial encounter he was almost half the size of the aggressive feline. But the second time around he was closer to twice the cat's size. Bolt's policy is peace through strength and his steady gaze was enough to send the tomcat up a tree. No one was hurt and the cat learned a valuable lesson. Hopefully this lesson is also conveyed in my painting.

Fallen Superhero, copyright 2010 by Dave Putnam, 48'' by 36''

A few days after I got my new American Bulldog puppy (Bolt) he tangled with a mean old tomcat nearly twice his size and had his eyeball lacerated in half. Bolt got a piece of the tomcat and demonstrated plenty of heart; nevertheless he required extensive surgery to avoid losing the eye. I started this painting the day after his fight.

Abstract expressionism tries to depict feelings and thoughts not literal portraits of reality. Besides channeling my feelings over Bolt's tomcat travails I also tried to channel the feelings I felt as a boy when I saw Mohammed Ali nocked down for the first time.