JIMMY DANKO | artist | Gorilla Empire » oil

PAINTING | Annie

jimmy — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:14:33 +0000

ANNIE
28″ x 34″ (71cm x 86cm)
Oil & acrylic on wood
2010

The last painting of 2010…

PAINTING | “Blue”

jimmy — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:52:16 +0000

BLUE
24″ x 24″ (61cm x 61cm)
oil on wood
2010

This piece, a departure form my regular style, is the second in an exploratory series where I revisit a painting technique I experimented with when I first started painting in which I use a palette knife instead of brushes to apply the paint.

PAINTING | “Stillness”

jimmy — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:01:49 +0000

STILLNESS
24" x 24" (61cm x 61cm)
oil on wood
2010

Over a decade ago I experimented with a style on 5 or 6 paintings (see “Untitled #2″ below) that was much different than the style I have developed over the years. It was free and loose, and used a palette knife instead brushes to apply the paint. Last week, after hitting a creative wall in the studio, I decided to revisit that style and see what happened. “Stillness” is the piece that resulted.

Click on above images to enlarge. Use arrow keys or mouse to navigate between them.

First Self-Portriat in over 10 Years

jimmy — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:41:29 +0000

Click on above images to enlarge. Use arrow keys or mouse to navigate between them.

I’ve only painted two self-portraits in my lifetime and both were done over 10 years ago. In early 2006 I had an idea for a new one. At the time my studio was a garage in San Diego and in the corner of it sat planks of wood I had collected for use in future paintings. I snatched four of the planks and hammered them together. Over the years that followed I would periodically apply with a palette knife the leftover paint from other paintings onto this wooden panel.

The idea was that the background would consist of a random/chaotic conglomeration of colors from my other visual explorations and over the top of that would be juxtaposed an image of myself in grayscale. A few months ago, 4 years after beginning the background, I began working on that grayscale image, and finally finished it earlier this week.

To me, the finished piece represents a visual journey, and an amalgamation of intertwined, contrasting ideas: Color versus black & white, chaos versus order, and the movement of time versus a moment of it. The piece is called Self-Portrait (Somewhere).

Work in Progress | Self-Portrait – 50% Complete

jimmy — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:02:35 +0000

The first and only self-portrait I ever painted I did over 10 years ago in college, in an Intro to Painting class. I’m not sure why I’ve waited so long to do another, but I figure it’s time I knock one out. Below are the work in progress pics of a new one coming to fruition.

Pencil outline and first layers of paint.

Gessoed over the area to be painted.

New size = approximately 26″ x 31″ (66cm x 79)

When I started the background years ago I didn’t know what the composition of the self-portrait was going to be. I always try to keep in mind the words of one of my professors, “Try not to let the canvas size drive the composition of the painting.” In this case it meant cutting down the background to the size I needed.

For 4 years I’ve had this wood panel, made of 4 planks of wood, sitting inside my studio. Periodically while working on other paintings, I would apply the leftover paint from a session on the panel with a palette knife with the idea that it would one day serve as the background of a self-portrait.