I found myself overflowing with praise of Van Gogh's painting Two Crabs at the National Gallery in London two weeks ago. Never heard of it? It's because it hasn't been over exposed. I dig Van Gogh's use of colors in this painting. So vivid, so saturated. Unlike most of his gouache-like hues, baby blue, baby pink, baby yellow, it's my worst nightmare. He uses them well, I have no right to complain.
Regardless there's joy in my heart just thinking about it. Second to Carravaggio, which I went in prepared to be captivated by, Two Crabs has won a spot for the National Gallery in my heart. I want to touch it.
I came across a bronze (I think) crab in the Ashmolean as I perambulated it's room of Acquisitions last week, and thats really when I declared my new love for crabs. Crabs are really quite intriguing usually very colorful, makes a great subject for a painting, I don't know why more people haven't taken hold of the idea. I have. Expect big things from me, and expect crustaceans.
This picture does damage to the hues' actual vibrance. No justice is served.
I spent my time in the Ashmolean last week studying a painting located in one of the rooms on the upper level titled "Head of an Old Man" by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri. I found it interesting because it encompassed two of my main infatuations right now.
Firstly, the subject of the painting is an older man with a large untamed beard. In my photography endeavors and as I consider the art of photojournalism I find myself constantly wishing I had the gumption to as the old men I see to let me take their portrait. I find the wrinkles to be beautiful and the age to be a conceptual idea relating to wisdom, and if a beard is involved, the larger, the bushier, and the more colors it has the more fascinating I find it. I feel like age is a subject I'm drawn to, especially in my photography, but I feel the main reason is that I miss my granddads.
Secondly, (both of these things happen to be relating to my recent involvement in photography, specifically portraiture.) I have been inspired to begin to try working in the catagory of Expressive Portraits. This painting is very expressive and is so successful in capturing the emotion through the man's pose and expression. His aged hand rests on his breast and his eyes are gazing upward causing a wrinkle in his brow. There is also heavy emphasis on shadow and light, another of my favorite styles. This painting is the painted materialization of my ideas for my next series of portraits. If only I had time to work on it.
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