"the dog that ate your birthday cake". (It's a Wonderful Life)...
Consider then the chancing upon - by an artist habitually inclined towards the still life for creative inspiration but currently involved in a project drawing from images found in the daily print media - the newspaper reproduction of a still image from a new Chinese film entitled ‘Still Life’: serendipity strikes, like Bigmouth, again & presents an unavoidable opportunity.
I particularly like this image, quite breathtaking in its way, also for its high contrast between large areas of black & white, & the presence of the distant tightrope-walking figure.
graphite/30x21cm
original source: ‘The Guardian’ Film&Music 01/02/08
The word reproduction is nagging, & levels of are being mused upon thusly re. this particular image from ‘Still Life’ the movie:
The screenplay is a reproduction of events, either real or imagined, from life, of which the film is a reproduction, of which the still image is a reproduction, of which the newspaper print is a reproduction, of which the drawing is a reproduction, of which the scan is a reproduction, of which this internet posting is a reproduction. Considering also of course multiple prints of the film, probable DVD release, copies of the newspaper printed & we’re into the realm of reproduction overdrive: the ghost of Walter Benjamin stalks here…
Coincidental that the review of 'Still Life' makes reference to the film's meditative nature, which brings to mind another aspect of ‘the still life’: the course of a recent & most enjoyable conversation with one who practises yoga & meditation touched upon the meditative nature of drawing as the process of my own practice was described. This is something of which I’ve become more acutely aware than ever during the development of ‘The Project’ of drawing from photographic sources, from the point of long regarding the personal process of mark-making generally as being a profoundly contemplative one. Lo & behold, then, this recent post by artist & Daily Drawing Diarist Rob Pepper, promoting his very own 'drawing is meditation' classes. It should also be credited here that the example of Rob & others proved the inspiration & catalyst for this blog, although the endeavour obviously lacks the rigour & proper integrity of such journals in their true sense, even now when, in theory at least, its content is generated by the daily print media! Nonetheless, thanks are due.
It seems a still life indeed, of sketching in an A4 pad, closely studied from existing print media images, indulging in the process of limited physical activity of small, repetitive gestures whilst concentrating upon that source observed in close proximity. It’s such a necessary part of any day.
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