I have been trying to finish some long-term projects, but I discovered long ago that I need rewards in order to do so. It is not that I do not like what I am doing enough to finish it, it is that my brain keeps moving and I find it difficult to celebrate an ending of sorts without some promise of a future.
Often the act of finishing details in my art is a tranquil type of activity, whether it is polishing a stone, altering edges in a drawing or painting, or photographing the work. While the tasks are by no means mindless, my thoughts tend to drift to what I will create next. Life is a sine wave and this visually slower time is necessary in order to have the energy and ideas to reach for something greater later.
So, I have been spending part of my days going through my images, drawings, and notes. And I found an image that I wanted to share with you today. I went to Bremen, Germany, in late September 2006 to see an exhibit of my favorite painter, the late Eugène Carrière. This artwork is not his, but I am afraid that my notes on the art and the exhibit are not close at hand at the moment.
I remember that during an otherwise relatively representational show, I was drawn into these abstracted squiggles on a table. I had heard a few things about how various works of art were created with specific viewing situations in mind (often discovered once the art is moved from its original location), but this was extreme.
In this painting, one must not look at the painting itself to see the “sensical” image, but at a mirrored column set in the middle of the swirling colors. The curving perpendicular surface of the mirror alters the seemingly random waves of color into a scene of Jesus on the cross, surrounded by various figures and framed with a grey and white curtain.
At the time I remember that my main impression was that “Nothing is truly new.” This painting was created in 1800 something, if I remember correctly. Part of my problem is that I know very little about art history. What appears new to me in contemporary art is very often a continuation of a past exploration. But the first artist to try something like this may have been inspired by reflections in a river or some other natural phenomenon. So, I was hardly disappointed.
Happy Birthday, Cindy. And happy belated birthday to Paul and Lexie.
1 comment:
This is interesting! I have a small book that has a lot of distorted looking paintings. In the back is a piece of a silvered mirror like paper. Instructions show how to roll it so that the paintings can be deciphered. It has a history of this kind of painting. I don't remember when it was published but I think it was prior to the seventies. It reminds me somewhat of the street paintings that Julian Beever does.
Hope all is going well in Italy!
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