Give ‘em the Bird

Friday

Readymade Not Readymade

Vanitas Self Portrait

D’Orsay Women

After so many painfully detailed still lifes, I like to let loose a little and do some impressionism. Copying Monet is one way to do this. Here, I took an image of an egret that I shot some years ago in George Bush Park after some heavy rains. Ramping up the color saturation made the image more Monet-like. Then I added “BIRD” for a little irreverence

This is a still life about old age where the medications to alleviate the decay of the body are arranged on a table top. The candle, which is a traditional symbol of mortality, is nearly burned out as we can presume is the life of the owner. The pill box is open to the eponymous day – deliberately chosen near the end of the week. The MRI images are my own, though my candle still has some wax left (I hope). The image of the young girl, presumably there to provide hope, is intentionally misleading. This young woman died at the age of eighteen, presenting the contrast between the life tragically cut short and the end game of senescence and decay. This is furthered by the dead lily – a traditional symbol of the resurrection.

This painting evolved from some of my reading on the philosophy of art. One definition of art claims that anything created with the intention of display for an audience constitutes art. Thus, Marcel Duchamp’s readymade art: common objects put on display as art. I thought as my own example this old pot that once belonged to my grand aunt. When used for cooking it is not art as it is serving another non-art purpose. However, once I put it on display for contemplation by an audience (using a pedestal that also was my grand aunt’s), it becomes art. And not bad art at that because it forces the viewer to really look at the pot and see its beauty in its shape, color, age and wear and tear (these Dada guys were onto something). The paradox of this piece is that I have painted a portrait of the readymade. There is nothing ‘readymade’ about the portrait and this gives rise to the title.

Vanitas (Latin for ‘emptiness’) is a common theme portrayed in still lifes of the 17th century, where the trappings of the material world are displayed alongside some spiritual or mortality image to remind us of the transience of this world and the fleeting nature of youth and physical beauty. Here the jewelry, makeup, and mirror symbolize these trappings. The elaborate mirror reflects a girl, the symbol of youth and beauty, admiring an earring. It is aligned so that the girl’s position matches that of the viewer, thus involving the viewer in the piece. The cell phone shows her boyfriend, a further preoccupation of youth. I used an old photograph of my mother and great-grand uncle to serve as the memento mori or reminder of mortality. The antique mirror, an art nouveau piece which once belonged to my grand aunt, also serves this purpose. I intentionally added the cell phone to modernize the subject matter; except for which, the picture could be decades old.

(Oil on Canvas, 24in x 30in, 2009)

This image appeared to me while visiting the Musee D’Orsay where my wife and her cousin sat sketching these Monet paintings of his wife. I modified the image somewhat, making their heights similar and changing their shirt colors to reflect the gold frames. I am particularly attracted by the two by two symmetry of the composition and the trompe l’oeil effect of the piece.