Talk to me. Acrylic, black oil paint, pencils on paper. 70x100cm
The model didn’t have red hair. Or such dirty feet. The paper was prepared with dark grey, the light cement colour was quickly and thickly applied, somehow influenced by the Titian exhibition I’d recently seen. I like where the bulldog clip marks have been left. Again the size and shape of the foot stool was hard to gauge.
There’s yet another John Berger book I’m reading (Selected Essays and Articles, The look of things, Pelican, 1972). In the essay The moment of Cubism he quotes Heisenberg (Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist and one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics) ‘Natural science does not simply describe and explain nature; it is part of the interplay between nature and ourselves: it describes nature as exposed to our method of questioning’. Being part of the space and changing the space with your presence. I’m trying to get that in these paintings. Not just observing or copying or noting impressions. Being part of the game.
Listen. Acrylic, pencils on paper. 70x100cm
The model wasn’t unhappy. The original painting was a 30 minute session. The albums were painted in my studio. You can guess the covers if you want. The floorboards were inspired by Syd Barret’s flat, if that means anything to you. The space is logical / illogical, the scene is also relaxed yet odd; what is the model doing naked in this room?
Some of the quicker sketches and a row of the model’s face made that night.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/02/john-berger-obituary
“In his book on the nude, Kenneth Clark says that being naked is simply being without clothes. The nude, according to him, is a form of art. I would put it differently: to be naked is to be oneself; to be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself. A nude has to be seen as an object in order to be a nude.” – John Berger.
Hopefully I recognise the model’s self; they have a personality, they are not a dummy.
Trevor Mill Graphic Designer Ltd 