I'm making new celebrity portraits tonight!!!!
Taking a small break from the historical romance appropriation. I think it's confusing me so much, these hurtful comments about rendering. I don't have a classical technique or have such precise attention to detail. In fact, I'm bad at this as I keep saying, but it's what I got out of the special Hank Willis Thomas critique today.
The visiting artist said that the drawings were more successful than the paintings due to their boxiness, harshness, and brutality. That the line work was strong and angular which in turn added to the texture. Then he mentioned that perhaps I should explore other materials, especially color ones on the textured paper as opposed to canvas. The weaknesses were of course the rendering (romance novels are traditionally successfully realistic and very glossy), to clarify what I want the audience to feel (is it humorous, celebratory, or loneliness?), that the background takes away, and that the content needs to be pushed.
Good feedback, I know, but I'll go back to the drawing board.
I'll stick to what I love- which is painting portraits! I'm already set in motion who I would like to paint- Dorothy Dandridge, Ossie Davis, and Michael Jackson. I'm very interested in idealizing them. Yet I don't know if I want to use their imagery by appropriating famous paintings or doing Warhol inspired blowups with incorporated text.
Hmmm...... we'll see what happens.
Taking a small break from the historical romance appropriation. I think it's confusing me so much, these hurtful comments about rendering. I don't have a classical technique or have such precise attention to detail. In fact, I'm bad at this as I keep saying, but it's what I got out of the special Hank Willis Thomas critique today.
The visiting artist said that the drawings were more successful than the paintings due to their boxiness, harshness, and brutality. That the line work was strong and angular which in turn added to the texture. Then he mentioned that perhaps I should explore other materials, especially color ones on the textured paper as opposed to canvas. The weaknesses were of course the rendering (romance novels are traditionally successfully realistic and very glossy), to clarify what I want the audience to feel (is it humorous, celebratory, or loneliness?), that the background takes away, and that the content needs to be pushed.
Good feedback, I know, but I'll go back to the drawing board.
I'll stick to what I love- which is painting portraits! I'm already set in motion who I would like to paint- Dorothy Dandridge, Ossie Davis, and Michael Jackson. I'm very interested in idealizing them. Yet I don't know if I want to use their imagery by appropriating famous paintings or doing Warhol inspired blowups with incorporated text.
Hmmm...... we'll see what happens.
I definitely think you had something going with the historical romance portraits. I can see what the tutor/person was saying when they commented that romance novel covers are known for being ultra realistic (which is what makes the costumes and subject matter especially funny sometimes :) ).
ReplyDeleteIt could just be a case of putting this idea aside until you're ready to deal with it again, if you ever do. The old artist switcheroo!
What is it about these celebrities that interests you enough to want to paint them? Really thinking about why them, and then HOW you will try to express why you chose them, really thinking thse things through your head will better prepare you for talking about them as well.
Celebrity portraiture can be tough...if you're not careful, you wind up looking like a fangirl (I had this problem when I was trying to do works about Marilyn). As beautiful as your Warhol style rendering is, if I were you I'd try a different approach because warhol-styled celebrity portraits are all over the place now.
I suggest doing some research on artists that also deal with celebrity.. there's an Australian one named Kathy Temin who did an entire installation about Kylie Minogue (LOL)...here are some pics here:
http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/37/Kathy_Temin/370/
anyhow looking at other artists will maybe help give you ideas for different approaches.
I think it would be hysterical if you took old paintings and injected michael jackson or put a celebrities head on David or something. That's kind of been done to some extent as well but you get my drift!
I type too much. LOL!! good luck my dear Janyce!! If you need any help or need to bitch about teachers etc, you know how to reach me! :)