Momentum II, Update

Here is a follow-up to a previous blog post “Momentum”.

Da Vinci demonstrated the motion of a horse in his sketches. By the 1877 Edweard Muybridge had begun his experiments demonstrating motion with photography. Soon after Thomas Eakins would do same using human sports as his model. Early in the 20^th Century Picasso and Braque would present a feeling of pictured dynamism with their experiments in Cubism. Just a few years later in 1912 Marcel Duchamp would follow up on their Cubist experiments with his Nude Descending a Staircase. Cubism demonstrated the ability of painting to suggest movement through repeated planar abstraction.

Simultaneously with Duchamp’s work were Italian futurists exploring the experience of motion as suggested through photography.  Giacomo Ballo’s painting, “Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash” is my first example (example 1). Here we sense the movement and  its orientation. We feel its momentum. Three years later In 1915 Max Weber conveyed the dynamic movement of New York’s rush hour with his painting presented here in example 2.  Presenting the sensation of form in motion had become a modernist pictorial convention.

Example 1. Italian Futurist, Giacomo Ballo, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash,

Example 2. Max Weber’s New York Rush Hour,

In my previous blog post discussing momentum I presented some heavily Photoshop altered photographs of the exterior of Grand Central Station and, an approach to the Brooklyn Bridge.  These are reprised here in examples 3 and 4.  The next examples 5 and 6 demonstrate how this information was further altered and developed in oil paint. Observe how I reverberate lines and edges through flawed repetition and ambiguous blurring. I am not interested in faithful transcriptions of the photos only to use them as springboards to further exploration.

Example 3, Photoshop altered image of approach to Brooklyn Bridge,

Example 4, Photoshop altered image of Exterior of Grand Central Terminal,

Example 5. Painting  (study)of approach to Brooklyn Bridge,

Example 6. Painting (study) of Grand Central Station exterior,

Finally, I bring you up to date on the development of my most recent Brooklyn Bridge painting.  Initially the painting began as you see in example 7. Currently the painting appears as you see it in example 8, with more emphasis on reverberation and motion.

Example 7, AS previously posted, step one of “Turning into the Brooklyn Bridge”.

Example 8. Present state of “Turning in to the Brooklyn Bridge”

These paintings will be available for viewing at my upcoming solo show at the White Gallery in Lakeville, Ct.  which opens with a reception on September 29.

I invite you to join me this year for Jerry’s Artarama’s tradeshow and workshops at their Art of The Carolinas in November (9th -11^th) in Raleigh Durham NC. I have three workshops to offer you.  My Friday workshop FR1807 is “New Affects and Ancient Sources for Painting in oil/wc/and Acrylic. My Saturday workshop SA1807 is “Nature Up Close” n oil/wc/and acrylic. My Sunday workshop SU1807 is “Cities in Motion, Bridging Realism and Abstraction”. A more fulsome description is available through Jerry’s Artarama Art of the Carolinas website. Or on daviddunlop.com.  Try www.artofthecarlinas.com/all-media-workshops.  Also, for the complete description of my workshops you can visit this website but, under the category of “Classes and Events” on the homepage.