In his painting “Texas,” Robert Josiah Bingaman (NAP #90, #101) traces and records the feelings surrounding his night wanderings and musings as he is in different states across the U.S.  So far, Bingaman has completed eight of this Nocturne series, with “Texas” being the most recent and most intricately recorded, process-wise.

As part of our Process of a Painting series at NAP, we were eager to share Bingaman’s journey in beginning and completing “Texas.”  For the most part, his process, video, and images speak for themselves.  But he has provided additional narrative to accompany some of the images below as well.
- Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor

Robert Josiah Bingaman | Texas, 2012, acrylic on linen, 61 x 102 in.

Robert Josiah Bingaman: “I chose to share these nearly infinite (and infinitesimal) moments by presenting them in the fluid context to which they belong, time. Though a finished painting provides some evidence of the process, much is lost in the making. By documenting my work at each stage, I intend to reveal the tedium of preparation, and the rhythm of a composition’s progress. In addition, I get to keep the painting in its developmental stages. This safeguard of sorts keeps me from lingering for too long.”

Robert Josiah Bingaman | Texas, 2012, acrylic on linen, 61 x 102 in.

“Texas, (2012, acrylic on linen, 61 x 102 in.) is the eighth painting in the Nocturne series. It was completed in 195 hours from February through July of 2012. Each Nocturne takes its name after an individual state I have visited, and each is composed according to the nighttime experiences I have had in that state. Other states in the series thus far, are Arizona, California, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.”

“The time lapse of Texas, the most recent painting from my Nocturne series, is the most involved video I’ve produced to date. I used two cameras this time, telling a slightly different story with each. With the first, a wide-angle lens, I chose to first tell the story of the studio as a stage. And with the second, more narrow view, I told the story of the painting as an image.”

[embed width="600" height="337"] http://vimeo.com/50200024 [/embed]

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Robert Josiah Bingaman (NAP Editor’s Selection, Issues 90 and 101) has been producing and exhibiting his work professionally since 2007. He earned a BFA from the University of Kansas in 2005, and an MFA from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. Earlier this year, Robert was featured in a solo show at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri. He is a founding member of KC PAC, Kansas City’s premiere plein air coterie, an ongoing formal and social experiment. In February of 2013, he will exhibit his most recent body of work, entitled The Race, at Trish Higgins Fine Art in Wichita, Kansas. 

Ellen C. Caldwell is an LA-based art historian, editor, and writer.