I have my own thoughts about the stories of these women. However, I want you to use your own imaginations. What we see is so subjective based on our own experience.
I will offer this though, from my perspective, they are not hiding.
“Maybe I see things from a little bit farther away—which is a good thing. If you’re an artist, you see things differently than most people anyway.” —Nicole Farhi, London Sculptor
I created this work by painting over magazine images, photographing them with objects, and then playing in AdobePhotoshop. They’re all from the pages of Vogue and Kinfolk (Nicole Farhi is pictured in the striped shirt). I found beauty, narrative, and true artistry in the gorgeous original magazine images, of course. However, when I look beneath the surface of the subjects and models there’s far more than meets the eye at first glance.
Have fun making up your own stories about these women & please challenge your initial assumptions. I had far more fun when I dug a little deeper and noticed my quick judgments & hard-wired biases.
Maddy Brookes’ idea to fund a trip to Europe next summer by selling her paintings to study art and culture and lend even more depth to her work is absolutely brilliant. Maddy is a junior at The Rhode Island School of Design. She’s a remarkably prolific painter and also happens to be the lovely girlfriend of my son, Ellis Govoni a student at Landmark College in Vermont.
Think about the art market right now. It’s nuts. A small investment in a young painter could be very valuable one day. Jeff and I made a small investment in the early 1990s in the artist—Ethan Murrow. It was a really good investment, even if it was a stretch for us at the time.
I’m very inspired by the boldness of Maddy doing this and I have to tell you why.
As an artist myself, the idea that I have “a product” is very challenging…the work is personal and makes you vulnerable to criticism. If I sold furniture, cars, sweaters, lawn mowers or cut your hair no one would think twice about me promoting myself and being very upfront about the price of that item. I’m going to challenge myself to put a few pieces up with the price tags and see what happens. Thank you, Maddy.
Even when perspective buyers visit my studio I treat them like they’re visiting a museum. That’s crazy. I have a product. Actually a very large inventory of products and I basically don’t ever let anyone even know that they’re for sale.
However, with art there seems to be a different relationship. Stay with me a moment. If a 20-year-old college student told you that they were working to save money for a trip or to buy a car or further their education everyone would praise that effort. However, with art there’s a perceived arrogance and it isn’t remotely fair.
Maddy has an AMAZING PRODUCT and she’s selling them to fund her desire to travel and further her education as an artist. I hope you’ll check out Maddy’s work and even if you’re unable to purchase a painting, please send a note of encouragement or forward the link. You have no idea what an e-mail saying, “I like your work” can mean to an artist.
