Masters of Art

When the Belmar Arts Council started planning their summer exhibition schedule, one item put on it was a show called "Old Masters".  Did that mean a show of work from people who have won awards in previous shows (like the Masters golf tournament), because that could work for me.  I have a drawer full of ribbons and plaques, and for the most recent annual Juried show I loaned them some ribbons to hang next to the winners when the ones they ordered were late in arriving.  Actually it turned out to be showing art that was directly influenced by "old masters" art, however you interpret that.  I suppose that makes more sense.  Artists tend to be influenced by art they see and admire.  In my earliest days as an art student I tended to be influenced by whatever I was seeing at the same time in my art history classes.  And I have made more than a few pieces that were based in ways on the work of those who came before me.

The first one to come to mind was my William Blake piece, done as my contribution to a Blake themed print portfolio.  In this case not so much copying his visuals, but adapting one of his long form poems.  It's an excellent piece, but I have shown this one in Belmar before.  The show rules would permit it this time, but it's my policy to avoid repeating myself in the same location.

My mother, who is on their mailing list, suggested my Death on the Highway (above) piece, which borrows ideas and composition from an Albert Pinkham Ryder painting, but with some modern Jersey style.  Also an excellent piece (just sold a copy of it this past January), but again one that I've shown in the Boatworks before.

Another past piece of mine that would work is my History of Art (above) print, which quotes from Bruegel, Bosch, Winslow Homer, Frans Masereel, not to mention comic book and animated cartoon characters and locations.  Another excellent piece that I am proud of, but also shown there, and was invited to be part of a traveling version of that show, before it was banned from that space.  If I had nothing else ready to go, I could have shown something based on backgrounds from old cartoons, which I consider old masters.  I have a saint print from Carbondale that took it's setting from a black and white Fleischer Bros. Popeye cartoon.

My current project, a supermarket print that makes use of designs from the Bayeux Tapestry, would certainly qualify, but I've had to devote much of the past month to school and job seeking, so it isn't close to being done yet.  Another time.

Thought of another possibility that I could easily put together.  I've been teaching drawing at the college level for over a decade, a class that typically includes pencil, charcoal, and other basics.  Everyone comes in with pencil experience, and some have tried charcoal, but those who haven't have at least shaded with pencil which is the same idea.  Drawing with ink and wth conte crayons can be a new concept for a lot of the students.  I don't use the crayons myself, and most students I get are unfamiliar, but quickly grow to like them.  Expressive while being less messy than charcoal.  I don't use ink as a medium in finished art, but it is very much part of my working process for portrait pieces.    To help explain to students how to build gradually with layers of dilute ink wash, I did a demonstration piece.  It's based on a Lucian Freud painting (a portrait of fellow artist Frank Auerbach), adapting his layered painterly shapes and colors to value changes.  The demo piece is actually 3 drawings based on the same source- one very light early stage, one that also has some layers of middle and dark values, and one near finished with many layers of ink wash.  Typically I would show the class a slide of the real painting, and add some washes to the various state drawing I had.  A few years ago I decided to make a new demo piece, using a charcoal portrait piece of mine as the starting point, but I still have the Freud drawings, and this piece certainly qualifies for this old master show.  I have some wood frames that I occasionally use for showing charcoal drawings, but this piece is the right size for that display.  So this is what I submitted.  Not a juried show, so no reason it won't be part of it.