Saturday, September 15, 2012

From Ancestral Cave Paintings to Modern Day 'Handprints' by Man

                                                                       'Untitled', C.T. Rasmuss; 2011
The above painting that I started in 2010 was the aftermath from the paint I had left on my hands after applying a painting style I sometimes use, at the time another painting I had just finished.  After covering the entire newly blank canvas, I was pleased with the results; with the variety of color and to the clarity of my hand prints.   After finishing the new painting with the left over paint on my hands, I still felt something was missing; so I set the painting aside until the opportunity would present itself, when I could figure out what needed to be done in order to be completely satisfied with it.

A year later when I innovated a new technique, as I call applied painting; I was finally able to put to rest this proud un-finished piece of mine. Many times it has been pointed out to me, the primitiveness in my artwork; which makes sense when I think about some of my biggest influences and mentors, Pollock, Miro, Van Gogh and so on, even before I was introduced to most of their work (explaining the true primitive essence of my work). So I decided to search for commonality with the primitive aspect of this piece the best I could, in an effort to back up a theory that the very small amount of Native American ancestry in my blood; might help me to understand why I am who I am in this respect. 



And I found it in the above two cave paintings from the Pueblo Indians, these caves are located in southwestern United States, what is now known as New Mexico and Arizona.  All though my Indian heritage is from the Michigan area, I believe I have encountered enough commonality, even if hadn't any American Indian heritage at all; I can now realize that my painting wasn't finished because I started out with my most primal instinct of a hand print like the Puebloan Indians, which had been done long before me.  It was only finished when I later added my evolutionary technique, representing the very evolution of man.

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