Comparisons can be Deceiving or Enlightening
My working methods are pretty unique and tend to baffle observers. "You do what? - Draw moving objects?. . . .people?. . . .DANCERS IN MOTION??. . . . While they dance??. . .How do you do that?…."
Though figure drawing and painting is traditionally a static study, drawing dancers in motion brings life to my artwork. When they see my drawings, people compare my work to Matisse. I'm flattered by this. I love Matisse's artwork. But our working methods are very different. For example, in "The Pink Nude", Matisse was known for drawing and re-drawing, working and re-working, simplifying, abstracting, until he evolved the final image. He worked from a static model and if, at the end of the day, he was not happy with the evolution he would have an assistant erase the image so he could begin again the next day. In contrast, I patiently observe dancers in motion until I see a line which excites me and which I record on paper. Having captured "the right line", I develop each drawing in "real time" with the dance, working from dancers in motion. Sometimes I elaborate or embellish drawings and sometimes I leave them as direct finished works.
Formal Considerations
It's very pleasurable to be completely involved in a sumptuous painting while being unaware of its subject. Rather than portraying a predetermined theme, the meaning of each piece I create emerges through the process of its creation. In this way my work is related to the New York School.
In the 15 years I've worked with dancers I've filled hundreds of sketchbooks; this is the core of my artistic production. Dance is a perfect subject for me. It is about movement, not volume. Volumes tend to stabilize a piece of visual art and create predominant elements. I go for the edges and keep elements from dominating each other. In this way the viewer's eye flows through the piece adding energy to the sense of movement.
Using analysis and synthesis I push the window of "gesture" (How simple can it be and be recognizable? How rough can it be? How unfamiliar?) Formally speaking, my drawings are about line and shadow. I can make a strong statement in a few lines, a few "edges." Shadows and other additions create mood, texture, color or inadvertent imagery. When I create paintings I translate these elements into sumptuous oil colors.
Education and Individualism
The ultimate challenges for a modern artist are to find a subject and to invent a unique technique. Together, subject and technique form the unique voice of an artist. As I pursued landscape and still life themes required of a student, elements of motion, the movement of light, clouds, and water always had a place in my work. As a student I first saw Monet's large water lilies in Paris. I knew then that I wanted to create paintings in which the very paint itself was intoxicating and luxurious, where the subject was only a part of the art experience. I was also deeply influenced by Cezanne who actively composed while moving through a landscape or still life. When I lived in Washington I learned a great deal from copying his works, among others, at the National Gallery of Art. I admire David Smith for taking something which had traditionally been volumetric (the human figure) and eliminating the core. I admire Georgia O'Keefe for creating images that are both modern and beautiful. I also greatly admire David Hockney--what an eye!
My studio art education came from New York School artists who were once students at the Bauhaus. Bauhaus methods of color analysis, formal analysis, composition and design are rigorous and idea-based. They underlie all that I do and formed the basis of my teaching. At Cornell we benefited from a continuous stream of visiting artists. We also did huge amounts of anatomy and figure drawing. Rather than emulate any one master I worked consistently at creating a unique style and unique working methods. I have always encouraged my students to do this as well. Hearing and seeing a variety of viewpoints helped me to be tolerant and imaginative. In fact, it was so stimulating to me that I completed a master's in art history. I keep learning new things from computer imaging, from reading and from looking critically at artwork as a form of communication.
Through study, inspiration and collaboration, I have found my subject and my technique. My best artwork is simple-looking, very elegant. Viewers may have to work a little sometimes to "get" my artwork, but most of the time it just seduces them.
- Laura Higgins Palmer, artist