fine art – Cowango

David wins at “Visual Evidence” Group Show

Batik by David Lucht — “What Once Was Twice” 24 x 30, SOLD /

My batik painting “What Once Was Twice” received First Place in Painting at The Murray Art Guild’s show “Visual Evidence”. It was a real thrill to get this recognition for a piece that really means a lot to me. And to cap it off, the piece sold soon afterwards!

The imagery here extends my interest in the jacaranda seed pod, used in a front/back orientation representing the illusion of duality. As a philisophical stance, “non-dualism” has a history in eastern religion. Variously described as “the coincidence of opposites” or “the dialectic” in western circles, the concept describes the paradoxical nature or all experience. What seems to exist as duality (mind/spirit, heaven/earth, male/female) is considered to be largely an illusion of the intellect. The unresolvable tension between monism and dualism is redirected in the paradoxical expression: “non-dual”.

The seed pod images are further explored as lens through which we view a landscape. The landscape here is from an image of a national park in Iceland called Pinvellir. The geology of that area is volcanic and the igneous rock is covered in multicolored lichen and heather. The effect is entirely enchanting and I had a kind of extraordinary experience walking the valley there. I later described the landscape as “otherwise inhabited” (if that gives you some idea of the impact it had on me).

So in this image the two becomes a lens through which we attempt to view a mystical one.

Batik Accepted Into Regional Show

I just received notice that my batik painting “A Pod Thing Happened” was accepted into the 60th Mid-States Art Exhibition. I’m a little stunned because I got an email rejecting the other piece I submitted (“What Once Was Twice”) and I thought that was it.

I had a sort of powerful reaction to reading the acceptance letter because I just assumed it was a follow-up rejection notice. Opening any letter from a gallery after submitting work is nerve wracking, but especially so in the case of a prestigious regional show like the Mid-States. In this moment I just assumed I would be reading a version of the email; “We thank you for your submission. Unfortunately…”

So the the “Congratulations” jumped right off the page at me and I had to drop the letter on the table to re-read it and prove to myself I didn’t imagine it. And then… Well, I actually cried a little bit.

“You think that you do fairly good work, occasionally exceptional. But typically, and as in my case, rejection notices follow pretty much like night follows day.”

Rejection is a way of life for the artist. It is a badge of honor really. You work at your art day after day, year after year. You think that you do fairly good work, occasionally exceptional. But typically, and as in my case, rejection notices follow pretty much like night follows day. And the Mid-States show in Evansville, Indiana and the other show at Cedarhurst in Mt. Vernon, Illinois had rejected me several times in a row after accepting my piece “Fabricantes” way back in 2008.

Recognition on the other hand is a precious thing. We are really just big show-offs, we artists. Someone made the big mistake of being enthusiastic about our scrawlings long ago and we got hooked on repeating our little magic tricks. That’s a very shallow way of describing the artistic process I know, but there’s a bit of truth to it. But thank goodness for people who have the kindness and grace to show that recognition for us because art dies in the echo chamber.

I went to the opening receptions for the 2008 event in Evansville and was blown away by the quality of the work I was a part of. The Evansville Museum does a fantastic job collecting the finest regional art for that show. They claim that over 300 works of art were submitted. I am one of the fortunate 45 to be chosen.

So happy? Oh yes. Very. It’s been a long time.

Now back to work.

Radio Interview on Batik 2015

Here is an interview from 2015 where Kate Lochte from Murray Public Radio interviews David Lucht about his batik process. This was done in the run up to the 2015 Lower Town Arts and Music Festival in Paducah, Kentucky.