Imaginary Vs. Real

 

I have been thinking about the confluence of imagined ideas, and ideas that come from direct observation. For the above recent painting of a faucet, I worked very hard to observe and record the sensual shiny curves of the faucet handles. I had a specific job to do and I showed up, I gave it a shot. I could feel the physical three dimensional weightiness of the faucet using my memory. The process of painting was almost purely sculptural. 

Compare that to the above imagined idea (picture) titled “Portrait of a rhinoceros” The process of creation for that one was also purely sculptural. The weightiness of the forms, the sense of scale, the three dimensional nature of the piece of sculpture as it exists two dimensionally. 

I’ve been doing a lot of things in the last few years that are very much from direct observation of things in the world as they really are. Things that have autobiographical meaning. I took a picture of that sink faucet in the Gulu Gulu cafe in Salem Ma on the day that my sister came up from DC for a visit. The painting serves to help remember that day. 

Perhaps the choice between the rhino and the Faucet is not a choice that needs to be made. Both ultimately come from the same place. That’s good right?