Self Portrait...

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on November 3, 2013 at 6:47pm

Curator’s Comment:

 

Thank you for encouraging me to look at your work and offer a comment.  One of my favorite portraits in your portfolio is your self-portrait. While self-representation/actualization is a particular challenge, it appears as though you were willing to take greater liberties and risks in the brush work here; maybe less of a concern to depict the ideal or please the subject?  The darker green shadows in the top of the head adjacent to the broken patches of warm highlight on the forehead provide rich color and spatial depth. I also like the way the head is slightly tilted, but fills most of the picture plane.  The incidental drips and thinner oil washes to the right open up the small bit of atmospheric background space, and imply movement and possibly slight discontent.  I’m also attracted to the piece entitled White Flower.  It has a very different feeling than your other portraits, primarily because of the proportion of the full figure to the landscape. Not quite as candid as a snap shot, it is still less formal and academic than many of the other paintings.  I like that the concern seems to be less about capturing the exact likeness or detailed rendering of the subject, and more of the inherent emotional gesture.  While employing presumed local color, the tree in the foreground echoes the bend in the figure’s arm, as well as the contrasting chiaroscuro on a roughly cylindrical form. The muted cool hues on the large trunk also create visual disparity against the fertile greenery and dappled texture in its surround. The space between the subject and viewer adds anpther psychological dimension.  While other pieces have direct frontal poses, such as Chloe, Roos, California Boy, etc., the subject of White Flower is keenly aware of being observed, and uncertain of the attention.