Light Pole With Pedestrians by Chipka
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Description
It’s no secret that I enjoy postwork. It’s no secret that I read a lot. And so, it’s really not a surprise to know that much of my visual artwork captures—however tangentially—the essence of a book cover. As a child and as a teenager, I was always drawn to read a book with a cover that I liked; by sheer coincidence, text and cover art usually matched. One cannot always judge a book by it’s cover, but for dust-jacket aficionados, there probably is a way to glean at least the partial essence of a novel (or story collection) by the contribution of a visual artist.
This is another of those pictures that didn’t actually work, but I liked it enough to save. It’s hard to see the potential of a piece, but a lot easier to feel it. As I meander through the improvisations of postwork, I often go with a particular feeling, no matter how vague. The feeling here was incredibly vague, but as I poked and prodded, layered and otherwise fiddled, something began to emerge.
In the mid-to-late 1960s, Bantam Books released a line of “important” novels, ranging from the brooding works of Jean-Paul Sartre to the Russian Masters, to Aldous Huxley. I’d managed—at an early age—to lay my wee little hands on Huxley’s Eyeless in Gaza and Sartre’s Age of Reason. I read these novels decades after I’d initially acquired them, but I recall my interest in eventually muddling my way through such “important” works, because of the cover art. The artists were not named, as is now common, and so I can’t say who created the paintings depicted, but I remember their style: abstract, impressionistic, human-focused.
As I tweaked, layered, and tweaked this image, I thought of those book covers and the feelings they engendered in me. I remember their colors, the way a simple (dense) paperback could smell so good and look so…well…hefty. I wanted to see if I could capture some of that heft, and some of those seemingly random paint-globs. The end result is…well…some random Chicagoan in a swanky hat, glasses, and sandals. He and a companion (cropped out of this post as I’d only captured her elbow anyway) were headed for some swanky new condo stack in a part of Chicago now occupied by swanky condo stacks with all of the originality of crisp (thought not entirely accurate) photocopies. I found the initial shot boring, and as a means of amusing myself, I fiddled, drank bucket loads of Dr. Pepper, and fiddled some more. This is the result—an oddly fun break of compositional rules. I didn’t initially like the fact that a black light pole dominated so much of this shot (an improvised “turn and shoot” capture) and I thought it would be fun to actually shift the flaw of the picture into its central focus. In doing that, the background buildings became impressionistic (and strangely organic) blobs of color. I really liked that!
There are likely to be more photo-paintings in my gallery. There’s something in the process that really appeals to me, and I wonder if it’s the start of a new “artistic cycle” or whatever you’d call those little obsessions that often bludgeon their way into the minds of various artists. We shall see.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week. Things have cooled off considerably here; we’ve dropped from miserable to sweltering. Nice.
Comments (29)
anaber
Fabulous this image!! I love this!!I love this! And this post work too !! The face is neat and the feet too:), make me think a lot about what we really need each day:)as primal need!!The whole image grabs me...the atmosphere..and the big shape in the midle, dividing the scene! Love the empty space in the right. The blending all around, means to me a lot! PS:Forgive me!!!I couldnt read yu...but i will, just couldn´t avoid to tell yu my feelings about this! thank you!
daggerwilldo
This is very creative. Your work is excellent. Nice job
MrsRatbag
Yes, I remember this style of artwork; I love it too, and you did a marvelous job of recreating and making it your own. Well done!
myrrhluz
What a wonderful image to greet me as I settled down to my laptop! What first struck me was his expression. It seems to hide a mental landscape full of the same vague shadows and ghostly figures as those around him. I can well see this as the cover of his story. I suspect it would be a story of half revealed memories and partially perceived desires. I love the postwork! There is a gritty reality in his figure, that contrasts with the 'random paint-globs' of his surroundings. It gives me the feeling that he is divorced from his surroundings or that they are not physical, but are a part of his inner landscape. Either way, it would make me want to pick up his story and enter into it. Excellent postwork and narrative! I look forward to more of your photo-paintings! I love this one! It's been pretty steamy around here. We've been having afternoon hot rains that don't refresh so much as just intensify the moisture.
Sea_Dog
Oh, man, Chip this is spectacular. As always your words and pictures just seem to flow together seemlessly. Wonderful depiction of the urban world.
jocko500
do wonderful on the postwork. look cool
auntietk
Oh man. With that light pole, this should be the worst picture in the world. But wow ... it's NOT! It's fantastic! One of those mysterious things, I guess. I'm so glad you persevered, played with the shot, and came up with this. It inspires me to look again (and perhaps again) at some of the "crap" I've got in my files. If you're on a new postwork obsession, I'm going to really enjoy it. :D
bmac62
Yes, I've seen the same cover art. Your adaptation of this photo into photo art, if that's an ok description, is finely done. I've been dipping my toe into more postwork of late too...it is fun and the possibilites are limitless...as proven by you here. Liked your description of what you were doing while fiddling. It is always fun to see what other's do and mentally think how a few little things can be plagarized in some future postwork session:)
praep
Cool work - very nice peace of photographic art.
kgb224
Well Chip keep them posting.You do such tremendous post work and your writing is top notch.
flavia49
wonderful image!
durleybeachbum
TERRIFIC! I remember always being attracted to covers too, but disappointed when they were a straight photo, (unless on a travel book). I love what you've done, and I think that sad-looking bloke should be on the spine with no sign of him on the actual front. You've set my mind working as to what the title would be!
lick.a.witch
House of Leaves by Mark Z.Danielewski, a remarkable book which lends truth to what you say about cover art drawing one in. I had no prior knowledge of the book and bought it only because I felt the 'pull' of the image on the cover. It is now among those I read once a year without fail. I'm sure that this image was good to begin with, but it's your postwork that makes it something remarkable! Amazing work. ^=^
helanker
Chip, This is such a wonderful image and what you did to it really makes want to be able to make a painting like this. I think it is absolutely gorgeous. It has so fine colors and composition. I really love this shot. I am just totally lame at expressing myself on letters. And Yes, you could be a really good Book Cover Designer too.
lucindawind
this is beautiful ! excellent work
jmb007
superbe image!!
Sepiasiren
looks like an oil painting--I am envisioning this framed and can see it would be look quite handsome on a living room or family room wall! Great mood and setting--another masterpiece!
MrsLubner
reminds me of a French Impressionistic painting that hung on my father's wall for decades - a memory he purchased at a small French village sidewalk art gallery during WWII. Very nicely done and so very visually appealing.
Meisiekind
Gosh Chip - I'm jsut quickly popping in but couldn't resist your image! What great work you did!!! I love the effect... Well done dear friend!
wjames
Faantabulous work!!!!
sandra46
I belong to a generation when a book cover made the difference, and the very few illustrated scenes in a fairy tale, ora pirate story made me dream for days... most were ink drawings. Anyway, i like potwork too, as you know well, so I adore the slanted fous of this one, with tha man's face visible, and yet everything less than informative about who he is, where he is and why. Great work!
beachzz
Tweaking ROCKS, doesn't it?? You took this plain shot and turned it into something remarkable---wow!!
KatesFriend
I remember seeing an edition of 'The Ugly American' in my local library when I was a boy. Although it was the 70's, most of the books in the little branch were 60's vintage. The wear on the novel certainly belied many years of handling. The cover art was a lot like this. A singular man isolated and apart from the world in which he finds himself. Perhaps unconcerned with this turmoil around him. Or perhaps resigned to the belief that he is powerless to do any good so he spares himself the agony. He himself almost as distorted as the surroundings we perceive. You've done a wonderful job of capturing the era. But don't get me started on the covers for Conan the Barbarian.
minos_6
This is like looking through filtered glass - a great impressionistic feel. The way you captured your main subject is perfect - the dress, the pose, everything! For some reason I'm reminded of a series of French watercolours by an unremembered artist. The paintings hung in a hallway in my aunt's house in Saintes, Charente-Maritime, where I lived as a child. The combination of the effects you've produced and the colour palette I suspect. This is delicate and beautiful work!
aksirp
very cool picture and postwork!!
icerian
Excellent effect, my friend. Impressive and impressionistic. 5+
mermaid
so cool, love this postwork, Chip, and the composition is so special and appealing!
sawade
Hi Chip, here again the direction of the postwork as the picture of the bus stop. Wonderful. A normal picture will be a little work of art through this postwork. You write in your own comment a lot about european literature. I would take this pic of you for the bookcover "A portrait of the artist as a young man" by J.J. All the best Bernd
jarmila
very nice this artwork, well done