This painting began from a
photograph in a mirror. The plant exists, but the room is just a
collapsed hybrid of mental and physical space. The only atmosphere here is in the boiling black & red of the wall and the out-of-register
light of the face.
In the first version, my goal
was to bring each form out of the red background. The basic posture was taken
from the photograph, but I did enjoy the dopey English Country Gentleman feeling in the clothes and inclination
of the head.
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| Self Camera-1 |
By version 2, most of the basic furniture was in place. I did eventually eliminate the window (an element I tend to overuse). The
slanted floor-light, which seemed to call too much attention to itself, was
also later replaced.
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| Self Camera-2 |
Version 5 was a linear
fiesta. The clashing horizontals overpowered the composition and drew the eye
away from the figure. The rough comic book rendition of the face did achieve a likeness, but one that
felt drawn on the surface instead of formed from the head.
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| Self Camera-5 |
Even though I turned down the contrast in version 6,
it was still too stiff and rectilinear. By this point, I knew that the
rendering wasn’t working. It may have looked like me, but it didn’t feel like
me.
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| Self Camera-6 |
Version 9 was the key to the
final painting. Blurring the mirror image helped me get to a stronger visual
equivalent. Clearing away the window centered the focus on the figure. It was a
stripped-down composition, but one that was starting to work.
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| Self Camera-9 |
Any screen or lens can
misrepresent, even the lens of self-image. But a painting like this, based on
equal parts experience and
invention, is not simply an
isolated object. In fact, it’s closer to instrumental music. It’s another
extension of continuous time.
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| "Self Camera"- oil on canvas, 40" x 40" |
