Monday, July 18, 2011

I.F. July 15 "Gesture"


From the Illustration Friday Quote: "Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence" - Henri Matisse

Pondering the word and the quote, I wandered off into thinking about gestures in general, and those with more or less permanent effects.

Gestures on the highway are generally held to have little permanence, though they tend to cheapen the maker and leave an unpleasant taste for those on the receiving end. I wonder if this effect, observed in themselves, led so many cultures to ascribe magical powers to gestures - and to spend energy either in warding against them or learning to use them to advantage?

Here is one person, making a gesture in a very impermanent surface, previous gestures swirling around her, clinging to her every surface, changing her form, her appearance and filtering the world in which she moves.

3 comments:

  1. Absolutely wonderful!
    Love the detail and unique style throughout the blog!

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  2. Hey what thought full thoughts, have you seen those cards you can hold up in the traffic the cards having some insulting message like "you drive like a monkey etc" inscribed on them. I bet the inventor of those cards didn't get a nobel prize :) I like this piece, the raw primitif energy reminds me of an expressionista woodcut by Kirchner,

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  3. Thanks for your thoughts, and words, folks.

    Andrew - haven't seen those cards, sometimes I think I deserve having one waved in my direction.

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