For Whom the Artist Created

"For Whom the Bells Tolls" a title from a famous novel by Erst Hemingway. By I wonder at this statement: "For whom the artist created?". Those words are mine, as they iterate my thoughts about, for whom the painting are painted for. If the artist has been commissioned to paint, sculpt or compose - the answer is evidente. However the amount of unseen art that is created by the creator, is immense and in most cases, is never seen, sometimes even destroyed. However, I surmise that most artists create for one person only - themselves! And I think that any artist of worth will apply his energies to satisfying himself, as to to his/hers worth as an artist. The strongest critic to any work is the creator himself - in his heart of hearts, he will know that the item is a true reflection of his talents and inspiration, and not the art collector or the curator of some gallery. Although the artist still craves the adoration from a neutral third party. It never is safe, to ask anther artist what he thinks of the work (every artist know this) and most of all, never ask a family member what they think of your work. Their options are always based on the fact that they love you (or we hope so). The best judge of his own work, is the artist himself. If he lies to himself, it won't be for long and he will grow to the realisation that he will have to admit, that it was not that great after all. What happens then? Well, it's back to the proverbial drawing board. That constante need to do one better will always exist. This need to forever do one better, can drive an artist nuts. The artist that comes to mind most readily is Van Gogh. An immensely productive artist, churning out sometimes a picture per day, but never been happy with the results. But I must admit - he had other problems as well. I can not quote verbatim, but Picasso said that he was never satisfied with one of his works, as he saw errors in it and knew that the next one he did, would not have the same errors as this one. I believe that this is all an attempt to please the artist himself, maybe that is why I think and that an artist is a selfish person by nature. The artist does not seem to be that good a person then?

RWR172

RWR171

This is another of the small ones (20*20cm). Done on canvas with gold leaf and mobile phone parts.

RWR170

RWR169

RWR168

This is one of my favourite little ones, known as the the "The little Ones". They are 20*20 cm and have been very popular.

RWR167

I can not believe that it is almost a month since my last post. I must try to be more diligent in posting up my paintings. Facebook seems to be dominating my attention at the moment, which is not a "too good thing". I will have to do some extra posting to be up to date with FB.

Disillusioned Artists

Are there any out there on this Saturday night? Yes I´m sure that there are millions of people that have followed their dream. Is that not what you are taught to do? Follow your dream, you owe it to yourself. Nothing is going to be worse than when you get to old age and realise that you have not followed your dream. Nothing is worse than the "what if?" That you wanted to be a dancer, poet or the next Modigliani. But reality has now bit you in the ass, you do not have a pension plan and nobody wants you because you or your product are way over 35 years of age.

Late Posting

This should have been posted up late week, but due to a heavy schedule, it is late. As they say: "Better late than never"

Regrets

As an artist have you ever regretted relinquishing one of your works? Almost every time that one of my creations leave my care, I have this pang of despair, that I have been left alone. It is almost as if one of my children have left the house and will never come back. At the moment I have been reading one of the works of Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this story, there is a painting, a portrait that is done of very good looking young man. The painting is so good that it is even better than the real person, to the extent that the artist is not prepared to sell it, donate it to a museum, or relinquish his physical hold on the painting to anyone. He says that the soul of the artist has gone into the painting. I have to admit to the same emotions (not that I can paint to the extent that the painting is better than the real person), but so much effort has gone into it's creation, that selling or donating it would seem disloyal, or acting like a traitor. There are painting that I can clearly remember, where during the creation a certain amount of internal tension, a type of agony was felt. It was trance like and enjoyable. Then, seeing that painting walk out the door is kind of painful. The purchaser is totally unaware that he is walking away with a part of me, and I´m undergoing some stress.

100 * 100cm

One of my paintings per week will be placed on this blog. Hope you liked this one.

Plastic Bank Cards

The other ubiquitous item in all our lives is the plastic bank card. It is as part of our existence as much as the internet and brushing your teeth, that is as long as you live in a modern country. It is as part of our lives as much as the digital circuit boards. So, if you have a look at one of my more recent paintings, you will find that there are digital boards, and in many cases "plastic" money as well. This transforms that painting into a time stamp. At some time in the future, you will look at the antiquated circuit boards, with their huge chips and think that in those days they were so backward and clunky. And as for the bank cards, well, today we use subcutaneous chips in our wrists. I believe that in some clubs in London, this is the way that your drinks and entrance fees are charges. Maybe the future is here already.

Assemblage

This is one of the many 100*100cm paintings done for the exhibition held at the Banco Portugal this year. It was a great success and the staff were exceptionally helpful. I recommend this gallery to anyone. It is no longer a bank, but it used to be one of the central banks of Portugal. Now it has been converted into a gallery, with the sponsorship of the local municipality. It still has the original heavy wooden de core and the old vault in the basement. The only things in the basement safe is some old furniture, it is just a convenient storage space. Having worked in an old bank before, it was very interesting to be given the tour.

The Silver Girraff

This painting was done to accompany the other painting of the giraffes. However this one was done with silver leaf instead of gold leaf. Both these painting were started some time ago, when the drawing was done with graphite on water colour paper. The drawing were supposed to be amusing, and once they were finished they lay around and I did not know what to do with them. Eventually the "Aha Moment" arrived when I was preparing for the exhibition at the Gallery Banco Portugal. Adding paper to the oil painting is commonly called "Collage", but in this case 3 dimensional circuit boards were also added. So, now is painting an example of "Collage" or "Assemblage"?

The Golden Giraffe.

Giraffes are without a doubt one of my favourite animals. The are extremely graceful and have very courageous hearts. What sparked off my like in them was a video clip of them many years ago, that was filmed in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. It showed a mature male lion attacking a baby giraffe and the ferocious mother coming to the rescue. The lion was kicked to so badly that it was almost dead, many of its ribs were broken as well as the jaw. The local game warden then had to put the lion down, otherwise it would have suffered for may days until it died. I have also seen clips of them stealing food from visitors at the zoo.

Art Exhibition at Banco Portugal

The inauguration of the show was on Saterday afternoon. The usual family and friends were there as always, and some new faces. I feel extremely pleased to have have so much support for my work, and those that have always been there, rate very highly in my book. There were a few that promised to turn up, that never arrrived, but that always happens. Inês, our dear wine lady that always sponsors the ehibitions was present. Quinta da Sapeiro wines, I think are the best in Portugal, and the number of international as well as national medals she has wone bear evidence of this. It was a honour to have her wines at the inauguration and hope that in future events she will be there.