DETAIL: grey6/the love letter 48x48" mixed media on canvas
2:50 pm: this painting represents a life long vision. as i've mentioned in a previous post, vermeer painted the love letter in 1669-70. in 1974, the late yannis tsarouchis, my friend and mentor, painted his version, titled simply the letter. tsarouchis once said to me, as we walked down a street in central athens "all great painting is abstract." i was in my late 20's, and i couldn't quite wrap my mind around that statement.
ABOVE: tsarouchis'1974 painting the letter. 51x43" the 2 figures are: his niece niki and french assistant, dominique
i came to understand what he was getting at years later. i believe he chose this painting of vermeer's precisely for that reason. it perfectly illustrates his point, with it's exquisite balance of forms in space, vermeer's superb handling of paint and mastery of light and his capacity to convey an extraordinary depth of feeling..... it has the syncopated rhythm of a bach concerto, the precise balance of a mondrian.
STAGE 3: grey6/the love letter 48x48" mixed media on canvas
the model holds a lute, a symbol at the time of carnal love; luit was slang for vagina. i'm sure none of this escaped tsarouchis' attention. he was a very passionate man and an inveterate and deeply curious researcher. his grasp of ancient greek theatre, (he produced, directed and translated aristophanes, staged in an athens parking lot) and the history of art, allowed him to enrich his understanding of vermeer, read layers of meaning into his paintings and internalize his spirit.
i believe that, on some level, as my grey series paintings evolved, (they are abstract paintings painted over abstract collages i had made in 2014), i was slowly edging towards the love letter.
it is not yet complete, and i'm going to have to take a one week break starting tuesday. so stay tuned and we'll see how it unfolds. i plan on doing a second version on blank white canvas once this one is resolved.
i was conflicted about making another painting on top of this particular one. it was good, and has many beautiful passages, but the more i looked at it, over time i grew a little tired and bored. as mikela accurately observed, i'm a good painter so it's more or less a given that the work will be well painted, but does it sing? that's what i strive for. and, of course, looking at vermeer's paintings so intently every day, i'm learning a lot. i would go so far as to say i'm beginning to learn his language.