Paul Chojnowski

Birches: Edge of the Field

2019

I have been burning images into wood and paper as a means of drawing for over two decades. During that time I have continued to refine and at the same time experiment with the process. Using propane torches I burn, scorch, re-burn, sand and scratch the surface of paper or wood to create my drawings. My earlier work, the Nocturne Series was inspired by walking at night in the light filled streets of American cities; those drawings were often mistaken for soft focus sepia toned photographs. My present work is a considerable departure in regard to content, execution and appearance - from those dark, abstracted cityscapes, my current drawings are light filled, clearly rendered landscapes. The burning process I use to make my drawings evolved differently for each series. Experimentation (in both bodies of work) is always important to me and always informs the resulting image. In the case of the Nocturnes the image arose from intermixing water with the flame from a large industrial torch. With these new works, I’ve tried to create a visually stimulating accumulation of (often minuscule) marks on the wood surface using the tiny flame from a jeweler’s torch...

I have been burning images into wood and paper as a means of drawing for over two decades. During that time I have continued to refine and at the same time experiment with the process. Using propane torches I burn, scorch, re-burn, sand and scratch the surface of paper or wood to create my drawings. My earlier work, the Nocturne Series was inspired by walking at night in the light filled streets of American cities; those drawings were often mistaken for soft focus sepia toned photographs. My present work is a considerable departure in regard to content, execution and appearance - from those dark, abstracted cityscapes, my current drawings are light filled, clearly rendered landscapes. The burning process I use to make my drawings evolved differently for each series. Experimentation (in both bodies of work) is always important to me and always informs the resulting image. In the case of the Nocturnes the image arose from intermixing water with the flame from a large industrial torch. With these new works, I’ve tried to create a visually stimulating accumulation of (often minuscule) marks on the wood surface using the tiny flame from a jeweler’s torch...

Autumn Landscape, by 1958, tempera on Masonite, 24 x 36 inches, signed lower left, exhibited: 1) 133rd Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design, New York, NY, February 20 – March 16, 1958 (Henry Ward Ranger Purchase Prize); and 2) Henry Ward Ranger Centennial Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, NY, September 25 - October 12, 1958, #133 (see Levin, Meyer, Illustrative Paintings Gathered for Ranger Show at National Academy, St. Petersburg Times, October 13, 1958 (“There’s a warm, low-keyed picture of golden fields, with distant structures, called “Autumn Landscape,” by Robert Vickrey, whose magic realism is felt in so “regular” a subject.”), literature: 1) Watson, Ernest William, Composition in Landscape and Still Life, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1959, pp. 24, 155 and 157 (illustrated); and 2) Vickrey, Robert and Cochrane, Diane, New Techniques in Egg Tempera, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1973, p. 111 (illustrated); ex collection National Academy of Design Reflecting on his art, Robert Vickery...

A fine 1938 watercolor done of Tugboats in the Harbor by Reginald Marsh. The painting depicts the crush of boats at the shoreline during the later part of the American Great Depress...