BEARING WITNESS
CONTINUING WITH THE THEME OF OBJECTS ON THE PAINTING SURFACE.
I have been painting and printing a lot of hopeful pictures of my 'Little Trees' series and in the middle of that work, I felt a strong need to create something different. I was moved by events around the world and wanted a way to process them. I wanted a sober and meaningful narrative, so I opted for four strongly lit faces, monumentally set in a funerary remembrance setting. The result startled me. It was a risk, as this was not an easy painting to complete emotionally, or technically.
I decided to leave it in black and white, as it basically achieved what I needed it to do...but the thing that surprised me is that I now feel that I have a whole series of works like this inside of me, exploring the narrative and the light, both in the painting technique using dramatic lighting, but also in terms of the way the little cubes interact with the image.
I have been talking to my friend Paul Redman about lighting rigs to create the dramatic effects of the shadows that can be created on the painting surface with a couple of my other works where cubes were used as an element on the surface He has made a prototype and he is currently working on another idea that we have discussed, that of the moving painting surface; I will write more about those interventions at a later time.
This painting, however, is somewhat different. The superficial cube shadows are painted on. It is is a combination of traditional chiaroscuro in acrylic, with a little bit of screen printing on the cubes and the votive offering tablets at the bottom of the painting. The exciting thing for me as a painter is what is happening with the following four elements and their interaction:
The chiaroscuro modeling of the faces,
The marriage of that to the little cubes ( this time printed, painted and applied strategically)
The shadows that the cubes 'cast', which are in fact painted
What happens when real light creates additional shadows.
I have been painting and printing a lot of hopeful pictures of my 'Little Trees' series and in the middle of that work, I felt a strong need to create something different. I was moved by events around the world and wanted a way to process them. I wanted a sober and meaningful narrative, so I opted for four strongly lit faces, monumentally set in a funerary remembrance setting. The result startled me. It was a risk, as this was not an easy painting to complete emotionally, or technically.
I decided to leave it in black and white, as it basically achieved what I needed it to do...but the thing that surprised me is that I now feel that I have a whole series of works like this inside of me, exploring the narrative and the light, both in the painting technique using dramatic lighting, but also in terms of the way the little cubes interact with the image.
I have been talking to my friend Paul Redman about lighting rigs to create the dramatic effects of the shadows that can be created on the painting surface with a couple of my other works where cubes were used as an element on the surface He has made a prototype and he is currently working on another idea that we have discussed, that of the moving painting surface; I will write more about those interventions at a later time.
This painting, however, is somewhat different. The superficial cube shadows are painted on. It is is a combination of traditional chiaroscuro in acrylic, with a little bit of screen printing on the cubes and the votive offering tablets at the bottom of the painting. The exciting thing for me as a painter is what is happening with the following four elements and their interaction:
The chiaroscuro modeling of the faces,
The marriage of that to the little cubes ( this time printed, painted and applied strategically)
The shadows that the cubes 'cast', which are in fact painted
What happens when real light creates additional shadows.
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