Arts for art’s sake February 27, 2013
I keep making reference to her new arts Facebook page, I
suppose I should describe it a bit before it goes away like some of her poetry
does.
This arts’ page as alluded to earlier contains the controversial
photos of the gas line installation the owner is constantly on my back to
obtain. It also includes her music, and a lot of her fine art.
Many of these pieces are studies in human anatomy, and in
some cases, still-life works.
I had previously seen one or two pieces of hers hanging on
the walls of her apartment; seeing a collection of them, however, is a whole
new experience.
My favorite of these are her self-portraits which appear to
be both water color and pencil or charcoal sketches.
The water colors seem to be a homage to Cezanne and Frieda,
especially those that are up close studies of her face. In one or two sketches,
she has a study of herself in the nude, although smudged out the facial
features. These are classic art school nude poses, although she avoided portraying
herself in the classical romantic plumpness typical of that school of art.
Three or more of the images were variations on the same
scene depicting her posed on a couch, using in what I am assuming is water
color, using a theory of modern art that emphasized blocks of color (a push and
pull effect) in this case surrounding the central figure – similar to what Cezanne
did in his landscapes., although her image is straight out of the Mexican school
of art best known by artist Frieda.
In these paintings, she still has very long hair. In one, her
hair falls over her shoulder and onto her chest. She is wearing a red blouse
with straps falling off her shoulder and down her arm. She is wearing a black skirt,
and in one of the paintings, her legs are drawn up onto the couch, one arm positioned
on the arm of the couch with hand dangling over the side. Her other hand holds
a glass of wine. The background is divided into blocks of color, mostly tan and
brown that help to emphasize her shape and give it definition.
In this painting, the woman stares off to the left, perhaps
in conversation, or perhaps she is alone, contemplating as she often does in real
life, her lips pursed. None of these paintings or sketches depict her smiling.
In all these self-portraits her eyes (as in real life) drawing the attention of
the observer, their intense stare casting a particular if not always readable
mood.
Another of these paintings depicts the same figure wearing
the same skirt and blouse, but laying on her side on the couch, expression
neither happy nor sad, seemingly deep in private thought. In this painting, she
looks straight out of the painting at the observer, her head in hand propped up
on her elbow, her other arm across her chest.
There are several close-up self-portraits, very Frieda-like,
my favorite of which has her wearing a blue blouse, her long dark hair (almost
black in this painting) bunched up behind her head, her posture on a slight
angle so she is looking out at the observer from slightly sideways. Her lips
are dark, and her cheeks almost red, another exploration of color, capturing
the flair of Mexican art, but not losing the power of modernists like Cezanne
or even Gauguin, playing with color as well as shape.
Another of these paintings again has her posing on a couch,
one arm over the back of it, the other folded in front, as she stares off to
the right, rich with the same colors as the previous portrait. She looks
distracted, dreamily thoughtful.
There are numerous sketches, several of these also
self-portraits, in some the figure depicted as a slight angle, while her
expression looks questioning or puzzled, but not emotional.
But in everyone of these self-portraits, close up or
slightly distant, the center of gravity is in her eyes. You can’t look anywhere
else in the painting without a struggle, but always come back to the eyes when
you do.
There are several classic still life sketches, and a number
of body sketches as well, faces bulky images in different configurations.
Several of the still life sketches depict classic theater
masks out of Greek or Roman theater.
Still other sketches depict body parts and limbs.
Just when she did all or most of these is a guess. I suspect
she did them while still at art school in the late 1990s. It is also impossible
to say just how many of these she did over how long a period.
It is also impossible to know if she posted these in
response to my posting my much inferior sketches on my blog over the last few months.
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