Painting the figure, has always been my ‘force et ma gloire,” and continues to compel me. With a portion of the studio set up photography-like for the models, including backdrops, furniture, props and lighting, I paint figures from life.
I work best when I zoom in on a portion of the figure, and allow my large, gestural, brushstrokes of exaggerated color to fill the canvas. These unabashedly wild, intuitive, painterly slathers which begin as descriptions of the subject ultimately become the subject themselves.
My research for the figural paintings will consist of seeking formats to set off this brushwork frenzy. I have several ideas in mind, and am anxious to explore them. Washy under paintings can be stenciled, outlined, or overpainted opaquely. Canvases can be custom stretched for compositional concerns. Diptychs, triptychs and more could offer visual and literal breaks in the composition.
Non-objective, mixed-media painting has been engaging me for the past five years. Particularly cold wax and oil painting. I intend to find a way to ‘marry’ these two genres. The marriage will likely consist of mixed-media figural abstractions. Encaustic is another obvious cross-over. Dynamic shapes of thick encaustic patches can be collaged onto panels of tightly stretched blank canvas. These could all lead me into pure abstraction and are processes which I am anxious to explore. Armed with trained observational skills, particularly when it comes to the figure, along with formative Abstract Expressionist training by my U of C professor, Vera Klement, who painted alongside deKooning in New York, I am ready for action.
J. Marcil Eck 