Outside/Inside

[Alexandra Tyng]

Chris, I'm sorry I just missed your comments as I was responding to the previous ones. Thank you so much! Yes, I do enjoy complexity. But I also like simplicity. The challenge I think it not going too far with complexity and trying to synthesize it into an overall simplicity. I'm not sure I'm there yet, but are we ever "there?"

[Chris Saper]

Dear Alex,

This really a spectacular painting, on every level. I really respect your delight in tackling such complexity!

[Tom Edgerton]

Apart from being a fabulous painting, it has evoked some strange reactions....

There is such a feeling of space and air outside the lighthouse, and everyone but the subject is in the out-of-doors. It almost makes his placement seem claustrophobic and contained, even though he's behind glass and has such a panoramic view.

I feel it's as if he has found himself in middle age in a "box" so to speak, and though the setting is so beautiful, he's cut off from actually enjoying and participating in the environment. He seems so focused on his responsibility as the watchman, he's not aware of how beautiful the surround is. And so, his younger, more carefree self is inviting him to re-connect with the world, but it remains to be seen if he will notice the invitation.

So, as these exercises are, I've told you more about me than him. Thanks, Dr. Tyng.

(It's a wonderful painting.)

[Alexandra Tyng]

Fascinating interpretation, Tom, and thanks for sharing your personal associations. I didn't think of the young figure in that role of inviting him to come out from behind the glass, but it fits very well. I like its positive message.

I can't tell you how interesting it has been to read your reaction (and others' reactions) to this painting. When I was planning it and painting it, I tried not to over-think it; I just knew it should be a certain way, and things started to fall into place. There were so many things in my mind but I didn't want to intellectualize, just express them through the paint.

[Chris Saper]

This amazing painting...

It has really been a delight to read everyone's responses.

Some years ago, I bought a painting from one of my teachers, Dan Goozee (fabulous draftsman). His feeling is that a painting is never complete until it is viewed. How strongly this thread supports that belief!

[Linda Brandon]

Sorry to be so late on here -
I saw this painting in Alex's studio and it grabbed my attention (and my admiration) just as it has for all who have commented here. What speaks to me is the impatience of the younger figure and the gravity and introspection of the older one

As usual, I am so inspired by your intelligent and thoughtful figurative work, Alex. It's not easy to construct a visual that conveys psychological complexity in the portrait genre. I really appreciate your strong work.

[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?