in progress
using palette knife to see where it will go

From the studio. Some of these may be still in progress...

















These three are each 24 inches by 24 inches




36 x 36 inches
poor lighting in the studio, however, I'll re-shoot outside when the sun is out






24 x 24 inches
I started this one in Ajijic, Mexico last spring, and finished working on it yesterday. I may not do any more to it.

More Depths to Discover, 24 x 24 inches







Etude #5, 12 x 12 inches






Etude #6, 12 x 12 inches






Etude #7, 12 x 12 inches




further explorations with color and texture. More Depths to Discover is available in Minneapolis, and the Etudes are schedule to go to a gallery in Chicago. Email me with questions and inquiries from my website.

The Flying Chair - from the recent New Music Sketch

The End, The Beginning, and Everything in Between

72 inches by 96 inches (6 feet by 8 feet)
Acrylic on canvas

More fun from The New Music Sketch

These are some sculptures from last week's New Music Sketch. I took a couple days to go through all the stuff that everyone brought for the event and continued with the madness.

Jim O'Neill and I started doing Music Sketch about five years ago to experiment with musical and visual art collaboration. It's all improvised, totally spontaneous, and a little bit crazy. Our last performance lasted two hours and was created entirely out of things that participants brought to the event. Thank you to all of you. The musicians working with me are Jim O'Neill, Aaron McCabe, Michael McGarthwaite, Mark O'Day, and Justin Hartke. They made music out of all the objects too. Everything was fair game.





scale









sad glasses







rearing up closet organizer







pinned car








pink glasses








Flying Chair







Chair Boy and Shy License Plate








Bedside Bulldog



and of course, I am still making paintings. Email me from the website for pricing.

A Dress out of Canvas

Stephanie Weber of Artful Decor asked me to design a dress with her for the fund-raising event Fashion + Fusion this year. This is the dress worn by Alison Holmes that won "Most Wearable". One of the judges was a contestant from Project Runway named Chritopher Straub. I made the dress out of old canvases torn into strips and fastened together.

Foushee Commission Highlights

24 x 24 inches, paver dust, acrylic on canvas










48 x 48 inches, acrylic on canvas











24 x 24 inches, paver dust, acrylic on canvas











24 x 24 inches, paver dust, acrylic on canvas










18 x 18 inches, acrylic, leaves, rust, linen, paper, and paver dust on canvas









18 x 18 inches, acrylic, paver dust, on canvas

Pretty Dead Things Exhibit at Normandale Community College

Pretty Dead Things
Normandale Community College
9700 France Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55431

Opening reception - Thursday, September 30th, 2010 from 4:00 - 7:00pm
Exhibit runs through October 30th, 2010

red fish, 30 x 38 inches, dried fish, sand, acrylic on canvas

Contact me through my website at www.patrickpryor.com



Why bones and dead things?

I am a collector. When I travel and explore the outdoors I collect things from the woods or the shore that interest me aesthetically or otherwise.

I've been particularly attracted to the sculptural form of bones since I was six years old. Bones intrigue me because I am fascinated with internal structure and how it affects the way living things move and how they look. Found bones offer clues to the past, and allow us to understand biological life at a deeper level. Furthermore, I am interested in process and objects that have undergone process. In order for there to be bones there first must have been birth, a life experienced, a death experienced, processes impacting the bones after death, and finally, my own re-configuration and re-presenting the bones. I seek to explore new structures, new combinations and new forms.

About The Exhibit

In Pretty Dead Things I explored the use of color and presentation to attract viewers to found objects from my personal collection that might otherwise repel them. In doing so I hope to present a new idea of beauty.

Along The Mississippi, 30 x 38 inches, found objects on canvas

Along the Mississippi is a record of a late summer walk I took along the Mississippi. I found all of these bones, fish skeletons, rocks, shells, and sand along a half-mile of shoreline. The found objects represent a "curated" story of my excursion. My own unique perspective and propensity (or obsession) for collecting bones guides the material usage, and my re-composition of the objects allows one to experience the pleasure of "finding" each of these objects.

pink bird, 8 x 10 inches, bird skeleton, acrylic on canvas, wood box

pink pelvis, 8 x 10 inches, found pelvis, acrylic, wood box

pink skull, 8 x 10 inches, acrylic, wood box

These pink boxes contain found objects presented as pink specimens in storage boxes. The pink is a non-sequitor humorous attempt to associate the object with youth, innocence, and new life.

 

ribs on pink, 11 x 14 inches, found bone, acrylic on canvas

skull painting 1, 12 x 12 inches, skull, acrylic on canvas

skull painting 2, 12 x 12 inches, skull, acrylic on canvas

skull painting 3, 12 x 12 inches, skull, acrylic on canvas

These skull paintings were an experiment in using a physical object as an inspiration for an abstract work that includes the actual object.

bone painting 1, 20 x 16, paper, found bone, acrylic on canvas

bone painting 2, 20 x 16, paper, found bone, acrylic on canvas

bone painting 3, 20 x 16, paper, found bone, acrylic on canvas

The red in the bone paintings are inspired in part by Salustiano, and it is also an attempt to over-stimulate the eye with an attractive red. It is the same red I use in many of my abstract paintings.

red ribs, 24 x 24 inches, found bone, resin, acrylic on canvas

composition with ulna, 24 x 24 inches, found bone, resin, acrylic on canvas

deer jaws, 24 x 24 inches, found bone, dead moth, resin, acrylic on canvas

Deer Jaws is composed of found deer jaw bones (and one other random ungulate) to resemble a mouth or other opening.  The moth was accidental, but I am pleased with where it landed.

trophy buck, 45 x 24 inches, bone, antlers, resin, acrylic, wood box

bones on fabric, 30 x 24, found bones, plaster, fabric, acrylic on canvas

Happy Accident, 2010
acrylic on linen


I made this from an old white linen shirt of mine that had finally lost its functionality as a shirt.

Steps along the way

This is a painting I've been working on for quite some time. While some paintings are completed in one session others like this one take years.