Your Drawers Need To Be Ironed

A quote I like by Banksy goes like this: "All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw?" It appears many artists today have the misdirected notion that the ability to draw accurately is obsolete. They convince themselves that, since their art is not representational, they need not practice the art of drawing. They reassure themselves by looking at recent art auction prices of contemporary art, like Jeff Koons’s Tulips which sold for $30 million, or Gerhard Richter’s abstracts regularly selling around a similar price. It is easy for artists to be convinced by the spotlighted outliers of the art market, driven by wealthy businessmen who treat art as commodities (or as “poker chips”). Add that academics continue to declare that intellect, concept, and cognitive value are most important in a work of art, artists today quickly disregard the importance of being able to draw accurately. (The phrase "draw accurately" does not necessarily mean in a photorealistic style.) I believe all art must carry a certain high level of craftsmanship, and the ability to draw accurately is the backbone of the craft.

It is easy to forget that artists like Picasso and Richter have produced work which demonstrates their ability to draw exactly what they want.

So, I practice drawing regularly, either in the form of doodles or quick sketches. It’s like going to the gym. Certain skills need to be ironed out periodically. The following is an example of a sketch, about 18 inches tall, of a friend who agreed to sit for me for thirty minutes. A time pressured sketch of a live person is usually a challenge, as it requires a quick grasping of shapes and efficiency of strokes with the pencil...

By they way, one of the greatest masters of efficiency of strokes with the paint brush, Diego Velazquez, has a painting at the special exhibition on Caravaggio currently at LACMA: 

Along with Georges de La Tour:

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)

New Work, Nietzsche And The Snakecharmer

When I was a kid I wanted to be a snakecharmer. Something about the danger, society's unexplained phobia, and the mystery of snakes enchanted me. I roamed the California hillsides looking for snakes and found several. Somehow I avoided the toxins of rattlers and only suffered superficial bites from nonvenomous serpents.

Years later I remain enchanted by snakes, but I suppose it is of a more distant respect for them. They remain mysterious. What they represent symbolically or metaphorically to people and in art and literature, throughout the centuries of our existence, continues to fuel my intrigue for the creatures.

Snakes have been the subjects in art around the world since primitive times. What is it about snakes that has bewitched our cultures? Perhaps it is that snakes are primitive. But I think it is also more than just that - snakes are symbolic of the truth.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "The truth is ugly: we have art so that we are not ruined by the truth."

The Snakecharmer, 45" x 36.5", oil on canvas, 2012.

The following are details of the painting, click on image for larger view:

And this is what the painting looked like at a very early stage:

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)

New Work, and the Kandinsky Observation

Metamorphosis, 25" x 40", oil on canvas, 2012.

The great Wassily Kandinsky once stated: "The true work of art is born from the 'artist': a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being."

Kandinsky's convictions are most easily demonstrated when visiting museums - certain works of art seem to be human and radiate immortality. These are the timeless pieces that have transcended subjective appeal, becoming globally accepted as great works of art over the decades and centuries.
 
Over the past decade of art making, I have felt that my own creations have detached themselves from me and taken on their own lives and personalities. I operate like I am a portal and allow the work to be completed through me, taking on its own form and making its own conclusions, even if I begin the painting with a vision of what I think the end product should be.  But rather than the Heavenly "mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creations ... animated with a spiritual breath", perhaps my creations can be better described as little monsters, rejects, or riffraffs.

It fulfills the creative drive nevertheless.

Metamorphosis (detail):

Metamorphosis (detail):

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)