A Beautiful piece of Poetry.
This man and composition was chosen from a number of stills from video footage. He appealed to me because of his look and because of what he had to say and how he said it. The man recited a poem he himself had composed about his life. His words and language were plain and simple but with these plain words he created something of great articulacy, intelligence and depth, a work that because of the uncomplicated language, was accessible to all. This encouraged and reassured me by re-emphasising to myself exactly what I am aiming for. I want my own work to speak in an uncomplicated way, to be direct and popular with the viewing audience, in order to reach as many people and as wide a range of people as possible.
The objective for my own work has always been to speak in the same uncomplicated way but to carry depth, weight and emotional meaning. I want the viewer to be able to appreciate the work purely on a visual level, but also, if they wish, if they feel the need or have the will, to be able to enter in and think of deeper meanings and find other emotional levels to the work. The approach to this piece was to be as minimal as possible, to tell as much as I could with as little visual information as possible. It was a nice idea, but the man’s face told its own story, and I could not force my own structure on it. In this case I had to go with it and let the sitter lead the way for me. More of the composition was painted in than was first intended, but the work is better for it. There are still areas of the face left unpainted, but the viewer has more than enough other visual information to fill these in for themselves. I feel the work is easily strong enough to be exhibited and has enough about it to be a stand-alone piece if I choose it to be.
