Inner struggle

Comment

Comment by Jean Dornevil on November 26, 2012 at 7:14am

Thank you!
Yes, the image is taken straight from the camera with no editing whatsoever... No intentional color distortion so you'd feel exactly the same if it were in front of you ... I've taken this piece to many exhibitions and the reaction from one audience to another is pretty consistent...
Yes, I'd love to see the result

Comment by Gerry Hull on November 26, 2012 at 7:00am

Composition is so pretty.
Image is taken straight from camera, right?
Wondered what it wld look like without the color distortion and dimming,
What it would look like if it were right in front of me, in other words.
I zipped it through an editing app on ipad. Dunno if I hit the mark or not.
But wld be honored to send result.
Is such a nice picture.
Maybe an odd thing to say considering bunch of people are drowning in it.
But you know what I mean.

Comment by Jean Dornevil on November 2, 2012 at 6:56pm

http://www.haitianart.weebly.com

Comment by Jean Dornevil on October 31, 2012 at 2:19pm

Well... Thank you for your kind words, critiques, and most importantly advice. It always means so much to me having an art professor giving me insight of my works...  Most professorial critics have come from professors or teachers that I have a personal relationship with, therefore, they could have been biased on their critics... but having someone whom doesn't know me to critic and advise me means that much more... Thank you for your comments and I am looking forward to interacting more with you and other artists on here. What a wonderful website!

Comment by Resident Curator on October 31, 2012 at 1:41pm

Thank you so much for responding.  You words, as your paintings, are very moving.  But I don't think you need to struggle  to explain your paintings. They speak for themselves in a very direct way.  The life experiences of others will no doubt color their readings of your work. We each bring our own individual ideas and backgrounds to our viewing.  But their past can't define, and shouldn't try to qualify, your own.

Comment by Jean Dornevil on October 28, 2012 at 5:45pm

This is the first time someone has ever come close to describing what was going on in my mind when I painted this piece. I have taken this piece to many exhibitions and some people usually see it as nothing but a sinking boat that once was filled with immigrants trying to reach the so called "promised land". "DEPRESSING" some would shout and others could be heard saying "why would a High School kid paint something like that? is he suicital?" {{ yes, I was close to being suicital my senior year in High school it was I believe"... until I explained it to my audience...then I would look up and see almost 2/3 of them wiping tears from their eyes.  "This is my story!" is always the first line that comes out of my mouth when I get a chance to explain this piece. I usually take a long pose just to see the reaction on people's face and the little comments that suggests that I came to America illegally on a boat that probably sank... but then I would continue to tell them that this piece, in reality, has nothing to do with the ocean and that I didn't migrated here illegally on a boat. It is all symbolic... this piece explains my inner struggle. For once, I didn't plan what I wanted to paint, it just happened. Yeah, I woke up one night, couldn't sleep because of something horrible that had happened to me before I had gone to bed... that situation in particular had made me feel like the whole world but a few people was against me.  I was doing nothing wrong, I wasn't anything short of a positive/optimistic kid working towards a bright future... but unfortunately, misunderstood by parents, family, and family friends... I felt like the whole world was against me either because they didn't understand me or they did understand but were jealous at what I promised to become, or maybe a little bit of both. I think I've said too much... maybe in subsequent comment I will explain the story behind the painting...if, of course, commentators show interest in learning more.... Anyway, Thank you Resident Curator for such a heartfelt analysis

Comment by Resident Curator on October 28, 2012 at 5:00pm

Curator’s Comment:  

 

Inner Struggle for me stands apart from your other paintings on the site not just in its unique compositional structure, but also in mood and meaning.  Rather than depicting tropical Haitian life as idyllic and colorfully patterned, it has a strong universality in its disastrous upheaval. The terrifying scene unfolds as if a dream.  The proportionally large life boat sinks into a sea of tiny figures.  The sky and ocean blend together, swallowing up everything in its vast, borderless blue space. Too small to make out individual features, the swimmers drift helplessly as another excruciatingly tiny boat is far off on the horizon.   I like your other painting that contains large decorative land masses (09120029) and small figures in boats.  The decorative space flows from dotted landscape to workers in the fields- treating all space as if it is part of a living, fertile continuum.  But this scene, for me, doesn’t come close to the plain humanity depicted in the previous Inner Struggle.  The title also suggests this turmoil is interior rather than at the mercy of forces beyond control.  Its cathartic (or hopeful) to imagine we create our own reality.