Otto Dix (1891~1969) said of his paintings of World War One subjects "I did not want to cause fear and panic, but to let people know how dreadful war is and to stimulate people's power of resistance."After coming home from the Chicago show, I was really inspired to try something totally new. Having recently read an article in MHQ Magazine on the artist Otto Dix, I had found the subject for my new project. Although I'm still wondering on whether this will receive "o.k.'s" from judges at future shows, as this will be pretty graphic.
I picked up a nice round ebony base from one of the vendors in the hopes I would carry this thing out. Once I got home and sat at that clean workbench, I told myself this maybe now or never.
The triptych painting Der Krieg (The War) is the inspiration for the project. Though not as chaotic and dreamy as the painting, it will be in essence true to it's harshness.
Please note the sculpting of this project is 80% done! Yes, I've been working like a madman for a whole week and burned an entire weekend ( up untill 2 a.m. on Friday and 8 hours each Saturday and Sunday) on this piece! Lets say, I'm very fortunate to have an understanding family;)
This post is just a teaser. I'll post pic's every other day so I have time to play with my new camera.
For more on the artist Otto Dix see- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Dix
6 comments:
Wow! You've been busy. Teaser indeed. :)
Meh. Who cares what the judges think...bring it on.
Lately, I've been thinking about doing something based on paintings by Horace Vernet. The ones with animals in them, of course. :D
Jason, It's going to be interesting to see how this piece turns out. The reaction to such a piece will be something to see and hear as well. Thanks for the teaser :(
You made me very curious. can't wait to see the first pictures.
greets,
Robert Jan
I might add I'm probably having as much fun as you are seeing where your blog traffic originates. :D
Well, hopefully it will not offend or scare off viewers. I didn't take on this project to really "wow" anyone. I just wanted to do something different and challenge my modelling skills.
Wendy, I saw this map feature over on Gary's blog and I thought it would be interesting to see who is viewing and from where. It's seems that most viewers are international!
Jason, The funny thing with the "blog tracker" or whatever you call it is that YOUR visits to your blog are also shown. So if you're posting stuff and going back and forth it ends up looking like you paid yourself several visits.
In regards, to your vignette/dio PBS did a series on WW1 years back and if I remember correctly there was a segment on Dix. There was also a segment on sculptors that created prosthetics for soldiers that suffered horrendous facial wounds. After seeing this series I toyed with the idea of doing a bust of a soldier, but I have a problem looking at stuff like that for long so I'll pass on doing one of those "men without faces". I can't wait to not only see future updates but how you interpret the actual painting of the scene. Cool stuff pard. ~Gary
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