The Birth of GNOMEGAME

FRED HOLLE

The Birth of GNOMEGAME

The birth of Gnomegame came after a gradual epiphany I had around 1960. Until then, my passion and mode of expression was abstract expressionism (along with most of the younger artists of the time.)

However, during "informal social gatherings" at various local bars, I would constantly scrawl small gestural figure scribbles on bar napkins (a lot of bar napkins) while casual conversation went on. On leaving, I would jam them in my pockets.

When I returned to my studio, I would empty those pockets on a utility table and think nothing about them after that. There came a point where they had accumulated to an uncontrollable degree so I started to dispose of them. Before doing so, I decided to take one last look at what I had previously thought were just doodles.

Then it hit me... Could this be my Form?

Specifically, the approach I developed was the antithesis of the loose, impasto action painting of abstract expressionism. I did start with a rapid gestural attack very similar to the bar napkin drawings. But as I formed the painting, i would use pointed sable brushes and short hatching brushstrokes of various colors (similar to Botticelli’s approach) and attempted to achieve a more traditional illusory effect. After “Steppenwolf”, utilizing large and small canvases, Gnomegame was born.

Perhaps the most important moment in the life of any artist is finding out who he/she is. I was excited by my new awareness and reveled in the pleasure and even joy of doing something unique to me as an artist. The series started to feel very natural and while the paintings were still a struggle at times, it was a struggle of choices rather then confusion or ineptitude.

Eventually, many asked me the questions... where did these works come from, what was your basic motivation and what do they mean? I was always aware of the "bar drawings" and I related that story when asked but I didn’t quite know the purpose of the works as this Form was evolving.

As the Gnomegame Series developed, It’s guiding CONCEPT began to clearly relate to the revelation and personification of human attitudes ranging from foibles to the darker edges of human nature. My awareness of the particular “attitude” being manifested on the picture plane usually crystallized as the painting unfolded. That is, I didn’t preconceive. Perhaps this approach was a carry-over from my previous years as an Abstract- Expressionist painter. I had (and have) the greatest faith in intuition and the truth it generates.

Recollections of a Navy psychological project for which I illustrated made me realize that, while the content of the paintings were personal insights into my own nature, I was also presenting them to an audience as images on which they could reflect and, hopefully, learn something about themselves. An unexpected event occurred confirming the above while showing my work to a gallery director.

As the Director viewed my work, a very prosperous looking woman, obviously a patron, came into the gallery and walked around studying each of my paintings.

The Gallery director noticed this and asked her what she thought. Her answer made everything clear to me. She answered, “I’m just trying to figure out which one of these I am.”

BINGO!