Boy with A Thorn

“Boy with A Thorn.”

Oil on unprimed paper, 9 x 12 in.

2023.

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I was given a book about Bonnard’s work not long ago, it tells about his workflow from inception to the finished works of art. A lot of inspiration seems to be drawn from Greek sculptures that the painter was exposed to, one of these was “Spinario” or “The Boy with a Thorn.”

The inspiration for the painting came from one of my favorite thinkers’ hypothesis as to why St. Sebastian was such a popular subject matter to be commissioned by wealthy patrons throughout history. (Stephen Fry in TalkArt w/ Robert Diament and Russell Tovey).

But someone close to me felt that the painting was talking about anybody’s experience and agency when overcoming adversity.

All this illustrates an idea by which I’ve been fascinated ever since I started painting, which is this: a painting is never just a set number of things carefully placed in a composition to illustrate one thing and one thing only. Interpretation abounds and the power rests on the viewer to feel or not. The painter only facilitates the process by practicing his craft, day in and day out.

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January 12th, 2024 – 4:03PM.