Category: Classicism

Always a Revolution!

9/20/2018

"Burnt Norton" (2018 No.8, state 4), oil on canvas, 55.5x66 inches {"What might have been is an abstraction; Remaining a perpetual possibility; Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory." -T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"}

Drawing 09·19·2018, pencil on paper, 20x16 inches

Just when I thought I was getting somewhere I find out there are many, many miles to go before I sleep! There ain't no Fat Lady here to tell me it's over. The painting, Burnt Norton, took a revolutionary stance. There is no going back. My commitment is large. My ambition is large. This compositional play, round versus static, is fascinating. Interesting it is that Picasso has been called a classicist because his compositions tend to be frontally centered and read like a facade. Matisse is thought to be the compositional revolutionary. Me, I am a revolutionary looking to animate by contrast, side to side, in and out. Bring it on!!!

Pablo Picasso, "Musicians with Masks", oil on canvas, 203.2x 188 cm, 1921

Henri Matisse, "Dance (II)", oil on canvas, 260x391 cm, 1910

Ornament & Crime

11/8/2017

Drawing 11·07·2017, pencil on paper, 16x20 inches

In 1908 Adolf Loos, an Austrian architect, wrote the milestone essay Ornament and Crime. Loos argued that ornamentation in art and architecture was, by its nature, ephemeral — locked into current trends and styles and, therefore, quickly dated. Loos, himself a Classicist at heart, argued instead for simple, timeless designs with time honored aesthetic and structural qualities.

I too am a Classicist at heart! My intuition is, however, at war. My simplicity of spirit must mix with my complexity of emotions. The forms I make in my paintings and my drawings emote through their complexity, mimicking the complexity of my emotive intellect. I want them to impact myself, and the viewers of my art, through simplicity of means. Apparently I am unable to fully accept simplicity, even though my Classic heart requires it. Today's drawing is an example of this duplicity. It is simple in structure with complex forms. I will work this problem forever. I will find solutions. I will produce art that has the backbone of Classicism and the emotive power of ornate forms. I am not the first person to deal with this problem. Pablo Picasso is my prime example. All his art has time honored Classic balance. Even his great masterpiece, Guernica, used a composition that utilizes a simple, Classic central triangle with two side panels. Guernica's Classicism in structure allows Picasso's complex forms to writhe with emotions within a simple, organized, and stable composition.

Pablo Picasso, "Guernica", oil on canvas, 1937

Always a Revolution!

Ornament & Crime

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