Woman 2010: Negotiating Pathways between Feeling, Imagination and Experience

Here is my most recent work, complete and in detail. I realise the colour is not accurately captured in these images, given the lighting and weather conditions to contend with, however they are the best I could manage as I wanted to round off my previous post which showed you the origins of this painting from the point of conception.

Woman 2010 oil on linen 150 x 15 cm

Woman 2010 oil on linen 150 x 150 cm

Both sitting or standing figures recur readily throughout my folio, but I use this as a means of tackling varied perspectives of a subject that continues to intrigue me since venturing out to develop my art and studio practice.

At times I have in mind to include surroundings  or objects that assist with contextualising and informing the space around the figure, but as I work and shift forms around they are sometimes discarded and dissolve into abstractions. There are just so many possibilities within that solitary human figure, of pushing formalities and exploring freedom from anatomical veracity.

The viewer can judge whether or not the painting manages to do this with any real success.

Woman 2010 (Detail)

Woman 2010 (Detail)

So my figures really are abstracted and conceptual, and while I admire the technical ability required of more representational approaches to painting, I have always been driven to move beyond the limits of observed experience. For me the painting process is  a way of negotiating pathways between networks of feeling, imagination, memory and physical experience.

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Painting in Progress: Woman 2010

The last couple of months have been a wrestle with two large works, the first of which I posted about here, and which is still cooking. My approach to these paintings has been largely affected by time and reflection away from the studio, work with models and my exposure to recent exhibitions (the most recent being the Paris Masterpieces show in Canberra).

A part of me resists showing works in such a vulnerable state, but the disclosure forces me to consider them with some distance – it is a process that facilitates the transitions and changes. The black and white versions assist with reviewing graphic elements.

The work is 150 x 150 cm, oil on linen. More images will be posted as they come to hand…

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Mining Influences: Masterpieces from Paris | Post Impressionism from the Musée d’Orsay

I have just left the National Gallery of Australia and what better way to kill time waiting for the flight home than to share some highlights from my visit to Masterpieces from Paris (Post Impressionism from the Musée d’Orsay).

I’m hardly the art critic and this is no review as such, merely a sampling of my ten favourite works from the 112 on show. It was great to see the queue stretch back about a hundred metres; anxious waiting aside, it was a heartening reminder that people continue to seek out and quench their inherent desire for art experience.

By the time I had entered the fourth gallery space (there were six of them filled with paintings), the sense of awe in the room was palpable. I understand people naturally gravitate to artists with celebrity status. Now without understating the impact of Van Gogh, Gauguin or Cézanne on modern art, however, I want to share here the works by slightly lesser-known artists which I found the most striking – the ones that compelled me to take that third and fourth look and seemed to go straight for the central nervous system.

In no particular order ….

Test

Vilhelm HAMMERSHØI Rest 1905

REDON Eyes Closed 1890

REDON Eyes Closed 1890

BONNARD The White Cat 1894

BONNARD The White Cat 1894

Toulouse LAUTREC Lady Clown Cha-U-Kao 1895

Toulouse LAUTREC Lady Clown Cha-U-Kao 1895

BONNARD The Man and the Woman 1900

BONNARD The Man and the Woman 1900

BONNARD Woman dozing on a bed 1899

BONNARD Woman dozing on a bed 1899

DENIS, Landscape with green trees 1893

DENIS, Landscape with green trees 1893

SEURAT, Model from the back 1887

SEURAT, Model from the back 1887

VUILLARD, Profile of woman in green hat 1891

VUILLARD, Profile of woman in green hat 1891

KHNOPFF, Marie Monnom 1887

KHNOPFF, Marie Monnom 1887

There were other great works of course, so reducing it to my favourite ten wasn’t easy. With so many works to study, four and a half hours passed very quickly. I left feeling more than a little stunned and beguiled by the achievements of artists from this era in modern art, and their enduring influence on the artists which came after them.

And from the looks on other faces, I wasn’t the only one.

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Click HERE to see all the works included in this show.

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Seeing It Through..[Painting in progress]

I am considering the development of current works from various angles and will post updates as the work progresses, unless I end up destroying the painting (this might not be a bad thing).

The isolation of painting can at times take its toll so we do well to foster and promote the networks, friends and contacts we do have in our lives.

Reminder: It doesn’t take much to begin a painting. But it will take everything to see it through.

Painting in progress is 150 x 150 cm oil on linen (untitled)

To be continued…