From now on I think I need to let the art speak for itself.
2: The Stolen Chair (the electric chair). Oil on canvas. Blake Betteridge 2007.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
12: The Painter
Here is my philosophy on art. I won't be offended if you find yourself co-opting it at some point or if you think it's backwards and out of line.
The art that I appreciate the most is art that doesn't suggest any obvious reference points. Art that stands out on its own. To me, art is at its best when it's art that a) says something or is literally about something, and b) comes from the artist’s own frame of reference and is not directly ripped off, or even largely influenced by anything but itself.
Through this formula I can philosophically describe why I think The Ramones were so brilliant, but why generations of copycat ’77 punk bands are not. The reason is that their frame of reference has already been created for them. Potential greatness is only found outside of other frames of reference and inside of your own.
My favourite painter is Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. He was brazen, defiant, and dangerous to the established painting world of his day. To me what sets Caravaggio apart from his peers is his ability to break with the common wisdom that prescribed elevated portrayals of man and objects. He lowered his subjects and with it injected the dirty stink of realism into his work. His was a revolution that ran counter to the great wave of status-quo. Caravaggio would have been a great painter had he stuck to his day’s conventional path, but I find him a great artist because he charted his own path and became his own frame of reference.
This is my twelfth painting. It's called The Painter and it's a self portrait.
12: The Painter. Oil on canvas. Blake Betteride 2007.
The art that I appreciate the most is art that doesn't suggest any obvious reference points. Art that stands out on its own. To me, art is at its best when it's art that a) says something or is literally about something, and b) comes from the artist’s own frame of reference and is not directly ripped off, or even largely influenced by anything but itself.
Through this formula I can philosophically describe why I think The Ramones were so brilliant, but why generations of copycat ’77 punk bands are not. The reason is that their frame of reference has already been created for them. Potential greatness is only found outside of other frames of reference and inside of your own.
My favourite painter is Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. He was brazen, defiant, and dangerous to the established painting world of his day. To me what sets Caravaggio apart from his peers is his ability to break with the common wisdom that prescribed elevated portrayals of man and objects. He lowered his subjects and with it injected the dirty stink of realism into his work. His was a revolution that ran counter to the great wave of status-quo. Caravaggio would have been a great painter had he stuck to his day’s conventional path, but I find him a great artist because he charted his own path and became his own frame of reference.
This is my twelfth painting. It's called The Painter and it's a self portrait.
12: The Painter. Oil on canvas. Blake Betteride 2007.
Pay Attention Vladimir.
Sigh... I knew this day would come. The day my art went blue.
This is my third drawing of Bushy and Pooty-Poot together. Their relationship is just so facinating. Putin's realationship with the next American President will probably be even more so.
Pay Attention Vladimir.
Ink on paper.
Blake Betteridge 2007
This is my third drawing of Bushy and Pooty-Poot together. Their relationship is just so facinating. Putin's realationship with the next American President will probably be even more so.
Pay Attention Vladimir.
Ink on paper.
Blake Betteridge 2007
Alt Reality.
The Best Friends posted below was my first go at drawing this couple. I decided that drawing them again would be a worthwhile exercise. This time I drew them in red felt.
They still look like two people shaking hands, but the guy on the left looks like Ralph Klein. Maybe I'm trying to say that in this Alternative Reality, destiny had long ago manifested itself across the continent, with the power shifting North. Where the Conservative, but not bat-shit crazy Republican Conservative, former Alberta premier presided over the land.
Why doesn't manifest destiny ever come up on our part? It's a stupid idea (like the North American Union), but maybe in this Alternative Reality they're all out there looking out for each other's best interests, not only their own. Fuckin' liberal socialists!
Alt Reality. Felt on paper. Blake Betteridge 2007.
They still look like two people shaking hands, but the guy on the left looks like Ralph Klein. Maybe I'm trying to say that in this Alternative Reality, destiny had long ago manifested itself across the continent, with the power shifting North. Where the Conservative, but not bat-shit crazy Republican Conservative, former Alberta premier presided over the land.
Why doesn't manifest destiny ever come up on our part? It's a stupid idea (like the North American Union), but maybe in this Alternative Reality they're all out there looking out for each other's best interests, not only their own. Fuckin' liberal socialists!
Alt Reality. Felt on paper. Blake Betteridge 2007.
Best Friends.
I love newspapers. I love their smell. The way they feel. Their good fair reputable voice. So it's probably natural that at some point I would turn to them for inspiration. At this point, I did.
Here is a picture of the Number One Banana of the Free World and his friend, the Inscrutable Vladimir Putin, here together sharing a warm moment. I find their relationship interesting as I see them acting so warmly to each other when I think it's inevitable that (some time soon), their two countries will find their power balance teetered totter's way, and with it, regretful military engagement. I just think that America's fight to retain world supremacy and influence will be as fierce and terrifying as fierce and terrifying can be. More so if it is forced to fight from it's back. A corner it seems to have apparently painted itself into.
Anyway here's a picture of them. I shouldn't worry. Once you've looked into someones soul. I mean really looked into their soul, like GWB has with his Inscrutable friend Vladimir here. You can clearly judge their intentions, and their word is probably very trustworthy. Just like yours is, George.
Best Friends: Ink on Paper. Blake Betteridge 2007
Here is a picture of the Number One Banana of the Free World and his friend, the Inscrutable Vladimir Putin, here together sharing a warm moment. I find their relationship interesting as I see them acting so warmly to each other when I think it's inevitable that (some time soon), their two countries will find their power balance teetered totter's way, and with it, regretful military engagement. I just think that America's fight to retain world supremacy and influence will be as fierce and terrifying as fierce and terrifying can be. More so if it is forced to fight from it's back. A corner it seems to have apparently painted itself into.
Anyway here's a picture of them. I shouldn't worry. Once you've looked into someones soul. I mean really looked into their soul, like GWB has with his Inscrutable friend Vladimir here. You can clearly judge their intentions, and their word is probably very trustworthy. Just like yours is, George.
Best Friends: Ink on Paper. Blake Betteridge 2007
Monday, February 4, 2008
Empty stage.
I sourced this picture from the same place as the pikemen. I had planned to draw a stage, and then draw some ridiculous act on it, but I never did.
Here's a list of some things I could have drawn on that stage:
- a breakdance fight
- a Shakespearian play
- a gun fight
- a television
Perhaps the picture would look best if you imagined one of these things on the stage while you looked at it. It can be something from the provided list, or an idea of your own. Enjoy at your own peril.
Ink on paper.
Blake Betteridge 2007
Pikemen
A couple years ago Kaylin and I found a decoupage book for a couple bucks. I used it as the source for this picture, and others. It's got a lot of weird pictures in it and I loved it as soon as we got it. I have a fuzzy memory of Kaylin wanting to cut it up for some journaling or something, but I resisted that (it might have actually be about a book about different types of wallpaper). Anyway, the book(s) remains uncut and these are some pikemen from it. Only one of them has a cannon.
Ink on paper.
Blake Betteridge 2007
Ink on paper.
Blake Betteridge 2007
Self Portrait.
This is a self portrait I made while working at the liquor store. I used my cell phone camera to take a picture of myself, then I drew this from my cell phone screen. I'm pretty devastated in the picture, I'd just lost a family member.
This is my first stab at drawing myself.
Blake Betteridge 2007
This is my first stab at drawing myself.
Blake Betteridge 2007
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