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Whatever Shall We Do with these Piles and Piles of Paint?

October 17-November 29, 2008

Interview with Caleb Weintraub

CALEB WEINTRAUB

Caleb Weintraub: "At the end of every day in my studio, I scrape up unused paint and put it at the edge of my palette thinking I may use it at a later point. I rarely do. Piles form along the perimeter of my palette like unmixed totems of color. I have become fascinated with them. They have been lingering in my studio and in my head for years."

In this, Caleb's second show at the Peter Miller Gallery, his army of costumed warrior children continue to propel his narrative. The antagonist in this series is a pile of paint that serves as a symbol of the unknown incarnate, an accrued history of the unfinished and unresolved. In these paintings this pile is venerated, hunted down, mounted as a trophy, worshipped, and lynched. It is both enemy and idol, motivator and victim.

I feel no Paint, 2008
acrylic and oil on canvas
60x66"

In the Thick of It, 2008
acrylic and oil on canvas
84x144

All Piles Go to Heaven, 2008
acrylic and oil on canvas
60x66"

All around the world they are hoisting them up on their shoulders and wondering if they'll ever find a place to put them down, 2008
acrylic and oil on canvas
54x48"