22February 2011
This is a new piece I completed a few months ago. It is an older idea that I started in 2008 that had to be delayed because of my accident. I was unable to complete this until now.
It is titled…
BitTorrent #7 “Interventio, The story of Calypso”
48×36 oil on linen
2010
With each work of art that I create, I start with an academic study of my subject matter. In this case, the story of Calypso from Greek mythology. I tried to read everything I could about her, the people that wrote about her and why, what was going on in the area the writers were living in, and what was the social view of life in general, or the “weltanschau” at the time.
For this piece, I studied the painting “Calypso,” oil on canvas 1869, by Karl Ernest Rodolphe Heinrich Salem Lehmann. I work at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts as a gallery guard part time. Over the past 5 years, I have had the chance to truly observe this painting.
After I feel satisfied with my study work (which I do because i just enjoy it), I then start to sketch out the composition. Abstracting my study drawings until I find a composition that represents the subject-matter and in this case, the oil painting I was taking my inspiration from.
Here are a few Iphone pictures of the process on canvas…
To the finished oil painting…
Mahalo.