Saturday, February 06, 2010
Studying with Osborne
Good News! I feel very privileged, and lucky, to be in a painting class with Elizabeth Osborne this semester. I have to admit my ignorance: I didn’t even know of her until the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art presented a major exhibition of her work - last September I think it was. That exhibition absolutely blew me away! She is considered a color-field painter (think Diebenkorn and Rothko), but her work, while abstract, is always referential. Her brilliant colors and spare, beautiful compositions are absolutely stunning. I hope I can pick up a fraction of her vision and approach to painting in these classes.
The scoop on her:
In class, we are working from a lovely nude model, Corina, posing horizontally on a table. Her body contours are beautiful, and her curves immediately demand that she be handled like a landscape. As it turns out this is almost exactly how Osborne painted a horizontal nude back in 1973, 37 years ago:
So, the issue here will be to see Corina as my own subject and bring my approaches to the painting, but at the same time to try to think like Osborne. That is, to be REFERENTIAL without simply COPYING. Corina will hold the same pose for five sessions or so. That is great - gives me the opportunity to try different things and work out some ideas. I intend to keep posting about this exercise, to show how the final result takes shape over time. So if that interests you, keep tuned.
