Over the past weeks I have been thinking about what my recent three months spent living in New York City has meant to me, and how it might have influence on my current and future work.
I watched the city people, but not so much in crowds, it was the individuals that caught my eye, the people on their way home, or to work, at the subway, on street corners and park benches. Also the musicians, all the musicians that I passed each day, especially in the subway stations. The musicians to me, were like a metaphor of the cities beating heart, they and the sounds they carried became the colours reflected in all the surrounding glass and steel. The symmetry of the place defiantly had an affect on my composition, especially in my figure and plein air sketches, also the sketches and photographs I made took on a very strong grid like quality, a sort of unified separateness.
My time spent painting at the League did teach me many things also. How to look and fight for a subject, how to trust my instincts. It taught me many of the things not to do also! I hope most of all its taught me to find myself again and again through my work and to share that glimpse, my individual view of our world with others.
I am excited to start a concentrated and coherent a body of work with New York in mind.
I would have loved to make this work there on location, but I can still more than sense the place. I have looked, witnessed, seen and felt, and now is my turn to group these various aspects of the city that captured me and bring them to form.
I will do this! Create the paintings that I feel tell the story of the city - At least my story, and the people and things I encountered.
- Richard
1 comment:
That is a very interesting and great idea, Richard. There is so much about NYC that could be expressed in paint.
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