Outside/Inside

[Alexandra Tyng]

Originally Posted by Chris Saper

Dan Goozee['s] feeling is that a painting is never complete until it is viewed.

Thanks for repeating that great thought, Chris! I'm honored that you think this painting is a good example of it.

Linda, thanks so much! After the PSA conference some of the artists stayed on in Philadelphia and Linda was one of them who came over to my studio. I admit I was more than a little nervous having my work looked over by so many top calibre artists.

Chris and Linda, your appreciation means a lot.

[Nancy Bea Miller]

Oh wow! Such fascinating responses, and well-deserved: it is a fascinating painting. I think that allegorical paintings often come a little too close to kitsch for my comfort, but yours strays nowhere near that dread realm.

You asked for people's impressions. To me the painting which seems to be all about duality, similarly conveys many complex and contradictory feelings: loss, acceptance, regret,satisfaction, brashness, caution ,freedom, constraint. Perhaps even feelings of pain on aging, yet at the same time that pain is caused by the intense joy of living.

Congratulations on your tour de force!

[Julie Deane]

Beautiful Painting, Alex! On the technical side, I love your brushwork and description of what you see.

On the subjective side, without knowing the personal history behind the painting, I would see youth-age contrast with a description of attitudes correlating to each time of life. I would wonder about seeing through the figures - are they ghosts? In the mind's eye?

[Alexandra Tyng]

Nancy Bea, thanks for looking in! I always look forward to your unique insight. I like the way you point out the broad conceptual issues behind the portrait. Probably one reason why you and I have such long conversations is that we're constantly seeing dualities and contradictions (or apparent contradictions). Now that you point them out, I see that they are indeed woven into the making of this painting.

And I'm so relieved it's not kitschy

Julie, thanks, I appreciate hearing your reaction. The contrast between youth and middle age was definitely in my mind, and also the continuity of life between those times. You mention the effect of "seeing through" the figures. I was wondering whether anyone would notice, i.e. whether my attempt at painting this was at all effective. There are a lot of reflections of coastline in the different layers and angles of glass, plus coastline that is actually viewed through the glass, and I was trying to paint them in an ambiguous way so that the young figure would almost become transparent, as if his time layer was not quite solid.

[Christy Talbott]

I'm in awe of how beautifully this is painted!

I feel a little self conscious giving you my impression of this, because it seems so personal. I will give it a try though. Here's what comes to my mind...

The middle aged man is turning his back on his younger self or dreams in some way. The older seems sorrowful and maybe feels he's trapped or has shut himself off. The younger man whose spirit is of course still within him, but shut out, is trying to wake him up in a sense to the beautiful world with it's opportunities all around him.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Christy, thank you! I really appreciate your comments. It's true that the portrait has a personal meaning but it was my hope that it would say something to people in general and not just be obtuse, or worse, meaningless. The things you see it in are things I wasn't thinking of consciously, but now that you mention them, I can see how they can fit. It's so interesting to hear about unintentional meanings because, in a way, this portrait is not just of my brother, but also of universal feelings and life experiences that I'm trying to express through my painting of him. I suppose all portraits are like that to varying degrees.

[Christy Talbott]

Alexandra, when I say personal I really mean for me, and that is why I felt a little self conscious talking about it. It's richly layered with meaning for me, without even knowing what it all means to you. I love that it could mean many different things. It's mystery is what makes it so intriguing.