Behind the "Shadow of My Former Self"

I've had some inquiries and remarks in the past month or so regarding my painting, "Shadow of My Former Self" - which is on my portfolio site and is currently my Facebook profile picture. What is not apparent from the digital images of this piece is that there is a three-dimensional aspect to the composition. Here's the painting:

"Shadow of My Former Self" - 2010 - 36" x 48" - Oil on canvas - ©2011

Here's the painting hanging in my front hallway to give you a better sense of scale:

Now, here is a photo from the side, or a "profile" shot, of the painting:

 

It should be more apparent here that there are small protuberances where the fingertips appear to come in contact with the canvas. It is a subtle effect, but - I feel - one that adds a certain "je ne sais quois" to the piece. Yeah, that's right. I didn't want to hit the viewer over the head with the 3-D quality of the canvas, I intended for it to just be "off" or even a touch unsettling, particularly when viewed from a slight angle.

It is worth noting, at this point, that this painting was actually an experiment. In my initial idea, I wanted to create a piece that depicted something almost trapped within it. It should seem as though there exists another reality on the opposite side of the canvas, as if it were a translucent window into another world, because, really, isn't that what a work of art is in many ways? A window into the artist's reality, or, perhaps, his or her mind? All right, I've written too much. I'm big on the subjective interpretation of the individual viewer and, frankly, I don't want to get philosophical here - back to the nuts and bolts.... Just painting it without the 3-D quality would have been too ambiguous. I needed to reinforce that this wasn't simply a painting of a silhouette, there was substance to it. The shadow was cast by something - someone - tangible. Now, I have a number of other ideas for artworks that will utilize this technique, but this initial experiment had to be something that I could create quickly and simply, so I came up with a rather straightforward composition with easily crafted pressure-points: fingertips. Here's what happens when you look behind the curtain:

 

 

Here you can see the backside and frame of the canvas. The small board is attached to one of the braces between the frame and canvas. If you look closely you can note the small spherical pegs attached to the board, which are pressing against the inside of the canvas and creating the fingertip impressions. Upon installation of this wooden plane, I felt that there wasn't enough pressure exerted on the canvas; therefore, I reinforced it with a few pieces of cardboard to increase its thickness and, in turn, applied precisely the right amount of stress to the canvas that I had intended.

I know a magician shouldn't reveal his secrets, but as I mentioned, there have been some queries about this piece, so I thought going in depth about the crafting of it would prove intriguing for some. There will be more pieces like this, and - with a little luck and lots of ingenuity - they will become more involved and complex. But, with this concept, for every idea, there are serious logistical and construction issues to consider - and they in turn have ramifications when it comes to composition and aesthetics.

Plus, I've got other projects goin', so I may not crank this series out as fast as I would like. Speaking of other projects, I just gessoed a canvas for the next Unrefined painting. Maybe I'll do some "in progress" posts, to better illustrate my process... then again, maybe not. You'll have to stay tuned.....

- Ian

April in Chicago - five years ago!

Just a quick post for now.....

Here are a couple of sketches from April of 2006. I found 'em recently when I was going through a bunch of older sketchbooks, and I thought perhaps my brother and his wife might get a kick out of 'em - though they have seen them before. They were both drawn while I was visiting them when they lived in Chicago. I seem to recall my brother particularly liking the one of him putting away dishes... for some reason. As I recall, even though you can't see it in the drawing, he had a plate or something tucked under his chin as well. The other is is a view of their backyard. Enjoy, and more coming soon!

Quick sketch with conté crayon 9" x 12" (4/06)

Pencil 9" x 12" (4/06) - this one took a little longer than the one above

And thus, I carve my name in the bathroom wall of the Internet....

Soooo... yeah.... Because that really is the best phrase to kick-off an inaugural blog post. Anyway, here it is! So begins my contribution to what is essentially World Wide Web graffiti. I intend to post not only random writings, interesting links, etc., but also art, insights into my works and processes, and perhaps even some comics and cartoons. Be warned, however; I am currently without a scanner, so, I may not post as often as I would like, because I'm gonna' have to take snapshots of stuff and tweak 'em for clarity's sake - not quite as easy as scanning. (Initially, I expect to post at least once or twice a week so check back with some degree of regularity, jump on my RSS feed, or follow this blog via email.) The work I upload may be quite random, and not necessarily current or important (I guess one could argue that all of an artist's work is "important," but just bear with me....) like this:

Conté crayon sketch from 1/11

Oooorr, it'll be artwork with more purpose (yes, I know, all art has "purpose," let it go, a'ight?) like this:

Charcoal concept sketch fragment for UNREFINED series (4/11) - photo taken at a skewed angle

Oooorr, it might be stuff that, quite frankly, isn't very good and should probably be burned. As for the above, the wine glass sketch was something I just executed spur-of-the-moment while chilling on the couch a few months ago, and the charcoal piece is a concept sketch for my next painting in the "Unrefined" series.

I aim to keep this blog laid-back and enjoyable for everyone involved and maybe I'll even add to the design of it at some point to get away from the prefab Blogger template - or not. Feel free to contact me and/or comment whenever you wish and stay tuned!

In the meantime please check out my other sites:

Ian Chrystal Fine Art and Illustration

Ian Chrystal Fine Art and Illustration: UNREFINED

Thanks!!!