'CRÂNE DE BÉLIER' - Graphite Stick, Acrylic Paint, and Coloured Pencil on Canvas

I found a canvas that was pretty beat up, it had a sizable gash and a pronounced dent in the linen fabric. I sewed the tear and scrubbed it down well with mild detergent, which tightened the canvas as it air dried. I white washed the surface with a few layers of gesso which patched up any remaining gaps in the cloth. Upcycled !

I wanted to do something less fastidious than my usual exacting method of image making, something less precious and particular about the process. Something more free and expressive, swift and spontaneous.

I looked to Jean Michel Basquiat for inspiration, thinking that I would imitate his approach to creation but in my style. I studied a number of high definition images of his works, which usually involve stick figures, handwritten lettering and human skulls. Looking closer to pick apart the steps of the process, which swaths of solid color and oil stick marks went down in which order, one before the other.

I decided upon performing a cover version of sorts of his piece called “Warrior”. It features a dense, black figure in the center, with green hair and red eyes, wielding a dagger. If you compare, you can see a somewhat faithful reproduction of the underpainting, the background, in my result. If you look at the upper center of the original, above and behind the figure, you’ll be able to discern the crown of a cranium that was effaced, covered over with opaque beige.

I looked online for a reference photo of a human skull at a three-quarters view, but couldn’t find anything satisfactory. As I scrolled I came across the handsome, horned specimen and knew that it had to be. The fact that we are smack dab in the Aries phase of the zodiacal season was completely coincidental synchronicity, unbeknownst to me before looking it up.

I had intended to obscure the beast’s head bone and superimpose a figure, but after completing the first form, I liked the open space left to breathe. I like how it looks like street art in situ. And knowing that I sometimes stubbornly go too far due to a preconceived conclusion, I decided to pause.

There’s an anecdote about Picasso saying that when he came to a certain point of indecision with a piece he was working on, he would lean the frame with the picture side facing against the wall. He was always astounded to find that the work was miraculously finished when he got around to turning it back around. I slept on it, figuratively in terms of proximity, and in the morning it was magically completed.

In the end it seems I edged closer to Georgia O’Keefe, in subject matter and palette at least, than the original intention.