theartist

theartist is 80 by 60cm It depicts an interview in a job centre where a young woman has been explaining that she is an artist. The man behind the desk doing the paperwork looks neither impressed nor hopeful, and is showing her forms or documents of some sort. She is also fiddling with a doccument, a possible compromise that may either strangle or resuscitate her dreams a little. While painting I felt very aware of the fact that they both would have dreams, neither of which would feature the job centre or those forms in any meaningful way. Depending on who you are, artists are either arrogant dossers chasing false dreams and pouring out egos, or heroic creators adding beauty and thought into the world at a huge cost to both their lifestyle and frequently their dignity. Almost anywhere or at any time, it has not been an easy or even an admired path. You can imagine my personal angle on this, but I've tried to capture both. This is a redo of an earlier sketch that I had mixed feelings about.

Do I love or hate the city? I don't know.

Frequently it features as the drab backdrop to magnificent or dire things.

Great events only sometimes command great backdrops.