Drawing Near

At 5Walls.. The under drawing (barely visible now) was removed after an hour of persisting with it. Resisting temptations to describe forms, more intent on evoking and suggesting it. Switching between willow and compressed charcoals works well for me now.

The Figure Less Immutable

I visited Vienna Art & Designat the National Gallery of Victoria today, and kept returning to the Schiele drawings - they have a physicality, emotion and psychological tension that lingers.

Yet it's a physical reaction too, the drawings so intense and well executed they compel responses to the sensory data that may have inspired Schiele himself. Auerbach once said he wanted to capture through his drawings the haptic and tangible in human experience, "what you feel when you touch somebody next to you in the dark". Seeing Schiele's work feels like that.

Klimt's Portrait of Johanna Staude 1917 drew me back to it several times. The attitude, the gesture of it all from barely tamed hair to that nebulous pout (lips never finished in the hope, of course, that she would return to the studio).

A quote from Godfrey's Painting Today:

"the continuance of figurative painting and its ongoing validity are a key aspect of contemporary practice....figurative work that seeks to deal with the body as it is understood now: more vulnerable, less immutable, still the seat of identity but an identity that is understood as problematic, not something to be thoughtlessly celebrated."

Not something to be thoughtlessly celebrated.

Below, some shots of development work and studies....

ruizstudio

inprogress_figure

June Update 2: Drawing New Pathways

I have just returned from viewing Godwin Bradbeer's exhibition, Gravitas, at James Makin Gallery (running til 26 June). The show is a stunning collection of beautifully hand rendered works on paper, and Bradbeer affirms once again that representations of the human figure can continue to provoke and inspire the human imagination to works that are well crafted, mysterious and compelling.

A passionate artist and educator, Godwin has influenced many Australian artists and students charting their own paths through the maze of possibilities presented by art. If the human figure is in your sphere of interest, you should see these works in person  or explore his website. I'm sure you won't be disappointed...

Studies continue for my next series of works - some recycled from earlier studies, others are new and informing the smaller paintings currently in progress. The time with my subjects and models in the studio is crucial for strengthening observation and adding to my own stock of images. These are the sources that I draw from when tackling new works, and that I hope to be sharing with you in my next solo show...

Cafe Figure Study

Study of Jess W