Monthly Studio Update - May, 2001
Monthly Studio Update is a new addition to my site. I will bring you up to date on recently finished work, works in progress, and on upcoming lectures, exhibitions, and other aspects of my career.
Non-visual Updates:
Coming out this spring in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies Vol. 2, No. 2 is my article, On Metaphysical Value-Judgments. It is a critique of What Art Is by Kamhi and Torres.
Related to this article, I will give the lecture, Detecting Value Judgments in Art, at The Objectivist Center's Summer Seminar University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown on July 2nd.
Also at that conference I will give a two-day Seminar for Artists on June 29th and the 30th. For information contact TOC 1-800-347-1776 www.ObjectivistCenter.org
Studio Updates:
A month or two ago I began a project of portraits of friends of mine, here in Rhodes, in pastel on black paper. I didn't want these portraits to be in a classical style, a static frontal pose with the focus on rendering the face. I wanted to find a way to express more, to convey a particular mood, or some essential element that says something about these friends. Always one to try something different, I decided to get the model to pose with their entire body, from toe to top. It is amazing how by changing the placement of their foot to a more dramatic stance it changed the mood and expression in their faces. Here you see three finished works. Four more are in early stages and, additionally, four friends are lined up to begin posing later this month.
Suzana, April 2001, pastel on paper, 21" x 26", 53 x 66cm.
Mario, April 2001, pastel on paper, 19" x 26", 48 x 66cm.
Stratos, April 2001, pastel on paper, 26" x 19", 66 x 48cm.
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Also in April I began the first stage of two major works, Venus of the Sea and Artemis. They are a continuation of the mythological series that began with Icarus Landing, in which I change the Greek legends to express that fulfillment is to be sought, discovered, and acquired on Earth.
You will notice the overlay of squares; this is the grid that I use to transfer the figure image from a smaller drawing of the model. For me, it is inconvenient to make a study of a figure life-sized! The grid will of course disappear as I begin painting in earnest. There will be monthly updates on the developement of these paintings.
Venus of the Sea, in progress, acrylic on linen,48" x 48", 122 x 122cm. (life-size)
Artemis, in progress, acrylic on linen, 25" x 48", 63 x 122cm. (life-size)
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The elements in creating a major piece are many and complicated. Just figuring the intellectual concept of piece can be demanding mental effort and, then, there is emotional statement of the piece and how to convey that? And those only concern the subject matter. How does the composition add to or detract from the concept? Where is the light coming from? These and host of other problems need to be addressed, overcome, and, hopefully, relished. In the last week of April I made four pastel color studies for Venus of the Sea. The purpose of which is to experiment with the colors with the aim to excite my visual sense and my emotional feeling for my Goddess from the sea. That includes my idea of the light coming near the end of day; a kind of glowing orange light combined with the spectacular blues of the Mediterranean and the peach sheen of my Goddess.
Though there as been a lot of wacko artists in the 20th Century, many of them have made great contributions to color and light theory in painting. It seems silly to me to use the muted, dull, and archaic colors of the "Old Masters" when we live in the 21st Century! The following images are completely abstract but I hope my above explanation will make it obvious that I have not gone off the deep-end and become Kandinskian!
Color Study for Venus #1, April 2001, pastel on paper, 19" x 24", 48 x 61cm.
Color Study for Venus #2, April 2001, pastel on paper, 19" x 24", 48 x 61cm.
Color Study for Venus #3, April 2001, pastel on paper, 19" x 26", 48 x 66cm.
Color Study for Venus #4, April 2001, pastel on paper, 19" x 26", 48 x 66cm.
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Lastly, here are two pencil drawings of a conception for a painting that flashed in my brain in mid-April. It is an image of dinner with friends. The drawing #1 is the initial idea, while the #2 is where I start working out the concept. While I was playing with it I began to think about my idea in relationship to Da Vinci's, Dali's, and many of the Christian images of The Last Supper. To me, compositionally, they all seem so stiff; all these men lined up at a long table like soldiers. And why would all the people, but one and two in Dali's case, be on the same side of the table? Visually it is highly unnatural.
My concept of a dinner is a celebration of life, with color, movement, some sex appeal, and an unabashed and generous sense of benevolence. And, of course, this is not to be a small painting, but a painting of life-sized people. I don't know whether the painting will come about or not. Paying modeling fees for eight or ten figures can be an issue, or maybe I get mentally blocked along the way, or my current ten projects don't allow for any extra brain space to be spared!
I think in these drawings you can see how I am trying to create movement, not only by having their heads at different heights but also by placing them in the foreground, middleground, and background. Also, in #2, you will see straight lines going from one person's eye to another's. Here I am playing with the personal interconnections between the friends and also thinking about how the crisscrossing of the looks will affect the rhythm of the composition.
Dinner with Friends #1, April 2001, pencil on paper, 6" x 9", 15 x 23cm.
Dinner with Friends #2, April 2001, pencil on paper, 7" x 10", 18 x 25cm.
That's it. Check back in June for further Studio Updates.
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