Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[sartre]

Michael asked if I would post some of my work on this thread.

Please find five paintings posted, the Bride image was painted in the mid 90's, The child in the cemetery was my daughter and was painted in the mid to late 80's, the others are more recent...

[VintageComics]

Love it.

 

What is the motif behind the oversized Superman costume on at least 2 paintings? That was the first thing to catch my eye on your site.

 

The cemetery painting is absolutely mesmerizing. I back onto one and love it.

[sartre]

and a few drawings

134731.big dress 1jpg

[sartre]

xxtitled.. BIG DRESS graphite and crayon on paper

[Flex Mentallo]

xxtitled.. BIG DRESS graphite and crayon on paper

 

All of the work is fantastic. BIG DRESS is a tour-de-force of the draughtsman's art.

[sartre]

I didn't want a super SUPERMAN that we would see in the movies or comics... nor one that was too obese or skinny, which would have amounted to something satirical.

I wanted a human Superman, overshadowed by the appearance of feminine sexual strength. The play of light both warm and cool are metaphors for masculinity and femininity.. Warm being incandescent (female).... cool from daylight (male). One is interior and one is exterior.

[buttock]

Lovely lovely stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[Flex Mentallo]

I didn't want a super SUPERMAN that we would see in the movies or comics... nor one that was too obese or skinny, which would have amounted to something satirical.

I wanted a human Superman, overshadowed by the appearance of feminine sexual strength. The play of light both warm and cool are metaphors for masculinity and femininity.. Warm being incandescent (female).... cool from daylight (male). One is interior and one is exterior.

 

 

 

I think

 

The people you depict have stories, but don't represent them.

 

The imagery symbolizes, but isn't symbolic.

 

Nor are they Symbolist.

 

Nor do they illustrate.

 

They decline all obvious interpretations.

 

They are precisely arranged so as to appear happenstance. They lay clues for narratives they do not narrate.

 

They are dreamlike without being self consciously surreal.

 

They are enigmatic.

 

In some though not all cases, they inhabit a realm of archetypes come to life.

 

They do not wear your influences or inspirations on their sleeve.

 

But where the voices of mediocre artists are overwhelmed by their influences, your paintings are far more than the sum of the things you know.

 

 

I think of Goya (the lace), Velasquez (the treatment of flesh), Caravaggio, Vermeer, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, even Edward Robert Hughes...

 

For some reason, cant quite say why, I find myself thinking of "Ashes and Snow"

 

 

I gazed upon all the Edens that have fallen in me.

I saw Edens that I had held in my hands,

but let go.

I saw promises I did not keep,

Pains I did not sooth,

Wounds I did not heal,

Tears I did not shed,

I saw deaths I did not mourn,

Prayers I did not answer,

Doors I did not open,

Doors I did not close,

Lovers I left behind,

And dreams I did not live.

I saw all that was offered to me,

that I could not accept.

I saw the letters I wished for,

but never received.

I saw all that could have been,

but never will be....

 

 

[Cat-Man_America]

Michael asked if I would post some of my work on this thread.

Please find five paintings posted, the Bride image was painted in the mid 90's, The child in the cemetery was my daughter and was painted in the mid to late 80's, the others are more recent...

 

 

 

[font:Times New Roman]Steven, your oils and illustrations are fabulous. Having been privileged to see the poignant beauty of your paintings close-up I'd like to add for those who haven't that my wife and I greatly admire the detail and depth you achieve in your work. I'm glad that you decided to join in and post some examples of your fine art in this thread.[/font]

[comicnoir]

Your work is beautiful.

[Flex Mentallo]

Michael asked if I would post some of my work on this thread.

Please find five paintings posted, the Bride image was painted in the mid 90's, The child in the cemetery was my daughter and was painted in the mid to late 80's, the others are more recent...

 

 

 

[font:Times New Roman]Steven, your oils and illustrations are fabulous. Having been privileged to see the poignant beauty of your paintings close-up I'd like to add for those who haven't that my wife and I greatly admire the detail and depth you achieve in your work. I'm glad that you decided to join in and post some examples of your fine art in this thread.[/font]

 

Well said Cat - and props to the other boardies who have acknowledged Steve's fantastic work. I can see that many other boardies have dropped in to see them, and are doubtless as stunned as those of us who've owned up to it.

 

Now imagine if we could get Steve to do a comic book cover!

[sartre]

No one has ever asked me?

[Flex Mentallo]

No one has ever asked me?

 

Madness! Someone certainly should!

[Flex Mentallo]

Over the past few months I've been uploading approximately 10,000 photographs taken since 2005 during my regular visits to India and specifically the village of Bonhooghly in West Bengal.

 

I thought I'd post a few albums of the best photos, with anecdotes scattered here and there. Hopefully they will do a better job than words to paint a portrait of a village community - poor, yet set in one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth.

 

Along the way we’ll take in a movie. But let's begin with a short walk through the village to Paddyfield School...

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]