Theme and hodgepodge

For years I have been interested in the idea of identity, masks, personas, doppelgängers, the nom de plume. My project to define and depict my alter-ego began in 1996 when I discovered that Marcel Duchamp created  Rrose Sélavy and signed many of his seminal works in her name. That sparked the thought that I too should have a pseudonym and should art and enact an ongoing series of works authored by my new character. Wanting him to be funny, full of good humor, I donned the nose and glasses of Groucho Marx and began.

Each year for 25 years I am painting 4 portraits 22" x 30" and I am making a 3-5 minute video of his antics. Upon the completion of my project I intend to have 100 portraits and just over an hour of video footage.

It has definitely been a mixed media endeavor. Some years a theme has been developed, other years it has been a hodgepodge of exploration.

From 1996:

From 2003:

From 2013:

PRIDE

In June 2015, Marc was keen to celebrate the Pride Month by going all in with the rainbow. Facebook offered a rainbow filter and the rainbow clown wig were perfect complements.

 

 

Walk of Fame

The Giovio Portraits, intended as a public archive of literary figures, rulers, and statesmen were assembled by Italian Renaissance historian and biographer Paolo Giovio. The original portraits, which were painted from life by a variety of esteemed artists, were lost. But, copies have been displayed in the First Corridor of the Uffizi in Florence, Italy since 1587.

After a visit to the Uffizi, where I took a walk down that famed corridor, I wanted to see my portraits take their rightful place.

In 2013, the Uffizi Four were added to the collection. Marc De Ansar poses as Rembrandt, Holbein, El Greco and Hals. The portraits now hang high along with the other illustrious dignitaries. 

As an artist who aspires to have work displayed side by side masterpieces in important museums — instead of waiting for the day, using photoshop and iMovie I am envisioning my paintings in place, in most anyplace I want. This short video is a realization of Don Draper's advice "If you don't like what's being said, change he conversation." and Marc DeAnsar's admonition, "If you don't like what's on the wall, change the picture." 

But, it is Rembrandt who has the final word. "A painting is finished when an artist says it is finished."

FINI

Krishna Mud

One of the delights of 2012 was time spent with granddaughter Clementine Deluxe. My Frida Kahlo satchel filled with art supplies, watercolors and paper was my go-to babysitting activity kit. 

She brought such exuberance to her painting — the swirl of using every color at once. The simple pan set of paints was soon a mix up going towards a muddy brown. 

Inspired by her free spirit-expression, I learned a lot about letting my judgmental hand go and she was intrigued by my ability to render something recognizable. I tried to show her what can happen if colors are kept discrete but the exuberance she brought to the vocabulary of her brushstrokes held sway. 

I marveled watching her grow into being with first words and the formation of language. One day I happened to snap a pic of her with the face of astonishment, with her mouth open wide. 

Given the contentiousness of the 2012 political landscape it is no surprise that some of the main issues have entered into the Marc DeAnsar discourse. Reproductive rights are a prime issue for social conservatives. When does human life begin? When are we human? When does Marc become Marc? The creative moment when Marc was conceived and then in the ontology of development—when did the nose and glasses first appear?

When is the beginning? We now have new ways of knowing. The beginning has come closer and closer to the point of conception so close that now some people believe as soon as the sperm fertilizes the egg, that bit of cellular should be afforded all rights and responsibilities of a citizen. In bygone days a woman might not even be aware she was pregnant until the quickening. 

My yoga instructor Tony Briggs told the story of Krishna's mother who had heard that mischievous Baby Krishna had eaten some dirt. Expecting to find a mouthful of mud, when she opened his mouth it was filled with the cosmos, with the wonders of the universe…and then maybe, it was just mud.

So this mumble of thoughts were shaped into this painting of Marc with his mouth open wide with Clementine with her mouth open wide and inside it all Marc— the embryo of the creative life or maybe, it was just mud.

Trilobite Heights

When my family lived on Maringo Drive in Dallas, 1961, my friends and I would rush to the woods and the limestone deposits not far from home where we picked at rocks and dug for fossils — almost every day after school.

We had big dreams and big ambitions. A baseball-sized recession in a stone outcropping was imagined having once held a dinosaur egg. We were sure that underneath the gentle rise and slope of a mound of dirt lay the resting skeleton of a Brontosaurus.

At the Dallas Museum of Natural History Museum, I would gaze longingly at the specimens hoping that one-day my rare finds would be on display, as treasures in the vitrines, labeled with my name as the discoverer. Although I never became an “official “ paleontologist my life as an artist is infused with the investigative spirit. I took to heart the rigors of the scientific method. 

This year I celebrate my big 60th birthday, so I am keen to check off my “bucket list” finding a trilobite in the wild. According to authorities, the Trilobite Wilderness Area is THE place for aspiring fossil hunters so with a photograph, topo map and rock hammer in hand, on the search for this famed site, we were on for adventure.

My undaunted companions (Richard, my sister Janis and brother-in-law Paul) determined to realize the dream, avid in their search, chipped away at the shale for hours. We were disappointed that we did not find even a fragment but there were tracks, evidence that they had once been there. We have since learned that the site is a paleontologist’s mecca and as Dr. Roseanne Chambers reports, even for an expert, it's not that easy. 

When we finally realized that there were no trilobite fossils to be found we headed to Las Vegas for the razzamattazz and bright lights, so my sadness was mitigated by a Cirque du Soleil show and some fabulous meals. 

Even though my life–long dream of finding a trilobite in the wild still remains… we did have a great get-away to the desert and mountains. We will try again next spring, just heard about a U-Dig in Utah, where you are guaranteed to be successful.

Not wanting to be disappointed, in advance of our trip, I carved a trilobite with a nose and glasses face, that I could bury then discover on site.

SUCCESS!

Pop Noir

A wild extravaganza of a Southern Exposure benefit party at Electric Works last evening. Original punk, mod, and retro-futuristic are just a few of the descriptors of the fab event. 

Cut paper portrait by Jen Merrill