Welcome to the 10th episode of the Steve Sas Schwartz Podcast (More Notes From The Underground). Tonight I talk about my Timemarker paintings.
The Timemarkers are shaped canvas paintings, as they say, although canvas is a stretch applied to these, I did from 1987-1993. They are actually more like relief paintings, or dioramas, but we can get into that later. These pieces were based upon my sense of inherited history, how we stand on the shoulders or are crushed by the feet of what came before us, individually and as a culture. They are industrial landscape-based, and somewhat reflect my view of Manhattan from my DUMBO, BKLYN loft circa 1985, although I would have denied that at the time. They are built out of roofing material I found on my roof and later tracked down the vendor somewhere in Queens, a kind of corrugated aluminum that was really malleable, and a papier-mâché and plaster combo and inks I came up w for the frames which I wanted to resemble old stone, as well as acrylic and patched cotton duck canvas. So they are really tactile, dimensional pieces, as people seemed more fascinated by dioramas than paintings I reasoned.
The frames are based upon Puritan tombstones I was fascinated by at the time, they seemed so relevant to the early - mid 80’s East Village, NYC w the flying skulls and coffins and African-like masks and all kinds of icons of dread, and many I lifted directly and carved into my frames, others I made up, extending the inherited vocabulary. These pieces conflate time. Within these so-called 400 yr old frames were versions of our world today, kind of a dark post-apocalyptic version, sort of a warning of kinds, or sort of intimating America atone for its sins. Thus the interiors are all built landscapes, high-rises, bridges, hi-tension wires, roller coasters, boxcars ... I selected to define these things in the silver aluminum because it’s glossy and shiny and bounced from the matte skyline backdrops. Thus they’re reflective in low light at night; it extends the life of the paintings. I love the contrasts like this throughout these pieces, formally with the materials, and conceptually with the conflation of time.
The flavor of my world then was Delta Blues like Robert Johnson played obsessively, Blind Lemon Jefferson, etc., blended w punk, Husker Du, X, The Minutemen, crossed w Hank Williams, Sr., skateboarding, and fine art. I was possessed and would crank out a painting or two a day at times. Embracing folk art traditions like tombstone carving, and contemporary techniques like collage, seeking a blend of so called high art and low art, fine art and street art/pop art, folk art and what’s considered sophisticated art. And reading a ton of Philip K. Dick (literally everything), and J.G. Ballard (as much as pos.).
I think these pieces hit their mark and still look fresh today. I certainly hope they have that evergreen quality and yet carve out a space for themselves in the period they came from. My aim was to make them unique — indeed there’s nothing else like them — and meditative, something you could live with and sit with and reflect about our world, kinda like a church bell struck.
Hope you enjoy this installment, and please subscribe!
Thank you,
Steve
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