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Continuing the process video... click here for the third installment of the current canvas as it nears completion. (Quicktime 4.9MB)
Roundabout halfway through this video segment, you’ll notice the shift to much smaller brushes and painting going on in a far more detailed manner than anything prior. This shift addresses my fascination with a compelling and fundamental painting convention.
One decision a painter makes is the range of brush size he or she is going to use. This decision, in conjunction with the brush sizes’ proportional relationship to the size of the canvas, determines the detail or focus each canvas offers the human eye.
As a thought experiment, consider Vermeer and de Kooning exchanging their brushes while everything else about their work remains constant.
The eye, of course, can focus across scales, perceiving one moment in a gestalt manner, scrutinizing the smallest details in the next, conflating one with the other.
One of my long-term fascinations has been to create paintings that represent this aspect of our perception of the world.
To view the first and second installments of the canvas’s development click here and here, respectively.
Posted by mark at May 7, 2005 05:31 PM