Art Archives - Page 3 of 6 - The Aging Artist

Tribute

Vincent

The “Beyond Van Gogh” exhibit (https://vangoghhalifax.com/) is new multi-media performance bringing a famous artist’s work to world-wide audiences. The show came to Halifax. I have seen original paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. I was amazed by the intensity of his paintings and their emotional impact.

Beyond Van Gogh

‘Beyond Van Gogh’ exceeded all my expectations and generated a visceral reaction. I was awestruck by the quality and quantitiy of Van Gogh’s paintings. I also applaud the artists/ technicians who created the multi-media presentation. The imagery, animation, quotations, choreography and music created an immersive story of complete fascination and absorption.

The quoted excerpts from Vincent’s letters to his brother Theo were deeply moving to read. His humility and sincerity contrast to the values of today’s society. Ego, competitiveness, outragiousness for publicity, and arrogance have little presence in Vincent.

I left the exhibit with great reluctance and wondered about a good souvenir. I could buy a T shirt, or a mug with a starry night or sunflowers.

Maybe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I made a self portrait based on a selfie that I took at the show, with Vincent as inspiration.

Legacy

Vincent Van Gogh’s life could not have been easy. He struggled to find meaning and purpose in his pursuits. He faced failure many times, but carried on.

Perhaps by today’s standards we would judge him to be a loser. He didn’t sell any paintings, he was not wealthy, and he held little status.

Despite all this, or because of this, he created an amazing repertoire of art. We can tell from his paintings that he loved doing what he was doing.

His story shows me that it’s not what you get in life that is important. It’s what you make from what you are given.

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
…
I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.
...

attributed to an unknown soldier in the American Civil War

,http://sites.rootsweb.com/~allawren/military/confedprayer.htm

In the end he did find beauty in the simplest of things. He showed us what really counts is not how many paintings we sell, or how many patrons we can find. What counts for the artist is the satisfaction from the process of making art.

For my birthday my wife gave me an illustrated book of Vincent’s letters. It will keep me inspired.

Refreshment

Tired Eyes

A few posts ago I commented on the wealth on imagery that is available for us in today’s world. Spectacular images can to found on the internet, on TV, in magazines and in books.

Moreover we are bombarded by commercials to exhort us to buy things. Often these are beautiful things- stylish cars, elegant fashion, beauty products and exotic travel. We have magazines full of stunning photo shoots of fashion models promoting fashion hair, makeup and glamour. It becomes repetitive and boring.

https://www.discountmags.ca/magazine/british-vogue-august-1-2021-digital

In my daily routine I live in a comfortable home with a landscaped yard in a neighbourhood with scenic greenbelts and parks. I am so familiar with these places that I can be inured to their beauty and lose interest.

I feel like I am at a fabulous ‘all you can eat’ visual buffet, but I am completely satiated by the deluge. I have lost my appetite.

Repetitive Ennui

WIth overabundance and familiarity, images become repetitive and boring.

The visual brain/ memory connection can instantaneously recognize a familiar scene. Based on the need to quickly process threats or safety, our brain unconsciously dismisses an image as familiar and not worth engaging further.

As an artist, I need to be intrigued by what I see. I need to refresh my eyes. If I am not engaged with what I see and create, how can I interest a viewer? It’s my business to create intriguing images.

Mess Up, Mash Up

To reactivate my sight senses I sometimes create fun new images from by collage. Here are a few examples.

I took pictures from old magazines or calendars and used scissors and glue to rearrange the cuttings. This an iconic Lawren Harris painting that I cut into strips and recomposed.The collage engages the viewer to try unscramble the scene.

Magazines are full of beautiful images that we usually glance at an move on. I reconfigured these photos to engage my mind to interpret the mixture of familar and unfamiliar components. Our brains need some ambiguity to be engaged.

Pattern Recognition

Here is a photo of a rhododendron from my garden that is a common scene at this time of year.

I used a photo editor on my tablet to re- colour the photo into something more painterly. Our brains love to see patterns, especially patterns containing a degree of randomness or disruption.

Ambiguity

I think an essential aspect of painting is to keep the eye and the mind engaged. It’s not so easy to do when we live in a world that is over-saturated with imagery.

This drawing may be simple, but there is enough ambiguity to be somewhat intriguing, which makes it interesting.

What Do I Want?

This week I am drawing a blank on a choice of topic.

I feel like I am screaming into the wind. I am yelling as loud as I can, but the wind is howling so no one can hear me. That’s not really true. With a blog my words are posted at some URL, and people can find and read it if they want. It’s more likely my 300 words are lost within the millions and billions of words written each day.

Readers can read my post “IF THEY WANT”. That’s the key point. Why would anyone want to read this?

Maybe I am like a rooster (my Chinese Zodiac sign), making a loud racket, full of self importance, which is annoying, upsetting or repulsive. Paraphrasing Carly Simon, “I’m so vain, I know this blog is about ME”

Maybe my words are harmless but trivial and not worth reading. Maybe the words are really boring and sleep inducing, like a scientific journal entry: …a retrospective study using an injection database included patients undergoing TKA with a minimum 1-year follow-up … blah blah blah…

I sometimes feel I am on a SETI mission (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) sending coded messages into the ether to contact previously unknown beings.

Regardless of the content, what are my intentions? What is my motivation for this blog? What do I want?

Am I after fame? Yes! I want to be an influencer with a fanbase of admirers that follow my extremely excellent and discerning preferences. I want to be an evangelist with a fervent desire to spread the word of RON to the unlearned and unartistic. I am motivated to be a ‘Donald’ type personality who can say anything- stupid or outragious or untruthful- so long as I am talked about. I want to get publicity, notoriety, ratings and even money (cryptocurrency, NFTs, rubles its all the same).

In the animal kingdom most animals are silent when exposed, and spend more time listening than making noise. Making too much noise may mean you are soon someone’s lunch. Maybe I would be better emulating an earthworm, quietly tunneling in my own humus, oblivious to the bigger world outside.

As the Rolling Stones have sung:

No, you can’t always get what you want
…
But if you try sometime you’ll find
You get what you need

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krxU5Y9lCS8

So really I should be asking: What do I need from writing this post? I need to be honest and sincere, as if I am in conversation with a friend or someone I respect. Thats all.

I will write my post today and be grateful for whatever it returns. It really doesnt matter if anyone reads it. My satisfaction has come from the thoughts and ideas that stirred within me today.

In art there has to be darkness in order for the light to shine. Sometimes the dark negative shapes define the composition. What is not said often speaks as loudly as what is said.

In almost all works of art, it’s the empty space as much as the active space that creates the image. That’s what a painting needs.

Feast from Famine

Not So Long Ago

When I was a boy in the 1950’s attractive images were a rarity. I was 9 years old when I watched television for the first time. The grainy black and white images on a 17″ screen seemed amazing.

https://clickamericana.com/topics/science-technology/vintage-television-sets-from-the-1950s

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7167/photos/298497

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/cameras/overview/stories

https://filmartgallery.com/collections/gardner-ava

https://creativemarket.com/studio2am/6327490-Halftoner-5-Retro-Halftone-Effects?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PPC_GOOG_SmartShopping_US_All&utm_content=558603118314&utm_term&gclid=CjwKCAjw4ayUBhA4EiwATWyBrl7gX3CwOK1xXkn4K3Ogf2PKjtEnlX1Eg-39tJtNQysnVMO4-VOWiBoCNMwQAvD_BwE#fullscreen

Newspapers showed blurry halftone black and white pictures. Good cameras were expensive and hard to use. The Kodak Brownie camera gave affordable but terrible photos and it took weeks to get the 12 snapshots printed. Many of the photos were too dark, too far away or too blurry.

LIFE was the only magazine where I could find wonderful pictures. The few coffee table books we owned provided my first look at famous works of art.

Going to a movie theatre (like the Palace in Calgary) was a special event. I loved to watch the projected images on the big screen.

Air travel was only for the upper classes so the visiting art galleries was not on our family’s holiday plans.

Being a visually oriented person, I hungered to see beautiful pictures. I could not foresee what the future would bring.

Pages from **Life’s Picture History of Western Man**, Simon and Shuster,1951

In the Candy Store

Compared to the 1950’s , today’s digital world is truly like night and day.

We now live in an ocean of colourful dynamic imagery. Millions of images are available anytime, anywhere on any topic. Our homes are full of beautiful prints, posters and photographs. We have computers, wide screen TV, ebooks, magazines all full of images.

My phone is stores a thousand or more photographs, which can be photoedited, cropped and distributed.

WIth Netflix, Crave, Facebook, Pinterest, Google, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. all kinds of imaginary and fantasy worlds are available to download and watch.

Having instant access to an unlimited quantity of colourful imagery is truly incredible. The ability to easily create high definition, photo-shopped photographs and to publish them to the world is equally astonishing.

It feels like I have gone to heaven! I can explore the world’s greatest art from galleries all over the world. I can look up any art genre and be inspired by humdreds of different artists. I can watch UTube videos and take online courses provided by hundreds of artists.

With the latest in computers graphics and animation software, new art forms are being created.

I saw DUNE https://filmyhotspot.com/dune-movie/ at an IMAX theatre and was overwhelmed by the scope, scenery, plot and the fantasy of it all. It was a wonderful visual experience.

The multi-media presentation “Beyond Van Gogh” came to Halifax https://vangoghhalifax.com/. It was a powerful and moving experience for me. The manner in which Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings were animated, projected onto huge screens and set to music amplified the emotional impact of his masterpieces.

Excess

Like the kid in the candy shop I am getting my fiill of treats. Will this lead to a tummy ache if I indulge too much?

This abundance of imagery may have negative consequences. We may succumb to the law of diminishing returns. The first viewing of an expressionist landscape may be breathtaking, but its value will diminish by repetitive viewing. Seeing the landscape printed on a coffee cup may trivialize it too much.

https://www.stashtea.com/products/van-gogh-starry-night-grande-mug-in-gift-box

I will comment on the negatives in a future post.

Present

Moment to Moment

In my last post I wanted my life to feel like a series of moments. What does that imply? How do to live that way?

Remembering the moment means living in the present with full awareness. I often find myself preoccupied with the past or planning the future.

I look at a family photograph from years ago. I can see what a special moment that was, l but did I appreciate it at the time? I was probably preoccupied with future plans.

Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.”
Attributed to Allen Saunders but made famous by John Lennon

This often rings true for me. I ruin special moments by being focused elsewhere.

Defensive Living

I often live a few seconds in the future, trying to anticipate what might happen beyond now. It’s like defensive driving- scanning the horizon for potential hazards and thinking of ways to avoid an unpleasant situation. While that is a successful safe driving technique, it robs me of spontaneity. I don’t want to remember an experience in retrospect. I want to fully feel the actual moment.

Now and Then

Sometimes I am fully present. When I play ice hockey, I must pay attention to the puck and the other players. I must be in the game. When I am drawing or painting in plein air or with a live model, I am fully present, and time stands still.

Can I bring this level of attention to other aspects of my life? Could I cook the way I paint? Could I hike the way I play hockey? Can I be with people and not be distracted by self consciousness?

It’s a work in progress.

Capturing the Moment

Having souvenirs of a past experience are important.

A photograph freezes a second or two forever and allows us to remember more clearly that moment.

Banff, Sept 3,2021, 12:04 PM

Creating a painting or drawing keeps me living in the present. The artwork itself may represent a moment in time, but the thoughful assembly of brushstrokes and marks evokes a timelessness quality to the image. The portrait may be drawn on an exact time and date, but the drawing feels like it could be a moment anytime or anywhere.

The painting of the kimono clad women evokes the beauty and serenity of my holiday in Japan.

Today is the golden tomorrow that you dreamed of yesterday, So it will be until the end of time. Today is your day of opportunity.”
A quotation on a wall plaque in my parents’ home from the 1950’s.