June 12, 2011

A New Painting: "Arms"

Arms, egg tempera on calfskin parchment, 6 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches.


When I found this image (and I deliberately use the word "found" as I go out to farms to photograph and discover or uncover images) I thought it was very intriguing, the many arms of the implement implying motion or energy, or an oblique reference to the Hindu goddess Kali.
As I began to paint, I felt that it would be difficult to work in a naturalistic manner with very textured surfaces, so I decided to simplify; what came to mind immediately was Spanish still life painting of the 17th century, where objects emerged from a dark ground.


Juan van der Hamen y León, Still Life with Sweets, 1622; oil on canvas; 22 3/4 x 38 1/4 in.


Many of van der Hamen's paintings have a geometric clarity that greatly appeals to me. Mundane objects are transformed into dramatic characters on a stage, emerging with great weight and presence from the darkness.

So...I painted the background of Arms as a strong dark, using layers and mixtures of Cadmium brown, Ultramarine blue and Phthalo Green, moving back and forth from warmer to cooler; and painted some of the furthest arms sinking back into the darkness. This is one of those paintings I'm not sure about, in this case because it's gone somewhere different. What do you think?


19 comments:

  1. Susan SawyerJune 12, 2011 at 9:30 AM

    I'm sure about this one, Altoon -- it's a beauty! Very rich in color and the combination of repeated arcs, hexagons and square is exciting.

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  2. Altoon SultanJune 12, 2011 at 9:50 AM

    thank you, Susan! When I first started working on this image, I was very excited, then doubts emerged, so the positive response is very helpful.

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  3. AnonymousJune 12, 2011 at 11:13 AM

    I think your painting should take you somewhere different. If it does, it seems to me that the artist has imbued it with its a soul of its own. i love the relationship i sometimes have with paintings which have taken me down a fork in the road i normally would have averted, it certainly gives one pause and reflection on the process both mechanically and intellectually.

    This painting is probably compositionally perfect and the palette rocks. I personally love the dark background as it seems to add to the depth rather than flatten the subject, and begets the question what lies beyond.

    Ok i just go on and on but Altoon this is simply a marvelous painting.

    Best, Jay

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  4. DanielJune 12, 2011 at 11:24 AM

    Love This Altoon! Very strong, similarly stable and dynamic, rich feeling.

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  5. Mona Diane ConnerJune 12, 2011 at 11:46 AM

    Very nice Altoon, and I like the decision to emerge it from darkness. The feeling of Kali is also such a neat observation here.

    Have tried many pigments over the last 30 or so years, but never cadmium brown. Does it temper well, and do you use it often?

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  6. Altoon SultanJune 12, 2011 at 11:51 AM

    thanks to you all for the marvelous comments. I'm so glad I asked the question because the replies have made me think quite a lot about possible future work, which doesn't mean it'll change a lot, but that I should allow other moods to enter.

    and Mona, Cadmium brown is a very dark red, a color I use rarely, but like all the cadmiums, it is a strong pigment that tempers very well.

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  7. Lisa at GreenbowJune 12, 2011 at 12:30 PM

    I think it is amazing. SO real.

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  8. fettenbergJune 12, 2011 at 1:03 PM

    Your putting that single nut and its housing over the toothed formation gets to look like a trademark event of yours. I wish this central anchor were somehow more simplified a bit more of a departure from your ususal - not as mechanically/decoratively complex as it appears here.

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  9. AnonymousJune 12, 2011 at 1:08 PM

    Beauty in color and range of tone.
    I wonder if this drawn from an actual thing you look at. The lengths of the arms is confusing. I guess you cut them off on purpose. Then perhaps its more design than drawing?

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  10. rappelJune 12, 2011 at 1:23 PM

    it's alive like a crab and that eye somehow makes it say something humorous, something not translated, so the humor hovers adding a touch of mystery.

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  11. Altoon SultanJune 12, 2011 at 1:41 PM

    fettenberg, yes, I do tend to use bolts and holes as exclamation points or holding centers of compositions. I will keep an eye out and make sure it doesn't become too much of a trademark. I actually simplified it quite a bit from its original, leaving out a couple of extra bolted layers and painting much less texture and color change than there actually was. So what for me looks simplified, for you still looks complex.

    Anonymous: yes this is an actual thing, and all my paintings are based on actual things. This is a cultivator; those arms would move in the soil to loosen it. The arm lengths are varied because they move back in space, but maybe that isn't clear enough.

    thanks, Lisa,
    and rappel, I'm interested in your seeing humor here, which I'm always glad of. Others have seen darkness, even threat in this image; it's amazing how different responses can be.

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  12. DeborahJune 12, 2011 at 7:09 PM

    It makes me think of the images from your trip to the aquarium, anemones?

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  13. Altoon SultanJune 13, 2011 at 7:03 AM

    Deborah, someone else, on facebook, mentioned anemones. The waving arms can bring them to mind.

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  14. LINDA from Each Little WorldJune 13, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    This is really a perfect piece; maybe it's the subtlety of the colors with no bright primaries that gives it such a different feeling. And it really has a sense of movement — even a bit menacing and very like Kali! Just jumps off the screen the minute you see it. Very powerful for such a small work.

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  15. Julie SiegelJune 13, 2011 at 1:56 PM

    I'm on the bandwagon...seeing more depth, not just literally.
    And since we have to thank Kali for compost, perfect palette. The homage to those marvelous Spanish painters adds another layer. Their works always compel me to slow down...as does this.

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  16. Altoon SultanJune 13, 2011 at 3:50 PM

    thanks Julie and Ms. Wis. I started a new painting today and all the chat around this work certainly has set me thinking about different approaches to color and light. I'm not ready to move into a "Spanish palette" though.

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  17. Steve MetzgerJune 13, 2011 at 4:41 PM

    I'd say..don't overthink it...painting detail allows a lot of time for contemplation...nice composition and color. If something else happened, that's great!

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  18. john s. fairleyJune 16, 2011 at 8:00 AM

    Thank you for the reference to Kali. It adds a wonderful dimension to the duality at work. Kali, the black, the pull of darkness, death. The earth tones, the promise of life. The interplay creating a vortex of earth, a cycle. "The figure of Kali conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself." That this is a tool of agriculture makes it more intriguing. The paradox that life requires death is deeply rooted in farming. These are, in reality, metal teeth that chew, mix, aerate and destroy to create a path for a single, chosen life form; so it can grow and blossom and yield its nourishment to a higher life form. The arms of Kali. Beautifully captured in a 6 1/4 X 5 1/2 egg tempera.
    Thank you, Altoon.

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  19. Altoon SultanJune 16, 2011 at 9:09 AM

    oh, thank you john, for your thoughtful comment. Growth does also imply decay, and agriculture is certainly an ambivalent kind of business.

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