Blue/Green, egg tempera on calfskin parchment, 2 panels, 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches eachThe images in this painting, which I finished last week, were 'discovered' in a larger image; I felt that a 2 part piece worked well with the elements at hand. This is one of my flat paintings, where the forms are basically planes; my recent paintings seem to go back and forth between more volumetric and flatter images, each with their own challenges. I like the way the shapes and colors relate and repeat, yet with differences enough so that the two panels have a disjointed conversation; there's a rhythm of color and shape, yet with variations on the theme. The expanded format of the multi-panel painting adds complexity to a work, and I regret that I haven't prepared more of them for this year's work. This must be telling me to go back to my motifs––farm machinery ––and find some images for diptychs.
Altoon, I really like both the diptych approach and the way you handled this painting.
ReplyDeleteI'm appreciating the severity of these, no-nonsense, bam bam bam. I like this aesthetic a lot when it's nuanced the way yours are, finalized, intelligent. to say nothing of the gap between - which is rich & un-verbal.
ReplyDeletethank you both, Mona and rappel, for your nice comments.
ReplyDeleteI've thought more about the diptych, the 'gap', and how it seems to imply that there's something more––time perhaps––or something missing, similar to the space between panels of a comic. Maybe it lets the mind wander.
Another thing I"d like to add is that I thought that the crisp geometry of the shapes would be softened by the blue-green color, which tends to be quite appealing.(Komar and Melamid's survey has them as favorite colors.)
One way to judge a painting is if you feel moved to own it. That happened to me with this one especially!
ReplyDeleteHmmm... maybe we could work out something before the Major League trade deadline?
thanks a million, Kim. I use a similar yardstick when looking at art; the urge to possess is a strong one.
ReplyDeleteweighing in rather late in the piece Altoon ....it works beautifully for me...!
ReplyDeleteSophie