I'm strolling along on the edge between art and illustration. This night scene -- and it is so much fun to paint the trees, they just grow by themselves, meditatingly! -- is a children's book illustration, trying to show the atmosphere in another town I visited: Tallinn, my parents' hometown. The houses from 15th and 16th century were storehouses in this old Hanse trading place by the North Baltic Sea. I looked at this cute scene and said to myself: This is the same darn kitsch I've been stepping into, walking with my head up. Okay. Let's dive into abstraction once more. --
Mr Kandinsky, the sublime Master of abstract painting had a follower, Rudolf Bauer, who imitated him, believing he was even better and deserved to have his whole oeuvre bought by Mr Solomon Guggenheim. He was assisted by Ms Rebay, his lover, who kept getting on everybody's nerves until they praised the work of Bauer.
I feel I'm doing the same: follow a trodden path. OMG. Where am I going? Innocently playing with paints, imitating the abstract masters, never finding my own expression. (Sorry I'm bothering you with my boohoos, but I really doubt I'll ever find my style.)
13 comments:
As an illustrator, I have to say I like the little street scene very much. I'm less keen on the abstract piece, which seems have less cohesion. It just sounds like you are making some kind of intellectual decision about your process which may not be trusting.
you r talented defntilly, u have an extreme creativity !!
your style is that of questioning. and that is what i have the most respect for....
the painting is wonderful. i love your style....whatever its name. i think the questioning is part of who you are.....not what you are doing. don't you think so too?
you have a definite style, perhaps influenced a bit by others, but definitely your own style.....and I love it!
xo
Ha ha - you only THINK you don't have a style. It is highly recognizable, despite what you say. Just keep playing and experimenting and remember what Mark Twain (I think) said:
"Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."
You certainly do have your own style and I love it...enjoy popping by to see what you have been doing.
The houses are fabulous! Can I ask...do you paint the background black or are you using black paper? I have recently done a couple of pieces and painted the background black - hard work, took hours.
Enjoy exploring your style.
Jacky xox
...just enjoy what you're doing....it IS your style, even though you may not see it...and it's growing stronger all the time...
I love what you're doing here.
Please keep it up!
I use black cardboard I bought in a 50 piece pack in (approximately) letter format.
As a researcher in the gallery that represents Rudolf Bauer's estate, I can assure you that Bauer and Kandinsky were ultimately attempting very different things in their work, and in very different ways, even though to the casual observer at the time and now, their styles seem similar... and as art history has liked to tell the story (unfairly) Bauer's work was derivative. That was not nor is it now the case. So don't use that story against your own art, because it's not the full one nor the right one.
Jasmine, thank you for the comment. My posting on Rudolf Bauer was a little provocative, I admit. It based on the book by Sigrid Faltin. I read it twice and read everything about Kandisky that I could get hold of. I saw Bauer's figurative drawings and paintings in the Guggenheim exhibition 2006 in Bonn/Germany. I visited places where Kandinsky's work can be seen: Muenchen, Weimar, Dessau, Murnau.
It would be way too big for my boots if I compared myself to Vassily.
I think that the search for 'style' is as hollow a journey as the search for 'unique, creative, and expressing oneself'! All of these are simply a bi-product or jetsom of the journey.
What marks that you make do you like best? What color resonates in a strange but always familiar way? Do you find your self sharpening or softening shapes? Explore those urges and tendencies without concern for style and it will show up on its own!
and, you made the following comment on Celeste's site, I love it. Perfect! :
Freedom? We aren't free to chose our favourite color on the traffic lights and go, are we?
I think you have a fabulous style!
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