Solo Gallery: The Austerity Plan

The St. Louis Artists' Guild's Solo Gallery presents The Austerity Plan, an exhibition of new work by Robert Goetz, our Fall 2011 Keyholder Artist-in-Residence (Printmaking). 

Artist's Statement

The Austerity Plan takes its name from a song I penned in response to a small art review segment Jessica Baran wrote regarding a piece I have at the Sheldon. Two words from the write up, austerity and nostalgia, form the nucleus of the song. At first I found them to be a negative, but I do feel these words describe the work in a sense and have since changed my opinion about their face value. Nostalgia is the keeper of self worth and Austerity primes animal logic. From the song intrepretation of The Austerity Plan I began to cull images from my creative past.

My residency has been fruitful. I have moved through three bodies of work. The first and last are presented here. The beginning phase was about color and form. Color as a response to sound through the ideas of synaethesis. The forms come from the guitars I use to write songs. I needed a flat printing matrix to work through the ideas contained within synaesthesis (in plain English the color/sound relationship). Guitar "scratchplates" offered this along with the implication of song writing. Song writing is not all that different from building images.

In the final body of work, I am allowing the sound and image an equal place in creating an outcome. As I work through I can't help bt think these images and songs might co-author a larger project. The images have a still frame quality and even act as a screenplay, further implying a layering with their audio siblings as possible action sequences. The scences depicted in these etchings are in some part lifted from past work and relay an archive. Nostalgia is seeping in and austerity is contained within the rigid practice of etching.

I should thank Gina Alvarez for the opportunity to take a long look at my work through the print medium. Gina has been kind and generous with her thoughts on my progress. And she has shown that being a respected artist doesn't always mean that you are selfish. Doctor Michael Hunt has also poked his head into the studio and I will always foundly remember the idea of sharing ideas in sound. One of our discussions about synaesthesis or "color hearing" formed a huge impact on the work at the St. Louis Artists' Guild. Of I course I shouldn't leave out the incredibly friendly staff of the St. Louis Artists' Guild and the fellow artists that share the space.

— Robert Goetz