• About
  • Contact Me
  • Disclosure

accentBritain

~ a romance with art and all things British

accentBritain

Tag Archives: Janine Antoni

Brown and White

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by pat in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

Hirshhorn Museum, Janine Antoni, Lick and Lather, oil painting, sculpture, Washington DC

I am never sure what will be the subject of my next painting.  Sometimes I have a few images taped on my wall that I think may be possibilities.

IMG_2119

But until I strip the wrapping off a new canvas, I am never really sure what my next painting might be. These photos are from the gardens surrounding the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC.

IMG_2106

The inspiration for “Brown and White”  came from this same visit to the Hirshhorn this past March, but from inside the galleries.

IMG_2114

I hadn’t been to this museum in over a decade and had forgotten how much great sculpture there was.

Image 1

When I came across “Lick & Lather” (1993-94), a twin piece by Bahamian sculptor Janine Antoni, I was fascinated.  The brown bust is made from chocolate, and Antoni, known also as a performance artist, cast the piece and then licked the details and refinements in to the chocolate self-portrait.

Image - Version 2

For “lather”,  she cast herself in soap, and then actually submerged the bust in a tub of water with herself and lathered the details in to shape.  Fascinating.

Image - Version 2

When I saw the two pieces I immediately went to the wall to the left to read about the work.  Following me, a well dressed middle-aged black gentleman did the same thing, trying to identify what the pieces were all about. Part of the explanation for the pieces talks about our love-hate relationship with physical appearance.

IMG_2115

Several weeks later, the riots broke out in Baltimore over the death of a young black man while in police custody. It was one of several incidents that had been very troubling this year involving police misconduct against black individuals. I started thinking about the issue of race in this country, something that I have pondered more and more often in the last decade.  Having lived in the Caribbean in a West Indian society had made me even more conscious of the differences and challenges of race in our country.

Image

And of course, now that I live in the southern part of the United States where the issue of race is never far from the surface, I have pondered it even more.

Image

All of a sudden, the photo I had taken back in March 2015 at the Hirrshorn had a new impact for me.

Image 3

I chose it as reference to do “Brown and White” as my next painting. The color palate and simplicity of composition spoke to me as strongly as the underlying message. It was March when I saw the museum reference…the world was still brown and white, struggling to come out of winter in Washington.

IMG_2121

Somehow, everything just seemed to be obvious for the painting.

Image 1

 

“Brown and White”, 30 x 24″, oil on linen.

♣ Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 28 other subscribers

♣ Archives

  • April 2025
  • November 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • March 2024
  • December 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • June 2023
  • September 2022
  • May 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • August 2021
  • May 2021
  • January 2021
  • September 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • July 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • July 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • July 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011

♣ Recent Posts

  • de Printemps
  • A Change of Season
  • Sky Meadows
  • Green on green
  • Breakfast with a view

♣ Categories

  • Art
  • Art Museums & Exhibitions
  • Bath
  • Books
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Burnham-on-Crouch
  • cars
  • Cornwall
  • Cornwall
  • England
  • entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Gardens
  • Grasmere
  • Guana Island
  • History
  • Lake District
  • Lake District
  • London
  • movies
  • Music
  • National Trust
  • Olympics
  • paintings
  • Peak District
  • Sailing
  • Scotland
  • Shopping
  • sketching
  • The New Forest
  • The Royal Family
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • United Kingdom

♣ my button

accentbritain.com
<a href="http://accentbritain.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://accentbritain.com/accentBritainbutton.jpeg" alt="accentBritain.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>
Copyright 2011 accentBritain LLC. All rights reserved. All original photos, text and art is copyright protected.

Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Chateau by Ignacio Ricci.

 

Loading Comments...