Recently another student doing a school project at the University of Southern Indiana was comparing one of my works to a Salvador Dali painting asked me to give him some insight on the meaning of “The Eclipse”.
“The Eclipse of Love” (complete title) is one of my early works. It is one of my most romantic sensual pieces… My work is personal and about my life experiences at the time. The idea of this painting came from a sketch I made in the summer inspired by the total Eclipse of the sun (Aug 1999).
At the time, husband and I were starting our romance and would spend hours of tongue rolling and strolling in the park under the trees. In 2001 when we moved together I decided to make a painting of this idea as a reminder of how our relationship started. It’s hanged in our bedroom since.
I would probably sell many of my paintings but this one is the one I am mostly emotional attached to. This student after examining my painting “The Eclipse of Love” to Dali’s “Cannibalism in autumn” found out that they are very similar in his opinion. But the main difference he found was that I was expressing love while he is expressing death… Any thoughts??
I can definitely understand why you keep this piece Angela. While I am happy when a piece that I have painted, that I particularly like, sells, I do occasionally keep a piece that has some specific meaning to me. Once in awhile my husband requests a piece and I have kept a few pieces that represent turning points in my work. They mean a lot to me.
One of the best perks of being an artist is having an endless supply of art to hang on the walls.:-)
One of the best perks of being an artist is having an endless supply of art to hang on the walls.:-)
It isn’t much of a perk if you live in apartments and rent a studio (or use the apartment as a studio). And if you don’t have a car, its hell.
Dali’s painting is very similar to yours in theme, but he takes the idea of love as physical joining together to a grotesque extreme. There is a sense of loving in his picture and sense of devouring in your own.
Angela,
In the comment I left on your site, I said something about the trees being rooted seperately, but when I looked again, I saw they were growing together from a common center. Odd. Odd I would “see” something different than what was there.
I, like others, perhaps project my own feelings into work and see what I want to see — looking with the mind instead of the eyes.
So I looked again. They grow together, these trees, intertwined in the most intimate way.
Thank you guys for commenting… I been feeling so down lately its so great to have you guys to cheer me up a bit (snif)
It isn’t much of a perk if you live in apartments and rent a studio (or use the apartment as a studio). And if you don’t have a car, its hell.
Do you really think that by hanging on to a piece now and again, an artist isn’t going to be able to afford to buy a house or a car? Is that the point you are trying to make here, Arthur?
beste Angela,
je zegt wat je wilt zeggen met je schilderijen en de techniek staat je niet in de weg ,
het is geen mooie plaatjes maken om de mooie plaatjes maar om jezelf de vrijheid te laten voelen die je al hebt
het is heerlijk om de spontaniteit te zien in je werk
[Dear Angela,
You say what you want to say and do not let technique stand in the way of expression. It is not making art for the sake of art but only to let yourself feel the freedom that you have already. It is wonderful to see the spontaneity in your work.]
The symbolism in your work creates a dream-like affect. The eclipse, mountain, rose, two clouds, etc., all leave the viewer reading their own thoughts into the meaning.
The imagery in this painting is very compelling Angela.
Although I work abstractly my work is also about my experiences. The piece in my post this week, Structures #10, is very personal for me and one that I don’t necessarily want to sell.
Although unlike yours being about love, my quilt is about my divorce and the growth that was a result of that difficult time.
Now I feel old and jaded. To be young and in love – your painting captures that all consuming feeling well.
Tracy,
No.
Angela, this is a beautiful painting. The thing I find most compelling about it is the contradiction between the tree figures, which are equally intertwining, and the eclipse occurring in the background, which is also mentioned in your title. Both the title and the eclipse image make me wonder what the eclipse refers to in the relationship. Could it be that love eclipses other matters, or is it that the relationship, which starts out as an equal one, eventually turns into one partner eclipsing the other? I’m not asking for an answer, really. The tension between the two readings adds a depth to the image that doesn’t need to be explained away. Great work!
Tracy, I assume that Arthur is referring to the storage and transportation problems many artists experience if they accumulate too much of their own work. Sorry, Arthur, if I’m presuming too much here. But since I do live in an apartment and rent a studio, I have to deal with those issues all the time. I do have a car, and its size places certain restrictions on the work I do. If I didn’t have one, I’d have to make adjustments to that situation too.
I had in mind artists who are unable and/or unwilling to sell their work more than occasionally. They end up with a large collection of their work, including stuff they don’t want. Since they are probably losing money through their art habit, and since they need to support themselves anyway, they end up working at something else. Since they didn’t learn how to do anything else valuable in art school, they end up doing things that don’t pay well. Therefore, they end up living in cramped apartments with holes in the ceiling, inadequate heating, assorted vermin crawling arround…and no car.
Not that I’ve ever been in a situation like this.
Angela I love this piece.. though i think the lady in red is one of my favs of your work.. can’t remember the title of it at the moment… this one is romantic and sweet… soft… i like it alot.
Arthur, I can’t help laughing when I read your description of artists’ situations. Mine is very similar, yet very different.
I’m totally willing to sell my work, and do sell quite a bit. But since I do a lot of it, and sometimes work large, I still end up having to store some of it, especially between exhibitions. I do, overall, tend to lose money at my art habit, but probably because I reinvest so much of what I make back into it. I didn’t learn any other marketable skills in art school, but did teach myself some afterwards. I do work at something else, and it pays pretty well, but not necessarily by L.A. standards. I live in a nice apartment, with views of the Hollywood Hills, and have a dependable car. Most of the vermin crawling around here work in the film industry, like I do. My running joke is that on what I earn in L.A. I could live really well somewhere else :)
Good grief, Arthur, you took an offhanded comment and turned it into an extreme scenario of poverty and “hell” (your word, not mine).
I have lived in awful places, yes, with vermin, I lived without a car for 7 years and right now my house is bursting with unsold work that I am not quite sure what do with.
However, when I lived in crappy apartments, having my art (or other’s art) to hang on the wall was an inspiration to me to keep going, to continue to make art and to better my lifestyle. When I had to lug everything around on the subway or bus, I was confident that that was temporary and now I know that if I keep working hard, someday I will be able to build my own studio and store all of my unsold work there.
I also, and this was my point to Angela, really love to be able to keep the occasional piece that has some kind of meaning to me.
I don’t think that that was an extreme scenario. Anybody with a roof over there heads is relatively lucky (and yes, I ate, paid my bills, etc.). And yes, I used the word “hell” in a offhanded manner. Hope no one was offended.
Of course you’re right about keeping work. How could one do otherwise?
Also, what would a healthy comments forum be with digressions. What was the post about again?
Digression would be a great art movement for the 21st century. If you start it, I’ll join. Want to write our manifesto? It’s okay if it rambles…
With or without!(?)
Wow, that’s a concise manifesto! Not very digressive, but very koan-like.
(Oh, I see what you’re referring to. I thought your comment read “without”, which I think is what you intended, but it does in fact say “with”.)