Moving Lady

Moving Lady

 

This lady was a fiddler! She looked like she would sit still and read her book, but then she seemed to get distracted and kept looking around. Maybe she could feel me looking at her lol.

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Ruud van Empel. Beyond Innocence: Review

Born in 1958, Ruud van Empel is a world renowned Dutch fine art photographer who uses a complicated technique of photography and montage to produce some of the most beautiful photography I have ever seen. The documentary, “Beyond Innocence,” took three years to make and was directed by Erik van Empel, his brother. It is an enthralling and at times very personal insight into the life and work of the artist. I interviewed him for my Art Success series in 2013. When I asked him how the film came about. He told me:
“My brother, who is a professional documentary film maker and camera man, spoke to me and I said maybe we could film a documentary… Maybe we could film a video at the exhibition. But my brother was kind of ambitious and he talked to the television network here in the Netherlands and they decided that they wanted to co produce this documentary. There is a channel in the Netherlands where they make art documentaries. They said it could be one of those films. That is how it started.”

Venus #5. Copyright Ruud van Empel

The film starts off with Elton John playing at a concert in the Netherlands. Before he starts the song, he gives a brief speech in which he dedicates the song to van Empel himself- in front of a live audience. It is a touching tribute from a famous collector of van Empels work. Elton John himself is interviewed for the film and the full 25 minute interview can be seen in the extras section of the DVD. A known collector of fine art, it is fascinating to learn about why Sir Elton John collects the work of van Empel and other artists in this rare interview with him…
As the film goes on, you get a sense of a man who is passionate about his work to the point of obsession. There are various, uncommon opportunities to see how van Empel puts his work together, from photographing the subjects, to painstakingly taking them apart and rearranging them in photoshop to get the perfect image. This is evident when he explains that he discards a lot of work simply because it does not match up to his expectations of perfection and beauty. Beauty is something which is of importance to him as he explained during the interview I did with him. He said,
“I am 52 years old now and lots of things that I used to find interesting 20 years ago, I don’t find interesting any more. But beauty is something that always stays.. I chose children because innocence is also a kind of beauty as a subject…”
Untitled #1.  Copyright Ruud van Empel. 
                                                 
The documentary is a rare opportunity to see the artist go through some of his artistic process, obsessing about the arrangement facial features and the general composition of various pieces of work. When I interviewed him, he gave some insight into why he does this. He said,
“You find that you have to find a way to make things look beautiful, because if you start to montage photos in an experimental way, you find that the sizes of things do not fit relative to each other. If you start to do that, things start to become very ugly. In a photo, things have a two dimensional feeling… This applies to the faces, because the faces are montaged completely. The eyes, the eyebrows, the mouth, even the pupils… All of those things are montaged, so the montage is very detailed and I have to be very careful that things are right, that they look as if they could be real. I am therefore very focused on making it beautiful, or not ugly. Because it becomes ugly when it is not correct. If the mouth is just a little bit too big, you see it and feel it immediately and it becomes ugly.”
There is also a rare interview with one of the people who was responsible for launching him on the world stage, curator and director of MOPA, (Museum of Photographic Arts) in San Diego, Deborah Klochko. Klochko talks about why she fell in love with van Empels work and gives her own insight into the artists work which is interesting to listen to.
The film is very well put together with clips from old 8mm film of the artists early life with his family, intimate clips of him chatting with his father and going back to his old family home. There are times when the artist talks openly and freely about his process and his reasoning for doing things in the way that he does. Clips from some of his exhibitions show the scale and beauty in his work in a way which can only be surpassed by seeing the work in life… The clips give you a sense of the detail and depth of the work and is a testament to the love and care that he puts into every tiny element of every single piece he produces.
World #1 2005. copyright Ruud van Empel
                                                    

It may be that this documentary was filmed and directed by the artists brother that I found it so touching and personal… I am not entirely sure that I can put my finger on exactly what it was that gave me that feeling. In any case, it is a very real, honest and personal look at the life and work of an artist whose work is a gorgeous examination of beauty and innocence. An artist whose work has made its mark in art history as being the first to portray black children as the subjects of innocence and beauty. If you are at all interested in fine art, it is a film which you must watch.
Ruud van Empel
                                                         
Please see the artists website here for information on how to watch the DVD.
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Memories of a Lost Love

Memories of a Lost Love

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Untitled

Untitled

I was just doodling today while thinking through some ideas for future work and look what happened. There is no interpretation, it just is.

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Selfie

Selfie

 

I have toyed with the idea of the selfie for a while now. The first drawing I did about it was last year some time. It was based on this woman who injected her backside with lots of illegal silicone in order to expand it to super human proportions. She became so popular off the back of her backside selfie’s that she even wrote a book. I have forgotten her name now, but below is said drawing.

likeme

I find it fascinating that people take photos of themselves like this and post them on social media sites. Is it validation that they seek from their peers? On the one hand, I can imagine that it is an extreme boost to the ego when you have other human beings in your social media circle hitting like and posting flattering messages on your photo’s. However, it must be equally devastating when people either don’t comment or leave nasty comments.

 

I rather like the actor James Franco. I find him interesting and rather attractive. He is the only celebrity I follow on Instagram and he has picked up on the selfie phenomenon in a more interesting way than any other celebrity. Franco does not appear to take himelf or the celeb lifestyle too seriously, which I like.

 

Anyway, he has been dubbed the “selfie king” and has hundreds of selfies on his Instagram feed.  In fact,  he even wrote an entire essay on it in the New York Times! According to Franco, selfie’s attract attention. Having selfie’s on your Instagram profile attracts more attention than posting photos of art projects. For every promo photo for a project, he posts a selfie. According to Franco, selfie’s act as a communication tool- letting people know instantly how you are feeling, as well as an instrument of vanity. Selfie’s garner the most attention and “Likes,” which in social media land is vital to your popularity. I guess that explains it then.

 

 

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Train and Bus People

Train and Bus People

 

Today was a very cold day! Well for me it was cold, which probably means a little chilly for most people. In any case, the green, red and blue people in this drawing all looked cold. Especially the red lady. She was actually visibly shivering in her big coat. She looked as cold as I felt. No one looked particularly happy to be on public transport. Mr blue and miss green were both looking at their mobile phones. The unexpected hits you between the eyes…

Excuse the pink people- they are memory drawings, not actually real people. I say memory drawings, but in actual fact, I made them up when I could not see anyone who would keep still. Hence the reason why the one with the afro pony tail looks like she is smiling and like she is not wearing a huge coat to shield herself from this awful cold.

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