10 Oct 06 by Hillel Kagan
I'm presently working on two projects concurrently. One is another experimental box with figures. I'm hoping this might spark some new direction. The other is four new canvasses in my ongoing series of heads. Due to the nature of oils I find it best to work on a few pieces at a time. For the record I will be sending the four "head" paintings i'm working on here to Trapani. They are each 46cm x 36cm.

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Trying to juxtapose two figures from various angles of a cube. I'm using as a reference a couple of black and white photo repros. of models in varying positions (middle left of photo).

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Another angle of initial phase. Also my parquet floor that I idealize in my paintings.

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and another.

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If I were a sculptor I would keep moving round the model degree by degree and getting down or building the forms as they appear two dimensionally without fretting about how it would all add up, that's what I'm trying to do here.

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Top view.

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Another view of the setup and source photos.

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Ongoing series,"Fundamentally Heads". Four canvasses 46cm.h.x 36cm.w. 2nd session.

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detail

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Another couple of sessions. Working round and round like a sculpture.

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Trying to keep things open and evolving without getting bogged down. If some of the figures start looking different here it's becauase I lost my references. Either I inadvertently threw them out or my dog ate them.

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I've made changes and expanded the playing field. Next go around I'll either fuck them completely or get a painting. If I get two out of four I'm laughing. Four out of four and I drink the 40 ouncer I'm saving for the occassion. Ah, what the hell no matter what happens I'm drinking it anyways.

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Still working on the box. This view is from above. I don't know maybe it's beginning to work out. We'll see, it's not exactly what I had in mind but whatever vague notion that was, I believe is pretty much impossible. (photo 2) for scale.

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I'm getting pretty bogged down on these things. This one might be lost. I have to push myself to move on to the others but sometimes I get stuck.

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This was the view from my studio window last week. I kept looking outside thinking about the approaching winter and all the stuff I had to do. There was no way around it, I couldn't paint anyway so I gave over to it and cleaned my brushes and put the tops on the paint tubes. I then spent three days raking and bagging leaves, cleaning roof gutters, sealing windows and attending to the furnace. After that I spent six days pretty much crippled. Hey, it ain't all art.

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I always start by looking for the main rhythmic thrusts and forms and try to establish a few rudimentary relationships of form and colour.

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When a certain balance has been achieved I can start working into the smaller areas.

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I think the thing that's of most interest to me is emerging image. The nearer it is to completion, the more I hate it. I like this at this stage but feel compelled to finish it and probably ruin it because I have to get nearer to my initial vision.

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Still working on theses things.

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Finished? Maybe.

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That's it for these works for Trapani. I'll send a cd with image files to Antonio tomorrow.