Saturday, November 6, 2010

MOBY-DICK, Page 435

Title: Now, amid the green, life-restless loom of that Arsacidean wood, the great, white, worshipped skeleton lay lounging—a gigantic idler! Yet, as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure; but himself a skeleton. Life folded Death; Death trellised Life...

6 inches by 9 inches
acrylic paint and ink on found paper
November 5, 2010

6 comments:

  1. The image and the colours would be, you'd think, enough (beautiful) and yet placing it on top of text describing the Temple - sometimes, Matt, you really do blow me away. Brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was initially very concerned about this one because I knew that I had aleady worked with some of these themes and styles already and I was wary of repeating myself. But for me, a big part of what I wanted to accomplish when I started working on this project was to investigate new ways of making art. To try my hand at using a brush, to incorporate more painting in art, to create art in looser and more expressive ways, and to develop the ability to create a sense of scale. I feel like I've been able to achieve a bit of success with a few of those things, and this line seemed to lend itself really well to a more evocative and suggestive style of painting. Also, I again wanted to work with that sense of scale, to see if I could use just a small piece of paper to create the sense of something vast. I really enjoy being able to do that, especially since it was such a challenge for me previously.

    Ultimately, I was terrified of making this piece at first, but it turned out much better than I had hoped and I too quite like it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. just read the two comments and see the scale element asi, at first glance, before reading text, thought i saw a shell. it is lovely and very moving.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lizzy, that is actually rather fascinating to me that at first you saw a shell. Such a strange thing about art is that no matter what the artist intends, no matter what he or she sees in the work, the viewer will always bring their own initial impressions and perceptions. Rather than erode any sense of satisfaction, that, for me, fascinates and thrills me. I love it when someone sees something in an image I have made that I did not see myself.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My new favorite page. Death moving into life is, of course, a favorite of us church geeks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pastoralice, always very good to hear from you. And I am quite pleased you like this. It was a difficult piece for me, and that concept of death moving into life is something that I could have easily spent a dozen pieces exploring. Time is a cruel mistress though, so this one will have to suffice for now. But I am pleased with what I was able to create.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.