Recent Paintings, Further Out in Space

"Green Gravity", Interference Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 54", © 2016

"Space Floaters", Interference Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 60", © 2016

"Blue Gravity", Acrylic & metallic powder on canvas, 36" x 72", © 2016

"Becoming Gemini", Interference Acrylic on canvas, 54" x 54", © 2016

"Io, Callisto, Europa & Ganymede", Interference Acrylic on canvas,  © 2016

Here are my recent paintings. They are less dependent on Hubble or other telescopic images, and more on my play with ideas about "what could be out there"; weather conditions, other planetary bodies and physical realities we may have not yet dreamed of. 

I must admit that the seductive qualities of paint are one of the factors that have encouraged  this magnetic trance-like direction. But then, learning that Jupiter has 67 moons, and that Galileo only saw 4, has helped me along my path as well.

New Paintings for "Heaven and Earth"

                                  "Musica Universalis". 54" x 54", acrylic on canvas, 2015

                              "Whirlpool Galaxy", 36" X 36", acrylic on canvas, 2015

My imagination continues to time travel into astronomical areas. Some paintings have been more scientifically based.

But here are my two most recent, both beginning where science has paused. The upper piece is an interpretation of the Pythagorean idea of Music of the Spheres, one explanation of how planets, the sun and the moon keep to their orbits. The second image is my color rendition of a small black and white photo found in an out of date astronomy textbook.

Come see these paintings and many more at the Singer Gallery, Mizel Arts and Culture Center, 350 S. Dahlia Street, Denver, Co 80246. The exhibit, "Heaven and Earth", opens on October 8, 2015.

Wallace Stevens and Galactic Stories

"At The Edge Of The Universe"

My dear friend, Alita Pirkopf, wrote me this email after seeing my show, "Galactic Stories", and I wanted, with her permission, to share it with you.

Subject: Everything and Nothing

Sandra, What a pleasure.

I went to see your work three other times with three different friends. All of us were delighted and involved! I learned all sorts of things from hearing them express what they saw and thought! The talk you and the marvelous curator, Simon Zalkind, was deeply interesting! Such an honor for you to be asked to exhibit in such a meaningful setting. I am rereading your invitation which is absolutely beautiful and thought provoking.

I had been reading the last part of a biography about the later years of the poet Wallace Stevens. Online I read some critic's comment on Steven's Collected Poems which said, "In this work Stevens explored inside a profound philosophical framework the dualism between concrete reality and the human imagination. I am working on what the framework part means but I think that, similarly, you deal with the concrete reality of science and also with the human imagination.

"At the Edge of the Universe," reminds me of Stevens' words in The Snow Man, which, with your help, I just now think I understand. Though you seem more positive than Stevens when he wrote that poem, you too deal with whatever might or might not be.

Maybe you know the poem. The lines I am thinking of are:

And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is

I don't think the "And, nothing himself," bit applies to you with your magic, and apparently, later, things didn't seem so grim to Stevens.

Thank you so much!!!

Alita

Star Gazing and My Totally Updated Web Site

                        "Star Gazing", 18" X 18"on canvas, mixed media

"R = 15 KPC", 18" X 18" on panel, acrylic

Please check out  my totally up-dated and re-organized web site at www.sandrakaplan.com. 

There are seven galleries of my work, plus listings of my future workshops and other services. 

The two images above, "Star Gazing" and "R = KPC" are from my latest project, "Space Stories", which was initially inspired by some Hubble images that my daughter, Sacha Wolff sent. Sacha is an aerospace engineer, and our discussions, which often consist of her trying to explain some aspect of her interests to me, or telling me that she can't, have pointed my work in unexpected directions a number of times.

I found historical astronomical images, and many intriguing scientific charts in astronomy books. My initial plan was to playfully do a chronological survey of cosmological  concepts. But as I became more immersed in Egyptian, Sumerian, Chinese, Arabic and European images of day and night, or our cosmos, constellations, and comets, I began to think that chronology should have nothing to do with my plans. Yesterday's "proven" scientific ideas about the nature of our world constantly are replaced by new discoveries, and become today's folklore. 

In my extremely liberal misinterpretation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, I would  almost randomly organize my multi-panel paintings. And give myself the liberty to come up with my own "Space Stories".

                    "Space Stories", 54" X 54" on 6 canvases, multi media

First Peek At "Space Stories"

6 canvas multi media painting, "Space Stories", part of Sandra Kaplan's newest series

There is still time to catch an exhibit celebrating the first 25 years of the Art Students League of Denver, at the Redline Denver Art Center, 2350 Arapahoe Street, in the RINO Art District north of downtown. League Faculty members were invited to include a piece of their own, with work from three of their students.

My students are:

Suzanne Mills Kramer, Young Hee Back, and Tim Alcock; three artists who have been working intensely on their craft for a number of years, and have studied extensively with me at the ASLD. Their paintings range from abstract to very representational, but each artist's painting makes a very strong case for their unique vision.

I am showing, for the first time, part of my newest series, "Space Stories".

These multimedia paintings have been inspired by the Hubble Telescope images, and my gentle research into the history of astronomy. When doing research for my series "Some Thoughts About The Weather" a few years ago, I also collected many images from space, and I have been eagerly anticipating using them in another series for quite some time. History, science, philosophy and art soon collided, merging tales of gods and goddesses with scientific images of galaxies many light years away. I realized how swiftly changing our human view of our universe is, and how today's science will be tomorrow's folk tale.

More images to come.