All I was sure of at first is that I was playing some game of opposites. It was not good vs. evil, male vs. female, war vs. peace that I was trying to convey, but two opposite temperaments that would appear in a glance the same. The lion represents ambition while the lamb represents humility. It was also not my desire to portray one as better than the other. While the lion might be an aggressor, he also is a protector, a builder and inventor.
The lamb wears the same cloth as an adornment. She is unconcerned with power, fame, or glory, but leads a noble, quiet life. He is the hunter and she is the gatherer. I don’t mean at all to assign these particular traits to gender, because we all have a little bit of both, and they surface in different parts of our personalities.
She has awoken to discover that a forest grew around her while she slept. As a child I had a Disney comic of Goofy as Rip Van Winkle, I took the story as literal truth, and I think stories are always more powerful that way. Another favorite was of course “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.
The image began with a series of sketches in my sketchbook, in which I attempted to push certain distortions far past physical possibility, but not past where the viewer would still accept it as a figure. The result was this bizarre emotion. As a friend mentioned she looks like she’s been beamed from another planet. I became interested in the look of speed or aerodynamics in the shapes, and using everything including hair and background elements to push toward the effect of fast movement in complete stillness.
As of late I’ve been taking a lot of time to figure out some things by sketching, reading, researching, and with that comes distracting myself with studio cleaning and rearranging, setting up blogs on Chicago Figurative artists, and of course movies and such. This has got me thinking of directions and other artists working in the same vein as myself, who explore allegory, myth, and grandiose story telling.
I’ve always thought of Millet as a painter of peasants and farmers. He has remained somewhere in my periphery as a genre painter, but a recent look at his nude figures has opened my eyes to his command of human form and emotion. They are also accessible, and a testament to the timelessness of the nude. Their form is so cut and dry-Scarcely more than a front plane and a side plane, and not much halftone or highlight to speak of, not far from a page from Bridgman’s anatomy books. The total effect, though is strength in form, human empathy, and raw power.
My personal favorite of Millet’s Peasant paintings. Lots of angst in this one, and beautiful golden light in the background. Is that another figure way back there?
You know this one:
The one immediately below is my least favorite Millet, maybe because of the two static verticles, or possibly because of the worn out American sentiment that has attached itself to this 19th Century French painting. A print of it hangs at the Baptist church down the street from my house.
It is my opinion that true beauty always to some degree foreshadows suffering, death, but also the hope that lies beyond suffering. Klimt does this well.
I get the feeling while scrolling through images of the work of Hendrick Goltzius that he’s some kind of a lost brother (a vastly more accomplished one) from a different age. I hope he’d feel the same way. There is a language there that is spoken through movements of bone and muscle that speaks volumes to me.
Look at that cat looking out at us, relieved against Adam’s pelvis. Such wisdom in that face and what an angle of entry!
The horrible anatomy here makes it all the more tragic. I love this to pieces.
The first awkward family photo.
A dutch painter of the 17th century his figures feel like an amalgam of the strange German stylization of Albrecht Durer and Lucas Cranach with oh-so-fleshy, oyster shell skin tones of Peter Paul Rubens. There is also a sense of drama in these that reminds me of compositions from Guido Reni. Goltzius seems positively obsessed with achieving unusual if not virtually impossible vantage points on the figure, and revels in the tactility of human skin. As if this weren’t enough he was possibly the greatest painter of hideous beasts and monsters, and painted them with equal love and terror. God bless him.
He avoids painting clothing at all costs and pushes distortions in the form often to absurd extremes. I would normally count this as a weakness because the usual result would be a slowing or convoluting of movement. Somehow the way these figures twist grotesquely into knotty bulges is delightful, engaging, and deeply human.
Kevin Kresse is a painter and sculptor from Little Rock, among the mist respected regionally. For the past few years he and his family have lived in Italy, where I think he is studying great art and brushing up on his skills. I saw this while dropping off paintings for my show at Gallery 26 and I was most impressed.
Now available for pre-order: ”Dream, Float, Burn” T-shirt! Look cool and classy while helping a child with cancer! This beautifully designed t-shirt by Caleb Harris of Olive Tree Clothing features an image of the drawing “Five Pointed” by Stephen Cefalo against a dark grey heather fabric. Net proceeds will go to Big Love Cancer Care. All shirts are printed on %100 combed ring-spun cotton, super soft baby Jersey Knit. Go to my new online store to place your order!
(Minimum of 20 orders needed before shirts are printed. If printing is cancelled all orders will be refunded in full.)
Stephen Cefalo: Dream, Float, Burn at Gallery 26: an exhibition of paintings and drawings. Please join us for the opening reception with refreshments and live cello music by Eli Ramsey on the evening of Saturday, January 21st, 2012. The exhibition will be on display until March 3rd. For more information visit http://www.Gallery26.com/. email the gallery at info@gallery26.com or call 501-664-8996. Gallery 26 is in the Historic Ice House Center located at 2601 Kavanaugh Suite #1, Little Rock AR, 72205. More of Stephen’s work can be viewed at http://www.stephencefalo.com/.
