The painting shown above is underway in my studio and is far from finished, but it’s at a stage that has led me to my art books once again. For this is the point in my process that often feels like the edge of a cliff. To simplify matters, I’ll call it the tipping point between realism and abstraction (though it is much deeper than that). It is a precipice I often find myself facing and it sends me to my art books for reference, inspiration and, I guess, courage. Because it’s this balance that I think all artists try to strike in their own way.
So I often turn to a pair of painters who, I think, have masterfully achieved the level of balance that I’m comfortable with - Fairfield Porter and Rackstraw Downes. Besides carrying two of the most marvelous names in art history, these two guys have quite the same lens in their respective eyes that I do. Both are often termed “realists” and “figurative” though I feel they are far more “abstract” than at first glance. They are just more subtle and finessed.
In looking at Porter and Downes, one must remember that painting is a metaphor, not a facsimile. The paint must carry the day and present to the viewer a story of interest and not of cliche. Both these masters do just that but with a soft touch and crafty technique.
Look at this piece by Fairfield Porter.
Island Farmhouse, 1969 - Fairfield Porter
Representational, yes, but what painter has the cojones to introduce a lemon yellow into the shadows of a white clapboard house? Not many realists. And the negative spaces and shapes are simplified to a level of organic gesture that is purely abstract. Wonderful!
Under the Westside Highway at 145th Street: The North River Water Pollution Control Plant, 2014 - Rackstraw Downes
And this landscape by Rackstraw Downes is almost photorealistic in technique, but the curvature is anything but an accurate depiction of how architecture sits in a landscape.
Fairfield Porter (1933-1975) was one of the more figurative painters among the influential group of abstract expressionists in post-WWII New York City. He was also an accomplished art critic. He painted in NYC, the Hamptons and Great Spruce Head, Maine. In the 60’s, he taught painting at a number of schools. Among his students was a young man from Kent, England - Rackstraw Downes (1939 - ).
Rackstraw, having settled in New York, also paints in Maine and Texas. One of the more remarkable things about his technique is that he works from life, in multiple sittings. Because of that, his paintings often take many months to complete, not surprising, given his meticulous hand.
Long Island Landscape with Red Building, ca. 1962 - Fairfield Porter
Traffic Under the George Washington Bridge, 2010 - Rackstraw Downes
So, I’ll study a bit and eventually work up the nerve to return to my humble painting - hopefully in the spirit of my artistic forebears - with thought and courage.