Show me the Monet - part 2

I think I am going to invite the "Show me the Monet" spirit onto my blog. For a week, I want to host people's art on these pages and discuss of their talents.

So on that note, let's talk more about the other artists I discovered on episode 8.


Title: Grey street, saturday morning - Price: 2000£
Artist: Alan Reed.
We can see how the artist gets his inspiration. His hometown Newcastle seems indeed a lovely place to be.
Now if I must be honest, out of that episode, Mr Reed's painting wouldn’t have been my favourite work. I thought it was a little too commercial, a little too safe. But when I allowed myself to really study his work, I must say I found the reflected morning light on the building was truly splendid. There is something quite poetic in the way the sun shines on them. There is a feeling of a unique moment being captured, half way through a dream and a waking moment.
A morning of all possibilities.

After more studying, I thought it had the quality of a movie sequence. What was supposed to happen once and once only, had been skillfully captured and for the benefits of the viewers you could now watch it again and again.

In fact the more I was watching it, the more I was liking it because somehow I couldn’t describe how it was making me feel.

Somehow his work was escaping me and I mean that in a good way. Because to me the moment you have figured out a picture then it stopped interesting you. So all in all, I am liking this piece more and more.

Title: Stob Ban, Glen Nevis - Price: 2000£
Artist: Jamie Hageman. 32.
Great Picture, would you say? And I would say yes. Only it isn't!!! To most baffled viewers, this wonderful image of a Scottish mountain would look like a picture when it is actually a painting. You heard me! And yes, it is still something my brain cannot comprehend. How can you paint reality to such detail, to such level of realism that you get to be fooled by your own eyes.
Every crack on the moutain, every speck of light on the snow is painted. I respect and admire to such such an extent this artist. Knowing that he climbed again and again Stob Ban in order to capture the divine leaves me speechless. To have this level of commitment, I think it is nearly a sin or a curse. How can you attain such a level of painting and dedication? That just blows me away. There is definitely an element of lyrism in the bluff of wind in the sky.
And yet I understand why some of the Jury had difficulty to relate to the painting on a more intimate level.
The brain acknowledges the talent but the heart stays cold. Maybe because a painted mountain cannot express a feeling the way it does in reality when you stand up there. The dialogue between nature and human has somehow been broken.
What I love about art is how you get drawn into the world of an artist, how he or she interprets his perception of the world and translates it into a painting but here there is no perception, there is just a pure replica of reality. It feels like his painting stands alone without the feeling of the artist seeping through it. That's where some people get lost in Mr Hageman's work, I think. People wants to connect with the painting and the painter and somehow they can't. I bet if Mr Hageman was redefining his own view of this mountain, he will somehow bring his audience back with him. But you can't expect that from him. Because whether you like it or not, that's his unique way to love a mountain. And a very very skillful way indeed.


Title: Unknown - Price: Unknown.
Artist: Sophie New. Age: Very young!
On that episode, they presented the painting of a first year art college student. Unfortunately her work was not showed on the BBC2 website so I can't show you how it looked like but it was a wonderful  painting of two girls wearing nothing but pants and being slightly drunk. Their bodies were painting in a blurry ( to show the movement) and colourful type of way with circular strokes of paint brush which I found fascinating.
They rejected her work saying that she was too young in her craft. But I completely disagree. Yes she is young and was only 18 when she painted this but that didn't change the maturity of her work.
Where artists paint truthfully a body, she transcends the inertia of a painting by approaching movement in a very unique way, just like Monet approached light with colour. And yet for some reasons, they couldn't see past her age. I was gutted and sad for her. She should have got in. I hope she doesn't get disheartened and keeps on painting.