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This is the largest painting I've ever done from life. The model is an incredibly brave young woman, and, well, without further comment, this is the result of three weeks of hard work.
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It can be very rewarding to go back through art history and research a painting. For this I went back to look at Velasquez. He did at least ten paintings of court dwarfs, and I looked at all I could find. Francis Bacon did modern versions, tributes of a Velazquez painting of a Pope. This is an attempt to do a modern version of the very traditional subject. |
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Mollie is a wonderful person I met at a tattoo parlor, and as I was going over the reference material we worked up, I noticed this pose. This is a direct quote from Picasso's "Demoiselles d'Avignon". That painting was quoting the attitude of Manet's "Olympia" but using the pose of Goya's "Maja." There is something dehumanizing about the Picasso, as wonderful as it may be. This painting owes quite a bit more to Manet than Picasso in execution. Google those paintings and you will see where this one comes from.
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Another painting that was much harder than I expected. Mei is a local burlesque dancer. I had gone through a stretch of working with unexpressive models, and in a search for inspiration returned to Mei. She fills this small room entirely.
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This is my sister, acting the role of the doorkeeper. The shirt is actually a Christmas present from my brother. It is a soccer jersey from the Mexican powerhouse team "Bimbo." "Bimbo" is the equivalent of Wonder Bread in Mexico, and their soccer team is the equivalent of the Yankees in baseball. Fortunately for my standing in our family, she is hiding the white bread logo with coffee.
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I thought I was halfway through this painting, when the day was over. The next morning I came to put in all the detail... Eyes, lips, etc... As I came in, it became obvious that detail wouldn't improve the painting. While it was pretty strong at that point, I decided to see how much I could take out. The more I scraped off, the better the painting got. Unpainting is very satisfying, so I hope you enjoy the results.
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This is an almost erased painting. The technique is to put the paint on with a brush, and then carefully scrape off the inessential. What is left has the feel of a memory, at least to me.
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This is my landlords daughter. Originally I asked her to pose for me because she has a beautiful cleft chin. I have painted her portrait twice now, both cropped so closely as to miss the chin entirely. Here she is a flurry of motion - you will have to trust me about the cleft chin.
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Plato thought that our life was a pale reflection of deeper, truer world. Sometimes it can seem as if we are granted a vision of this world beyond, and these visions come at the oddest times. Here there is something special in an ordinary domestic moment. There is something especially wonderful about these unexpected moments of beauty.
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There is a dive bar in the middle of downtown Denver that plays jazz. Though my musician friends tend to notice the smoke and conversations, I respond to the atmosphere, a wonderful combination of stale beer, smoke, background noise, and intense music. Almost the perfect bar.
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There is something evergreen about this kind of subject, and this couple. The painting is an attempt to capture some of the optimism and confidence of a couples first night together. In real life the couple is married, and has been together a fair while. It is remarkable that they can embody that enthusiasm and curiosity about each other after so long.
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At the beginning of the L.A. punk scene, the seminal band "The Germs" had a young, talented, self destructive lead singer named "Darby Crash." Thats the name of this painting.
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This is the second Roller Derby painting. The secret is probably reducing the background detail so the relatively complex skaters pop out, and are clearly understandable. Once again, this is a disconcertingly tough artistic problem.
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The Denver Roller Dolls are one of the two local leagues in the roller derby renaissance. There is a wonderful riot grrl feel to their events. As an artistic subject however, it is somewhat intimidating. There is so much detail here, and so much of it is important to telling the story. While I was painting it, I tried to forget all about the subject, and just put spots of color in the right places, and trust that they would tell the story. It turns out that Fawn Stalking was able to identify herself in the painting. She is the "Jammer" on the far right here. The Jammers are speedsters that score points by passing everyone else, so Fawn won't be in the back for long, if she can avoid the minor distractions at her feet.
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This is a continuation of the project below, trying to say more with less. Some stories are so simple, they don't really need much detail (or color). These are roughly analogous to poems. Here I decided that too much color would just be distracting. Blue seems to suit the mood.
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This couple have a relationship filled with joy. They are comfortable with themselves and open in a way that makes them ideal subjects for an artist. The fact that each of them is beautiful doesn't hurt, but isn't as important as you might think. This is maybe my fifth painting of them, and I continue to learn from, and be inspired by their passion.
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For some reason I am more intimidated by hands than faces. You will hear artists say things like "Faces are the hardest subjects to paint." "If you can paint a face, you can paint anything." My experience is different. I started in art by drawing people in bars and cafes, and faces have always been easier for me than things like horses, cows, trees, or hands. Here I stare my phobia in the metaphorical face, and put blue gloves on it.
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Recently I have been thinking about how much literal information needs to be included in a painting to carry the subject across to the viewer. The question is really about the difference between my representational style of painting and pure abstraction. I rely on the subject of my paintings to carry emotional information, but a substantial part of my interest is in the elements of painting separated, literally "abstracted" from the subject. There is very little "dancer" here. Most of the dance is paint. The last little (crucial) bit of literal rendition of subject is in her shoulder, sliver of face, and then the back edge of her dress.
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Joe is a friend that runs a tattoo shop on Santa Fe Drive in Denver, "Kitchens Ink." Santa Fe Drive is the gallery row in Denver, and we bump into each other regularly at openings and such. I mentioned to him that I wanted to paint a tattoo artist at work, and he invited me to a session with his girlfriend. Perhaps something of their relationship comes through here.
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It has been too cold to paint outside for a good few weeks now. In my studio I have been looking over my stock of reference material. After a while, stuff that I haven't looked at in a while becomes fresh again. Camille looks back here, but seems to welcome what comes towards her. She is looking forward to what she sees behind her. She gives me something to aspire to.
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Last year my sister got a puppy. Stella seduced me immediately. She is well behaved, affectionate, attentive, loyal, and both quiet and playful. She is also a stone cold fox. Well, ok, not really, she is actually a rottwieller/mutt/pound dog, but she is ripped like a bodybuilder. This is my love letter to her.
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This is a couple who used to show up occasionally at a coffee shop I go to. When I asked them to pose for me, Ryan had a wonderful mohawk. He got rid of it the day before they came over to my studio. Natalie is french, and the two just moved to France.
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Artists often see paintings differently than other folk. Here, for instance, I was trying to get away from purple. I happen to think that purple is a beautiful color, and a good way to avoid gray in cool shadows. Many of my people paintings have a kind of purple/orange color scheme. Here is something new. Don't feel like you have to appreciate or even really notice that here... |
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Denver hosts the annual National Western Stock Show. It is a huge deal, but I hadn't been for the seven some years I have lived here. This year a friend suggested we go paint there. Susan Bell had passes and everything. I like to think I talked Susan out of buying a cow just to keep her horses company, but it was an understandable urge given the context. |
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When I was starting out, I did lots of self portraits. They were standard kind of things, a serious self-concious man looks intently out at you. It is hard to smile at yourself in a mirror for two hours. Working from photos finally liberated me. This is my "Self Portrait with Yellow Cab." |
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Right from the start I have tried to capture my response to music. I have dragged my camera into divey punk bars, I have squinted at stages as I sketched in the dark... Finally it feels like I am making progress. |
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Perhaps this should be called "She's Come Undone." |
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In real life the gentleman doesn't have tatoos on his left forearm. Taking small liberties seemed thematically consistent with the subject... |
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A few weeks ago I took some paintings over to Quang Ho. He is an acomplished artist and a gifted teacher. I am fortunate to have studied with him. He is very generous with his time and wisdom, and I periodically ask him for advice. These conversations can screw up my painting for a month or so. This time he challenged me to try to find ways to say what I want using a smaller range of values and colors. Here I compressed the value range even more than in an earlier sketch. I darkened the light struck sidewalk, and lightened the shadows. I also knocked down the intensity of the two notes of intense color, the shirts. The idea is that people often pay closer attention when you whisper. |
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It is important to pick subjects that fit an artists aproach. This is as fine a match as the pool player below. While I hope it isn't the first thing a viewer notices, I am especially proud of the sink and faucet. Many artists work on still lifes of things like eggs on white plates, or eggs next to empty white coffee cups. I haven't ever done that kind of thing, so this sink is a real success... |
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I have a feeling someone might look at this and say: "Clyde, you seem to be able to paint well... Your faces are so realistic, what happened here?" |
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The shark looks a lot like my brother. He is playing in between acts at a small divey punk bar I frequent. It is amazing how alone we can be in social situations. |
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The same bar, before a show. The man on the left, looking away from the bar is Josh, the guitarist for The Symptoms. They were one of my favorite local bands. I remember the first time I saw them: they were doing their punk rock thing, at the end of their set they did a cover song. Sonya, the lead singer told us: "You all know the words." Then they broke into "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" originally by "The Ramones." You had to smile. Looking around it became clear that everyone did know the words. All of the sudden I was the member of a club I hadn't known existed. |
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The last light goes out soon... |
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Lee Freidlander published a book of photographic self portraits in which he often figured subtly, sometimes as a shadow. I was showing in a gallery (Terra Firma) near Über when Über was setting up, painting their mannequins and all that kind of thing. This is what I saw in the parking lot behind the store. Thanks, Lee, and thanks Über. |
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© Clyde Steadman 2005
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