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In
the majority of Ron Marlett's still life paintings, Ron liked to
include various animals and insects. The creatures add a living
interest to the arangement of flowers, fruits, vegetables, antiques,
and architecture. There are times, however, when he thinks of painting
ideas that focused his attention on wildlife themes that are not
associated with the still life genre. Both the behaviors of active
animals and the forms of non-active animals have inspired a number of
composition ideas for Ron's paintings. For example, in Birds and Potato Chips
(1998), Ron wanted to capture the birds seizing the moment of
opportunity to snatch a free meal; the dynamic position of the bird
with the chip conveys explosive motion and energy. In his piece Painted Ladies (1995),
he was more interested in the butterflies as ornaments of warm color
that complimented the blue flowers, rather than as instruments to
express motion. In
2006, Ron
and his brother Rob visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the
possibility of finding a gallery that would represent Ron's art. A
relationship was developed with the Historical Art Gallery who
purchased several of Ron's military limited edition prints. One of the
ideas that were discussed between the gallery and Ron was the creation
of state bird illustrations. Each state bird would have a scene unique
to the state's history that the bird represented. Unfortunately, the
gallery went out of business in 2008 before Ron could finish the first
painting in that series. Years later, Ron placed the unfinished
painting Ruffed Grouse at Pennsbury back on his easel with the idea of offering posters of the painting at his website's store. To explore Ron Marlett's wildlife works, click on one of the pictures to
the left.
| Three Critiques at the Getty This
essay was written by Ron Marlett to satisfy an art class requirement
while enrolled at California State University, Northridge in
October 2003. |
High above Santa Monica, in fall's morning mist, sits the Getty
Center. Its walls of stone and glass accentuate the curves and angles
of its modern architecture. For many art lovers the Getty Center has
become Comelot, where they make their pilgrimage for the treasures they
admire. Visitors walk slowly through the rooms filled with European
decorative arts, sculpture, and paintings, and rest at panoramic vistas
and gardens that make Getty the ideal art museum. From the depths of
the underground parking lot, I made my way to the terminal and boarded
the computerized tram that took me to the northern gate. The tram door
slid open and I walked the slender steps that lead to the museum's tall
glass doors. Observant guards stood their posts. The guards'
communicators would occaisionally give a faint whisper as their officer
gave orders for a change of guard, or a repositioning of the guards'
stations. The large marbled foyer opened to a spacious plaza populated
with hungry visitors savoring plump pastries, hors d' oeuvres, and
various fruit ales. Surrounding the plaza were the Getty's castle keeps
that housed its impressive art collection. The lower levels of these
interconnecting galleries displayed sculpture and decorative arts. On
the museum's second level hung paintings. After viewing the plaza level
galleries, I ascended the north pavilion stairway that led me to a
collection of early religious art. I followed the corridors from one
gallery to the next; each gallery giving me a chronological journey
through the last era of evolving European art. As I entered the West
Pavilion, I saw a portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn.
Rembrandt's 26" x 20" portrait, An Old Man in Military Costume
(1631), is a beautiful oil painting on a panel framed in dark wood. The
stern face stares out at the museum's visitors as if the old man were a
drill sergeant inspecting new recruits. Rembrandt's care in capturing
the emotional history of the old man is evident in the brow's deep
wrinkles and squinting lines around the eyes. Attention to implied
texture is illustrated in the man's costume. The armor, cloth, feather,
and gold hatband accurately portray the textural diversity of the old
soldier's uniform. Rembrandt's palette was kept neutralized throughout
the painting. Shaded variations of yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, and
gray dominate the background and soldier's attire, while lighter
versions of the colors are evident in his face. Other portraits in the
museum were done well but are lacking dynamic presence in comparison to
An Old Man in Military Costume.
What made Rembrandt's painting stand out over other portraits in the
museum was how he organized the subject matter on his canvas. The face
was positioned below and to the left of the canvas's center. The man is
sitting sideways with his left arm slightly back. The diagonal movement
that was created by the torso is further enhanced by the armor's
curvature. Crisscrossing the diagonal lines created by the armor and
torso was the man's back, hat, feather, and lit portion of the
background. The feather rises up toward the canvas's edge and bends
back into the dark background adding to the strong diagonal force that
the figure creates. The asymmetrical balance that Rembrandt created
with light and shape formed an S-curve that is pleasing to look
at.
I proceeded down the grand hall
visiting the galleries of accomplished artists that followed Rembrandt.
Decades of beautiful natural colors in black, brown, and gray and
realistically-rendered textures echoed a refined discipline that was
the French Salon's measuring stick for talent and skill. As I passed
through the gallery doorway for 19th century art, I was awestruck at
the sight of a painting that did not follow the age-old tradition of
realism. In front of me hung Claude Monet's The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light
(1894). The 39" x 25" oil on stretched canvas appeared to radiate light
from within its light blue and bluish gray paint. It was truely a
watershed in how an artist rendered visions of beauty with oil paint
and brush. Claude Monet lived in a time when science, social change,
and dissidence were popular subjects with the avant-garde artists who
gathered at Paris cafes. New industries began manufacturing art
materials that allowed artists to leave their studios and venture out
into the city and country. Working out in the open-air brought artists
new revelations on how colors change during the course of the day.
Monet and the impressionists were well informed on the research being
done by color theorists and began experimenting with color discords,
complementary colors, and optical color mixing. Monet's haystack and
cathedral series demonstarted how color theory, when applied to the
same subject matter, expressed different moods and atmospheres.
In Monet's piece, The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light,
the hard edges of the cathedral are softened with undefined brush marks.
Shadows are subdued with bluish gray values that barely compete with
the painting's lighter colors. The painting's composition is made up of
the cathedral's architectural lines that coinside with the painting's
vertical format, the three value changes that are arranged horizontally
across the pictorial space, an orange color discord located in the
painting's upper left corner (balancing the light sky to its right),
and the darker shadows on the painting's lower section. The
dry-brushed application of colors gives the paint surface vibrancy by
allowing the under painting colors to peek through the top layers of
paint. Monet's manipulation of the principles and elements of design
create an effect that captures a moment in time when the morning sun
rises and its warm light begins to touch the cathedral's highest
steeple.
Like
many of my contemporaries, I can admire the artistic talent that Monet
processed during his long career as a painter. Impressionist were not
so easily accepted by society in the late 1800s as they are
today. Appreciation for what impressionists did in the 19th century was
almost non-existent and what support they did find came from
intellectural elitists. During Monet's life, the art salons rejected
his idea of painting because it locked horns with the popular opinion
that art should mirror the world they lived in. Like the
impressionists, other artists who experimented with the elements of
design were ostracized by the art academies. The Belgian artist James
Ensor had his fair share of rejection notices from the Brussels Salon
when he submited his piece Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889
(1888). The large 99" x 169" oil painting on stretched canvas depicts
what the reception would be like if Jesus entered Brussels in the 19th
century. Ensor satirically paints marching bands playing loud music and
dignitaries waving to the crowd of celebrating citiens.Some people
carry banners that salute the jovial moments of the carnival. The
painting is packed with figures wearing masks and enjoying themselves
during the festive parade. The museum visitors much search diligently
to find Jesus riding on a mule in the center of the painting. Jesus'
expression is one of bewilderment over the lack of interest in the
religious significance of his presence. The loosely rendered naive
style that Ensor used was successful in creating his personal revulsion
to a world of inhumanity. Ensor believed that the modern world was
indifferent, stupid, and venal and would sell their own grandmother for
a profit. The depiction of Jesus being upstaged by dancing clowns and
marching bands is a satirical parody on society's values and the
personal intergrity of every individual. Ensor's parody can still be
applicable in the 21st century where people who cash in on the
misfortunes of others trivialize human suffering.
After
my visit to the Getty Center ran its course and the tall glass doors
closed behind me, I felt inspired to work on my own paintings. I have
experienced this kind of inspiration before when I watched the
Olympics, or had an incredable tasting meal, or seen a well crafted
movie. The inspiration comes from experiencing something created by an
Olympian, a chef, or a director who see themselves as artists in their
field of expertise. It is an attitude about passionately devoting
oneself to perfecting their trade. Whatever the trade is, the passion
and dedication to elevate mediocrity to a higher level of
perfectionism becomes the expression of art. It is these people that
constitute the world's league of artists. It gives me great
satisfaction that my life as an easel artist is part of the world
league of artist who create for the illumination of others - not only
in my lifetime, but far in the future after I am gone.
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