Back when I was in art school, I presented an unstretched canvas for crit. I'd painted directly into the canvas and hung it with a slight drape as befit the nature of the fabric. The professors went ballistic."You can't do that!" they declaimed almost in unison. "Paintings have to be stretched!" The clash of generations in one neat vignette. I think of that professorial rigidity sometimes as I make the round of the fairs. Ballistic? Those old farts would be positively apoplectic at the concepts, structures and materials we now employ for painting. Good!

I've got about 80 images to show you, so I'm breaking the topic into two parts, one today and the second in a couple of days. There's a visual logic to the progression--sometimes flowing with the material, other times with the technique or concept--in a collection of artwork that nods to Arte Povera, the Provisional, the beautifully crafted, the intentionally quirky, and which often embraces the materials of craft in the execution of art.

Link to Joanne Mattera Art Blog for Images and additional text >>>