To Paint or Not to Paint..Ecstasy of St. Francis at Dayton Art Institute Leads to Crossroad.

To Paint or not to Paint  CHAD, oil (2013) Artist's private collection.

This painting, I rendered from a sketch that I did as I saw a kid getting out of school, he was admiring a small grouping of wild flowers, that seemed to be growing out of place as far as I was concerned; I was stopped in traffic on a two lane road at the time.  Once I noticed the kid in this tiny "field" of wildflowers, it struck me as odd, because it was  in the middle of the city and this kid seemed intensely drawn in, without care to anyone, or anything around him in this busy, bustling of our everyday city life; so I quickly grabbed my handy sketch book and did what I could, as something told me not to let this moment go.

I'd been struggling to come up with ideas or the energy to paint at this time, and it took many months til I actually revisited this sketch, if not a year, and when I finally did, it was my first return to oils in almost 5 years.  I believe my first true experience in art, was in oils, where I felt I could do anything that the best artists of the past could do; I was able to relate this kid's experience with the wildflowers (a rare action in my opinion, especially for this absurdly, modern world) and translated  it to my canvas!

The buildings in this painting were my favorite part, as I couldn't recall them from memory, or sketch their accuracy fast enough that day in traffic; my main objective was to make the buildings in a way that they were completely inanimate to create a space that was imposing yet powerless against the object of focus, a way of portraying how buildings seem to have more importance in the developed world than individuals and their interaction with nature; I also made the person(best to my ability) allowable for anyone to claim it's identity.

The sketch happened in 2012, painting in 2013, and here now in November of 2014, I've for the 1st time studied in depth, Italian Painter, Giorgio De Chirico, considered to be the greatest Italian painter of the 20th Century, founder of the Metaphysical movement and the main influence & contributor to the Surrealist movement that followed in the mid to late 1920's, here's an example of a favorite of mine, 'The Great Metaphysician':

The Great Metaphysician  Giorgio De Chirico, oil (1917) The MoMA.

His faceless characters and Neo-Ferarra architectural set the stage for a space that he can easy manipulate for scale & effect, for me it also has shed new light on a oil painting I did over a year ago, a painting that's been in the back of my mind ever since; I always thought it wasn't finished and now realize somehow, that it is, it's just not a finished idea, but the beginning of something special I think.

follow this link for a few more Metaphysical works by De Chirico

Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet; "Gravedigger Scene"

Selections from Hamlet: Modern Translation; written by Shakespeare (1599-1602).

Act V scene i

Gravedigger Here’s the water, right? And here’s a man, okay? If the man goes into the water and drowns   himself, he’s the one doing it, like it or not. But if the water comes to him and drowns him, then he doesn’t drown himself. Therefore, he who is innocent of his own death does not shorten his own life.

...later in scene after Hamlet and Horatio enter the graveyard in which Ophelia's to be buried..

Hamlet That skull had a tongue in it once and could sing. That jackass is throwing it around as if it belonged to Cain, who did the first murder! It might be the skull of a politician once capable of talking his way around God, right? And now this idiot is pulling rank on him.

Mel Gibson as Hamlet; "Gravedigger Scene".

You might be asking yourself what does Hamlet and these selection from the play have to do with De Chirico and my painting?. and I too was, until just now when upon blind faith I've realized: "the skull", why it may be so "Iconic" to many people, especially in Hamlet, out of all the symbols, from one of the greatest plays in Theatre?

Despite being part part 1/2 Irish, 1/2 Danish decent, my last name being Danish: Rasmussen, Son of Erasmuss; before knowing this fact, I've been attracted to the story of Hamlet most of my life, whether its through watching the play, a movie, artwork(Van Gogh's Skull of Skeleton with Burning Cigarette, Seen below), reciting Hamlet's most famous soliloquy in college as a theatre major, or studying Tom Stoppard's adaptation: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  

And now I realize how Hamlet himself relates to the ambiguity of the skull's identity, in perhaps my favorite scene; as it was once alive, a skull that we all have in common, of course among other things we have anatomically in common, but directly linked to identity in this case more so than any other "bone" in the body.  This relationship between Hamlet's interaction with the skull that the gravedigger digs up, has led me to the ambiguity of identity throughout De Chirico's masterworks, and also my: 'To Paint or not To Paint', as I've now finally come to title it.

follow link to read this scene in entirety, Original/Modern text.

Upon visiting the Dayton Art Institute, which sparked this entire assemblage, I drew a detail, sketch from Italian Renaissance painter, Bernardo Strozzi's 'St. Francis in Ecstasy':

Ecstasy of St. Francis  Bernardo Strozzi, oil (1615-18) Dayton Art Institute.

Detail of Strozzi's "Ecstasy of St. Francis" (Nov. 2014).

What I really like to point out in this detail is the comparison to De Chirico's 'The Great Metaphysician', how the pedestal, vertical style is where I see and evident crossroad; which will be clearer for me after, perhaps what I'm able to derive artistically from this, as De Chirico had a respect for the Classicist painters and the Masters as so do I, of course we differ in many other ways, but this is just a momentary crossing, then for me to go on my own way.

So when I go to the museums I usually sketch everything in its entirety, the best I can, rarely do I just focus on a detail, and usually its floral patterns or detail work; in this case I drew the detail in a way that, would make Cezanne proud as I sacrificed its actual composition for what I actually see, which really wasn't there(or was it?).  While drawing this, I was inspired in the oddest way, and couldn't figure out what to do with the detail, and still can't really, but I believe whatever and whenever I'm inspired to take this further, it is a crossroad, and that crossroad for me just might be the Skull..?..as Strozzi did over 40 paintings on the subject of his muse: St. Francis.

follow link for more info on St. Francis

Saint Francis' religious life reminds me a lot of Van Gogh's painterly life, separated by 700 years, I'm sure Vincent was aware of St. Francis and his sacrificial life style, which may have influenced him along his desperate journey to get closer to God in his own way.

Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette  Vincent Van Gogh, oil (1886) Van Gogh Museum.

 Ever since seeing Van Gogh's Skull with Cigarette above, upon seeing it for the first time, even 2nd and third, I couldn't believe that anyone had ever done such a thing over 100 years ago, let alone 50, I've been fascinated with this "surreal" image that was way ahead of its time, especially when you think of how people never knew smoking was bad for you lol!

Pyramid of Skulls  Paul Cezanne, oil (1901) Private Collection.

And last but not least, today is the 2nd time coming upon this work by Cezanne, it's a prominent work, and out of all artists I'm glad it's Cezanne because of his ingenuity reassures me, that I'm at the right crossroads; fingers crossed...x.x..