Category: Art

Art Copy

For the last few months, I’ve been engaged in exercises making relatively simple copies of my old sketches onto new small drawings with ink and pastel. It has allowed me to regain some technical facility, engage in quality time in a rough winter, and – lately – ponder philosophical questions .

First, of course, is what was the purpose of the original sketch? It is not a copy of what I see – a photograph does that much better. It is rather an active comment of my momentary existence, leaving a lot out, rearranging as I please, constrained by my abilities and completed in a reasonable amount of time. When doing it, I am almost in an enchanted trance state .

To copy THAT to another media is totally different. I categorize the activity as more “inspired by” than “reproduce”. I have more lingering choices of how to do it, what to accent, what to redo. And never slavish reproduction. More time to plan, more chance to react. Alas, still greatly constrained by ability. Less of a trance, more of artisanship .

Copies of art have always been artistically in style. Until recently, only a painter could give a true replication of a painting, although engravers could produce the essence. Patrons often paid, but artists probably enjoyed what they were doing .

Unlike “real art,” copies do not try to amaze, shock, or change the world. As pleasant as a good meal, with just as few long-term consequences .

Tao-Chi

Or Shitao – translations are imperfect and names often change with careers. A Chinese painter contemporary with Reubens and Rembrandt who could not be more different. I’ve never really enjoyed Rubens, but I adore Rembrandt as a free spirit. Shitao is much more modern and kin to John Marin .

Whatever visual art may be in its many forms naturally reflects on its culture. Much of the Renaissance work now seems pretty boring in light of cinema, photography, AI, and slick advertising. The “shocking” impressionists are easily imitated by ubiquitous computer programs. What is a painter to do ?

I’ve gone my own way. I accept my various handicaps as part of what makes me unique. I try to correct a few things, work on fluidity and spontaneousness, be creative but not lose touch with the real world as I experience it .

There’s a great satisfaction in that. It’s why I’ve always admired the “literati” tradition. Although often observed in the breach, the ideal was of gentlemen of means who made pictures in their spare time and did not need to sell them. With a bit of philosophy thrown in .

So periodically I pull out my library volumes and admire some nearly life-size color reproductions. It truly helps me relax and create on my own blank sheets of mulberry paper .