Wednesday 9 December 2009

Howard Hodgkin

Feel the studio love

Just feel the love

I LOVE Howard Hodgkin.
Much has made of Damien Hirst's recent announcement that anyone can with time can paint as well as Rembrandt, that he was no genius. Hirst's recent foray into painting has been met with universal derision since he clearly has not an original thought or idea in his head or the skill to articulate the ideas does have and best of all really cannot paint like Rembrandt.
I did laugh at a recent photograph of him sneaking around taking photographs of gallery windows. Why sneak, I do it quite openly, who cares to me what is wrong with visual note taking unless of course you want to hide the origins of your ideas. Hodgkin nails it for me with this and Hirst would do well to read and digest this.

It is not until you paint that you can appreciate the complexity of these images, they look simple but in fact they are beautifully layered and composed and if I played the lottery let alone won it, one of these would set me up for life. I would never tire of looking at one and I know each day I would see something new, there are few painters that can provide such a gift in an image and I do include most of my favourite St Ives gang in saying that.

4 comments:

materfamilias said...

Even in a secondhand, photographed rendition, that last painting is amazing -- seems to invite the viewer to peer in, looking into some innder depths where secrets are revealed, past distant mountains in some interior landscape.

La Belette Rouge said...

Do you think Damien Hirst believes half the things he says or is he just another Andy Warhol who says thinks to be provocative? I would be curious what you think.

indigo16 said...

I think Hirst is in essence a very astute buisness man, he is not an artist, but more someone who can market and successfully promote good ideas. That so many in the art world have played along is a mystery to me. In 100 years time most of what he has made will have disintigrated, true art lasts for ever and is made with soul. His work to me is really just interior decoration.

Unknown said...

Good color collection in this blog. Thanks for sharing this post





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