(Small) Steps I Hate
(SMALL) STEPS
I HATE
from Advay:
Do you know those stairs with short steps that are abnormally deep? I hate those Small Steps! They feel awkward, and trick my brain into thinking my foot is going to hit the next step earlier than it actually does. A recent visit to the Anderson Collection at Stanford, which has such steps up to its main gallery, inspired this painting. But small steps frustrate and confound all areas of life. One feels like one isn't making progress towards a goal, fueling burn-out. Abandon Small Steps, and take leaps and bounds!
"(Small) Steps I Hate" is my latest medium-sized abstract and kicked off a series of pieces whose composition is done in asymmetric quadrants, here bounded by graphite lines. Messy stairs are done in a mix of heavy body and gouache acrylics along with flashe in blues, oranges, and phthalo greens. Acrylic impasto, sometimes spiky, comes off the piece in its top and bottom quadrants, squeezed directly from the tube onto the linen canvas, occasionally scraped with a knife.
(Small) Steps I Hate
Advay Mengle (b. 1989)
2025
acrylic, flashe, and graphite on linen
24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm)
https://advaymengle.art/catalog/id/AM-409
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Artist:
Advay Mengle (b. 1989)
Details:
acrylic, flashe vinyl, and graphite on linen canvas stretched on wood stretcher
Type:
Painting
Primary Media:
acrylic, flashe, graphite
Additional Media:
acrylic gesso, paint tube, brush, knife
Support Materials:
linen, canvas, linen canvas stretched on wood stretcher, wood stretcher mount, canvas stretched
Date:
2025
Dimensions HxW in:
24x30
Subject Matter/Type:
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Marks:
- By artist, signed recto lower-right in purple: [AM monogram] [signed Advay Mengle]
Provenance:
- The artist's studio
Catalog ID:
AM-409
Selected Associated Works:
AM-410: Ephemera 108, Advay Mengle (b. 1989), 2025, digital reproduction of graphite on linen, 24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm), from the series Ephemera, WIP ofAM-409AM-411: Ephemera 109, Advay Mengle (b. 1989), 2025, digital reproduction of flashe and graphite on linen, 24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm), from the series Ephemera, WIP ofAM-409AM-412: Ephemera 110, Advay Mengle (b. 1989), 2025, digital reproduction of acrylic, flashe, and graphite on linen, 24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm), from the series Ephemera, WIP ofAM-409AM-413: Ephemera 111, Advay Mengle (b. 1989), 2025, digital reproduction of acrylic, flashe, and graphite on linen, 24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm), from the series Ephemera, WIP ofAM-409AM-414: Ephemera 112, Advay Mengle (b. 1989), 2025, digital reproduction of acrylic, flashe, and graphite on linen, 24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm), from the series Ephemera, WIP ofAM-409AM-420: Ephemera 113, Advay Mengle (b. 1989), 2025, digital reproduction of acrylic, flashe, and graphite on linen, 24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm), from the series Ephemera, WIP ofAM-409AM-423: Ephemera 114, Advay Mengle (b. 1989), 2025, digital reproduction of acrylic, flashe, and graphite on linen, 24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm), from the series Ephemera, WIP ofAM-409AM-424: Ephemera 115, Advay Mengle (b. 1989), 2025, digital reproduction of acrylic, flashe, and graphite on linen, 24 × 30″ (~61 × 76.2 cm), from the series Ephemera, WIP ofAM-409
© Advay Mengle
