Icon and Bluebeard (9th of November 2010)
I really enjoyed a couple of days ago while reading the novel "Bluebeard" by
>> Kurt
Vonnegut. After a dozen pages I realized that I am dealing with a smart guy, and somewhat later it became clear to
me that the smart guy is also very emotional. A combination that should be respected and that is not that common.
Kurt Vonnegut wrote about life. Of course. All writers write about life, only some have a limited and dull vision of life, and
with some, although realizing all the blackness and anxiety of life, one can feel an extra quality, certain value. That is what I
felt in Vonnegut's "Bluebeard".
Speaking more narrowly, in "Bluebeard" Vonnegut speaks about the life of Rabo Karabekian, a guy from the scene of American
abstract expressionist movement that hangs out with the big names of the movement (
>> Jackson Pollock is a "real" character, most others are not). Rabo is an American of Armenian origin whose parents ran away from
the slaughter by the Turks. The element of war and destruction is an important component of the novel since Rabo later, as a
member of the "artist" unit goes to the World War II and that fact importantly determines his whole life.
I will not speak much more so to not spoil an enjoyment of reading to some, but I will say that the book is also a very
persuasive "document" about the life of painters and illustrators, about what torments them, what haunts them and to
what they aspire. Illustrators and painters are of course people so all this is very interesting to the people who do
not have their talent, but I'd say that it is particularly interesting to those who try to draw and paint.
There is a scene in the novel where Rabo Karabekian demonstrates to his wife Dorothy how he can draw easily and precisely, and
when she asks him why doesn't he do it more often, he says something like "Because it is so fucking easy!".
And of course, I know that it won't be nowhere that fucking easy as it was to Rabo Karabekian, but I nevertheless sat
in front of the mirror and tried to sketch what I saw. Without computer, without Photoshop, only with a will and
a graphite pencil that I sharpened with a pocket knife. About the same as Rabo Karabekian. Yeah... After about
thirty minutes, I created a sketch shown below.
Eh... No good, although the resemblance is definitely there. Planar, with only elementary contrast related to lines,
practically a line drawing, without notable presence of the shadow that contributes to the sense of shape. Naive and amateurish.
I had >> better tries ...
UPDATE (10.11.2010.): I just read an advice to painters by Andrew Loomis in his book "Eye of the Painter".
Loomis says: "Never put a head or anything else of importance in the exact center of
a picture. Drop it, lift it, or place it to one side ... and never place head and shoulders so they face the
viewer squarely... More often than not, this will make the subject look as if he were facing a firing
squad, or posing for a passport picture. While this seems obvious, failure to recognize it accounts for many
bad portraits. Ahaaaaa ....
But, in this elongated face with a stylized hair I
saw a representation similar to those seen in icons. The naivety is similar, and the face is more or less suited. So I made an
image that opened this post - somewhat modern variant of an icon. And for those that do not believe me I propose to
take a look at the images in >> Wikipedia's article on icons.
And so, in the "Construction of reality" there is a path from Kurt Vonnegut to medieval icon. As there is in between
any two chosen things, of course.
UPDATE (09.11.2010.): I returned home this evening and I was thinking about what went wrong regarding the sketch. Laying on
the bed and looking down, into the mirror I again sketched a bit and this time this is what I got:
Hmm... Somewhat better. It is not Rabo Karabekian, but there may be hope for me...
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Last updated on 10th of November 2010.