Outside/Inside

Alexandra Tyng · 05-14-2008, 10:48 AM

Oil on linen, 42" x 50"

Here's a double portrait of my brother that I finished a couple of months ago. Because there are many layers of meanings in it, I considered posting it in the "figuratives" section, but in the end I decided it belonged here because it is primarily a portrait. The figure in the background, leaning against the window, is a young version of my brother at about age 20. The figure in the foreground is, obviously, my brother as he is now. The setting is his island in Maine, in the lighthouse tower.

Instead of going on about what I tried to say in this portrait, I would very much like to hear what, if anything, it conveys to you.

Alexandra Tyng · 05-14-2008, 10:51 AM

More details.

Thomasin Dewhurst · 05-14-2008, 01:09 PM

Lovely work, Alex. The clarity and the quality of the light is wonderful. The double portrait of a single person in an allegory works very well indeed. There is no doubt about it not being a straightforward portrait of two different people. There is a definite feeling of the artist setting memories in physical paint, as well a organising ideas and responses to those memories in a deliberated on composition. The younger version of your brother feels like the past with the present layered on top without it obstructing the past. The relationship of the compositional elements as well as the younger and older versions of your brother are very thoughtfully worked out so that both the ideas and the painting's objects, colours and shapes work very harmoniously.

A wonderful painting.

(I think that you could push these allegorical works even further by focusing on the actual paint itself and the beauty and meaning in the abstract qualities of oil paint i.e the unexpected and undefined feelings of longing or glory or sadness etc. that come across in the paint marks as you are working out the drawing or composition. In other words allow more of the paint marks you respond to excitedly to remain (even though you might not think other people would like them as well as you) and perhaps allow more variety in the paint marks. In other words, it is a bit like riding a horse without a bit. It feels completely wrong and out of control if you have been riding with a bit for ages, but it is so rewarding to trust the horse and allow for its personality and movement and wildness to have some freedom - the same with letting the paint go and lead you a little, and then you work with where it takes you. You then have more of an equal relationship with the paint, rather than having it submit to ideas you already are master of.)

Allan Rahbek · 05-14-2008, 05:41 PM

Alex,
I like the puzzle you set up and I bet that you have had long conversations with your brother during the painting process.

I like the many mirror images in the windows that could inspire to reflections about a persons life.

When you are young you want to grow up and get into something, and when that happens you may look into the mirror of your soul and want to be young again, because you might want to do things otherwise and so on.

It's a great painting and more complex than I like to think of.

Thank you for showing it.

Molly Sherrick Phifer · 05-14-2008, 07:28 PM

I just adore this painting. Wow.

So, here's what came up for me (as I relate it to my own experience of youth vs. mid life); As a twenty year old there is a yearning to "find the light" (symbolized by the lighthouse). The young man is looking in from outside. As a more mature adult, he has become part of the light, realized that he is now and always was a part of the light. Now he looks out on all there is.

Just wonderful!

SB Wang · 05-14-2008, 09:34 PM

Alex:
Great!
http://www.artsheaven.com/caspar-dav...s-of-life.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage_of_Life

Mary Ann Archibald · 05-14-2008, 11:38 PM

This is absolutely wonderful! There are so many layers to it, I feel like I could look at it for hours and discover new questions and meaning in it.

Alexandra Tyng · 05-15-2008, 10:32 AM

Thank you all for responding!

I think you all mentioned major themes I was exploring in this. But you came up with some specific metaphors that I hadn't thought of. Maybe they were at the back of my mind, but not articulated. For me, there is nothing so deadly to creativity than thinking out every last detail intellectually before starting to paint. I only knew it had to be a certain way, in a certain setting, and then the idea developed intuitively as I was working it out and even while I was painting it.

Allan, your description of youth vs. middle age is very much what I was thinking of when I first started thinking about this. In fact, it is behind the whole painting. Although I hear my female friends talk about mid-life, there is something peculiar to a man's life which I wanted to express here. Maybe it is a set of emotions, subtly (or not so subtly) different from women's feelings.

Molly, it is interesting to hear your viewpoint. I was aware of the symbolism of the lighthouse when I thought of it as a setting, but the actual words "light" and "enlightenment" did not occur to me. I was thinking of elevated perspectives and the tower as a symbol of masculinity. But what you say is absolutely true and very interesting. It is also a positive spin on the youth-midlife theme. Do women experience midlife differently? I feel very much as you describe, and that makes me wonder whether the overlaying of my experiences on my brother's experiences produces another "layer," so to speak.

SB, thank you for the link. No words needed. (I wonder why I talk so much!)

Mary Ann, thank you! If someone wants to keep looking at a painting, that makes me very happy.

Thomasin, thanks for all you said. I like your thoughts. The layers of glass were both fun and challenging to use because they had several different functions:
1) linking layers by allowing one to see through them
2) separating layers
3) reflecting things inside and outside

As usual you brought up some good points about the painting process. Although the painting is quite large and looks more painterly in real life, you are right that it is more "controlled" than usual. I think I felt this way from the beginning of the process, because the lighthouse was so difficult to get right with all its angles, windows, reflections, and just the general perspective of a ten-sided tower. I was also very conscious of correcting for distortion. Perspective issues are very important to me and it bugs me when something looks a little off. (It doesn't have to be painted meticulously, it just has to be correctly spaced and structurally correct.) There were so many elements to put together from disparate sources that the actual process of painting i.e. the brushstrokes, the feeling, etc., broke into sections more than being an entire whole, as it would have been if I were looking at a complete scene and responding to it. In other words, the things you are referring to happened while i was painting the two figures and the area immediately around them, and the water and scene behind him, etc., because that is the way I worked on the painting. I was aware that the whole panting had a more controlled feeling than usual. This "riding without a bit" is something I have been working on for years. I would not want to suddenly let go, but rather let go gradually. If I am to do more portraits that have these complex elements I'll be working towards this goal.

Enzie Shahmiri · 05-15-2008, 09:40 PM

Alex, what a beautiful painting! I love everything about it, especially your brothers (older version) reflective look. I noticed the two sailboats in the distance and it evoked a sens of something that has passed. To me it seems your brother couldn't wait to grow up into manhood and now he seems to be missing something. He is not really looking out at the scenery but seems to look at something within. Maybe reflecting on his life?

What was your brother's reaction to the painting. Did you tell him what you had in mind before he posed? It's really a great piece....

SB Wang · 05-15-2008, 09:59 PM

http://lightlounge.org/articles/outside/index.html

http://english.hanban.edu.cn/english/33934.htm

"When I grew up,

Homesickness was a small tomb,

With me outside, and my mother inside; "

This is one of the most-famous poems written by Yu Guangzhong, a renowned writer from Taiwan. Entitled "Homesickness", the oft-quoted poem vividly depicts the flesh and blood relations between people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

http://images.google.com/images?um=1...=Search+Images