Image of the Week: Solitude (in color)
© Durga Yael Bernhard
Several weeks ago I featured a series of drawings on the subject of solitude. Here are several paintings that have grown out of my copious time alone. The first two (which are both for sale) explore the relation of figure and ground. These are painted in gouache on textured rice paper. As you can see, I experimented with two versions. In both cases, the fetus-like figure is not just superimposed on the background, but also affects it by changing the radiating fields of background color – in other words, these "spokes" of color are transformed by the figure as they intersect with it. This is based on the principle of physics that the observer affects what is observed. I think constantly about "visual physics" while I work, striving to ascertain and then follow the "laws" that govern a work of art. It was Henri Matisse who first taught me this in my early museum-going years. Matisse seemed to perceive and obey a different set of laws for every painting he did.
The next painting, which sold almost as soon as the paint was dry, inculcates a more river-like geometry, with the solitary figure floating in a background of fluid colors and shapes.
Finally this fourth painting, which is quite small, is an image of solitary sleep, in which the figure is knitted into whatever it is that contains us when we're alone. Is there substance in emptiness? I can only imagine. If you have thoughts about that to share, I'd love to hear from you.
I have one more painting of solitude – a composition in blue, the first and largest of all of them – but I'm not sure where it is, or how to convert the old 35mm slide I have of it into an image file. Perhaps it will turn up when I go through my stacks of works on paper next month for the annual Shandaken Art Studio Tour. If you're local, mark your calendar: July 28th and 29th I'll have my artwork sorted, on display and on sale from 10am to 5pm at my home. More about that later.
In the meantime, back to my solitary work.
Wishing you a good week.
D Yael Bernhard