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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY a DISCUSSION of M Y PAINTINGS

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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY a DISCUSSION of M Y PAINTINGS FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY A DISCUSSION OF My PAINTINGS AND RELATED PROELENS By STANLEY BORIS PRANSKY A Paper Suhitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Approved: ',,' . Professor Directing Paper None Minor Professor ~ h 8- Representative of Graduate Council / -. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................... iii INTRODUCTION ........................ 1 THE PAINTINGS AND RELATED PRoBIEMS ............. 3 ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE Page 1. GaggedFigure.. .................... & 2. Self Portrait. ........................ L 3. Abstract Painting ..................... -7 h. Emre ......................... a 5. Seatedbh ....................... 72 6. NightinTunisia .................... 3 7. VOUW ......................... 35 .c 8. PortraitofLinda.. .................. iu 9. Alice in Boogieland ................... t;i 10. Fiesolean.. ...................... X 11. Viuzzo di Monteripaldi ................. 2; 12. Agony of an Easter Bunny ................ 2s -C 13. Wally's Paradise .................... L~ 14. HardSwina ........................ 26 iii INTRODUCTION Although the paintings of my one man exhibition speak for them- selves, the following commentary should provide the reader with some further insight. it entails is a combination of unhesitating abandon on the one hand, and terrific control on the other. I tSy to approach my work with that absence of self-consciousness which is so obvious in the art of children. But in th case of an adult artist, this quality of freedom must be 2 demands, whatever the juxtapositions at work in a particular picture, the creation of a spatial reality. The shapes and colors I finally achieve in a painting approximate the intuitive feeling I have about the phenomena around me. I have never felt that I have said all that there was to say in a painting, but at times I have felt that I have come close. I feel that these are rare times in which to be living and paint- ing. The kind of energy that permeates painting today recalls to me various high points in the history of art. We are in the midst of a rare and exciting phenomenon--the emergence of a new visual fow. A new vis& concept is always being formulated, but at certain times, the tempo quickens and the change becomes more radical. Consider the change ex- plicit in the work of the early Italian Renaissance arkkits, or in that of the French Impressionists, or of the Gem Expressionists. In each period there uccurred a decided quickening of pace in the formtdation of the particular visual language. It is difficult to be objective about the time in which one lives butthe evidence today indicates a heightened pace in the evolution of the visual concept. In America, especially, this seems to hold true. Pe haps it is because there is less opposition here to new solutions by solidly entrenched ideas than there is in Europe, as a comp&son. There is a massive kind of active energy here which does not exist there. It may be that America, more than Europe, feels the need for new solutions. I don't think it can be disputed that ours is an unresolved energy. As an artist I am excited merely by living and working in this time of flu. THE PAINTINGS AND RELATED PROBLEMS I have never been vitally interested in complicated painting techniques. I have always been attracted to as simple and direct a painting process as possible. Accordingly, I have experimented rela- tively little with the various mediums, and have, for the most part, in my oil paintings, limited nryself to the combination of the paints, turpentine,Ctamnrar varnish, and various oils. The requirement of per- manence in a painting became an integral part of my artistic makeup due to thorough technical training at the Boston Museum School. As an art student, I gradually became more and more familiar with the painter's materials and employed a number of different painting techniques. In time I came to realize that painting "directlp was the most appropriate method for me. That is to say, I learned that exten- sive glazing, scumbling, and the Like, were for me too "indirect." The technique I have used for years has been this: in the early stages of the picture I mix rqy paints with a medium composed mostly of turpentine and some damar varnish; I then introduce varylng amounts of linseed, sun-thickened, and/or stand oil, depending upon the surface desired. Whatever the combination, I have always mixed my mediums in a way that would ensure permanence. The earliest works included in this exhibition, "Self Portrait" (Fig. 2) and *Gagged Figure" (Fig. l), were done while I was a student at the Boston Museum School. The relative darkness of the pictures is as typical of rqy work then, as it is typical of "Boston Expressionism," the doanant artistic direction at that time in that locale. The leading proponents of the style were FIymm Bloom, Jack Levine, and David Aronson. While at the Museum School, I studied under the latter and with Karl Zerbe. In large measure, "goston Expressionismw combines E?yzantine iconography - particularly in the case of Aronson and Bloom - with a central-European Expressionist verve that is well exemplified by the Paintings of Chaim Soutine. Invariably, a high degree of emotionality characterizes %ston Expressionist" painting. "Gagged Figure," especially, reflects the influence of Boston Expressionism. I remember being very impressed at the time by the man- tine artists' juxtaposition of areas of goldleaf with richly painted figurative and architectural groupkngs. Max Beclonann's paintings as0 impressed me. There is a dream-like quality in Beckmann's pictures that I felt, and still feel, very close to. Beckmann's imagery, more than any other single source, influenced my choice of subject matter in "Gagged Figure." At the time, I was paying considerable attention to the painting surface. A concern with surface was a distinctive characteristic of Boston Fqressionist painting, which then exercised considerable influ- ence over artistic ideas. In various paintings executed at this time, e.g., "Gagged Figure', I arrived at a glossy, 'finished' surface. This concern with surface was relatively brief. I was not satisfied with my efforts in that direction and did not consider them successful. In Y3e1f-PortraitR done at this time, the emphasis is on directly portraying nature. An all-over dark tone prevails. I was concerned here mainly with the visual problems presented by the image in front of me, and this concern with the direct portrayal of nature has persisted in I t9y work. My artistic career has consisted of shifting intermittently from imaginative motifs to direct portrayals of nature. I have found it necessary to approach painting in both ways. When working directly from life I set down only that which I actWy see. That is to say, I do not imaginatively improvise. I've been mainly concerned with seeing the image in front of me acutely, rather than making na good painting." I know that if the image is seen acutely, the demands of "a good painting" will necessarily be satisfied. "Abstract Paintingn (Fig. 3) was done while I was a student in Boston and it was one of qy first ventures into %on-objective" painting. I personally prefer it to anything else I did at that time. It is the one painting, done while I was still an undergraduate student, which, I feel, reaches beyond a student's statement. The result, for me, was more "real" than anything I'd previously done. Painted with casein on a muslin-like materlal that is thinly primed with gesso, "Abstract Painting" was conceived very slowly in com- parison with qy work executed directly from life. It was a drawn-out process of trial and error. I juggled the form and colors around con- %inuously until the painting assumed its present and final state. Des- pite the satisfaction the painting gave me, I recallbeing artistically inhibited by the adverse climate of opinion concerning abstract painting at that time. Due to this, and to qrsubsequent military service, it was not until years later that I actively pursued that direction. The years 1954-56 were a void in qy creative output. Shortly after graduation from school I entered the Navy for a two year tour of duty. I had been a qua.rtermaster-signalman in the Naval Reserve and upon being activated I was assigned to a destroyer. The motto, 'Join the Navy c Fig .? , 3 and See the World," came alive. I traveled much but painted little. While in the Navy, I decided I would use the G.I. Bill as a mea of staying in Europe for an extended periad. I was discharged in the Spring of 1956 and left for Europe the following February. In the interim I worked as a commercial portrait artist in Miami Beach. It was a valuable experience, for I learned what I definitely did want to do within the realm of art. No doubt I profited artistically to some extent, for I executed hundreds of portrait conrmissions, and I couldn't help kt become more familiar with facial stpucture. I lived in Florence during most of qy three years abroad, but I traveled widely throughout the continent. lQ stay in Europe was a pro- found developmentdL experience. When I afiived, my artistic world was limited mainly to the visual language of my student dap in Boston. My career as a painter had been restricted to a student situation up until that time: now I was embarking on something quite different. The total wprience of the years in Europe - the diversity of experiences, the personal relationships formed, seeing countless hundreds of mastenrorks, studying with a great contemporarg artist, but most of all, working independently - widened my horizons personally and artistically. I studied a+, Oskar Kokoschka's "School of Vision" in Salzburg, Austria, during the summers of 1957 and 1958.
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