Savoy Camera Straight On

6"x4" oil on raymar panel. • The background of this painting brings to mind a tale dredged up from the dark lore of my alma mater. (If you didn't recognize it, that lead in sentence is definitely a "Boring Commentary to Follow!" alert if I ever typed one). Once upon a time, there was a teacher who fought valiantly against the 'default' use of black or white as backgrounds for advertisements, illustrations, paintings, etc. According to this teacher, students rely on black/white/gray like a crutch, when they should actually experiment with other solutions. To make the point, if a comp arrived on the critique rail with a black or white background, the teacher would proceed to scratch through the background for evidence that the (now crying) student had tried different colors. Depending on the teller of the tale, there had to be anywhere from three to seven layers of other colors underneath the top layer, or the piece was trashed. A heckuva way to drive a point home.  •  Due to the straight-on composition of this piece, I was able to experiment with the background. It was initially gray, then changed to a reddish color, then back to gray, and then finally I settled on this monochromatic magenta. We artists really don't have the luxury of being prejudiced against specific colors and while the above magenta may not be my favorite, I feel that it works for this piece. So there.
Posted June 21, 2013
sold • private collection los angeles, ca