LIVE CANVAS

All images copyright 2013 by John Vistaunet.                     

Live Canvas No. 24: Surface Department
Live Canvas No. 23: At your Surface
Live Canvas No. 22: Plain Wrinkly
Live Canvas No. 21: Eye of the Rose
Live Canvas No. 20: Dragon Fire

Live Canvas No. 19: String Theory




All images copyright 2011, 2012 by John Vistaunet.                                       
Live Canvas No. 18: Primarily Southwest by Southwest
















Live Canvas No. 17: Discontinuity of Surface

Live Canvas No. 16: Plain Vanilla Surface Any Way You Lick at It








































Live Canvas No. 15: Surface Resumes at the Purple Onion (Don't Panic)



















Live Canvas No. 14: Easter Sunrise Surface



Live Canvas No. 13: When the Surface Comes to Town
























Live Canvas No. 12: Not Necessarily the Whole Elephant at Your Surface





















Live Canvas No. 11: Emergency Surface










































Live Canvas No. 9: Funeral Surface
























Live Canvas No. 8: Pour Surface
























Live Canvas No. 7: Surface Ace
























Live Canvas No. 5: Surface Up!































Live Canvas No. 4: Introductory Surface





















The "Live Canvas" paintings are each made from a single continuous canvas surface wrinkled/stretched/wrapped on a wood frame. In these works, the canvas abandons its traditional role as a passive flat surface for the application of pigment; it comes "alive" and boldly competes for status as a medium in its own right. The tension between order and chaos is paramount. Early pieces, ca. 1969-70, used dyed gray canvas. Pieces in the late 70's explored thinner profiles and both plain and striped canvas. In 1986, "Live Canvas No. 14" introduced painted shapes to the mix. In 2008, "Live Canvas No. 15" resumed this exploration of surface where No. 14 left off. While "Live Canvas No. 16" returns to an unpainted canvas surface, "Live Canvas No. 17" combines the artist's conceptual and abstract canvas with his illusionist figure paintings, creating a contrapuntal yet harmonic compositional interplay between the painted illusion of three dimensional space and actual three dimensional surface.