“The novel is the fruit of a human illusion. The
illusion of the power to understand others. But what do we know of one
another?”
-Milan Kundera
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
I believe that there is a simpler form of art that stands
as the precedence for all creation. One must possess the ability to
see and interpret aspects of life, from the grandest themes to the subtlest
of d
etails. In often seems that in the expediency of the modern era,
meditation through the practice of seeing is not an implicit verity
in our culture. Therefore, it would not be extreme to suggest that this
practice, when applied to painting, can be seen as counter-culture or
reactionary. I enjoy paying close attention to the subtle details that
give a person or an object presence and character. Any object seen and
translated through the eyes and hands of a sensitive painter can be
injected with fresh meaning, detail, and most importantly, emotion.
Sensitivity is achieved through becoming engrossed with the “of-ness”
of a subject.
The SMP experience has provided for me an outlet to further
explore and interpret my surroundings through the practice of painting.
I choose to paint primarily from life, with people as the main source
of subject matter and inspiration. I aim to go beyond the traditional
conceptions of portraiture and create a painting that is true to the
nature and mannerism of my subject, as well as allude to deeper psychological
traits. Aside from people, my sketchbooks serve as the second greatest
body of subject matter. The sketches are divided between direct observation
sketches and abstract compositions. I use a similar amount of content
from the two in order to produce the majority of my work.
The most abstract forms of art reference life, experience, and memory.
It is my goal as an artist to produce art that is based on a perception
of life, and I will explore the experience through the practice of painting.
I seek to create art that speaks in many languages, styles and methods,
all of which are drawn from direct experience or through the use of
memory.
An artist who makes the decision to paint in oils must be aware of the
history attached to the medium, and even more so aware of the decision
to paint from life in a representational manner. I see this awareness
as an unfortunate taboo associated with modern art, yet it is necessary
and essential towards understanding why one paints. My work situates
itself outside of contemporary issues. I choose to paint people in order
to describe them to a viewer. The manner in which I handle the subjects
can be considered slightly contemporary, however, the desire to communicate
the likeness of individuals is a timeless practice.
I want an image to directly register in the mind of the viewer. I am
not interested in engaging the other senses, and my choice of medium
is a direct reflection of this decision. There is something powerful
about a painting that elicits a viewer to respond through interpretation.
Image combines with meaning, whether literal or assumed, and creates
a moment that the viewer shares with a work. I am concerned very much
with capturing a moment, but struggled with this in my early paintings
in the first SMP semester. I became too concerned and engrossed with
the individual, and where I feel that I was successful in rendering
the persona of my sitter, and I ignored the body as a whole. My compositions
dealt primarily with the head of an individual within an open space
of colors. There was a lack of depth, and the sitter was placed in the
extreme foreground of the composition, usually gazing passively forward
towards the viewer. Alongside my compositions involving people, I was
producing work that was formally more abstract.
The first of these abstract compositions was of two weeds caught in
seasonal transition, from summer to fall or vice versa. They are cropped
from the top to the bottom, and the focus of the piece is on the wilting
leaves and berries attached to the stem of the dying plants. For this
work, I chose to use the paint in a very economical manner, preferring
subtle color transitions of more earthly tones. This piece was very
relaxing to work on because I was allowing myself more creative and
stylistic liberty, with the majority of visual information coming from
my imagination. However, I would still consider the work to be based
on observation because it is taken from a sketch I did of shadows of
a vine cast onto a wall.
The presence of an individual in my work serves as the conceptual framework
for all of my decisions. The majority of my paintings deal with an individual
subject. Therefore, I seek to capture and display two main things outside
of a mere representation of the sitter. Firstly, I want to put on display
the individual’s persona, the character that they make visible
to the outside world. I then attempt to infuse the portrait with subtleties
that allow the viewer to see beyond the ‘character’ of the
sitter, providing hints and insight into more true mannerisms. This
is displayed mainly through expressions that the sitter is subject to
when they are unaware of the scrutiny placed on them by the artist.
These expressions are rare, but become apparent with each sitting session.
Of course, this issue is entirely reliant on perception and intuition.
When providing a reliable description of the sitter for a viewer I try
to intensify certain features of the subject. I feel that when paying
attention to certain details I can place an emphasis on personality
traits, something imperative to creating an accurate portrayal. For
instance, when working on the first picture entitled Keith, I chose
to intensify and focus on the pensive glare that the subject held for
only mere moments during the sitting. When studying Keith, I noticed
that he adopted his glare only when he became less conscious of the
fact that he was under scrutiny. This expression only lasts for a few
seconds, but I feel that these are the challenges that enhance the perceptual
sensitivities that an artist needs to work successfully.
I feel that it is extremely important to consider the size of a canvas.
For my portrait work, I chose to make the subject slightly larger-than-life
on a large canvas. I feel that this puts the subject in an intimate
position with the viewer. The viewer is forced to see the wide array
of facial details and color choices that encompass the flesh of my sitters.
I do not think small canvases would be appropriate for what I intent
on doing conceptually. Small pictures are intimate in size only, but
detail suffers. I enjoy the abstract marks that make up a large subject.
In a successfully painted large picture, there is a wide array of color
not noticeable at first, but when seen with a sensitive eye, microcosms
full of color and form become apparent. Conceptually, I want my work
to bring to light the subtle details of people. This process acts as
a form of meditation for the artist and hopefully, the viewer. This
is an important beginning issue that I constantly have in mind during
sketch making and the initial construction of a canvas.
A large part of my work is based on intensifying reality. One of the
most effectual ways of creating this intensification is by skewing perspective
and choosing an uncommon vantage point. An uncommon vantage point involves
a perspective outside of eye-level, whether sitting or standing. Often
I will render my subject from above, creating a voyeuristic view. In
two other portraits I painted the subject on a larger-than-life eye-level
with the viewer. I feel that through a direct eye-level composition
the viewer confronts or is confronted by the subject.
Another tool of the modern painter is the use of multiple vantage points
in a composition. The use of an extreme vantage point is a modern tool
because it is suggestive of the artists place in the picture. When the
artist chooses to render a subject from a few feet above, the viewer
automatically assumes that position, and it is usually one that isn’t
commonly experienced on a daily basis. For instance, I want to thrust
the viewer up to the front of the picture plane, usually from a slightly
overhead view. I do this to place the viewer directly in the moment,
and I want them to gain a sense of experience from viewing the work
from a certain angle. I see the use of angles as a tool of memory and
dreams. I usually try to place my subject on a different or awkward
plane or ground. For instance, in a recent nude study I stood on a stool
and rendered the female from a foot above the top of her head. The viewer
is looking over the same shoulder that the subject is, and a sense of
voyeurism is assumed. When I painted the ground and walls I was standing
on the floor a foot back from where I placed the stools. Cezanne’s
still-life paintings were done in a similar manner, much like a large
majority of post-impressionistic work. The subtlest of formal techniques
can create a conceptual framework for the viewer to relate to.
I have chosen to draw from a variety of source artists who all engaged
and dealt primarily with the figure. The first of these painters is
Edward Degas. I am particular drawn to the work he produced towards
the end of his career. His eyesight was failing him and he was working
to regain or adjust his vision to create his work. His process at this
point is illustrative of the perceptual painter’s struggle to
learn how to see. Even in the latest stages of his life he was rediscovering
new ways of seeing, and his work of that period can be viewed as such.
Degas was using large blocks of one or two tones of color to create
the sense of a background in his compositions. For instance, in The
Laundresses, the background is split between a deep brown/red color
and a stark hansa yellow hue on the right side of the canvas. The two
figures are rendered in an impasto technique, and Degas lets the paint
dry in clumps, creating texture and the illusion of depth on the canvas.
I admire how Degas would render the gestalt shapes of his figure with
a broad black outline. This is a direct way of engaging the gestalt
that the figure forms, and is illustrative of the artist’s confidence
of maintaining the presence of life with his figures despite the outline.
The second source artist that I continually draw from is Lucian Freud.
Freud is the most contemporary of those that I choose to research. He
invested a renewed interest into the practice of painting, a practice
that was largely seen as problematic in a post-modern art world. (Again,
such an unfortunate taboo is placed upon a timeless practice.) I am
really drawn to the decisive cropping that Freud employs in his compositions.
The artist is not afraid to cut the feet off of a figure as well as
the top of their head. This technique draws the viewer in to the middle
of the body, where much of the intricate brushwork is done. Freud also
handles the paint in a similar manner to Degas, if not more aggressive.
The palette knife adds to the textured look, and the paint is allowed
to harden into dry clumps. The most powerful element in Freud’s
work is the vantage point from which he paints. He renders his subjects
from an overview perspective. This technique places the viewer in the
position of the voyeur. I have incorporated a sense of voyeurism to
a large extent within my work. In the piece entitled Composition, I
placed the viewer directly in front of and above the child in the foreground.
The viewer must look past the gaze of this subject and focus on the
figure at the piano, turning through sheet music. This particular scene
has an amount of intimacy associated with the mother and child, and
I want the viewer to feel as if they do not possess the scene, but are
mere witnesses to what is going on.
The last source artist that I will incorporate into my statement is
my father, Tilghman Hemsley. He works from life, and his largest amount
of subject matter is divided between people and landscapes. The majority
of his people-based works are based on individuals in the working-class.
I think this subject matter is important, especially in modern times,
because the working-class is under-represented in modern art. In many
cases, the environments of his sitters are equally as important as the
subjects themselves. They work and often live in these settings, and
the characteristics of the environments can tell the viewer much about
the subject. He uses color as an emotional tool, in order to create
a mood within an environment. In The Oyster Shuckers, he works from
a palette of blue and purple. All of the oyster shuckers are busy within
their workplace, an environment that is cold and damp. Oyster shells
litter the floors, and the pale, cool walls set the tone for the scene.
One can grasp a sense of routine from the work, as well as the temperature
of the piece.
In conclusion, the body of work that I have built up to this point is
evident of a learning process that I am continually adjusting to. Throughout
the course of a year, I feel that I have developed as an artist to the
point where I am ready to take on commissions after college. I plan
on continuing my education with hands-on experience. I intend on working
with people, doing work of people, and building on the realist option
that I have chosen as my path in art. This is an option that can never
be exhausted, as long as an artist is willing to face the challenge
of imbuing this tradition with fresh meaning and aesthetics.