Back in Style

This oil painting in the Roundism series is an elaboration of my graphite pencil drawing ‘Roundism – 25-12-17’. In my previous oils I used a luministic color scheme. However, this time I was up for something new. Rather than creating nifty pareidolia effects I wanted to delve into styling again or artistically speaking turn to formalism. Said drawing was perfect for this. I sold it quickly and I think it may be a winner in oil as well. I even didn’t have to change the composition. The drawing already said it all from a formalistic point of view.

Back in Black

In order to capture the exact forms I already caught in graphite I wanted to use so-called ‘dead paint’. So I thought. Right before the start I changed my mind. Somehow I thought it would be better to use Winsor & Newton’s Perylene black. It has a nice green-blueish shine to it. Perhaps subconsciously I associated the motif with art deco somehow. The dull green shine made me think of interiors from that era. We could consider then to appear old-fashioned, perhaps even corny. I like that!

Sucker for Beauty

Maybe I am just a sucker for old school things and therefor revel in retro styles. I certainly do not feel at ease in this current era. Craft seems to be ripped apart from artistic ambitions and it may be that I seek to restore the love for craft. The painting shows my love for stylistic elements invented by Jan Toorop (Delftsche Slaolie). I also could mention Alphonse Mucha, Tamara de Lempicka and so many others. They even may have induced the notion of a back to aesthetics feeling I have for so long now.

Added Color Value

Anyway, first capture forms and what’s next? Decide upon what colors to use. The green evoked the association with a phenomenon called anaglyph. You have to know I recently joined TikTok and especially the anaglypical logo caught my attention. I already was triggered by a profile picture of one of my students that was turned into an anaglyph. Both examples made me want to create an anaglyph myself, not through using an algorithm but through oil. Three days ago I thought it was finished. I only got the Perylene black and brighter red and greenish cyan strokes placed adjacent to eachother. It didn’t work though. It resembled something created by a computer algorithm. Besides that, it looked daftly coolish. I had to change around a lot and so I added pinks in the body mass. That did the job, whereas the anaglyphical effect still was present.

Credits

Finally I got to know who the photographer was of the initial reference drawing. My special thanks to Nickolas Muray who took a photo of dancer and choreographer Doris Humphrey back in 1922. I was right about the Art Deco-era. Long live 100 year old pictures!

Click here to read about the award this art work got from American Art Awards.

Click part 1, part 2 to read about the sale of 18 prints through pictufy.com

Click here to read about the sale of a printable to an American collector.

Click here to read about the sale of a printable to a Dutch collector.

Click here to read about the sale of a printable to a German collector.

Click here to see this art work on display at Micksart Gallery, Emmen, Netherlands in 2023.

Oil on linen (70 x 100 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers

Sales info: info@corneakkers.com