Castagna studio: art and photography by Robert Castagna -

Monday, August 9, 2010

red earth

This series of red earth was taken on Kauai. I was struck by the earth's deep brown-red texture. It is even used as a pigment for clothes and t-shirts: a tourist souvenir of the island. I'm simply fascinated by its undulating and rich movement.

canoe meadows

Canoe Meadows is beautiful wild-life sanctuary a couple blocks from where I grew up in Pittsfield Massachusetts. I haven't been there for about 30 years and I was quite happy about the changes there.

Meadow

A meadow
a path
traveled once
one time ago

close to home
no significance
but to roam

An empty sea
of useless meaning

but resonant
ginger steps
taken to

reworked
for there
was something

A palpable place
of reverie

there
here
within me

sky series

This series of sky imagery was taken on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in my recent trip there in July 2010. I'm currently using them as a basis for painting. There is something magical in the sky. The subtlety of whites and blues and the wisp-like grass suggest a calmness and peace.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Open Studios

The Brooks Estate is a bucolic landscape situated in the middle of Medford and Winchester, just a short walk from my studio. With roots back to the pilgrims, it provides a respite for my busy day and a window into nature and its seasonal migration.

You're invited to my studio this weekend as part of West Medford Open Studios. Saturday and Sunday, May 8 and 9 from Noon to 5, located at 160 Playstead Road in Medford.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Art installation Proposal

blackboard

Table of Aesthetic Values: An Art Installation

The mergence of the world of science and art is more and more a key component of our zeitgeist. The fields of chemistry, physics and mathematics are thought of as exact sciences working in tangent with strict reality. Aesthetics and art are thought of as extrapolations from reality, with more of a stronghold in our imagination and our own personal views and slants on creativity.

This installation jumps off from the Table of Aesthetics as its creative springboard. This table presents the elements of artistic creativity in a format of the Table of Elements and thereby lends to it a more codified and scientific approach. The main visual element of the installation comes from the extrapolations of the table. Here we approximate a university physics course room with equations, diagrams and laws filling an entire large blackboard. The blackboard looms large and forbidding, seemingly an esoteric knowledge for only those in the know. Yet if one chooses to follow, the equations represent true approximations of our inherent creative abilities and aesthetic senses.

Lastly there is a bulletin board, empty at first, but ultimately filled with the creative ideas of those who come to observe. This is an interact feature allowing contribution and sharing.

For downloadable files on this art installation proposal click on the following:

Artist Statement

Table of Aesthetic Values Photograph

Art Installation Summary

Equations for Creativity

Equations for Creativity 2

Artist Resume

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Seasons Now

Seasons Now

The place is marked by space,

seasons mark off time.

What we see now is all there is.

There only exists a potential for the future,

an idea for the past.

Quote for inspiration:

"For an artist to be interesting to us he must have been interesting to himself."

Robert Henri, The Artist Spirit

Saturday, February 13, 2010

E squared: Equations and Experimentation

E1 Equations: Since my last post in the beginning of the year I've been quite busy with various creative ideas, however I've been quite slack when it comes to blogging on them. This is in part because I often get side tracked in unusual pursuits that don't come under the regular heading of creating simple consumer art. Above is a photograph showing the process that I use to create a Chart of Elements in order to conceive and create elements in different fields. For example my first Table was the Table of Aesthetics Values. I'm currently very near completion of my second table entitled "Table of Ethical Values". And just completed a paper extrapolating ideas and symbols from my original table entitled Equations of Creativity.

E2 Experimentation: The above watercolors were early experiments done about a month ago. They are using a new type of watercolor paper called Yupo. It's maximum gloss and fun to work with. However not really my style. I'm a matte type of guy. All of my photographs are always printed on cotton matte paper so the adjustment to super-gloss is quite harsh. But it is truly unique paper and I'm sure will make a fit with certain artists. My plan is to work in watercolors for a bit and to simulate my extreme shallow depth of field photographs with watercolor. Hopefully you'll see something along this line posted soon. Meanwhile I've found a terrific watercolor tutorial site that offers great techniques in an easy to follow style. Check out these watercolor tutorials.

To see a recent interview I did on art and inspiration go to photo blogs.

Latest Blog Posts

Blog Archives