Rauch's figures cannot be seen as individuals, they are more like archetypes or symbols, representative of a mood or action. This dehumanising of the figure seems to capture a particular trend in society, a response to pop arts response to societies shift away from the individual and towards the corporation or brand.
I think we have to be aware of this artistic direction because it is responding to something that is prevalent today, and painting always needs to strive towards being current, this is what keeps it fresh and makes it matter. Although in my own work i would also like to speak of the individual, to remain on the outskirts at least of the european tradition. To mix these symbols of people with people that still exist within their own particular sphere of selfhood. Of course i still stand by the ideology that a painting should react first of all to itself, meaning that every work responds to the rules that are specific to each singular painting, and this means that any one painting may not include both the individual and the symbol, but the idea can be seen as a general rule to follow.
However if the paintings are to include the individual, i think their expressiveness needs to walk a tightrope betwwen finding the self and and losing the ability to communitcate it. So that the person is lost within their immediate environment, they have the capacity to relate, to empathise, yet they don't have the necessary tools around them to do so. This is what i have attempted to achieve with Mary The Queen...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment