There are a lot of reasons artists don’t finish paintings. Death, for one, such as in Vincent van Gogh’s “Street in Auvers-sur-Oise” unfinished from the June in 1980 that he shot himself. Lovely painting, horrible death.
Correction: According to the research of Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith in their book published in 2011, the painter didn’t shoot himself, he was shot accidentally by thugs. I apologize for posting inaccurate information. Please read this following V. Note for slightly less inaccurate information about the topic.
Picasso, Woman in a Red Armchair, 1931
For most painters, starting a painting is infinitely easier than finishing one. With every brush stroke, the number of “right moves” diminishes – whereas at the beginning every move was a right move, half way through, problems begin to emerge, many times with solutions unknown. Completing a painting can be similar to solving a puzzle, and in a sense, though it is satisfying to solve a puzzle, the artist kills all the potentials it could have been, and the engaging relationship with with the work is over.
Personally, I prefer the unfinished paintings because I can see more of the making of it, the process. Not only can I see the artists’ thinking, but I can participate in it more. I also like the sustained, suspended daydream of what the painting could become, had things been a little different.
I’m in NY, doing a figurative sculpture marathon with Bruce Gagnier at the NY Studio School. I’m three days into a two week intensive, and I’m loving it. One of the topics my instructor presses is contrapposto. I learned about contrapposto at WWU, but I’m understanding the real value of it now. Bruce Gagnier showed me …
Matthew Barney (b. 1967) is an American artist who works in sculpture, photography, drawing and film. His early works are sculptural installations combined with performance and video. He’s an ex-partner of Bjork. He did some weird stuff. And some more weird stuff. But I’d rather not talk about that stuff today. I’d …
[image_with_animation image_url=”7866″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Connectivity Report, System 1 New work by Claire Putney Watercolor, burned maps and text on paper Don’t miss this show, Leaguers! Reception 1st Thursday, Feb 1, 5:00-9:00 Showing through February CORE Gallery 117 Prefontaine Pl S, Seattle, WA 98104 https://www.coregallery.org/ Do you like these unusual effects? Claire Putney is …
Hope Gangloff is an American painter living and working in New York City. Born 1974, she is one year older than me. The picture of her painting in her studio, black overalls and climbing on a ladder, my mother mistook for me in my studio, black overalls, climbing on a ladder. The patterns in these …
Unfinished Paintings
[image_with_animation image_url=”9566″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”]
Alice Neel, James Hunter Black Draftee
There are a lot of reasons artists don’t finish paintings. Death, for one, such as in Vincent van Gogh’s “Street in Auvers-sur-Oise” unfinished from the June in 1980 that he shot himself. Lovely painting, horrible death.
Correction: According to the research of Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith in their book published in 2011, the painter didn’t shoot himself, he was shot accidentally by thugs. I apologize for posting inaccurate information. Please read this following V. Note for slightly less inaccurate information about the topic.
Picasso, Woman in a Red Armchair, 1931
For most painters, starting a painting is infinitely easier than finishing one. With every brush stroke, the number of “right moves” diminishes – whereas at the beginning every move was a right move, half way through, problems begin to emerge, many times with solutions unknown. Completing a painting can be similar to solving a puzzle, and in a sense, though it is satisfying to solve a puzzle, the artist kills all the potentials it could have been, and the engaging relationship with with the work is over.
Personally, I prefer the unfinished paintings because I can see more of the making of it, the process. Not only can I see the artists’ thinking, but I can participate in it more. I also like the sustained, suspended daydream of what the painting could become, had things been a little different.
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The Dynamic Dance of Contrapposto
I’m in NY, doing a figurative sculpture marathon with Bruce Gagnier at the NY Studio School. I’m three days into a two week intensive, and I’m loving it. One of the topics my instructor presses is contrapposto. I learned about contrapposto at WWU, but I’m understanding the real value of it now. Bruce Gagnier showed me …
Matthew Barney’s Drawing Restraints
Matthew Barney (b. 1967) is an American artist who works in sculpture, photography, drawing and film. His early works are sculptural installations combined with performance and video. He’s an ex-partner of Bjork. He did some weird stuff. And some more weird stuff. But I’d rather not talk about that stuff today. I’d …
Claire Putney’s new drawings at CORE
[image_with_animation image_url=”7866″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Connectivity Report, System 1 New work by Claire Putney Watercolor, burned maps and text on paper Don’t miss this show, Leaguers! Reception 1st Thursday, Feb 1, 5:00-9:00 Showing through February CORE Gallery 117 Prefontaine Pl S, Seattle, WA 98104 https://www.coregallery.org/ Do you like these unusual effects? Claire Putney is …
Hope Gangloff
Hope Gangloff is an American painter living and working in New York City. Born 1974, she is one year older than me. The picture of her painting in her studio, black overalls and climbing on a ladder, my mother mistook for me in my studio, black overalls, climbing on a ladder. The patterns in these …