20 x 24 inches | Oil on Linen | 1972

Painted in 1972 of one of my closest friends while attending School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

oil paint is glorious, and only takes about 40 years to learn proficiency

The Paint on Camargue Memory (detail 1)

Camargue Memory (detail 2)

Camargue Memory (detail 3)

More artwork by Jonathan Herbert at http://jonathanherbert.com

a little canon g15 preview before the big shoot in two weeks

close-ups of the brushwork soon

Camargue Memories
14 x 18 inches Oil on linen

The trip of a lifetime.

More art by Jonathan Herbert at http://jonathanherbert.com

The Tower. 60 x 40 inches. Oil on Linen.

I believe my mentor, Jan Cox, turned me on to THE PAINTER’S SECRET GEOMETRY by Charles Bouleau in the 1970s when I showed him underlying geometries that I had found and drawn into my own work or if It is something I found after reading about the Golden Ratio. I don’t think it matters; what matters is what we can see under the surface.

While at the SMFA I did use underlying geometry as the entry into an artwork. What I have found is that working in that direction is not necessary and the analyses post facto show the same hidden beauties. I no longer start with such artifice. I pick up a piece of large will charcoal, make a rough sketch, and start painting.

The Tower ANGLES

The Tower ARCS

The Tower AGGREGATE GEOMETRY

The Tower FULL OVERLAY

Look for the Secret Geometry Posts again.

THE FULL JONATHAN HERBERT WEBSITE

Make changes or they will be made for you.

http://www.jonathanherbert.com

The Tower. 60 x 40 inches. Oil on Linen.

This card is not what it seems on the surface. It is a card of opportunity: a wakeup call and a reminder to make changes that may be difficult, rather than having them made for you.

New Tarot and Kaballah Paintings (Oil on Linen) are hung up on the walls! Come join us. 

Friday September 27th 6 – 8 PM
Saturday Sunday 28 and 29th 12 – 5 PM

Dumbo Arts Festival 2013

THE TAROT AND KABALLAH SERIES

JONATHAN HERBERT 

68 Jay Street Studio 803
Brooklyn NY 11201

Too Much Traffic on 44th Street During Theater Hour

And where may I take you? Self-portrait 1985

It’s 7:45 PM and 44th Street looks like a damn parking lot. There’s no money in sitting still, and sitting still empty is burning cash with the gas. I’m about three hours out of the garage—down two joints of Hawaiian and half a quart of tequila into my long, long night. Patience is a girl’s name, and if I could get a blond shiksa blowjob from Patience while I’m idling here, I might just idle away the time. Patience of the mental sort, however, and early evening drugs and booze don’t mix.

Fuck it! I’m driving my regular cab, my favorite of all time: a Massachusetts State Police chaser that someone neglected to turn street-legal. Five-speed overdrive transmission, racing frame and shocks, a top-end [KB1] [JH2] north of 130 mph, and acceleration that could blow you back in your seat like a dragster on nitrous. Time to send the world to my very own Hell.

I jam my left hand on the horn and spin the wheel to the right. I stomp on the accelerator and the car leaps onto the south sidewalk of 44th Street, gathering speed like the Apollo mission trying to leave Earth behind. People are terrified, diving into the air left and right to get out of the way of this obvious fucking MADMAN. I get to the end of the block, still on the sidewalk, and blast onto 8th, against the light, turning uptown in a beautiful four-wheel drift.

A siren blares behind me – sounds like it’s in the damn car, and when I look in the mirror, there’s another cab behind me. This one someone neglected to actually turn into a cab. Three very big detectives burst out of the car and approach me—really quickly and quite carelessly considering they’re in the middle of a traffic stop with a lunatic. One cop rips open my passenger door and starts searching the front seat; another does the same for the back seat. The third stomps up to where I’m sitting.

I politely roll down my window. “Yes, Officer?” I say in my best beta-dog voice. “WHAT WERE YOU FUCKING THINKING?” he screams at me. “Well, in retrospect,” I say, “it no longer seems like such a good idea.”

“Get the fuck out of the car,” says my personal detective. Which I do with that special care that drunks take to project normality. He starts to pat me down and seconds later finds the dime bag from the bodega at 14th and 3rd.

“What the fuck is this?”

“Pot, sir,” I say, as he proceeds to shove it deep back into my pocket.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he says. I stutter that I’ll just go home. “Fuck it,” he says, “go back to work, you need the money.” And they get in their unmarked and cruise into the night.

New York used to be so much fun!

NEW AND UPCOMING BODY OF WORK!