Thursday, January 22, 2009

Invasion of the Night

This is Robert Matta's Invasion of the Night. It is my favorite painting. (I have not seen very many paintings yet.)
It's like an abstract surrealist painting. Is that a thing? How did he do that? It's slightly eerie but the clear and luminous colors pull me in. I think because doesn't have a main focal point it feels like just part of an amazing scary landscape that could continue seamlessly in any direction. I really would like to see what the upper left corner expands into. There are a number of fairly self contained, involved subjects. I think I have mentioned that by the end of a tv show i have forgotten the beginning, so this painting is so fun, i just start somewhere and look and look.

SF MOMA didn't have any prints. So I tried to forge it. But, it really, really didn't come out.

I put down all the colors as planned but I couldn't manage to put in anything to look at. It looks just like a boring, flat background, in ugly colors. I think if the colors were right (this photo shows the yellow pretty well but the blue is less bright in real life.) I would like it. I had fun making the white parts iridescent, and drawing the gray parts with candle smoke,* and making the blue disperse with laundry detergent.** Also I was scorning it pretty hard when i took the pic so I didn't put it right way up- the side at the left is the top. Or maybe it didn't fit on my couch that direction.

* That is a giant canvas, it was hard to maneuver safely. Which is to say that I didn't. It was so bad. This is why children should be allowed to play with fire, so that as adults they don't spill wax down themselves while holding a cloth board with one hand and their knees.
**You mix the detergent with water and brush it on, then sort of drip diluted acrylic on it.

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