This series came about because a student assistant had mixed up too much of this flesh toned color. They kept adding more and more paint together in an effort to get a different color. In the end the student abandoned the attempt and left a half gallon of this color setting on the mixing table unused. Me, being the studio manager, not wanting to discard the large amount of paint, set it aside hoping another project might come along where that paint might be useful.
Thinking that the color reminded me of flesh, I wondered if I could use it that way. First I tried to use it as a flesh tone and experimented with painting a figure. However the paint did not mix well with other paints. And I just wasn't finding anything with that approach that ultimately interested me. Working with some photographs I had taken that had been enlarged. I became interested in the abstract forms that the human body and skin can make. While not necessarily identifying any particular area of the body. The resulting images became abstracted landscapes of sorts in my mind. The flesh tone of the paint reinforces the essence and further references the human form.
I used laser print transfer to add a photographic line element. I also set the flesh tone against a dark background. Letting the two colors blend and merge with the print. The effect reminds me of an early wet plate photographic process.
All the paintings are 8.5 x11 inches. On a wood panel. 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment