Adam Farcus - Polaris (acrylic, pen, and plaster on wood panel) 2003?
I re-found this painting (from 2003?) when I was forced to clean out some rubber-made bins that were in my parents garage. I remember having a hard time talking about it or convincing anyone in undergrad that this made sense, or was good. It maybe got chocked up to kitsch (which I appreciate actually). Looking back now I think this painting was important for me and my conceptual development - which led me to where I am now. I made this because I had moved away from home and was living on my own in a new place (a dorm, then an apartment in Normal/Bloomington, IL). I felt like I was loosing what I considered home. The Polaris is represented here by the word "polaris" and the star's astrological number, αUMi. The symbol marking it's location is a green shovel and pick-axe - a major part of the iconography of my home town, Coal City, IL.
The road map highway line, with the shield for an instate number, is a facsimile of RT55 - the interstate that connects Bloomington/Normal to Coal City. The other graphics are two birds: a red-wing blackbird and a bluebird. The bluebird and (in particular) the red-wing blackbird are birds that are often seen along highways. The red-wing blackbird nests in marshy areas, like the ditches and streams that run parallel to major roads. Thereby, I came to see these birds as symbols of transience - they were the guide to my home, and my new home. Polaris and Coal City are also guides (both for navigating); for travel and as a metaphor for finding my way into adult independence. It's kinda hokey, but honest. Also it is romantic, but I haven't lost that, and hopefully never will. The layering of colored plaster was a slight object-pun to painting. The first layer is white (gesso), the second is red (under-painting), and the top is tan (the final layer). I decided to try this gloopy technique out after seeing and loving some paintings with a similar effect in a River North gallery - only later did I find out that they were made by
Steve Zieverink, a fellow MFA student at UIC. I gave this painting to my father-in-law-to-be this week for fathers day - he studies red-wing blackbirds in Beloit, WI.
Adam Farcus - Polaris (acrylic, pen, and plaster on wood panel) 2003?
I re-found this painting (from 2003?) when I was forced to clean out some rubber-made bins that were in my parents garage. I remember having a hard time talking about it or convincing anyone in undergrad that this made sense, or was good. It maybe got chocked up to kitsch (which I appreciate actually). Looking back now I think this painting was important for me and my conceptual development - which led me to where I am now. I made this because I had moved away from home and was living on my own in a new place (a dorm, then an apartment in Normal/Bloomington, IL). I felt like I was loosing what I considered home. The Polaris is represented here by the word "polaris" and the star's astrological number, αUMi. The symbol marking it's location is a green shovel and pick-axe - a major part of the iconography of my home town, Coal City, IL.
The road map highway line, with the shield for an instate number, is a facsimile of RT55 - the interstate that connects Bloomington/Normal to Coal City. The other graphics are two birds: a red-wing blackbird and a bluebird. The bluebird and (in particular) the red-wing blackbird are birds that are often seen along highways. The red-wing blackbird nests in marshy areas, like the ditches and streams that run parallel to major roads. Thereby, I came to see these birds as symbols of transience - they were the guide to my home, and my new home. Polaris and Coal City are also guides (both for navigating); for travel and as a metaphor for finding my way into adult independence. It's kinda hokey, but honest. Also it is romantic, but I haven't lost that, and hopefully never will. The layering of colored plaster was a slight object-pun to painting. The first layer is white (gesso), the second is red (under-painting), and the top is tan (the final layer). I decided to try this gloopy technique out after seeing and loving some paintings with a similar effect in a River North gallery - only later did I find out that they were made by Steve Zieverink, a fellow MFA student at UIC. I gave this painting to my father-in-law-to-be this week for fathers day - he studies red-wing blackbirds in Beloit, WI.
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