I have started working on a new idea for a painting.
Critical analysis:
Following my practical experiment with a repetitive activity, I came to the following conclusions:
My composition should focus on the essence of this exercise – the coffee, glass with ice and lemon, and a bottle of sparkling water. This still life setting is a constant in my experiment and in the foreground of the overall image. It never changes and there are no visible modifications and adjustments to the position of all items on the table.
The view with people and arm chairs in the background is the variable of the image. This part of the composition is dynamic and frequently altered by randomly passing visitors, slow morning business or just emptiness of the space. Interestingly, the focus in my work is reversed from people onto objects. The underpinning narrative of action in the background, behind the centre, is out of focus and less important than a simple still life like setting in the foreground. The same cup of latte, the same slice of yellowish lemon and the bubbles of gas in the glass.
Subsequently, my plan is to remove the constant and the obvious – the expected. The place in the sub-light, the focus of the composition will become empty and covered by the background colours and textures.
I plan to use paint and, step-by-step, over-paint all foreground objects, while recording this process digitally, perhaps as a video or a photographic timeline. Editing will follow to further refine and emphasise my creative intentions. I want to divert attention from the foreground to the background. A jet of water, or a cleansing power of a washing machine and powerful detergents will be replaced with a hand painted background.
The Three Burmese Monks are gone and disintegrated now. The time has come up to erase my morning coffee experiences.
All really important issues always take place behind the scenes, in the distant and seemingly unimportant vacuum of background void.
HYPNOTIC REPETITION 