I think what's most striking about his paintings is how they feel so contemporary. Showing a friend yesterday who is naive to art, he said he'd assumed he was a current artist, working today. I think its something in the subject matter, the (usual) grotesqueness of his painted figures, These sort of elongated inhumane figures that have been turned & twisted, that, for me atleast, speaks something of the superficial nature of todays English society..
I think that society, or that cloud of culture we're living under, is best epitomized by celebretized nonsense which is so ingrained; that which provokes us into shop door ways & to check hair in car window reflections. That which essentially makes you focus on your appearance so much more than what's inside of you; what you can learn, what's in your head. My biggest problem with it is the effect it has on women, I think one of the most distressing things is the frequency of plastic surgery today; to me, a woman having her flesh torn into and plumped up, to endear the fancy of a mans appetite, makes me really sad. Equally, older women who cannot grow old gracefully (which is true beauty) and stump around on stilts with a dog in handbag and a pulled-back face. I speak with cynicism but it really does sadden me more than anything.
Anyway, this comes back round to the question; What is the difference between being glamorous, and being beautiful? Have a think about it yourself.
I'm in no way going to try and encapsulate beauty, because beauty is beauty, we all know it when we feel it. From a giggling child to the grand canyon we all recognise it. Beauty is a natural thing, innocent too, I think we can all agree. Again, i'm not going to try and encapsulate beauty, we all recognize it.
Glamour on the other hand, comes from the point of view of the person being looked at. They are saying, look at me, look at me. It's all about envy, the reflection of envy they get bounding back at them resentfully off the faces passing them in the street. The uplifting feeling they garner from this. It is much the same as the difference between pride & humility. Both have a resounding confidence to them, however pride is to do with putting yourself above others - chest puffed out pacing down the road - whilst having humility is putting yourself shoulder to shoulder with others.
What summarized the two different attitudes to me was when I visited France last year. I found in France (Lyon) people look at one another in the street, girls especially will look at each other, what they're wearing, where their handbag is from, what type of shoes they chose to wear & how they dressed their hair. Then, they will share a smile with one another and pass by, as if to say 'aww you look pretty' with deepest sincerity. In England, my home town specifically i'm talking (Torquay) girls look each other up and down, too. But it's always in this facetious, jealous way, walking off muttering to themselves '..Bitch.' I dunno, to me this was the line between Beauty and Glamour, in France they recognize beauty, in England our eyes are most aware of glamour.
Anywho, a tangent, I know, but here's the pictures.
It's still not totally what i'm after, I wanted to make something that feels really grotesque. I think the first one could be mistaken as 'Toms drawing sexy naked girls.. lovely..', that's was not the intention, but I like the style of it anyway. The second I feel is halfway there, although she looked a lot more gangly and horrific in the line drawing. The third is a poster I did for me pals band in the summer, it is in a similar vein, although obviously not Egon Schiele.
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