obession 2018

From Giacometti's search for the face to de Kooning's deconstruction, I am ready to cut loose, free the tight grip of my pencil and let the paint and graphite flow. 

In addition to my annual commitment (since 1996) to completing four portraits and a short video, this year Marc is serving as the model for the many of the exercises I use in my teaching. 

Erased

At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, one can see Robert Rauchenberg's Erased de Kooning and the infrared scan that reveals traces of the original. Each student was given a photocopy of the scan and asked to color it in. Look at the incredible variety in the students creative responses. And even when I am not intending, Marc appears in the picture. 

Special thanks to Chickie, Ellen, Glenda, Sue, Suzanne, and Tilly from Sonoma and Roberta, Kim, Gloria and Jeanette from Rohnert Park for their interpretations:   

The Exquisite Corpse - DADA game

In a game of chance and unpredictability each player draws an image, folds the paper to conceal their contribution, then passes it on to the next player for their contribution.

The unfolding of the paper is a great revelation of surprising combinations as the MOMA website describes, "all in service of disrupting the waking mind’s penchant for order."

Two-Handed Drawing, Left and Right

As an exercise to understand dextrousness, with a pencil in each hand, draw with both simultaneously.

Rubbings

There is something magical about seeing textures come alive, watching an image appear when rubbing a piece of charcoal over a rough surface. The technique, developed by Max Ernst, the Surrealists called it frottage. Who knew Marc's face was hidden in the wrought iron design of the garden table top? 

Drawing with glue

Giacometti-inspired, elongated, existential faces and figures are rendered with white glue on black paper. When dry, a quick sweep with pastels, brings the images to light.

Kibibi, as interlocutor, becoming Marc's mustache.

Mr. Potato Head

When I noted the the uncanny resemblance of Groucho Marx and Mr. Potato Head, I dug deeper (no pun intended) in to the history of the look of the toy. I learned that Mr. Potato Head was "invented" by George Lerner (Romanian-Jewish descent). In 1952 the Hassenfeld brothers (Polish-Jewish immigrants) bought the rights and it became a hit and was the first toy every advertised on television.  For more on Hasbro and the Hassenfelds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasbro

http://www.jewoftheweek.net/2012/02/22/jews-of-the-week-george-lerner-the-hassenfeld-brothers/

I have many happy memories of digging potatoes with my Grandpa Bouska on his ranch in Montana and am eager to share the pleasure with Clem, AO, Jude and Gray. The thrill of finding:

Our bumper corp of potatoes and and the high-five hilarity of potato heads make this an apt subject for Marc's 2017 exploration. From botanical illustration to recipes for mashed, there is something for everybody.

A traveling exhibition from the Hunt Institute for Botanical illustration at the Petaluma Art Center sparked my interest in the rigor and focused attention required of that discipline. 

It sent me on journey of discovery about the origins of Mr. Potato Head as a new cultivar of tuber Solanum: Dominus. Capsicum annuum capitis 

Human Interest

Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney Collection

Fayum Forever

Marc Fayum HERE.

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