Todd Hebert opened the training session by joking about his paintings by saying “Lately, I have been having a hard time seeing” (hence the blurred effect within the paintings). That said, he went on to say that he is not limited to drawing and painting, but that he works in sculpture and many other mediums. He felt it important to be versed in multiple mediums. More specifically though, he felt it important to have a control over the space represented in two-dimensional works. He describes his process of image making as being a stream of consciousness where he pursues a spatial dynamic and the ambiguity therein.

He also found it humorous that his work incorporates seasonal representations (fall, winter and spring). When listening to him, I noted a polarization in his rendering and how focus plays a large part within his imagery. Another person in the group enquired about the meaning behind the “Chinatown” drawings. He explained how the Chinatown of LA was a thriving hot art scene about a decade ago. Now it is not so much. This motivated him to make these drawings out of his curiosity for art scenes and their dynamics and cycles of movement.
Beyond that, these works were about the idea of familiarity. Apparently, Hebert found himself observing this Chinatown sign on a regular basis. Every time he passed it, he described how it would grip his attention. As a result he commented that his artwork pays homage to scenes like this in life that have the ability to grasp and hold a viewer’s attention. Similarly, this is how the painting “Dew” came about.
He is interested in creating dynamic spaces in the picture plane. The airbrush effects enhance this dynamic space by intensifying atmosphere while at the same time underscore the concepts conveyed. His works glorify subtle and invested image production. These techniques divert the viewer’s eyes to different levels in the paintings. This control over the image plane can be attributed to the devices he uses in the image construction. He describes it as a difficult space, one which he palpitatable and rich in the sense of a visual optical space.
He spoke about the phenomenon of optical vision and the push pull effect that occurs in reference to Hans Hoffman of the 1950’s who was renowned for playing with color intensities in his color field paintings.



While mentioning his influences, he discussed briefly how iconography, Carol Walker, Cosmology, Carol Dunum, and enfranchisement play into his art making. For him, making art is much about a process of induction and deduction. He describes it as an involuntary response in attempt to even out Global distortion. Acknowledging painting as a career that requires the painter to spend much time in solitude, led him to shed some reverence to past painters, who have played with the habitual relationship between painter and painting. The idea of painting a painting within a painting was of interest. Playing with the functionality of the picture plane was stimulating for him. He touched on the idea of permanence and how paintings outlive the artist in order to preserve culture from one perspective. As a result he encouraged us to see all the possibilities and try to observe perfection in painting. He motioned that one is not more important than the other. The important aspect was within a paintings ability to centralize vision and decentralize space being rendered. Optically he described the expansion and contraction of eyesight and vision. He appeared fascinated with the physics and function of the eyeball and the mechanics of optical space and how it has and is to be rendered.
Towards the end of the discussion he went into the meaning behind the water bottle. He sounded much like Andy Warhol and his ideas on Coke Cans. The reproducibility of the commodity was of fascination to him. The idea of water as a currency. He thought this particularly timely seeing as it is a reality of contemporary consumerism. He asked, “What makes one bottle more refreshing than the next?”


Oct 17 Docent Training with Todd Hebert

Lastly, Todd mentioned a few more thoughts/ ideas surrounding his work. He mentioned the similarities between Chuck Close, Signac and Seurat as being other artists who have had significant influence on him. This led him to proclaim that an artist “Must be faithful to their image.” He remembers his high school art teacher advising that he quickly learn to draw from memory. And one of his final comments elevated the bodily relationship humans have to paintings and how as art connoisseurs we need to be aware of this relationship and the corporeal dynamics and schemas that exist surrounding it. The owl exists in his work because of his fascination with the dead stare of the owl and how it relates to his own vision as an artist.