Tuesday 18 September 2012

Piece of Cake...

Here's one of three pieces I submitted to be shown as part of a summer group exhibition at the Traveller's Rest Gallery, Barry train station back in 2009. A figurative pencil drawing titled 'Piece of cake', at the time I had finished working in the animation industry and was intrigued by the idea of showing movement within a still image. The said movement is shown here by the boy retracting his hand from the plate. His right hand depicted as a trail of motion created by several overlapping images charting the movement from one position to another, in animation this is known as a path of action.
 
The title was loosely based on the saying ''to have your cake and eat it'' and the theme of 'indecision', explaining why the boy reaches for a cake then changes his mind. Visually I was very interested in the work of Caravaggio, in particular his painting from 1601 'The Supper at Emmaus'. The sharp contours, foreshortening and perspective and dramatic use of chiaroscuro. As far as motion was concerned I could n't get over Marcel Duchamp's 'Nude descending a staircase'. These great works along with many other artists still inspire and motivate me today.
 
Looking back at this piece critically I'd have to say... ''that's one hell of a forehead!'' lol! I think the head was slightly exaggerated and the boy's left eye is too big which makes the facial expression slightly unsettling. I'm still pleased with the result although I am tempted to ink over and turn this into a black and white line drawing.

 
 

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