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..

Vincent Van Gogh; Letters to Emile Bernard, and Now a Lucid Mosaic by C.T.Rasmuss.

Upon reading the first few letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his artist friend, Emile Bernard; I couldn't help, but admire one of his sketches that he sent to Emile, in letter III.  The book also included accompaniment of the final painting, in which I only saw in black n white, til now(on purpose, as I hoped to capture as much color correctness through his words only).

Shown above is my Lucid Mosaic, a technique all of my own invention(to my knowledge), and below is the original(in oil) by Van Gogh himself, done in Arles, early April 1888:

And this is the sketch he included in his letter to Emile:

In these two(B/W) renderings of Van Gogh's 'A Provencal Orchard', I was immediately stricken by the intersection of the horizontal garden path(both ends hidden by the fence), and the diagonal "main" path running down and to the right corner(placing the viewer left of this path w/o mistake of their orientation to the entrance of the Orchard), a perfect composition in my mind!

And I was inspired to prove how strong this composition is, I believe it may be an overlooked piece and doesn't have the panache of his more famous iconic ones, but deserves just as much attention, mostly due to its teaching aspects and composition values.

I mainly wanted to give a somewhat ordinary(at first) artwork of his: a "new life", and this actually has opened the door for me to do the same for many other pieces; after succeeding in this attempt, I feel like I can take my technique and give new life to, other Old Masters not so famous artworks, within their oeuvre.  Not that they really need it, but I would like to give attention to, perhaps what the critics, art lovers and contemporary artists may have over looked.

Going back to the process for execution of the mosaic(after deciding what my new mission was, or is becoming), I drew a quick sketch from Van Gogh's painting, followed by an actually thumbnail.  This allowed me to transform his original painting into a template, for the purpose of my technique; and my favorite part of this particular experience vs. previous pieces I've done, was that this was the first time I concentrated on the actual brushwork, I was able to because of the way Van Gogh worked his canvases with heavy impasto.

I've also included the part which he explains the Orchard to Emile if you'd like a sample for yourself:

"Here, by the way, is a sketch, the entrance to a Provencal orchard with its yellow fence, its screen of black cypresses(against the mistral), its characteristic vegetables of varying greens...the whole of the sky has a bluish hue and the greens are either definitely blue-greens or yellow-greens, purposely exaggerating in this case the yellow or blue qualities."

And that is that, and there you have it...and now on to the next one, So...there is a Signac I saw yesterday, and after sketching it I suddenly lost my will, but a few pages later I really got excited again especially after sketching it twice, so who knows..

What's in The MoMA? Artist - Paulo Guimaraes Gets Inspired (Part 1 of 2).

Ode to Picasso  C.T. Rasmuss, pastel (2008).

  What's at the MoMA?

For those of you who are not familiar with the MoMA, its the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, definitely the best museum I've ever visited, of course in my short career I have visited a small portion thus far, but it's a top museum worldwide nonetheless, especially for Modern art.

Recently I viewed a post on Facebook by artist friend, Paulo Guimaraes, where he states:

"Heaven does exist! It's called the 5th floor at MoMA!!!! Seurat, Cezanne, Van Gogh, oh myyyyyyy!"

This got me to thinking: “How could I bring Paulo's latest 2 works of art that he shared with me, and the topic we've been discussing over my last few blog posts together?”

Answer - The MoMA!!!!

It is filled with masters, especially with Picasso's if not more so than any other artist of the Modern era, our discussion has been about “going into the past and seeking out the Masters for influence”, what better way than seeing their work up close? As evidenced by Paulo's reaction to his visit, and what better place than the MoMA?(for a person living in Bronx, NY).

Next there's Paulo's two pieces of artwork(seen below), where he told me that he was influenced by Picasso and a Contemporary by the name of Keith Haring, And if you notice in his statement of excitement/revelation; he doesn't mention Picasso, perhaps because re-familiarizing with a master took a back seat that day, to the excitement of new horizons, therefore opening his eyes to the potentiality of other “heroes”!

The God Particle Dualistic Confusion Chamber  Paulo Guimaraes, oil/pencil (2014).

The Root of all Evil  Paulo Guimaraes, oil/pencil (2014).

In turn, I believe experiences like this of his, lead to other findings on top of that; and once we familiarize ourselves with these new found heroes, perhaps then we move onto discover their very own heroes, for example: 2 of Cezanne's(who Paulo refers to) heroes were: Gustave Courbet and Eugene Delacroix, and they of course had their heroes as well, and so on..

I'm not saying Paulo never saw a Cezanne or Van Gogh till now, but upon his visit, he has become more aware of his “surroundings” as an artist in a world of creativity; passed down from generation to generation, displayed in a Museum where the Masters reside, and their ideas are as inspiring as the day they were generated, if not more so.

To be Continued...

[To familiarize you with Keith Haring, here's one of his artworks that struck my fancy if you will; an artist whose work I've come across many times, and if it weren't for Paulo sharing his influences for these two paintings, I may never have given him the attention he deserves]:

Follow this - Link for more on Keith Haring<

ZEN; Another Lucid Mosaic(in process) by C.T. Rasmuss.

'ZEN(in process)'  C.T. Rasmuss, Lucid mosaic(original concept by C.T.).



Here's the Lucid Mosaic I've been workin on since, late January of this year; I've posted some conceptual drawings below, in order of conception.  Just to verify to anyone who has followed my career and my original mosaic/painting method - My direct influences for this particular style is not just the pouring method of Jackson Pollock and impasto style of Van Gogh, but here particularly like my last Mosaic('Night & Day; A Modern Dilemma' by C.T. Rasmuss) my additional influences on this one are: Frank Stella for the color/grayscale effect, and M.C. Escher concerning composition and mathematics.

 

 

 



I have included these preliminary drawings to give you a sense of my preparation that goes into, coming up with the ideas for my mosaics.  Many people, other artists and professionals of all kind always talk about being afraid of others stealing their ideas; as for me, I am some what concerned, when the thought of it crosses my mind, but I feel in my heart that I'm blessed with a talent that is to be shared with those who are willing, and if my talent/idea is truly strong and unique enuff, as I 'believe' it to be, then I've nothing to worry about.

 

 

 

Enjoy and I hope you learn something, especially from how we can learn so much from the Masters..

 

 

Link to: ZEN Part II - The Finished Piece



 



Van Gogh's 'Undergrowth with Two Figures', an Inspiring Work of Art.

                    Undergrowth with Figure at Sawyer Point C.T. Rasmuss, Oil (June 12, 2013).


I set this composition according to Van Gogh's 'Undergrowth with Two Figures' (June 1890), created in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

I don't live in France and have never been, and I've never saw undergrowth such as in Van Gogh's painting...so when I was out on the Riverfront scouting for a good place to paint for the day, I was surprised to notice what was available to me on the Ohio River.  I've studied this painting every time I go to the Cincinnati Art Museum..and I absolutely love it(featured below)..

                       Undergrowth with Two Figures  Vincent Van Gogh, oil (June 1890).

My painting is a mix of an intriguing 'figure' (a brilliant white venue overhang) surrounded by 'undergrowth', I also replaced the trash cans with tall outdoor vases w/ flowers.  My favorite part as well as in Van Gogh's masterpiece, is the large tree smack dab in the middle right of the work; I saw this in his as a broken rule and  an obstacle he set to overcome..which I believe sets up the ultimate view of the two figures, and otherwise would be bland and ineffective if it weren't for the purposeful obstacle!

Enjoy!!!

'Ode to Vincent Van Gogh', Day 2 by C.T.Rasmuss

4 of 100 in 30 Days  C.T.Rasmuss, India ink (Nov. 22, 2012).

        Well, it's Day 2 of 30 in which I will attempt to reach 100 paintings, as a tribute to Van Gogh's proliferation in his God-given talent.  The above painting was number 4 out of the five I was able to finish yesterday, as part of Day 1; it's a mere "5 X "7, a piece of foam core I had

- something I could afford at the time of purchase(discounted due to bent corners/and I had cut down for better efficiency).

I used only India ink yesterday, and learned many things from just this piece alone(tones of purple/gray particularly in this case), surely to be re-evaluated after the 30 days is up; this is just one battle out of a hundred on my War on Idleness!

Now it's back to work!!

Ode to Vincent Van Gogh: '100 Paintings in 30 Days' by C.T.Rasmuss

Pews & Hues  C.T.Rasmuss, permanent marker on canvas (2012).

Well I looked and I looked and couldn't find what I was looking for; I've heard that Van Gogh worked on something like 100 paintings in Paris before his death...there are all kinds of numbers and days that they took place in, but I'm not concerned with all that really.   

I, like many others happen to be fascinated with this artist's dedication through out his short life.  Not to take away from other prolific artists who lived short lives such as Seurat who only lived to be 31, but there's just something about Van Gogh's story I'm particularly drawn to.

In light of whatever the truth may be, I've decided to attempt 100 Paintings in 30 Days, paying respect to Vincent's commitment to something he could hardly understand himself.  My goal isn't to reach a goal/quota, it's the whole idea of having a 'purpose', a vision and execution thereof; simply understanding an experience by experiencing it myself...and in my own way.

The drawing above has been around for awhile(about a year or so), I touched it up just the other day and it's what gave me this idea.  Today is the 2nd step in that process, to set it in motion; and after 30 days whether I have 100 masterpieces or just 100 studies, it's the experience that's most important to me here..

WISH ME LUCK!!!

Encountering a Fresh Medium

Asylum C.T. Rasmuss, India ink on linen (2012)

  Jerusha Tree C.T. Rasmuss, India ink on linen (2012)

I performed to an audience when creating the above two pieces at Creativa, a creative group based out of Cincinnati, OH and at a Disciple Ministries Concert in Hamilton, OH respectively...it was the first time I had ever used this medium and I had only practiced it just a few days before the 1st live action painting at Creative on Saturday, Oct. 13th.

I've always been curious about this medium and finally had a reason to use it, it dries fast and is perfect for performing live action painting; in my earlier experiences with performing live painting performances it was always a problem what to do logistically with the wet artwork after finishing, especially with the way I apply acrylics in an impasto manner.  After finally giving this medium a try, I'm hooked now and fascinated in the directions I can go!!  I can see why Vincent Van Gogh was so intrigued by the prints of the East, as well as Modernist, Henri Matisse, not just for their composition and pattern, but perhaps the way the ink interacts with such a simple and fine material like linen; I, myself really enjoy the simplicity of it..(definitely the opposite side of the spectrum for me:)

India ink has been around since the 3rd millennium B.C., it developed in China and the carbon pigment in India ink started to be traded in from India thereafter, hence the name India ink.

Abstract Art: 'Extraterrestrial life' or a Scientific Replacement for GOD-like?

Extraterrestrial life (from the Latin words: extra ["beyond", or "not of"] and‎ terrestris ["of or belonging to Earth"]) is defined as life that does not originate from Earth.

                                                      'Hallelujah Sun'  C.T. Rasmuss, Acrylic (2010).         


As an artist & Human being, when I think of 'Extraterrestrial life' I don't think of green aliens and flying saucers, I imagine higher spiritual beings & GOD; and I imagine us as creators as well, but on a much smaller scale, or smaller budget if you will:) 

To further explain myself I'll use this painting which originated from Earth because I know, I painted it; but whose to say, that the idea for this painting originated from Earth??  Whose to say what was the inspiration for it, really...

 From a child on up(at least once), most of us take a minute or two, just to stare stare up into the night's sky in order to watch the stars; perhaps even we catch an occasional subconscious glance of it.  How does this affect us??  One thing's for sure is that the stars are not from this earth, lol!   It's in my opinion as well as my soul's gut intuition, that this painting is extraterrestrial in it's inspiration at least; sort of like Van Gogh's 'Stary Night' may well be..

Can this be why we find his work so fascinating?  And like him I believe myself to be a follower of faith; and that it's GOD's will, that I follow through on this unknown yet invisibly guided path!!

This painting is perhaps just one of the many bread crumbs that I'll leave behind on this path, but not for the intention of my own traveling back down it(I hope)...I wish only to travel this path once and never go back through it again, only in the way of fond memories!!

We all leave behind crumbs, what are yours?

C.T. Rasmuss

Seurat and the Gang; How it all Inspired a Mosaic.

                                       The Bathers at Asnières, 1884, George Seurat; in the National Gallery, London

Most importantly to a man that spent a very short life, creating but a few masterpieces of this magnitude, an artist who has more unfinished works than finished ones(for very good reasons); I ask:
 "how is this piece significant to you?"

For me the answer is: "it's the perfect intersection between perspective and composition, perfection of light and color theory the Impressionists were collectively working towards."  Seurat was is widely known for inventing divisionism & popular technique called, Pointillism; he may have contributed some of the fewest pieces out of this famous group of French artists, but they hold their equal weight in my book.

His painting featured here being his biggest achievements, in size and stature, I as well as the the majority of the art world seem to believe this to be true.  Much like Seurat, I believe that I have found my 1st 'Bathers', I title it 'Blue Vase' (synthetic mosaic seen below); a style greatly influenced by Vincent Van Gogh's impasto style, Pollock's pouring methods and largely Seurat's color theory, and later Kandinsky's theory on color composition. 

The former 3 living short lives and the later Kandinsky starting very late in life, contributed a great amount to the art world in such short amount of time.  It only makes me wonder how much I can with the possibility of even more time...if given the fortune to live a longer life like Monet, Picasso, or O'Keeffe, who all lived to be almost 100 years old

 Blue Vase  C.T. Rasmuss, synthetic mosaic (2011).