PAIN

The post at hand is not about Bi-Fa, nor composition, nor methodology, nor scatter point perspective, but is about our conversation to the audience, the emotional content of our work.

I assume we paint for different reasons, fun, self-expression, commercial endeavor.  Occasionally we find a piece of work that makes a connection, not only with ourselves, but with the audience.  We might be painting something because that is what everybody else is doing, or some great master was doing that in the past and we try to emulate their works, their styles.  We might get the technique down, but the work is silent, like a perfect mannequin, well proportioned, great poses, but lifeless.

I did this painting when I was dealing with some personal problems.  Yes I did it with Chinese brushes just because that's all I have in my sushi  blanket.  I painted it on the back side of a piece of paper that came with a frame.  The paper that had a generic wedding picture printed on it.  My "wants" at that moment was to find a conduit to release my emotions..... the choice of medium was not my concern. (fortunately I did not release that on a person :-

I had absolutely no idea of what I was doing.  There was no technique, composition, color wheel,  nothing.
I had some faint idea of where to paint in shadows etc. to show the contours, and that was about it.  When I finished the "unleashing" process, I found the dabbling to be dark and full of tension.  I had no idea that I painted a person of unknown gender and  that the wine bottle and glass was not symmetrical and all that.  I was not going to make any alterations.  I just wanted to let the dabbling stand, as a witness to that particular moment of my life.   Perhaps I had given the title "PAIN" to the painting, I was getting some feedbacks, some voyeuristic inquisitions from my acquaintances as to the circumstances ..... but I wasn't going to reveal my innermost secrets. 

A dabbling with no aspirations or pretension to be a piece of art somehow is making a few chattering.  The only explanation I have is because it is not only raw, but brutally honest.  I have also been accused of painting a nude in this painting.  If I did, where did I hide it...................................