What to watch while paint dries
Correct me if I’m wrong but there are not enough films about painters. There are lots about Marvel characters, which is fine but I could watch someone paint and have a digital nose around their studio all day long.
Nothing has yet topped my favourite film (of all films!), Prophecy, all about Peter Howson’s painting process but YouTube does throw up a number of good things to watch and I have stumbled on a few great short films recently. For example, take a look at this very moving film about Julien Jaca, his reason for painting and process too.
His paintings are right up my street: they combine old & new, tradition & innovation and texture & colour. Their scale also looks like they would be great fun to work on and the building up of layers adds to their interest too.
Using his skills as a tattoo artist is one thing (he can clearly draw) but combining that particular visual style with faux denim or leather jackets on the scale that he does, has significant impact. I think his paintings of pots appeal to me most though. Again, incorporating the distinctive visual style from the world of tattoos and juxtaposing it with classical pottery is visually arresting. On reflection it seems a simple idea, taking two things and combining them into something new but it was him who did it and the results are wonderfully unique.
It’s all the little details too, including cracked plaster and brushstrokes that I love. Beyond the tattoo influence, his work is pop but has a graffiti feel about it and even abstract expressionism in the first layers and backgrounds - I think painting with your hands would count as abstract expressionism! All of this on top of the classical elements and even religious iconography on found objects on occasion in his work as well.
His work appears so physical and tactile, seeing it would be one thing but getting to hold and hang it would be a real treat.
To leave you with something a little different but still for you to enjoy: Japanese artist, Haroshi, creates tribal looking and mesmeric sculptures from old skateboards. The colour combinations and stripes from the old decks are beautiful and I especially like how he repairs old toys with his new creations - think of an aesthetic and responsible Sid from Toy Story or watch the film below.
