Sunday, April 1, 2012

Faces: THIS IS NOT MY WORK

Every once in a while I come across some art on the web that absolutely blows me away.  This morning it was a comment from Uber Luciano Gatti on one of my flickr images (well, he added it as a favorite) which sent me to his flickr site.  Here are a few images from Uber's "Faccio Facce" set:




I was reminded of Tina Bering's "100 Girls on Cheap Paper".  I refer to her book a lot for inspiration, even though I don't draw faces very often, and it is one I recommend for my Sketchbook Practice class.  Not a how-to at all, just pure inspiration.  A  couple of images:





What I love about these pieces, both Uber's and Tina's, is the degree to which the process and material are evident.  The abstract aspects of them are as in-your-face as the expressive quality of the faces.  Learning to draw a perfect likeness of a face is as skill that can be learned with practice.  But this individual, idiosyncratic interpretation of a face is so gut-wrenchingly expressive.  I think it comes with just working and working and working, and gradually finding your own way with materials, techniques, imagery, and ideas. 

7 comments:

  1. I just adore Uber's second last face, the black & white one. How dramatic!

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  2. I love those faces too Jane! Thanks for sharing! Now I need to find him and you on flickr. : ) I like the face book too so I've pinned this post on my reference site on Pinterest so I can find that book later. You are such an art encyclopedia. Thanks.

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  3. These are so much fun to see - all of them. They are also terrific portrait pieces. I really love Bering's faces - I love being able to see process in the finished pieces. They are also gentle and feminine, in a good way. Since I haven't really wanted to draw faces, that's the only one of the recommended sketchbook books that I didn't have or buy. Mistake! Back to Amazon! Seeing these makes me think I might need to rethink. Uber's pieces are dramatic and cheeky. Thanks for sharing them. Oh - and I've been trying to catch up on flickr, too. You have some wonderful new things there. No wonder you're a favorite!

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  4. Could you please tell me something about the 'bloggers etiquette' when it comes to posting work from others?

    I always love discovering new artists through blogs, but I am hesitant to post other people's art on my own blog.

    Do you let them know?

    Thanks for sharing these!

    Anita

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  5. My feeling is that if you post the work of other artists you credit it LOUDLY, and also link to their site, blog, or whatever. I always love it when my work is posted elsewhere in the blogosphere. One can, of course, ask in advance if it's OK, and I do that in some contexts. For this kind of post where the main point is LOOK HOW FABULOUS THIS IS, I just go ahead and post the images and make sure I link directly to the artists.

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  6. I love both of these artists work! I am not on the level of either artist but it did inspire me to experiment with a drawing I did of myself. I'm going to play some more but I have the first experiments on my blog. Trust me, I love your work, as well. I have both of your book and I'm trying to decide which class I should take. Thanks for sharing these two artists.

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