Asian Study

[MichaelRH]

Small sketch that I did last night. Pencils..more of a rendering. I do lots of these studies..mostly with pencils..but adding charcoal again recently. It is on Strathmore sketch paper. The distortion is intentional.

[cagathoc]

Michael,

What does the distortion in this particular piece mean to you?

Cindy

[Rod]

Yes, I too am curious as to why the distortion. Is it meant to give an abused feeling,
Rod

[MichaelRH]

Rod and Cindy - I've been working on ways to make figures more interesting or less realistic. Not to say that figures as they appear are not appealing. I spent so much time in life-drawing classes - (even a classical figure drawing class with a brilliant instructor- Harry Carmean (at Art Center)..that most of that kind of figure drawing and painting seems so academic..(nothing wrong with those kind of exercises, they are an excellent learning experience)..it is like rendering for me..once you've gotten it down..it becomes repetitive..a technical skill. (How good at it do you want to get??, to satisfy yourself or to have others acknowledge how good you are? Some distortion actually feels right to me. (for me)..it helps keep the figure interesting..changing. Not sure where I'm going with this in regards to my drawing and painting. I'm sure I will catch some argument for this next statement, but I've never been particularily impressed with the fact that if a human being does something over and over again, and practices endlessly..most of us can become very very good at something. cindy, this may not make sense to you..but that is really how I feel.
I love classical music, beautiful paintings, all of which had something to do with time and effort, dedication, LOVE of doing and accomplishing. That is all good, but it is something else..the "pattern" of human accomplishment.. I'm guessing that I may get all kinds of negative responses to this. It is truly something that I feel strongly about. The questions "is this the only way?".."is that all there is?" have always kept coming up for me. Human error and imperfection (whatever "perfection" means?) is much more interesting to me. The whole point of trying to achieve this (even for all the good reasons that most people offer) just dosen't make a lot of sense to me. cindy, I hope you don't feel I'm rambling here..(I know you also like philosophy), I'm not demeaning anyone who spends a life becoming as good at something as they can possibly get..that's what it is all about I suppose..that is all we can do.
I hope you will not take this conclusion the wrong way. Imagine the most brilliant piece of artwork you've ever seen - (I'll pick anything by Michelangelo), it is not inconceivable that someone COULD do work that surpasses the beauty of his work. If you thought that person could be you cindy..would you WANT to spend your life reaching THAT goal? and why? I'm really interested in your reasons. and yours also Rod.
I feel there just as much truth in Francis Bacon's work as there is in Michelangelo's
Truth (for any of us) comes from within and can be expressed in the work we do. Truth as milt has mentioned may be universal, but it is arrived at or uncovered by many different means. There is as much truth in Grandma Moses' work as there is in Velasquez's work.
I'm working with the figure to answer my own questions..and find my own truth. I hope I've answered your question cindy..what the distortion means to me..the symmetry of human form becomes boring to me at times. That's the best answer, (plus a few lines at the top of this response) I can give you at this point.

[This message has been edited by MichaelRH (edited May 30, 2000).]

[cagathoc]

Originally posted by MichaelRH:
The questions "is this the only way?".."is that all there is?" have always kept coming up for me. Human error and imperfection (whatever "perfection" means?) is much more interesting to me.

I feel there just as much truth in Francis Bacon's work as there is in Michelangelo's
Truth (for any of us) comes from within and can be expressed in the work we do. Truth as milt has mentioned may be universal, but it is arrived at or uncovered by many different means. There is as much truth in Grandma Moses' work as there is in Velasquez's work.


I'm working with the figure to answer my own questions..and find my own truth.

YES! I just wanted to hear YOU say it...





Cindy

[This message has been edited by cagathoc (edited May 30, 2000).]

[MichaelRH]

.................(((((cindy))))), thank you.
thank you also for understanding. Hey! Maybe the study of philosophy is not a totally useless undertaking after all.
(Actually one of my all-time FAVORITE classes).

[TeAnne]

I had to steal this for my hard drive, it was hungry. OMG, this one I love, IMHO I think it is the best I've seen in this style of yours. Way to go. 'ARTIST'!

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