I have watched ‘The British Face’ several times now….a DVD about portraiture, in association with London’s National Portrait Gallery by the Irish actress and theate director Fiona Shaw. What a relevation!!. Shaw interviews painters such as Stuart Pearson Wright to Marc Quinn. From Francis Bacon to Freud. I feel portraits are still important….they are traces of the closeness and complexity between two people. I dont flatter the ego and vanity of the person I am painting. I have realised that its all about how I see the people I paint. The more paintings I do….I realise they reveal more about me than I could of ever had realised…
I have been looking at the British Portrait Awards. Looking through one of their exhibition brochures…I once again became fascinated by the differences in style and approach by the various artists. I was particularly impressed by Charlotte Harris…who went on to win the prestigious first prize. As the foreward for the exhibition catalog says “How do we judge a good portrait? By the likeness? By its technique? By the interest and richness of the painted surface? By a telling pose? It goes on to say…”Why, in the age of photography, film and digital images, are we still interested in painted portraits? …Our interest in the difference between photograph’s and paintings is the fascination with the different means of exciting recognition. What distinguishes painting from photography as a record of recognition it the artists personal choice of notation of their observation- and the arrangement of the marks with which they record it”I have done another portrait of the ‘ Man in a Blue Hat’…faces keep pulling me back..and perhaps I should accept that portraiture for now…is my motivation.
I have been looking at artists Jenny Saville, Francoise Neilly, Nick Leapord and Luca Pailizzi. Jenny Saville paints fairly disturbing portraits of mainly women and some men in various stages of surgery.Her work features copious amounts of flesh, distorted and often disturbing and visceral. Obese bodies displaying vibrant and confident brushwork her large scale canvases have an impact that isnt subtle. Where I am influenced by Saville is her unromantic view of the body and painting the reality of what she sees. I admire how her paintings are loose and full of expression,Francoise Neilly is a french artist. She works with very vibrant colours,while Nick Leapord works with a limited palette of colour which is very expressive. I admire both their work.
