More on Individuality

"May Fields" 20"x30' oil on canvas
© 1993 Brian Kliewer

On the development of style..

A gallery I was showing with was having great sales of my work to a major corporation. At the time, that felt very good. But I do remember being told bluntly, that, if I wanted it to continue I was to do..."No statement pieces!" I was particularly struck by that "no statement pieces" command and I intended to rebel against it, no matter what. But how? At the time, I remember that birds were not showing up at the feeder very much and I got thinking about Rachel Carson and her book, "Silent Spring."

So I had this photo kicking around in my studio. It was overexposed and the light in it was almost searing. The resulting painting was "May Fields," above. As I was working on the painting, I got thinking about what it would be like if the ozone layer were completely destroyed. I decided I wanted to play with that idea. But, in keeping with what the gallery wanted, I still had to do a "scenic" piece. So I developed a searing kind of light in the painting. If you could see "May Fields" in person, you would notice that the light is very, very strong. I pushed the darks and lights to an extreme level. I wasn't interested in "capturing" the scene...instead, I was more interested in exploiting it.

Shortly after the painting was displayed at the gallery, the company in question purchased it. I'm sure no "statement" was seen...but one certainly was made!

That look captivated me, though, and I eventually started doing more sunlit paintings in that manner. In "Afternoon Grazing," below, I have again added almost "burned in" shadows. It's a very photographic look, but I am fully aware of what I am doing.

"Afternoon Grazing" 5"x7" oil on canvas
© 2007 Brian Kliewer

There is an aesthetic behind its use. In this painting, I like the way it "echoes" the black and white pattern of the Galloways themselves. The only "statement" I was making here was an artistic one.

This all comes back to my earlier post on the idea of "breaking rules." Yes, we need to know them and follow them. But to remain an individual, we need to break them now and then too. And I do believe that, more than just breaking them, we also need to develop some of our very own.

Keep painting!