Thinking about Figure Painting

I have been thinking about figure painting, and representational painting in general.

I think the key to making good painting does not have that much to do with producing a likeness, facile likenesses are the straightest route to boring painting.

I think that the point when representational painting becomes interesting is when the image is a reconstruction of the parts that make up the image, with signs of intelligence running along within the decisions of how the parts are represented. For instance when someone who has been drawing for 5 years learns to draw a very good likeness it is really exciting to them, but in 5 more years it has become tedious and a new solution is necessary. That is when things tend to get really engaging, the pulling apart and putting back together, and being able to "say something" with an image. The evidence of thoughtfulness, and the wizardry behind making an image force things on someone else's perception becomes exciting again.

I have been drawing a lot, and have found interesting things to read lately. The Believer has a phenomenally good article about Aby Warburg that really got my mind working overtime. I am also reading a few other books.

Working in Brooklyn is very interesting and I like going into the corner stores, last Friday I found one where I can get a buttered roll and a tea with sugar for $1.50, that's my kind of price - I can carry that in quarters, and my pocket won't even be heavy.

Dan Attoe emailed me a painting of bikers around a campfire that is completely amazing. Here it is:

Finished with this Painting

Books I got for Christmas

The Best American Comics 2007, edited by Chris Ware

click here to see this book in the I.S.H. bookshop

I have really enjoyed this so far, I have read the first 4 or 5 comics and they have all been really interesting. There is one from Robert and Aline Crumb that made me laugh out loud.
The R and A Crumb strip is, I think, autobiographical and they visit their daughter Sophie who is basically squatting in a building. Sophie and her boyfriend show the Crumbs about all the nice things people throw away on the street in garbage piles, and after the visit the Crumbs are walking along looking at the garbage for good things. R Crumb finds a box and exclaims that it is chocolate cake and then walks over and opens the box to find out that it is dog shit. It cracked me up.

I also received the third volume of John Richardson's biography of Picasso. I read the first two with a feverish passion, and the third volume really has his best work (except the Dora Maar stuff) so it promises to be really good as well.


click here

I have started reading it and it has taken place in Rome helping Diaghilev put on a ballet production called Parade, if you are a music buff Eric Satie is part of this story. It has a slightly dry beginning, but I am not that interested in theatre compared to painting and drawing so I have a bias.

Looks like I have some good reading in front of me for the next couple of weeks.

Transmission Gallery in Richmond Virginia

I am in a group show at the Transmission Gallery in Richmond VA starting Jan 2.

This is the work I sent to the show:

Maps and Landscapes

How do images of landscapes and maps function differently?

I was thinking about putting a landscape photo on a wall in my bedroom, but I thought maybe a map might be more appropriate. Because a landscape references the outside world and the space it takes up, but a map lives inside your thoughts.

I was thinking a very precise hand drawn map might be best, because it would serve as a reminder that my job is to be precise and make amazing things.

I put two nice images below this from flickr, which is the yahoo photo sharing website.

Happy holidays.

Bill

Painting

I have been painting a lot lately.

I think I have figured something out about being an artist. Making art is thinking about art.

You do not need seperate thinking time. Painting time is thinking time, they are the same time.

Thinking about painting when I am not painting is really just thinking about starting a painting. The process of making a painting includes making a lot of decisions that would be very hard to predict before you start.

Here is a new drawing.