3:42 PM: stage 2 of gaze 28; taking it slow & easy, enjoying the process & trying not to aggravate what may be a mild hernia. i love looking at this state of the painting. it's sweet; it's provocative; what are those bare breasts doing in a vermeer?? and refreshingly spare. just because all the others in the series have 6,7, 8 layers doesn't mean.....so lets give a a rest, go lie down, and see what it decides it wants to become tomorrow.
2:25 PM: stage 1 of gaze 28; about to start drawing...on the right, a detail of the upper left quadrant, with a newspaper clipping of a photography by nellie, of the dancer mona païva, of the comedie francias, dancing nude at the acropolis in athens.
1:06 PM: about to begin gaze 28, which will be 38x38" there is always a certain freedom in this initial layer of what will become 3,4,5 or more layers. anything goes. and yet, this is the very foundation of what will come next. a mystery, as always.
pics of the entire process of gaze 28 will be posted, along with commentary, as available.
here's a first draft of an intro to the gaze series i'm composing to go along with the images, to be sent to a gallery in germany:
gaze: look steadily and intently, especially in admiration, surprise, or thought
beyond this dictionary definition, a person’s gaze reflects the sum total of all that led up to that moment. we’ve all had the experience of being inexplicably drawn to the gaze of someone we pass in the street or see across the room.
in this series of paintings i use that pregnant moment as a focal point. all the paintings are inspired by historical prototypes; most often by vermeer. many of the women in his paintings have a mysterious and haunting gaze transcending the immediate activity of writing or reading a letter, adjusting a necklace or posing for a painting.
for me, they are related to the gaze of the subjects in most 1st c. fayum portraits, which i also draw from in some of the paintings in this series. these portraits have a vitality, immediacy and freshness that transcends their time.
i’ve greatly enlarged the small originals and have collaged layers of maps, newspapers, etc., all cut into biomorphic shapes. between layers, the entire surface has been glazed with a wash of thin warm color, then scraped, creating unpredictable textures and often revealing bits of maps or newsprint.
the completed paintings remind one of billboards that have been scraped and peeled, revealing the many layers beneath. or of ancient pompeiian or byzantine frescos weathered by time. the core image keeps shifting, two, three or more times. so that what you see lies atop many other faces; many other gazes.