THE SELF-ISOLATION RESIDENCY 20th FEBRUARY 2021: DAY 328

New work in progress. Working title:
"Somewhere (away from) here."
Oil paint on canvas, 254 x 254 mm.

19, 20, 21: Finding a reason to paint, in search of the sublime. 20th February 2021.
Part 34: 'Interpretation, abstraction, illusion.
An Unsettling Appeal: Insearch of the Sublime.

Painters study their human subjects in detail, but not in as complete a figure in quite the same way that a sculptor might. The sculptor sees all, the sculptor shows all. The sculptor has a unique perspective, almost godlike, he is omnipresent, and his vision must be omnidirectional. When a sculpture is created it also must be considered in this way, there is no front, there is no back. There can be no hierarchy of interpretation, no one part or perspective of the work should be subservient to any other. This idea should define the sculptor, the sculpture and its observer; to interact with a sculpture the observer must engage with it through those same omnipresent eyes of the sculptor themselves. This of course allows the sculptor a unique facility when it comes to telling the tale of their subject, every hair carries weight, be it a hair on the subject’s head, back or ankle. The story of the subject is carried with equality throughout the whole body of the piece.

By contrast the painter may well see all, but they can’t express all. The painter can only create a window into a world through which a snapshot of their subject may be observer. Being denied the sculptors luxury of omnipotence means that the painter has to take almost the exact opposite approach in regard to the expression of their subject; the painters snapshot must be concise, it must tell the story of their subject in the most direct, compact and astute manner that the painter is able to conceive. For the most part this has led to painters composing their portraits around the head and shoulders of their subjects, almost the equivalent to that staccato form of sculpture, the bust. However most good portrait painters recognise the wonderful, narrative possibilities held, as it were, in the hands and wisely choose to also include them on most occasions. Painters do however have one advantage vis-à-vis the aspect of their sitters that most sculptures do not, the context of background or situational information.  

To be continued,,,