Picasso's Bull, Buridan's Ass
Picasso's Bull series popped up a few months back for me. Here's a primer:
It didn't do much for me at the time. Just a couple of bulls in various states of realism.
Fast forward to about now.
We've been doing an abstraction exercise during my weekly painting class. We line sheets of paper up with masking tape, pop them on an easel, and then enter free game: mix and load up whichever colours have open, in whatever sequence, and then see how they react.
I can't tell which way up this one should go:
Either way, I loved the process of making it and am quite fond of the outcome.
Here's another one that I feel fits thematically:
And some others:
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Most people who've walked passed my wall and seen these paintings (all three of them) gravitate towards the salmon-ish one on the top left.
This cardboard one makes me think of Balmoral Beach:
...which is great because I had that in mind when making the painting. It's my first successful abstract exercise with the intention of recreating just the sentiment of a landscape.
This all got me thinking back to Picasso's Bull. Here it is again:
I've decided that a reduction in realism doesn't automatically equal a reduction of visual interest. Which I think may have been Picasso's general point.
If anything, reduction is better. The viewer's brain has fun deciphering simple shapes and interpreting it for itself. And the artist has fun reducing elements down to their core.
Made
Museum of COVID is still going strong. Here are some of my favourites from the last few weeks:
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I plan to turn this into something bigger but also plan to focus on one creative pursuit at a time. More on that below. Please keep sending signage my way.
Visited
World Press Photo Exhibition at NSW's State Library. This place is is the perfect example of something I couldn't have cared less about growing up in Sydney but was keen to dive in to upon coming back.
The exhibition itself was great. Especially for a medium that could (arguably) be seen in higher fidelity at home: photography. Some more thoughts and my favourite photos here.
Sydney friends: go (and tell me so I can go again). It's free and up for a few more months.
Wrote
One, two, three. It's been a weird few weeks. I feel constantly flat out yet torn between various projects. It's a real Buridan's Ass situation: I've got multiple piles of hay that are equally attractive so am eating none of them. Slowly starving. Still figuring this out.
Saw
A photographer friend put me on to Derek Henderson. Have a gander if you're into photography and/or New Zealand.
Listened
A lot of Michael Nau this time. Rides Through The Morning and I Root.
The love-hate relationship with Kurt Vile continues. Rollin With The Flow, Life Like This, and Wakin on a Pretty Day.
Pondered
I always considered my clients' clients to be the audience.