[Art Inspiration #16] Your Face gives out immediate access to your life
The self-portrait enables you to truly communicate to your audience what it feels like being in your shoes
Self-portrait (1907) by Picasso:
“Young age + highly successful + pushing boundaries of art + self-confidence”
Picasso (b 1881) by 1907 had already received tremendous critical acclaim and financial success and now he was boldly experimenting with different art styles, subject matters etc.
In this self-portrait, he is staring directly at you:
According to me, the most remarkable thing in this otherwise flat, monotonous portrait is that swipe of white paint in the right eye. That swipe, to me, indicates that there is a deep and fascinating world inside the artist even though here he has been depicted in a simplistic, almost caricature-like manner. If Picasso would have made the right eye completely black and opaque like the left one, do you think the portrait would have looked as fascinating?
The portrait seems to be saying “Hello dear friends. I Picasso have achieved a depth of understanding for art that you might not have imagined even in your wildest dreams. I see an unbelievably exciting future for art and artists in the coming decades. And I know I will definitely play a key role in creating this future.
So hold your breath, dear friend, and come with me. Let me show you what the world of art can do for the progress of mankind!”
“Old age + seen a lot of success + also seen the pains of life + humbled”
Rembrandt (1606-1669) painted this portrait when he was already a man in his late 50s. The hair and the dress are not shabby but they are not as immaculate as they should be for a world-renowned artist now in his old age. One can feel that here is a man who has seen the world and achieved a lot of success in it. But with age he has also experienced the downsides of success. By now he very well knows how fate can bring down even the mightiest of men who have loftiest of achievements.
That’s why the man in the portrait looks humbled - almost vulnerable, that’s why the clothes do not exude any kind of grandeur, that’s why the expressions do not boost self-confidence, that’s why he looks like he is just another painter about to work on his painting just like how a carpenter crafts his woods everyday or a farmer plows his fields, without needing the attention, appreciation, or glorification by anyone else in the world.
“Struggle + pain + courage to carry on despite the pain and struggle”
This is a self-portrait that was made by Van Gogh in 1887 - a couple of years before his death.
Van Gogh’s eyes are almost teary. I can feel the pain on his face. Van Gogh had been living a very hard life - no recognition for his art, complete dependence on his brother for Money, no companion and a deteriorating mental health.
Just look at those extra reds on his lips, the shriveled face, and the stretched vertical lines above his eye brows. Here is the portrait of a man who is dealing with a lot of pain but trying his best to carry on with his life and art. Do you get the same feeling looking at this portrait?
If Van Gogh had just one artwork to depict the struggles and failures and miseries of his life, do you think that this could be the one?
“Electrifying energy + identity as a naive black man + deep passion for graffiti art”
Basquiat (1960–1988) died when he was 27. He made this self-portrait when he was just 21.
When you look at this artwork can you immediately feel that it depicts an African American youth?
With prominent white teeth, thick white line across this face and flying hair, to me it feels like Basquiat was trying to depict his explosive, uncontrollable energy - the kind of energy one might feel when you are being electrocuted.
With misspelled, broken words and numbers like they write on prisoner’s plates, does this not feel like the portrait of an uneducated, naive African American person who is being prosecuted by society for him being just that?
“Deep anguish due to increasing memory loss + No solace other than art to carry on with life as the memory slowly fades away”
William Utermohlen (1933 - 2007) was loosing his memory since early 1990’s due to dementia. What could be a more painful experience than witnessing one’s own memory getting erased day at a time.
By the year 2000, the dementia had gotten so worse for Utermohlen that he could barely remember his own face. But even at this stage his love for art did not die and perhaps art gave him the strength to live.
When you look at his self-portraits from 1996 to 2000, can you feel the anguish of an artist desperately trying to draw himself while his memory is receding away?
Imagine if you had to really make another person realize what it feels like being in your shoes, how would you do it? You could use words to tell him all the details of your life and what you have been going through.
But if someone has to be communicated in one single glance what it feels like being you - which encapsulates all the thousands of struggles you faced, experiences you have had and efforts you made - then I feel that nothing else can do it better than a self-portrait or even a sketch of the human face.
Eyes in themselves have the power to immediately communicate what a person is feeling, as subtle as that feeling maybe. And now imagine, along with eyes you also have the face cut, the nose, the hair, the lips to play with when you draw a face! So I think that you can express your most complex emotions and feelings by drawing a face
I have been drawing eyes and faces for over 10 years now to express my moods and feelings.
Face sketches and self-portraits allow you to find ‘sympathy’, to find that “ohh, you poor poor thing” kind of solace for whatever bad is going on in your life.
When you are going through something that deeply affects your feelings, drawing a face is like expressing “Ohh, Look! Look how much dignity and poise is there in a human being facing such circumstances”. If you try sketching a face with the intention of just expressing a feeling you are deeply moved by, then you will know what I am saying.
Anyway, here are some face sketches that I did over the last few months:
I hope you too explore face sketch and realize for yourself the magical things they can do for you!