I had a couple of extra long work weeks, and a few days ago I decided to zonk myself out with bit of TV. What I ended up watching didn’t zonk me out. It rejuvenated me. Days later, I’m still smiling about it.
The movie was “Nothing Changes: Art for Hank’s Sake” a documentary about Hank Virgona. I found it on Amazon Prime. Here’s a little taste of the exceedingly charming character that is Hank:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx7Jb6SeQrU Apart from being artistically indefatigable and incredibly endearing, Hank Virgona had a sort of relaxed “drunken master” hand that did a lot with (seemingly) very little. His work seems to primarily be still lives and figures. The still lives are meticulously arranged. The figures are “found.” I like the idea of “found figures” instead of “found objects.” I’ll post more about the found figures in another V. Note. This post is about the still lives.
” load_in_animation=”none Hank credits Morandi as the influence for his still lives. You can see the Morandi-style objects he paints, all similarly dust covered, all meticulously arranged in the near-center of the composition. For most of his paintings, his focus includes compressed colors and values, a practice of abstraction and simplification. The simpler they are, the better. Unlike Morandi, doesn’t let a single bottle stay still. You can also see his other influences: Picasso, Braque, and Cezanne.
” load_in_animation=”none In these collections there are paintings, incised paintings (which look like woodblocks), and collages. The images are from his website, which listed his remaining works for sale shortly before his death. The website does not show sold works, and very few works from this astoundingly prolific artist were ever posted online. So as you look at these lovely works, as you admire these lovely little things, please keep this in mind: these are not his best. The best works must have sold years ago. It is with no small measure of respect that I announce: these lovely little works are “only” the leftovers.
” load_in_animation=”none I am sorry to say that Hank passed away this last May, but clearly he did what he wanted to do with his limited time, and he enjoyed it. According to the documentary, Hank went to the studio 6 days a week for 60 years. He was 89. [image_with_animation image_url=”15499″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”]
Here it is, we have arrived at the end of this nearly unending 30 Day Challenge. You’ve all been good creative sports about the hardship – I could almost believe some of you enjoyed it. In the next few days I’ll start posting my favorites, and then I’ll post the winners of the prizes after …
Hey there. I wanted to send out a little personal thank you about V. Notes, this unusual and personal blog series of thoughts and ideas related to art. Initially started as a way to give my painting students more information outside of class, V. Notes now has over 1,000 readers. Many subscribers are part of …
Andre Breton – Writer André Breton (French: [ɑ̃dʁe bʁətɔ̃]; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer, poet, and anti-fascist. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto (Manifeste du surréalisme) of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as “pure psychic automatism”. [divider line_type=”Full …
Yesterday I posted my sketches; some fun ideas we are exploring in “Abstracting the Image” on Thursdays. Each week we’re taking a masterwork and exploring it with approaches inspired by contemporary abstract painters. The purpose of this exercise is to be able to lean on, and learn from the composition of the masterwork, while exploring …
Hank Virgona’s still lives
I had a couple of extra long work weeks, and a few days ago I decided to zonk myself out with bit of TV. What I ended up watching didn’t zonk me out. It rejuvenated me. Days later, I’m still smiling about it.
The movie was “Nothing Changes: Art for Hank’s Sake” a documentary about Hank Virgona. I found it on Amazon Prime. Here’s a little taste of the exceedingly charming character that is Hank:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx7Jb6SeQrU Apart from being artistically indefatigable and incredibly endearing, Hank Virgona had a sort of relaxed “drunken master” hand that did a lot with (seemingly) very little. His work seems to primarily be still lives and figures. The still lives are meticulously arranged. The figures are “found.” I like the idea of “found figures” instead of “found objects.” I’ll post more about the found figures in another V. Note. This post is about the still lives.
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