fur elise (2010)

fur elise (2010)
Originally uploaded by kelise72

I’ve had this painting in mind for a couple of years – I’ve got a book of vintage nude photography (from 1880’s and forward), and the photo this painting is from is one by Brassai, 1932. Of course the actual photo is black and white, so I had to take artistic liberties and paint her in colour.

I rather liked the expression on the model’s face – sort of like Mona Lisa, enigmatic, is she smiling or is she sad. In the photo, the model looks a bit “hard”, maybe jaded, but somehow, in my painting she’s ended up looking confident maybe even happy, not at all ashamed of her situation. Maybe she’s even proud to have such control over men, and over her own body (as I kind of assumed by the photo, she’s a hooker or even some kind of 1930’s “porn star”). Her stance seems to scream out, yeah, I can do whatever I please and who are you to tell ME what to do with my own body?

Although the model is not me, I feel she still aptly represents me in the sense she conveys my own personal attitude, one of self-confidence in any situation - even one where I might be vulnerable and seemingly constrained by a “mask” (e.g., the “mask” of someone else’s expectations, or the “mask” that society/culture expects you to be a certain way); In fact, I’m quite OK in a situation where somebody might ask me to be something other than I’m not – I still find a way to express the real me even if some of who I am is disguised in order to “fit in”.

You may notice that she’s standing in front of a mirror, so that a slight reflection of her back is apparent. This is representative of the idea that sometimes (for me) I’m only outwardly exhibiting the APPEARANCE of confidence – sometimes ACTING confidently is easier than actually FEELING it. So overall, the viewer can’t be sure if the model is ACTING or FEELING.

I am quite pleased with the resulting painting – I feel there’s a lot of depth to it, even though it’s quite simply done. I tried to be as “accurate” again with the tones of the model but purposely chose a garish yellow wallpaper (she is a hooker, after all, so I thought it was fitting to have wildly yellow wallpaper that’s so bright so as to not encourage hangers-on, I guess. A mirror, too, is essential decor!)

The composition (bend of her arm and bend of her torso etc) really leads your eye around the painting I find, and I’m hoping that the reflected image in the mirror is not immediately apparent. Sometimes I do that with my paintings, I don’t “give it away all at once”, leaving something for the viewer to find later.