Reclining and Looking up to the Sky

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Cloudbound – 14-05-26’ connects directly to my earlier work ‘Hylas – 05-05-26’. This time a less bitter message. Imagine yourself reclining in the grass, looking up at a crystal clear dark blue sky, save for a single cumulus cloud. Wouldn’t you be impressed by its size and weight? Apparently, those clouds weigh tons of rainwater. Why couldn’t they support people as well? Combine such daydreaming with the previous drawing and an earlier painting, named ‘Wet Dream (2009)‘, and you get this drawing.

Moulding an Idea into Form

In fact, this drawing that I made now already preceded as an idea both painting and previous drawing. So many ideas and so little time, I’m afraid. However, now the moment to give it a shot. Not sure how I would execute it. A first pre-sketch delivered me a bit of a lump with small tiny figures on it. Surely, not what I had in mind, which tends to make everything fit anyway. The realisation of an idea on paper can be disappointing though.  Somehow I had to skip a lot of cloud dwellers and reduce them to only a couple. One bigger female cloud nymph reaching out. Her fingers seem to almost touch mine on a two dimensional surface. Obviously an illusion and unfortunately, the distance will always remain impressively far. But wait a minute: is the third dimension (depth) nothing but an illusion too?

Joachim Stiller

I was always fascinated by the concept a mysterious figure approaching from the distance. That’s why I devoured a book such as ‘The Coming of Joachim Stiller’ by Hubert Lampo. A stranger so close yet never to meet. The lady from ‘Wet Dream’ keeps on swimming to me and the nymps from ‘Hylas’ always keep on luring. Creators of linear art (books, music and movies) have to come up with a narrative and (un)finish the story. As a painter I can have the figure stay put. They won’t approach any further and therefor the viewer will be left behind eternally provoked.

Graphite pencil (Faber-Castell Pitt Graphite Matt 14B) drawing on Talens Bristol paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers

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