This month our exhibition has been broght to us by The Pop Up Collective who are curating an International Men's Day themed exhibition called I am Man (official website here). We're delighted to have such a diverse variety of styles of art from the 4 artists in the exhibiton and will be posting a Q5 for each of them. Our next artist is Andrew Bonneau. Read about his art and inspiration below.
Describe yourself as an
artist
Well, I guess you would say that I’m
an artist who is very interested in reconnecting to a pre- Modernist
conception of drawing and painting; one that is built on a close
observation of the physical world and developing the drawing skills
required to translate that into pictorial form.
I have always striven to develop the
kind of skills and knowledge to do this; I recently returned from
three years studying at the Grand Central Academy in New York, where
a very rigorous kind of drawing and painting program is taught.
Describe the work you have in
the exhibition
I have two pieces in the exhibition-
One figure study-‘Santiago’ and one portrait of a local model-
‘Paul’. The painting of Santiago was done in New York earlier
this year; I really like the contraposto in the pose. I painted it
fairly quickly so it was interesting to have to make fast decisions
about how best to describe his anatomy in a simplified but still very
specific way.
The portrait of Paul was also painted
fairly quickly. It was a great challenge to paint a portrait where
the front plane of the face is either in shadow or strongly raking
light.
You seem to place a lot of
importance on skill. Why do you feel that this is important?
The idea of Beauty is traditionally
associated with drawing from nature, and I have found from experience
that working within a convention, but being as truthful as you can
about what you see, elements of the beautiful begin to emerge. So
it’s a kind of Truth/ Beauty relationship, but it’s the desire
for objectivity that allows this to happen
What is it that interests you about
the human being as a subject?
Well, it’s THE subject of Western
art, and it’s who we are as a species which makes it continually
fascinating, despite what time period you’re living in. I think
that the human subject is so important in that not only ideas but
also feelings can be embodied in a representation of the human body
or face. As an artist interested in developing my drawing skills,
painting the human figure is a pretty strong indicator of your
ability. It’s also central to humanism, which is one of the
defining cultural achievements of the civilized world.
Who are your favorite artists?
Rembrandt is just great; I always get
so much out of looking at him. There is such a presence in all of his
paintings. Also Titian, Rubens, Raphael, Caravaggio; the list goes
on. Lately I’ve been looking at Ivan Shishkin, the 19th
century Russian landscape painter as I’ve been drawing and painting
a lot of trees.
'I am Man' runs from November 2 - 30, 2013 at 109 Lake Street, Cairns.
As always Cell Art Space is open 24/7 and is still accessible to
pedestrians during the City Place upgrade. Closest parking is behind
Canopy off Grafton Street.
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